Pesticides are strong chemicals that can pollute ground water if they're not used carefully. Pesticides also kill beneficial as well as harmful insects.

Natural alternatives prevent both ground water pollution and harm to beneficial insects. Additionally, natural pesticides save you money!

Natural Pesticides

Consider using natural alternatives for chemical pesticides:

• Non-detergent insecticidal soaps
• Garlic
• Hot pepper sprays
• 1 teaspoon of liquid soap in a gallon of water
• Used dishwater
• Forceful stream of water to dislodge insects
• Compost tea
• Halved grapefruit rinds scattered around the yard will attract slugs.
• The water you boil asparagus in will deter nematodes if poured around your tomato plants.
• Earthworm castings help plants create chemicals that deter giant whitefly.
• Dust the leaves of your plants with phosphate powder to deter beetles.
• Place orange peels here and there to keep your cat our of the garden.
• Use natural grade diatomaceous earth to control slugs, millipedes, sow bugs, and soft-bodied insects like aphids. Diatomaceous earth is available at garden shops. Read more >>
• Spray a mixture of cottonseed or soybean oil with liquid soap to create a homemade horticultural oil, which suffocates pests. Read more >>
• Sprinkle cedar wood chips around the base or your plants to deter a host of insects.

Plants as Repellents

Also consider using plants that naturally repel insects. These plants have their own chemical defense systems, and when planted among flowers and vegetables, they help keep unwanted insects away. The table below contains a partial list of nature's alternatives.

Pest	Plant Repellent
Ants	Mint, tansy, pennyroyal
Aphids	Mint, garlic, chives, coriander, anise
Bean Leaf Beetle	Potato, onion, turnip
Codling Moth	Common oleander
Colorado Potato Bug	Green beans, coriander, nasturtium
Cucumber Beatle	Radish, transy
Flea Beetle	Garlic, onion, mint
Imported Cabbage Worm	Mint, sage, rosemary, hyssop
Japanese Beetle	Garlic, larkspur, tansy, rue, geranium
Leaf Hopper	Geranium, petunia
Mexican Bean Beetle	Potato, onion, garlic, radish, petunia, marigolds
Mice	Onion
Root Knot Nematodes	French marigolds
Slugs	Prostrate rosemary, wormwood
Spider Mites	Onion, garlic, cloves, chives
Squash Bug	Radish, marigolds, tansy, nasturtium
Stink Bug	Radish
Thrips	Marigolds
Tomato Hornworm	Marigolds, sage, borage
Whitefly	Marigolds, nasturtium