Keep Your Garden Pest-Free With This Simple DIY Garlic Spray For Plants — It's Easy, Eco-Friendly, And Effective!

People either love or hate garlic, and it seems like many pests feel the same way. That's why a garlic spray for plants is a good organic way to keep unwanted visitors out of your garden. Though garlic doesn’t bother some insects and animals, others seem to hate it as much as vampires do.

Creating a garlic plant spray as a natural homemade pesticide is an easy, low-cost, non-toxic way to protect precious plants and produce. Though making a garlic plant spray is a simple way to rid your vegetable garden of pests naturally, the best method of best control is always good plant care.

First make sure plants are well cared for, your garden is weed-free, and always use healthy soil with plenty of organic matter. If pests are still plaguing your garden, then it may be time to learn how to make garlic spray for plants. Here's how to do it.

What Pests Does Garlic Plant Spray Deter?

There are a couple ways to use garlic as an organic pesticide. The most common is to make a garlic spray for plants. However, you can also plant garlic in your garden, but we'll talk more about that later.

Garlic spray for plants can keep away a lot of different pests that create problems for gardeners. Here are some of the pests garlic can help prevent:

• Aphids
• Ants
• Beetles
• Borers
• Caterpillars
• Armyworms
• Slugs
• Termites
• Whiteflies

What You Will Need

To make garlic spray for plants, you will need a handful of items you probably already have at home:

• 4 to 5 garlic cloves
• Dishwashing liquid (preferably a natural, biodegradable soap)
• Garlic press, knife, food processor, or mortar & pestle
• Bowl with spout, pitcher, or bucket
• Jar or other container with a lid
• Cheesecloth or coffee filter
• Spray bottle

How to Make Garlic Spray for Plants

Once you've gathered the necessary supplies to make your garlic plant spray, it's time to start creating your very own homemade pesticide. First, you'll make a concentrate that you will then dilute with water so you don't hurt plants.

1. Crush Garlic Cloves

To create the concentrate, first crush the garlic cloves. Do this with either a garlic press, food processor, or mortar and pestle. If you don't have any of these tools in your kitchen, mince the garlic into tiny pieces and then use the flat side of the knife to carefully smash the minced garlic into a paste.

2. Add Garlic To Soapy Water

Next, fill a bowl, pitcher, or bucket with 4 cups (0.94 L) of water and 4 to 5 drops of liquid dishwashing soap. Add your crushed garlic into the soap mixture and stir to combine the concentrate.

3. Strain the Mixture

Cover the mouth of a large jar, or other container with a tight-fitting lid, with cheesecloth. Pour the concentrate into the jar, using the cheesecloth to strain out any bits of garlic that may clog the spray bottle.

If you don't have cheesecloth on hand, use a coffee filter to strain your garlic plant spray. Pour slowly so you don't overflow and spill any of the pungent mixture.

After straining, either store your garlic and soap concentrate in the jar or transfer it to a spray bottle to use immediately.

4. Dilute the Mixture

The garlic and soap concentrate is too strong to use as is, so you have to dilute it first before applying to plants. To prepare your garlic spray for plants, combine the garlic and soap concentrate with water at a ratio of 1:10.

For example, use 1/4 cup concentrate per 2 ½ cups of water (60ml concentrate per 600ml water). Combine the diluted mixture into a spray bottle and you're ready to spray!

Keep in mind that this natural pesticide won’t last forever. It is best to use it soon after making, as the concentrate will lose potency over time.

How to Use Garlic Plant Spray

To apply your homemade pesticide, spray plants once a week to protect against pests or twice a week if it's rainy. Don’t spray when it is getting close to harvest time unless you want your produce to taste like garlic and soap.

Garlic spray is a broad spectrum pesticide, so only spray the parts of the plants that are affected by pests to lessen the risk of harming any beneficial insects that might be visiting your garden.

You may be wondering now, will garlic spray hurt plants? If you use the garlic and soap concentrate without diluting it in water, you could harm your plants. To use your pesticide safely, dilute the concentrate with water before applying to plants.

Another way of using garlic for pest control is to intercrop with it. That just means planting garlic amongst other plants in your garden. This is especially beneficial if you love garlic, like I do.

If you're interested in growing garlic anyways, plant it around roses to repel aphids or around the tomatoes to prevent red spider mites. While garlic does a wonderful job of repelling pests on many plants, avoid planting near legumes, peas and potatoes as these plants do not get along well together.

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