Repellents you can Spray
Garlic Barrier
Garlic Barrier Insect Repellent is made from the oil of a variety of Allium sativum… simple garlic, and water. Garlic has been used as a repellent since ancient times, but its odor has kept it out of the commercial greenhouse.
That has all changed now. Garlic Barrier’s special formula assures its users of odor-free effectiveness just 3-5 minutes after application. This has been confirmed at our facility’s greenhouse when we used Garlic Barrier to keep paper wasps at bay. It worked great for us. Recent word from the manufacturer informs us of some new uses for this product — in addition to wasp control: it may also be effective as a large and small animal repellent.
Garlic Barrier is 100% safe to humans and biocontrols alike and, according to the manufacturer, a very effective repellent when used as prescribed. This product should be used — like many biocontrol agents — before pests arrive. Spray it directly onto your plants every 10 days, beginning early in the season. Use a conventional sprayer, overhead mist system, or even an aircraft if that is what you have.
For best results, spray Garlic Barrier late in the day and mix it with either horticultural oil or fish oil.
In our opinion Garlic Barrier is very promising. It is very economical, and a little bit goes a long way (see below). Give it a try and tell us what you think; feedback thus far has been mostly positive.
Please note: Garlic Barrier is offensive to bees and wasps. Do not use it if pollination is required or in greenhouses using bumblebees.
Dilution Rates
- Mix 1 quart with 3 ounces of horticultural oil or fish oil then dilute 10:1 with water.
- 1 quart makes 10 quarts of ready-to-use mix and treats up to 119,790 sq. ft.
- Mix 1 gallon with 1 gallon of horticultural oil or fish oil then dilute 100:1 with water.
- 1 gallon makes 100 gallons of ready-to-use mix and treats up to 20 acres.
Note: Dilute only what will be used right away. Concentrate may be stored for up to 3 years.
You may purchase Garlic Barrier online now!
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Hot Pepper Wax
We’ve heard a lot of good things about Hot Pepper Wax; and some not so good. It seems to work very well for about 50% of the folks we hear from, and not so well for the balance. We don’t know what to say about this so far
- Not only does this product repel a multitude of plant pests, it also works as a powerful insecticide/miticide. It rivals substances like Avid miticide and pyrethrum insecticides.
And like these products…
- It is not compatible with beneficial insects. This product is non-selective. But unlike Avid and pyrethrum.
- This product is safe to people, animals, and the environment. You don’t want to get it in your eyes (if you do flush with cold water), but it is safe.
Hot Pepper Wax is an insect repellent, and thus a barrier product. But this compound is so much more. You can also use it as an anti-transpirant, a large and small animal repellent, an insecticide/miticide and, since it leaves a high-gloss shine after application (unlike the film left by most chemicals), it could be considered a leaf shine product — but one with a twist.
The active ingredient in Hot Pepper Wax is also the same natural chemical which puts the bite in south-of-the-border cuisine. That ingredient is capsaicin (cap-SAY-sin). It is common in all solanaceous plants of the pepper plant genus Capsicum, or your garden variety jalapeño pepper plant, for example.
Capsaicin disrupts the insect’s metabolism and central nervous system. We have absolutely no clue why this is, but we thought you’d like to know anyway.
Hot Pepper Wax’s capsaicin, and the product’s other ingredients (culinary herbs including: garlic, onion, mustard, marjoram, oregano, thyme, rosemary and a few others, believe it or not), are micro-encapsulated in a mixture of mineral oil and paraffin.
The paraffin micro-encapsulation is what makes this product easy to handle, produces the leaf shine, smothers pests like a horticultural oil and protects plants from above-ground, air-transmitted diseases. The paraffin is also what makes this product a long-lasting residual pesticide. Its half-life (a potency reduction of 50%) is roughly 21 days, with complete breakdown in about 30. Maximum product strength is attained in roughly 3 days post-application due to the first sign of paraffin bio-degradation. All of these residual periods are affected to some degree by weather, humidity, condensation and dew, and temperature. Example: if it is raining cats and dogs and about a hundred and ten out, it won’t last the full 30 days.
The wax also protects from active ingredient rain wash-off (cool water). Yet it is warm-water soluble. That’s why you want to use cold water if you get it in your eyes, so you don’t breakdown the wax and release the capsaicin. Serious ouch!
You can apply Hot Pepper Wax preventively or curatively or for maintenance (we recommend curatively only because of its incompatibility with our good bugs). For insects use 32:1 mix ratio and usually two or three sprays will do it for a typical season. (For large animal repelling, the mix ratio is 16:1 with at least the same number of applications.) A maintenance application would call for 64:1. Hot Pepper Wax is not known to cause phytotoxicity.
Again, this product is not compatible with beneficials (well, maybe nematodes and Hypoaspis miles, the soil dwelling mite). You should not release the majority of the biocontrol agents into an area treated with this product for at least 21 days (this will vary from bug to bug, try your luck if you want). Unlike the allegedly “safe” botanical insecticides pyrethrum and rotenone, this product is safer to humans.
You may purchase Hot Pepper Wax online now!
Plantskydd Animal Repellent
And one for the animals specifically: Here’s a new product which is a hit among those battling certain plant-munching animals such as deer, elk and rabbits. This nontoxic, all-natural, OMRI-approved blood-based repellent is arguably the “best animal repellent available” and is specifically formulated to provide long-term control.
Use on broadleaf plants, conifers and deciduous trees.
You may purchase Plantskydd online now!
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