If slugs, flies and ants are plaguing your garden this summer, no need to pick up a bottle of pest-killer – this handy household item can make a great and effective pesticide instead
Summer beckons an onslaught of greedy pests chowing down on your plants – but, luckily, there’s an easy solution you can make with household ingredients.
The weather is finally warming up and the days are getting longer. But while gardeners can expect to see lush bouquets of peonies, lilacs and wisteria, and full vegetable gardens beginning to ripen, they also need to be on the lookout for nasty insects. Including those that can damage your garden.
Some of the most common pests that like to plague British gardens include aphids, ants and slugs. All of these creatures are notoriously greedy and can quickly destroy your plants in large numbers.
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In particular, slugs are known to go after fresh, young plants as well as fruit like strawberries and figs. Worse still, they can be difficult to spot as they like to crawl on the underside of leaves.
Aphids also pose a massive threat, despite their miniscule size. Aphids are small sap-sucking insects, which include the infamous greenfly and blackfly and are known to stunt plant growth, weaken plant structure and damage leaves.
Of course, it can be tempting to turn to a chemical pesticide if you notice an infestation in your garden. However, these can be incredibly damaging to wildlife and animals.
A better – and cheaper – solution is to turn to using household ingredients. Gardening experts from Grow Barato suggest creating a pesticide made of baking soda and soap.
First, you should mix the baking soda with water. Grow Barato recommends mixing “half a tablespoon” of baking soda in four litres of water. You should then shake well to dissolve the powder.
You should then add “a bit of liquid soap” to the mixture. This will create an effective pesticide which you can spray on plants.
Baking soda can be an effective deterrent as it disrupts the scent trails of pests like slugs and ants, which will put them off nibbling on your plants. It can also dehydrate and kill pests like slugs and aphids if they consume it.
Equally, soap is particularly effective when used on insects like aphids and mealybugs. This is because it can damage the cell membranes of these creatures and, in some cases, even suffocate them.
Grow Barato writes: “Apply the product to the affected plants and monitor if the insects disappear. This treatment can be repeated for several days if necessary.”
If you don’t have any baking soda lying around at home, no need to fret. You can pick up a packet for a bargain 59p from Sainsbury’s.