I love, love, love Dr. Bronner’s liquid castile soap and it seems that I am constantly finding new uses for it. I have read about people using it for shampoo, face/body wash, use it for cleaning myself, and now I hear that it can be used for pest control on plants and gardens, indoor or outdoor.
Since one of my goals for this spring is to get (and keep alive hopefully) at least a few plants in my house, I think I’ll have to try out this simple recipe for a natural pest control spray using Dr. Bronner’s liquid castile soap (I prefer to keep the baby-mild kind on hand since it’s unscented). The recipe calls for 1 quart water to 1-2 Tbsp liquid castile soap transferred into a spray bottle.
The spray won’t harm most plants unless it contains too much soap (but it’s a good idea to test on a few leaves and check back a few times before spraying whole plants). A comment also stated that the salts in the soap will dehydrate a number of pests such as mites, aphids, and mealybugs, but won’t affect your honeybees or lady bugs. This person also recommended spraying the base of the plant and underneath the leaves where these pests hang out.
I am already thinking of spraying this on some of my hostas in the backyard that get pretty well attacked in the summer and I’ll post back with how it works. If you use this and have feedback, or have your own natural pest control remedy, please feel free to share with us!
