Biological predators/beneficial insects
Not all insects in the garden are pests. Most are benign residents, and some are actually beneficial, providing a means to control insect pests. Insects such as ladybugs, lacewing flies, and praying mantises feed on bugs that are destructive to your crops. You should protect them when you find them in your garden. Harmless to your garden plants, these useful insects gorge on aphids, beetles, caterpillars, grasshoppers and other bothersome insects.
Horse tail for fighting fungus
Horse-tail one of the worst weeds in the world to get rid of,because removing it involves perpetual diggin and smothering, contains silica and silica fights fungal diseases . Horsetail can be used in many ways to combat fungal disease, drying and diggin into soil for soil born fungal diseases. spray's can be made up for fungal diseases on plants , boiling 1/8 of a cup of dried horse tail to half gallon of water , the spray then applied directly to plants.
Other Natural Pest Control Alternatives include
Bracken spray
Effective against blackfly on, for example, broad beans and runner beans but not against cherry blackfly.
The bracken must be gathered when brown and brittle dry. Pulp the leaves and store in paper bags until wanted. Using a graduated jar, measure out 120cc (4fl oz) of the bracken and pour on 420cc (14fl oz) of hot water, stir and allow to soak for twenty-four hours, strain, then bottle into airtight jars and keep out of reach of children, of course.
For use as a spray, dilute 25cc (1 fl oz) to 4.5 litres (1 gal) of rainwater and spray each day for three days.
Elder spray
This kills aphids, small caterpillars and is useful as a fungicide for mildew and blackspot on roses. The toxic agent is hydro-cyanic acid, so in preparing the spray use an old saucepan.
Gather 450g (1 lb) leaves and young stems of elder prefer-ably in spring when the sap is rising. Place in the saucepan and add 3.3 litres (6pt) water. Boil for half an hour, topping up as necessary. Strain through old tights and use the liquid cold and undiluted. It will keep for three months if bottled tightly while still hot.
Twigs of elder, cut in the spring and placed at intervals, inverted V-wise, over early turnip rows, are said to ward off attack by flea beetles.
Nettle spray
Bio-dynamic gardeners and growers have a very high regard for the common stinging nettle, using the leaves in sprays of several kinds. As well as using nettles as an activator on the compost heap (page 27) the organic gardener can use them as a liquid manure and as an aphicide.
Gather 224g (l/2 lb) young nettles and soak in a bucket of water for a week. Strain and use undiluted as a control of aphids on roses and celery leaf miner. Add the mushy nettles to the compost heap.
Rhubarb spray
The oxalic acid in rhubarb leaves is a safe control agent for aphids, particularly those on roses. Cut 450g (1 lb) rhubarb leaves, place in an old saucepan with 1.1 litres (2pt) water and boil for half an hour, topping up as necessary. When cool, add 1 dsp soap flakes dissolved in 275ml (l/2 pt) warm water. This acts as the wetting agent when added to the strained rhubarb liquid. Stir the mixture thoroughly and use undiluted as a spray. be warned this spray is highly poisomous
Soap spray
Use the recipe above as an effective weapon against aphids on many crops.
Seaweed spray
The value of seaweed as a liquid manure is well known. Used as a foliar feed on a wide range of vegetable crops, it also has an insecticidal and fungicidal effect possibly because the alginates make the surface of the foliage less attractive to pests and the spores of fungi.
