How to treat cabbage from pests with folk remedies: how to protect

Gardeners who grow vegetables for their own table understand that the less chemicals are used in the process of growing cabbage, the less harmful substances will get into food. How to treat cabbage from pests - folk remedies or commercially available formulations?

The answer of experts is unequivocal - first you need to try all the home methods of pest control of cabbage and only then move on to radical measures to save the crop.

What you need to know if a pest is found

How to deal with cabbage pests with folk remedies? Not all insects are dangerous for vegetables, and some of them can even be called helpers in this battle. These include ladybugs and earwigs, which readily collect aphids from cabbage leaves, as well as hoverflies that eat larger insects. Many owners go to the trick, specifically luring these insects to their garden in order to secure the harvest in advance.

To attract earwigs, boxes with earth sprinkled with fresh wood shavings are placed along the garden, and to lure hoverflies, dill or parsley is planted right between the beds.

Processing cabbage from pests is done closer to sunset, so that the composition applied to the plants does not evaporate longer. In the intervals between sprayings, which should be carried out regularly, it is useful to wash the heads generously with a mild soapy solution, especially those places where aphids are seen. A systematic check of the underside of cabbage leaves, where these insects like to accumulate, should be included into a habit.

So how to spray cabbage from pests - folk remedies or chemicals?

Universal pest control methods

Folk methods of struggle can be aimed at the expulsion of a single species of insect or act in combination. Universal means of getting rid of cabbage from pests with folk remedies without chemistry are those under the influence of which most of the pests leave the garden:

1. Whey;
2. Birch tar;
3. Soap solution;
4. Mugwort and other plants.

So - cabbage pests and how to deal with them:

• The serum is applied no more than three times per season and the effect after spraying is noticeable immediately - the vegetable rapidly begins to grow, and the insects leave after the first procedure.Spraying is carried out with undiluted, filtered liquid. Serum is also used as a top dressing for cabbage;
• A handful of fresh wormwood, spread out in several branches between rows, will protect the crop from pests, but dried wormwood should not be forgotten to be periodically replaced with fresh one. A decoction is made from wormwood. About one and a half kilograms of grass are cut right in the bucket, then 12 liters of water are poured and removed for 2 days. Then the mixture is boiled for 30 minutes, filtered, topped up with water, the volume is twice as large as that obtained and the vegetables are sprayed with this cooled composition;
• Celandine grass will help preserve the crop if you apply the solution 3-4 times per season. To do this, about half a kilogram of grass, finely chopped with a knife, pour 1.5 liters of water and remove the mixture for three days. A strong concentrate is used without dilution, immediately after straining;
• Half a bar of natural laundry soap should be finely grated, pour 5 liters of warm water and sprinkle the plants.Soaps are often combined in solutions with other ingredients, such as mint or wormwood essential oils. Birch tar dissolves well in soapy water;
• Ordinary finely chopped turnip (20 g), or the upper orange scales of lily (about 6-7 g) are poured with a liter of cold water and insisted for 6-8 hours in a sealed container, after which the liquid can be used to combat cabbage pests;
• 0.5 cups of coarsely chopped hot pepper should be steamed with boiling water (1 liter) and boiled for an hour under a lid over low heat. Then the broth is infused for at least a day, after which it is filtered and spraying can begin. When there are a lot of insects, it is advisable to increase the properties of pepper infusion by adding 2-3 teaspoons of washing powder to it.

It should be noted that the serum and soap solution, being general purpose repellents, however, have little effect on the slugs and snails present in the garden.

Aphid

If in the spring on young leaves of seedlings strange brownish spots began to appear, and some individual leaves began to curl, the reason for this can be found on the back of the leaves. If you see small tear-shaped greenish-whitish insects clinging to the inside of the leaf, it means that the growing cabbage was struck by aphids. How to spray cabbage in this case?

The most effective remedy for aphids is birch tar. Both natural resins of the product and soap, which includes this substance, are used.

It is impossible to kill aphids with tar. As in most cases of using folk remedies for cabbage pests, when watering with a solution, a repellent effect is achieved - insects already present on the leaves are washed off to the ground, and new ones, scared off by a strong smell, bypass the garden.

How to protect cabbage from pests with tar soap? Half of the bar is rubbed on a grater, diluted with a liter of hot water.Then a teaspoon of tar is introduced into the solution and the entire mixed composition is poured into a 20-liter container of warm water. The mixture is ready for spraying.

Try to expel these pests using other folk remedies:

• Dry mustard (2 teaspoons), mixed with 2 teaspoons of grated soap, then tobacco dust (80 g) is added. The dry mass is poured with boiling water and removed for 24 hours to infuse, after which it is filtered and used;
• For half a kilogram of dry onion peel, up to two kg of fresh tomato greens and 1 teaspoon of any liquid laundry detergent are taken. Separately, pour boiling water over tomato grass (5 liters) and husks (2 liters) and insist them for a day. Before mixing in one container, liquid detergent is introduced into the onion solution, and tomato water is heated over low heat for 2-3 hours;
• 1 medium onion, 4 heads of unpeeled garlic and a glass of wood ash boil and leave for a day. After straining, dilute the liquid with a bucket of water and add 1 teaspoon of washing powder.

Sufficient preventive effect against aphids is the sprinkling of mustard powder on cabbage spacings.

Cruciferous fleas

Flea bugs destroy cabbage beds very quickly, so outdoor cabbage pest control should be started as soon as these hopping insects are spotted. There are usually two main ways to treat a vegetable: the product can be sprinkled on plants in the form of a dry substance or sprayed cabbage with a prepared solution.

In the form of a dry repellent, tobacco dust from pests, ash, paprika and hot pepper powders are used. You need to sprinkle cabbage immediately after watering, rubbing the powder through thick gauze.

From liquid infusions apply:

1. Diluted in the amount of 1 cup of the substance to 20 cups of water chicken manure (infusion time - 21 days);
2. Birch tar (1 tablespoon per 10 liters of soap solution);
3. Whey in its pure form;
4. Solution of 1 cup table vinegar dissolved in 10 liters of water.

If none of these methods help, try treating cabbage leaves with dried toothpaste from an old tube. All you need is 1 tbsp. a spoonful of pasta. It is dissolved in 5 liters of warm water and the beds are generously sprinkled.

Slugs and snails

If the lower cabbage leaves are in holes, then most likely the slugs are to blame. All known high-level protection methods can be used against these pests, as simple soapy water or whey will not help here.

• Getting rid of snails with ammonia. A total of 60 ml of liquid must be dissolved in a bucket of water and sprinkled twice, with a pause of 10-15 minutes, with a solution of beds;
• You can cultivate the soil between plants and the cabbage itself with nettle infusion, this will also increase the resistance of the vegetable to various diseases. Take 1 part of a fresh, crushed plant to 10 parts of water and put the mixture to ferment for a week. Then the resulting infusion is diluted with water to obtain a 10% concentration and used;
• You can also protect the cabbage with the upper part of the potato bush, for which the greens are crushed and infused in water for about three hours;
• Already proven remedy - tar, for a long time will expel slugs from the site with its strong smell.

The most important aspect in keeping pests out of the garden is the few steps of initial spraying done before the insects are even noticed. By doing prevention, you simultaneously instill in plants a strong immunity from unwanted settlers, and subsequently, the question of how to get rid of them will no longer be so acute.

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