- 26 minutes ago
A few cloves of garlic and a little plain soap can do real work against soft garden pests, and this old homemade spray shows how to make and use it the honest way. The method is simple: crush the garlic, steep it in hot water overnight, strain it well, then mix in a small amount of pure soap so the spray clings to the leaves and helps smother aphids, whitefly, mealybugs, and soft scale.
The guide is careful about what this garden pest control spray can and cannot do. It repels many crawling pests, but it will not kill caterpillars, and it is not a reliable cure for powdery mildew. It also explains why the undersides of leaves matter most, since that is where pests hide, and why spraying in the cool morning or evening helps avoid leaf burn.
Beyond the spray itself, the video points to the deeper fix: stronger plants in richer soil. Compost, manure, compost tea, and good feeding help reduce pest pressure, while gentle pest control protects helpful insects like ladybugs and lacewings.
Created for viewers searching for gardening tips, natural pest control, homemade insect spray, aphid treatment, mealybug control, whitefly spray, and organic garden remedies. Ideal for anyone who wants practical plant care, vegetable garden protection, and a safer alternative to harsh poison sprays.
The guide is careful about what this garden pest control spray can and cannot do. It repels many crawling pests, but it will not kill caterpillars, and it is not a reliable cure for powdery mildew. It also explains why the undersides of leaves matter most, since that is where pests hide, and why spraying in the cool morning or evening helps avoid leaf burn.
Beyond the spray itself, the video points to the deeper fix: stronger plants in richer soil. Compost, manure, compost tea, and good feeding help reduce pest pressure, while gentle pest control protects helpful insects like ladybugs and lacewings.
Created for viewers searching for gardening tips, natural pest control, homemade insect spray, aphid treatment, mealybug control, whitefly spray, and organic garden remedies. Ideal for anyone who wants practical plant care, vegetable garden protection, and a safer alternative to harsh poison sprays.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00You have a pest problem, and you are about to spend $15 or $20 on a bottle of poison to
00:05fix it,
00:06a poison you would never dare spray on the very vegetables you mean to eat.
00:11Stop, for there is an old homemade spray, made from a couple of cloves of garlic and a drop of
00:17soap,
00:17things already in your kitchen, that does the real work of that bottle on the soft pests that plague a
00:24garden,
00:24costs you near nothing, and is safe to spray right on your food.
00:28But I am going to give it to you honestly, more honestly than most,
00:32for I will tell you plainly what it truly kills, what it only drives off,
00:37and the one thing it will not do at all that folk wrongly claim.
00:41So stay with me, for the honest version is the one that will actually serve you.
00:46I am Elias, and this garlic spray is a genuine old remedy, one the grandparents used,
00:52and it works a treat for what it is good for,
00:54so long as you do not expect it to be the miracle the tall tales make of it.
00:59So let me give you the making of it, the using of it, and the honest truth of it.
01:04Quick word before I go further.
01:06The old methods my family uses, there is more of it than fits in any one video.
01:10I gathered the whole of it into a book at EliasYoder.com.
01:15The book is the long version.
01:17If you want it, it is there.
01:19I will not mention it again.
01:21My grandmother kept a jar of this garlic brew steeping on her windowsill through the whole growing season,
01:27topping it up as she used it,
01:29and her roses and her beans were the least troubled by bugs of anyone's.
01:33But she never trusted the spray to do the whole job, mind.
01:36A spray is for the bug you see today, Elias, she would say,
01:40but a strong plant is for the bugs you never see at all, so feed your soil first.
01:45That was her real secret, the spray and the strong plant both.
01:50So let me hand you both as she gave them to me.
01:53First, the making, for it is simple.
01:56You take three to five cloves of garlic, and you crush them,
01:59and here is a fine point, crush them, do not pulverize them to paste.
02:03You want to break them open to let out their strength and their sharp smell.
02:07That is what does the work, but crushed to rough pieces,
02:11not blended to mush that will only clog your sprayer later.
02:15The flat of a knife pressed down on the clove does it,
02:18or a fork on a plate, or a mortar.
02:20And throw in the skins too, they hold goodness.
02:23Then you pour over your crushed garlic about a cup of hot water,
02:27just off the boil, for the heat draws the strength out quick.
02:30Now the part folk are too impatient for, you must let it sit.
02:35A good long soak, twelve hours at the least, overnight is best.
02:39This is where the garlic gives its strength up into the water,
02:43and you cannot rush it.
02:44A spray made in five minutes is a weak, useless thing.
02:48Leave it steeping overnight, and by morning the water will have darkened
02:52and taken on the strong garlic smell,
02:54and that color and that smell are your sign it is ready and strong.
02:57So crush it of an evening, steep it overnight, and it is ready in the morning.
03:03Then you strain it, and strain it well,
03:05through a bit of old cloth into your bottle,
03:08getting out every scrap of garlic solid, all the pulp and skins,
03:12so that only the clear garlic water goes into your sprayer.
03:15For any bits left in will clog the spout within a use or two,
03:19and ruin your spraying.
03:21Clean, strained liquid only.
03:23Now the one addition that turns a fair spray into a good one,
03:27a little soap.
03:28You mix a small bit of a plain, pure soap,
03:31a castile soap, not a harsh detergent,
03:34into the strained garlic water.
03:36And here is why the soap matters so,
03:38and it is two reasons,
03:40and this is the real working of the whole spray, so mark it.
03:43First, plain garlic water beads up and rolls right off a leaf
03:47and dries in minutes, before it can do its work.
03:50But the soap breaks that beating,
03:52so the spray spreads out flat,
03:54and clings and wets the whole leaf and the pests evenly,
03:57and stays wet longer.
03:59And second, and this is the greater part,
04:02the soap itself is the real killer of the soft pests.
04:06For the soap coats the soft bodies of the aphids,
04:09and the whitefly, and the mealybugs,
04:11and breaks down their waxy coating,
04:13and smothers them, stops them breathing.
04:16So the soap does the killing of the soft ones,
04:19and the garlic does the repelling and the smelling
04:22that keeps the rest away.
04:24And together, they are far better than either alone.
04:28A little pure soap, no more,
04:30for too much can harm a tender leaf.
04:33About a teaspoon or two to your bottle is plenty.
04:36And use a true, plain soap,
04:39not a harsh, grease-cutting detergent
04:41full of other things which can burn the leaves.
04:45And if you are spraying a plant
04:46you have not sprayed before, or a tender one,
04:50it is wise to try it first on a leaf or two,
04:53and wait a day to see it takes no harm
04:55before you spray the whole plant.
04:58Gentle and tested is the safe way with any spray,
05:02even a homemade one.
05:04Now let me be honest with you
05:06about what this spray does and does not do,
05:09for I promised you the truth,
05:11and this is the heart of it.
05:13You will see this sort of spray
05:15sold as a thing that kills every pest there is
05:18in five seconds,
05:20wipes out everything at once,
05:22works like magic.
05:23That is not so,
05:25and I will not tell you it is.
05:27Here is the honest truth of it.
05:29On the soft-bodied pests,
05:32the aphids,
05:33the whitefly,
05:34the mealybugs,
05:35the soft scale,
05:37the ones the soap can coat and smother,
05:39it works genuinely well,
05:41killing them on good contact.
05:43And that is most of the sucking pests
05:46that plague a garden.
05:48On the harder and the crawling pests,
05:50the ants and the beetles and such,
05:53it does not kill them so much as drive them off
05:56and put them off by its strong reek,
05:58which is still useful,
06:00for a garden that reeks of garlic
06:02is one many pests avoid.
06:04So it kills the soft ones
06:06and repels the rest,
06:08and that is genuinely most of your pest troubles.
06:11But it is not an instant kill-all,
06:14and knowing that,
06:15you will use it right
06:16and not be disappointed.
06:18And here is a plain correction
06:20on two things folk wrongly claim for it.
06:23The caterpillars,
06:25the fat green worms that chew your leaves,
06:28this spray will not kill them,
06:30for they are not soft little sap suckers
06:32the soap can smother.
06:34They are tough,
06:35and they will eat right through it.
06:37The honest old answer for caterpillars
06:39is to pick them off by hand of a morning
06:42and drop them in a can.
06:44There is no shortcut.
06:46And the powdery mildew,
06:48that white dust on the leaves,
06:50the garlic may put it off a little,
06:52but it is no reliable cure for it.
06:54And the true old remedy for mildew
06:57is a milk spray,
06:59one part milk to a few of water,
07:01and good airflow,
07:03as I have told you before.
07:05So use the garlic spray for the soft pests
07:08it is truly good against,
07:09and reach for the right tool
07:11for the caterpillars and the mildew.
07:14Now to the using of it,
07:16and here is where most folk go wrong
07:18and waste the whole effort,
07:20spraying only the tops of the leaves.
07:23Hear me well,
07:24for this is the difference
07:25between it working and not.
07:28The pests are not on the tops of the leaves,
07:31they are underneath,
07:32on the undersides,
07:33hiding from the sun and the rain and the birds,
07:36and that is where their eggs are too.
07:38So if you spray only the tops,
07:41you miss near all of them,
07:43and think the spray failed.
07:45You must spray the undersides of every leaf,
07:48turning them up and wetting them well beneath,
07:50for that is where the enemy lives.
07:53Spray both sides, top and under,
07:55till the leaf is well wet but not dripping,
07:58and take your time and get under every leaf.
08:01Under the leaves is the whole secret of the application,
08:05and the timing,
08:06which matters as much,
08:08never spray in the hot, direct sun.
08:11For the wet spray on the leaf in the fierce sun
08:14magnifies the heat
08:15and scorches and burns the leaf,
08:18and you will do the plant more harm
08:20than the pests did,
08:21with burn marks that look like
08:23the very trouble you meant to cure.
08:26So you spray in the cool,
08:28early of a morning before the sun climbs,
08:30or late in the day as it drops,
08:32when the plant is in shade or soft light.
08:36And if it is a potted plant,
08:38move it to the shade to spray it,
08:40and set it back after it dries.
08:42Cool and shaded,
08:44never in the hot sun.
08:45And you spray every few days
08:47while the pests are bad,
08:49keeping after them,
08:50and once they are cleared,
08:51a spraying now and again
08:53keeps them from coming back,
08:55for the garlic smell lingering on the leaves
08:57keeps new ones away.
09:00Now here is the deepest part,
09:02the part that goes further than any spray,
09:05and it is the thing that truly matters,
09:07so stay with me.
09:09Why is it that one plant in your garden
09:11is forever crawling with pests,
09:14while another right beside it,
09:15the same kind,
09:17stands clean and untouched?
09:19It is not chance.
09:21The pests seek out the weak plant.
09:24A plant that is stressed and struggling
09:26and poorly fed
09:28gives off something in its sap
09:30that says easy pickings to a pest,
09:32and they flock to it,
09:34while a strong, healthy, well-grown plant
09:37is far less troubled
09:38and often passed right by.
09:41So a plant swarmed with pests
09:43is a plant telling you something,
09:45that it is weak,
09:46that its soil is poor,
09:48that it wants feeding and strengthening.
09:50And here is the whole lesson,
09:53that the spray treats the pests
09:55you see on the surface,
09:57but the real cure is underground,
09:59in the soil,
10:00making the plant strong
10:02so the pests lose their interest.
10:05So when you spray a troubled plant,
10:07feed it too.
10:08Work some good compost
10:10or old rotted manure
10:12into the soil at its base,
10:13or give it a drink of compost tea
10:16and strengthen the ground it grows in.
10:18Treat the pest on the leaf
10:20and the weakness in the soil both,
10:23and you break the cycle,
10:24where the spray alone
10:25would only ever be fighting
10:27the same battle over and over.
10:29A strong plant in rich living soil
10:32is its own best pesticide.
10:35And there is one more good reason
10:37to lean on this garlic and soap spray
10:40rather than a harsh poison,
10:42that the poison kills the good bugs
10:44right along with the bad,
10:46the ladybugs and the lacewings
10:48that hunt your aphids for free.
10:50So you win the day
10:51and lose your helpers,
10:53where this gentle spray,
10:55used careful and mainly under the leaves
10:57where the pests are,
10:59spares far more of the good hunters.
11:01So feed the plant,
11:03keep the good bugs,
11:04and spray only where you must,
11:07and you work with your garden's own defenses
11:09instead of against them.
11:12Now let me say a small, plain word,
11:15not a who-profits sermon,
11:16for a clove of garlic is no one's scheme.
11:20But notice the whole of what this cost.
11:23A few cloves of garlic
11:24and a spoon of soap
11:25against a shelf of bottles
11:27at fifteen and twenty dollars each,
11:30bought again every season.
11:31And it does the true work
11:33on the soft pests
11:34as well as they do,
11:36and is safe to spray
11:37on the very food you eat,
11:39which not one of those bottles is.
11:42There is a great trade
11:43in selling the worried gardener
11:45poison after poison for his pests,
11:48a bottle for each
11:49and a new one every year.
11:51And here the kitchen
11:52gives the answer near for free,
11:54and the deeper answer,
11:55the strong plant in good soil,
11:58is freer still.
12:00So folk come to think
12:01pest control means
12:02a shelf of costly bottles
12:04when it means a bit of garlic,
12:06a bit of soap,
12:07and above all,
12:08a healthy plant.
12:10That old knowing
12:11is worth more than
12:12every poison sold.
12:14So there is the whole
12:15honest truth
12:16of the old garlic bug spray.
12:19Crush a few cloves,
12:21steep them overnight
12:22in hot water,
12:23strain the liquid clean,
12:24and mix in a little pure soap,
12:27the soap to smother
12:28the soft pests,
12:29and the garlic
12:30to repel the rest.
12:32Spray both sides
12:33of every leaf,
12:34above all the undersides
12:36where the pests hide,
12:37in the cool of morning
12:38or evening,
12:39never the hot sun,
12:41every few days
12:42till they are gone.
12:43Know that it kills
12:45the soft suckers
12:46and drives off the rest,
12:47but will not touch
12:49a caterpillar,
12:50nor reliably cure
12:51a mildew,
12:52so use the right tool
12:53for those.
12:54And above all,
12:56feed and strengthen
12:57the plant and its soil,
12:58for the pests
12:59hunt the weak,
13:00and a strong plant
13:02needs the spray
13:02least of all.
13:04Do these,
13:05and you will keep
13:06your garden near
13:07free of pests
13:08for the cost
13:08of a head of garlic,
13:09and never spray a poison
13:11on your food again.
13:13Now I want to hear from you.
13:15Tell me down below
13:16which pest
13:17plagues you the most
13:18right now,
13:19the aphids,
13:20or the white fly,
13:22or the mealy bugs,
13:23or another,
13:24and whether you had
13:25ever been sold
13:26a garlic spray
13:27as a kill-everything
13:29miracle,
13:30and found it fall short,
13:31for now you know
13:32its honest use.
13:34And tell me your county
13:35and what you grow,
13:37for near every garden
13:38has its own worst pest.
13:40I read every one.
13:42Next time,
13:43I want to show you
13:44the making of the
13:45old plant feeds
13:46and teas,
13:47the compost tea,
13:49and the manure tea,
13:50and the nettle tea,
13:51the free liquid feeds
13:53that strengthen a plant
13:54and its soil,
13:55for those are
13:56the deeper answer
13:57to the pests
13:58that this spray
13:59only treats on the surface.
14:01The old people
14:02kept their gardens
14:03near free of pests,
14:05not with a shelf
14:06of poisons,
14:07but with a bit of garlic
14:08and soap from the kitchen,
14:10and, more than that,
14:12with strong,
14:13healthy plants
14:13in rich living soil
14:15that the pests
14:16passed by,
14:17and so grew clean food
14:19safe to eat
14:20with almost nothing bought.
14:22There is a quiet wisdom
14:24in that,
14:24in treating
14:25the true cause
14:26of a trouble,
14:27the weak plant,
14:28rather than only
14:29battling its symptoms
14:31forever with a spray.
14:32The people who built
14:34this country
14:34with their hands
14:35knew that,
14:36and we are only
14:37just starting
14:38to remember it.
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