They say the best gardens are planned in the cold of winter. So what better time to also be working on making the natural products that we need to make those gardens fruitful?
There are so many ideas out there on how to keep the bugs away. I’ve tried a lot of them, and many do work well. The most important thing for me is to keep the chemicals away. Not only do those chemicals harm humans, they can affect your animals or livestock as well. Just spraying or having a small breeze can send chemical pesticides somewhere you don’t intend them to be.
One thing we seem to deal with a lot are aphids and white flies. We also get a lot of small worms in our fruit trees. I don’t think this is uncommon, as there are many commercial product available to take care of these pests. At one time, we used to depend on all those items. We believed that those things were the only way to get rid of the bothersome bugs ruining our produce!
Since I have been homesteading full time, I have learned a couple of things. First- those commercially produced pesticides are expensive! Living off your homestead isn’t exactly the income of a millionaire, and having to go buy expensive products just isn’t in the picture. But second, and possibly more important, those chemicals are potentially harming us. (I say potentially because we continue to find out more all the time about things that are causing harm, that we used to think were safe……who used to think RoundUp was the best invention ever?).
So my goal has been to learn as much as I can, and try to create my own products that are more frugal, and safer for my family and livestock.
I recently learned about Neem Oil– what a great find! This readily available oil is great for keeping the bugs away. As a general description, Neem oil is a naturally occurring pesticide found in seeds from the neem tree. Azadirachtin is the pest fighting substance found in Neem oil. While it can be slightly irritating to the skin and stomach, the substance is generally recognized as safe by the FDA. The remaining portion of neem oil is made of fatty acids, essential oils and other substances that are commonly eaten in a normal diet.
My research has led me to create the super simple recipe below. This has worked on all sorts of plants for us, but has been especially successful on fruit trees, such as peaches. Give it a try and let us know what you think in the comments below!
Neem Oil Pesticide
1 oz. neem oil
1 gallon water
1-2 teaspoons liquid dishwashing soap, preferably Dawn (this helps it “stick”)
Pour all the ingredients into a spray bottle or hose-attach sprayer and spray
onto your trees and plants liberally!
Happy Gardening!
~you can learn more about Neem Oil by clicking on any of the links in the post (or HERE). These will refer you to Amazon- and any purchases made through these links will provide us a tiny commission that helps keep this blog going. So we thank you!
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