If you buy a hose-end sprayer, you will feel like a real gardener, I guarantee it. It may not guarantee good vegetables, but doggone you look cool spraying your gardens. (I’ve decided this week that I’m not growing peppers ever again – it’s cheaper for me to buy the peppers than the plant that only grows 0-4 things on it!)
Of course, I only got out to use this spray once or twice this season, and a deer just trampled my chicken wire fence and nipped off two or three pepper plants…that weren’t doing much anyway. I did manage to grow successful tomatoes again this year, so I’m thrilled about that!
I’ve told you before about how much I leaned on Jerry Baker’s Terrific Garden Tonics when I started my foray into vegetable gardening three years ago. I still have weird concoctions, bags and bottles in my garage that are all purposed for my garden. This particular concoction is one of my favorites for its simplicity and breadth of attack.
Jerry Baker’s All-Season Clean-Up Tonic
Ingredients
1 c. baby shampoo
1 c. antiseptic mouthwash
1 c. tobacco tea
Method
Mix all three in a hose-end sprayer (Jerry asks for a 20 Gallon Lawn Sprayer; I could only find a tiny one like this sprayer, but it works out – yet why is mine more expensive??) and spray
everything you’re growing in the early evening to battle both pests AND disease. You can re-apply every two weeks all growing season long, both on vegetables and flowers. Try not to spray immediately before a rain, since much of the effectiveness comes from the solution sitting on the leaves of the plants.
Ingredients, Explained
- Do buy cheap-o baby shampoo at a dollar store
- Don’t buy cheap-o mouthwash – it may not even have alcohol in it, which I’m guessing is one of the important ingredients. I had to take some back to Save-a-Lot (do you have any idea how difficult a return is at that store? Not. Fun.). Make sure you double check the ingredients to make sure yours doesn’t have triclosan either, although at least using it as a pesticide would be in line with its original purpose, whereas hand washing is not.
- Tobacco tea is made by placing half a handful of chewing tobacco in the toe of an old pair of nylons. You can cut off the leg to a manageable length first, then tie it around the tobacco and soak it in a gallon of hot water until the mixture is dark brown. I used an empty gallon milk jug and hung the nylon from a stick over the opening so it wouldn’t fall all the way inside the jug and be impossible to retrieve.
The real trick here is buying the tobacco without feeling like a criminal! I felt the need to explain to the cashier, from whom I was also purchasing a 30-pack of Busch Light for other Jerry Baker tonics, that the supplies were "for my garden, really!"
I always wondered if this tonic was really working, but all I can say is that I definitely had the best garden the year I did this (and a few other things) religiously. I even kept a special pocket-sized garden calendar to remind me when I had to spray which tonic, when to plant and harvest, and keep track of how much yield I ended up with. Let’s just say the yield was much, much better than this year’s will be, but that could be blamed on minor neglect as much as a natural pesticide/disease spray!
If you’ve missed the rest of the organic gardening series from Rene of Budget Saving Mom, click here to catch up.
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Thanks so much!!! Do you know if this might help keep squirrels out too? I’m having a hard time with them (pepper doesn’t seem to be helping).
Thanks again!
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I just had to laugh when you gave your tip about how to buy chewing tobacco. I was cringing at the thought of having to get any of these things we don’t use (for their original purpose.) Do you think it might work on a hydrangea? Mine is being eaten to death! By whom? I have no clue. I literally never see anyone. Not even at night with a flash light and gloves. (Had one bad tomato horn-worm experience as a kid, and I wear gloves when I am inspecting for bugs now.)
Also, when I was working at a greenhouse as a teen, I heard that cigarette tobacco is toxic to many plants. Those who smoked had to wash their hands before returning to the plants. Is there a key difference between cigarettes and this tobacco tea?
Congratulations on the tomatoes though!
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Katie Reply:
July 30th, 2010 at 4:49 pm
Abbie,
No idea about the difference b/t tobacco fresh and tobacco tea.
I can tell you that I spray these on my hydrangeas, and it doesn’t hurt them!
Katie
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I love how you had to explain that the beer and tobacco were for your garden. LOL. That would be me too (considering I have never used a tobacco product or drank alchol of any kind). As I was reading, I was think, I wonder if I can convince my husband to do that one for me…
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But here is my concern about this recipe–and the plastic jugs you use to hold water in the garden: we all know by now that plastics leach nasty stuff into the environment, and if we use plastics in our gardens, they will be incrementally leaching into the soil, which will end up in the veggies growing in the soil, right? (they do make awesome clay pots for that same purpose, in case you someday decide to switch)
And, see, most shampoos–even baby shampoos!–contain plastics, particularly phthalates, which have been linked to cancer and deformed baby boy parts, among other things! So no matter how well this stuff works for killing insects, it seems definately un-organic for the food garden. : ( I wonder if the recipe would still work with an organic baby shampoo? But then the price goes up. . .
Just throwing out these ideas. I applaud re-using, such as with the milk-jug watering pots–and yet question using plastics long-term with food. And I love home remedies–but wonder if this one is as healthy as it seems. I would enjoy hearing your thoughts.
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Katie Reply:
July 30th, 2010 at 8:06 pm
Blessed,
It’s always a tricky balance. I hear your concerns, and they are certainly valid, but (1) milk jugs are no. 2 plastic w/o BPA and (2) it’s so far removed from the ACTUAL food that I can’t split hairs about that. Maybe someday, but not right now.
You are probably right about shampoo not being technically “organic” but more just a “home remedy”. I would hope a fancy organic baby shampoo would do the trick, but I admit I’m not exactly sure what it does. Eating soap makes bugs sick? Or is it breaking the surface tension of water and causing the exoskeleton of the insects to absorb it, thus drowning them? Anybody got an idea?
I wonder if there is a truly safe way to kill bugs, you know? How can we kill one thing and not potentially harm another? Just philosophizing…
Thank you for the challenging comment; it’s thoughts like yours that keeps this blog strong!
Katie
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Chelsea Reply:
July 31st, 2010 at 12:38 am
Hi Katie,
I’ve read elsewhere that the soap in these types of garden formulas is actually what helps keep the solution on the leaves rather than simply bead off like water alone would. That being the case, I’m not sure how different castile soap acts and if it would be as effective in that capacity.
Hope that helps, and thank you so much for all the wonderful tips and ideas in your blog!
-Chelsea
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Katie Reply:
July 31st, 2010 at 6:08 pm
Chelsea,
katie
That makes sense. I wonder why some of Jerry Baker’s concoctions call for baby shampoo and others for dishwashing liquid. Difference? I bet castille soap would be a good option!
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This is a good reminder! We also have the JB books. I hadn’t considered the plastic issue before, thought, so I will investigate alternative options. Plus it’s been a few years since I had to buy tobacco for the recipes… at 7 months pregnant! I kept asking the kid at the counter the prices, because I was trying to figure out the cheapest cost per ounce… I also had to make a beer-run. I must have looked really classy waddling that 24pk of cheapo-cans up to the counter. LOL!
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Hi Katie,
I appreciate all of your organic gardening tips. I really have to wonder about the wisdom of the baby shampoo, especially any baby shampoo. Baby shampoos carry toxic ingredients just like the adult versions and are certainly not edible, so I would hesitate to put them on my plants. Leaves soak up the toxins just like our skin does, so it seems counter-intuitive to organic gardening. I would have to think that castile soap would be a little safer. Just a thought
Have you tried making a spray from rhubarb leaves? I am wondering if it is effective or not.
thanks!
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Katie Reply:
July 31st, 2010 at 6:09 pm
Holly,
Katie
Never heard of that one! My neighbor grows rhubarb, so maybe I could get her excess…
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you are hilarious! I was laughing outloud, thanks for that.
Peace and Raw Health,
E
.-= Elizabeth´s last blog ..Squash Pasta with Lemon Sauce =-.
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Don’t give up on peppers yet. My pepper plants usually net me more than 30 peppers each. Forcing me to experiment with hot jellies at the end of the season. My guess is you’re using too much nitrogen too early in the season.
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Katie Reply:
July 31st, 2010 at 6:08 pm
Or, maybe I’m not using anything at any time in the season! Au naturale isn’t so great for tons of peppers…
But thanks for the encouragement!
Katie
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What about Dr. Bronner’s?
http://www.herbalremedies.com/organic-baby-soap-castile-soap.html
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After a little research it sounds to me like the three ingredients of your spray work out like this:
Shampoo:
I can only assume to be used as a surfactant to allow the spray to stick to the plants as well as to the bugs in order to increase exposure. I think the only reason for baby shampoo is it contains less chemicals, dyes, etc.
Tobacco:
it is common knowledge among gardeners that tobacco deters bugs; making the tea is obviously to get the needed compounds in liquid form to enable spraying, but another option is to actually plant tobacco in your garden. It sounds like many, including myself, here don’t use tobacco for its traditional purpose, but growing these plants in and among your normal harvest may reduce how often, or the amount of spraying needed throughout the season therefore saving you time/effort(?)
Mouthwash:
This patent -(http://www.freepatentsonline.com/5175175.html)
claims that ketones and alcohols, among other organic compounds, may repel insects. However, it also states that some alcohols attract insects. It is difficult in reading that patent to decipher exactly which alcohols do what and why.
I looked on a bottle of Walmart mouthwash here at home to see exactly what alcohols it contained. While it gave no specific alcohols, I found something much more interesting(at least to me, lol). Included in the active ingredients were three organic compounds bursting with garden applications:
Menthol – a phenol known for its pesticide properties, among which include fighting mites that infest honey bees. So that’s a win-win.
Eucalyptol – a cyclic ether and a type of terpene(a hydrocarbon produced by plants), is a well known insecticide and insect repellent. Interestingly enough, it is also quite an attractant/bait for orchid bees as they use it to synthesize pheromones. So…again, you use this and not only are you fighting harmful insects, but you could be attracting at least one species of bee to help in your garden.
Thymol – is a monoterpene phenol that, along with controlling mites, has also been shown to fight nematodes (worms), mold, and fungal spores. I definitely do not know for sure, but logically it could help prevent blight(?)
Anyway, this seems to be a pretty decent little home concoction. I think using the cheap-o mouthwash could diminish the efficacy b/c of either different ingredients or lower concentrations, I’m not sure though.
Another useful tool some may or may not have heard of is diatomaceous earth (food grade), or DE. It is basically fossilized single-celled algae called diatoms. DE is 89% silica and very sharp on a microscopic level. While it is harmless to humans and animals, it is deadly to insects. This completely organic powder will get on insects and as they move, it scratches away the waxy coating on their exoskeleton. After anywhere from 20 minutes to a few hours the bug will dehydrate and die. It is a really neat little thing…quite cheap and has tons of uses(garden bugs, bedbugs, fleas on pets, fed to pets and humans to fight worms and promote intestinal health, etc). I have found the best prices here( less than $30 for a 50lb bag): http://www.earthworkshealth.com/
but shop around and do your own research. Just remember it needs to be food grade.
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Katie Reply:
August 2nd, 2010 at 11:01 am
Chris,
You are my favorite person today! That is amazing information. I bet it’s the menthol that the cheap-o mouthwash didn’t have, and maybe it WAS made of just alcohol or something. It was a few years ago that I bought it and was trying to remember…
Thank you so much for breaking this down! That also means any soap with a surfactant – which is probably any soap that works at all – would work in this, making it easy to use castille soap, eh?
Katie
Awesome!
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