A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion Plant pests and problems Pepper Spray

I've used this. It does work. It takes longer and more applications than store bought poisons, though.

What it kills or at least repels

-It's very effective against mites. It won't just repel, it will kill a lot of them. Thrips. Hard body bugs will at least be repelled. Ants don't like it either nor do many animals. Mice are hit and miss.

Ingredients

-A whole lot of fresh hot peppers. I like Habanero. Cayenne works, too.
-Fresh Garlic, the more the better.
-Liquid dish soap, the wash by hand kind without a lot of perfumes and sanitizers. Cheap stuff is pretty good. Dish soap with orange oil is all the better.
-Water
-More hot peppers

Make it

-Take whole peppers and peeled garlic, chop and put them in a food processor. Process until as liquefied as you can get them.
-Press through a fine wire strainer or fine colander. I suppose pantyhose, socks, t-shirt or such would work. Collect the liquid.
-Repeat the first 2 steps at least once more with the pulp.
-Pour into a spray bottle and add water and a few drops of dish soap.
-Shake and allow suds to settle.
-Shake gently before use.

Use

-Spray on plants. Tops of leaves, bottoms of leaves, sides of leaves, stems, fruits, flowers, the soil and all.
-Spray when plants are in shade and during cooler parts of the day. Evening is good.
-This spray can and should be used for several days in a row. It will take several applications. The worse the infestation, the more applications.
-Do not rinse off. Allow to dry.

Tips

-Cover your mouth, nose and eyes while spraying. This stuff will burn-you-up!
-Move indoor plants outdoors to spray or have good ventilation to outside or be able to close off that room for a while.
-Wash your hands. Milk and Lemon juice is good with soap. Use the bath room once with out washing your hands first, you'll never do it again. And the world help you if you get lovey with the wife before washing up. This is NOT the hot either of you want to be.
-Have the plant dripping with spray and then spray some more.
-If your plant wilts, rinse it off, wait for it to recover and try less soap in a new batch or spray when it's cooler and more shaded. Maybe a little less garlic.
-Do not use under grow lights. Your plant may get burned and those HID lights can explode, think glass grenade. The spray will also coat the bulbs and inhibit light out put. Turn off and at least cover the light.
-Be sure to get the under sides, that's where the bugs hide. Get the soil, too.

i'll ahve to try this out. gives me a reason to grow peppers, 'cause we don't eat them....

Hey sideburns. Do you use this stuff neat or do you water it down for application?

The spray is mostly water. I add more water if it's too thick to spray. Before that though, I'll try to strain out more pulp.

I've never made it with exact measurements. Last time a 2 liter bottle of the spray was about 1 1/2 liters water to 1/2 liter of pepper juice, maybe a bit more. It takes many hand fulls of peppers to make a 1/2 liter of juice. The spray can be made stronger by using less water. I once made it a 1/2 liter of water to a 1/2 liter of pepper juice.

A lot of spray heads, like from window cleaner, fit on regular soft drink bottles from 20 oz to 2 liter size. To use them, I rinse the bottle repeatedly with hot water until I don't smell what ever was in it any more. For the spray heads I fill up a rinsed bottle with hot water and spray it out till the smell is gone. Spray bottles are also for sale, sometimes at the .99¢ store.

It helps to add a little water in the food processor to get the peppers and garlic liquefying.

Man-O-Man! That stuff sounds strong enough to take off paint!
I think I'll whip up a batch though, something is eating my rosebushes!!!
Thanks for the tip!