Natural Pest Control I Can Prove It WORKS

If you are skeptical about natural pest control, I can prove it works…

My brassicas (cabbage, radish and broccoli mainly) were being terrorized by the cabbage white butterfly, the leaves were disappearing fast , and I don’t like cabbage stalks, so it was time to fight back…

I made a garlic & apple cider mix and sprayed every cabbage leaf, every Brussels sprout, every broccoli leaf and so on with this mix.

And low and behold I have BEAUTIFUL brassica leaves now, and would you believe I have NO aphids, slugs or snails to boot.
So see for yourself:

How To Make Garlic and Cider Vinegar Spray

What You Need:
? A hand-held water squirter
? A good splash of apple cider vinegar ( See recipe in From Your Vegetable Plot To Your Plate)
? 4 cloves of garlic, crushed
? A small drop of washing up liquid, when I say small, I mean small (This helps the garlic & cider vinegar to stick to the leaves)
? A plastic container with a lid and one which you can keep just for the spray
? Enough water to fill the plastic container

What To Do:
? In your container, simply mix all the ingredients together
? Pop on the lid and give it a swirl
? Place it in a warm, dry place for 24 hour or longer if you can
? Once your mixture has marinated, you are ready to do battle
? I have found that it is easier to work on your vegetables in the early evening as the butter flis have settles down for the night, you will need to pick a time when it is not raining, or it’s about to rain
? So, on the ‘good spray’ evenings. get changed out of those work clothes, this helps put your work life behind you and get your mind in the relaxing mode, to gently tend your vegetables, while you relax and unwind
? Now you are ready, let the battle commence!
? Gently squirt the underside of the leaf and turn it very gently, so you can see any caterpillars, any little eggs, these stick up from the leaf like little grains of sand and are sort of a yellow/green color, any furry looking larvas
? If any of these are present, simply wipe the leaf, by dragging putting your hands together, like you are going to clap, but with the leaf in the middle
? Then gently drag your hands upwards towards your face, the eggs and the larvae, can be a tad stubborn, and will cling on for dear life
? If this is the case, pick the larvae off with your fingers, and to get the eggs, I use a piece of gauze, soaked in the cider vinegar and garlic mixture and I gently wipe the eggs off with this, I also have a good spray around the heart of the vegetable, keep an eye out of r slugs, remove them as well.
? Also it is good to trim and really damaged leaves off, and remove any yellow or decaying leaves to the side of the bed, where they can decompose with out making a mucky sludgy mess around the stem of your brassicas
? Do this on every ‘good spray’ evening, as the cabbage white is notorious for laying a huge amount of eggs, every day. So just when you think you have got them all, the next time you look, there they are again, all over the leaf!!
I sincerely hope this has helped keep your cabbages, radishes and broccoli free from the pesky cabbage white butter fly

Photo’s to help you, in the cabbage gallery.

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