You guys, I was so excited about how great the garlic-mint garden insect spray worked in our garden (and that I actually remembered to take pictures so I could share it with you), but I’m even more excited that you are finding it helpful, too! It’s been shared thousands of times on Hometalk, gotten tons of shares and repins on Facebook and Pinterest and has created a great dialog here on the blog. I’m so happy that you found the results as amazing as I did and I can’t wait to hear about all your own experiments on the bad bugs in your gardens!
In light of the popularity of the diy garden bug spray post and wanting to you give a bit more information, Brian and I created a video for you that shows:
- how to make it and use it on the plants
- how lush and beautiful our sprayed plants are now, a month after their last spraying
- how it worked on a plant I sprayed in our vegetable garden, but didn’t blog about because it wasn’t a part of the “official experiment” (written completely tongue-in-cheek – do I think I’m a scientist or something?) – my beloved Emerite pole beans. If you’ve ever fought with spotted cucumber beetles, you’ll want to take a look at this.
So, we hope you enjoy this and that it helps you to be able to use it in your gardens!
PS. Liking that facial expression of mine in the lead photo? According to Brian, that was the only one he could pull from the video to make a pinnable graphic with…humm. It made me laugh anyway, so I decided to work with it! ๐
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Keena says
Hi Jami
Would garlic powder work just as well as garlic cloves and less fiddlier. I have two basils in pots and they have had the life nibbled out of them. I want to try your pest remedy but other organic sites suggest using garlic powder with similar recipee for pest control
Thank you
Keena
Jami says
You can try it, Keena, and see if it works. If it doesn’t, then go for the fresh cloves. I haven’t tried it since fresh garlic is so much more potent (scent-wise) than powdered and it’s the smell that deters the bugs.
VIOLENT STORM says
Will this work on crepe mrytle trees as well as shrubs? I live in texas btw.
Jami says
I don’t know – test an area to see!
Merrily says
can you use this for every plant in a vegetable garden? i.e. corn, tomatoes, broccoli and cauliflower?
Jami says
I haven’t found it to hurt any of our vegetables, though I wouldn’t spray when it’s hot and I’d test before spraying huge areas. That said, it doesn’t work on all type of bugs – like I don’t think it would work with the cabbage worms, since it’s a repelling spray and that usually doesn’t work with the butterflies that lay the eggs. I just published a FAQ page on this spray: https://anoregoncottage.com/diy-garlic-mint-garden-insect-spray-testimonials-faqs/
You may find more answers there!
Gina says
Hi, I just made a batch of this stuff.
Do I have to respray after every rain fall?
How often should I spray all my garden plants?
Thanks
Jami says
I didn’t, Gina. I sprayed everything and then just check the plants over the next week – if there wasn’t improvement after a week, I’d spray again. In my case, that’s all I’ve ever needed!
Joe says
I was so tired of jumping through so many hoops to get the ‘bug spray’ recipe that I lost my interest to find out.
This site is what I refer to as an “Internet Vampire”.
Sucking all the effort out of you in an effort to get as much information as possible and try to sell you something.
Jami says
I’m so sorry you had trouble, Joe! This page is for the video only, but the original spray recipe is linked in the first sentence. I could make that larger for people to find. On the original bug spray page it’s only one click to the printable recipe – I’m sorry you find that cumbersome, but I also get people who don’t like to scroll so much. ๐ I’m definitely not trying to sell you something – just share a natural remedy that worked in my garden!
Mike says
Go away Joe, you are a bloody
whinger. These good people are trying to give us an organic pest remedy and you complain about the number of keystrokes. Go and buy a can of Baygon or something. I will certainly be giving it a go.
vicki says
could peppermint oil be used in place of fresh mint?
Jami says
Probably, Vicki, though I didn’t experiment with it, so I don’t know the ratios.
Donna says
I made a batch of your bug spray, hoping it will deter the dang budworms that are going crazy on some of my flowers. However, I did find it needs to be strained through a coffee filter because it clogged up my spray bottle making it impossible to spray it. I don’t know if it’s deterring the worms. They are happily eating but I’m hopeful. And boy, garlicky!
Jami says
I do always strain it though a fine-mesh screen, Donna – are you saying it clogged your sprayer after that and you then used the coffee filter? Some bottles might just be more finicky that way. If you find it too garlicky, add more mint next time – it should smell better. I sure hope it works on them, too. ๐
M. says
Great! Thanks for the quick answer. I know what I’ll be doing tomorrow. I’ll let you know how it works. Have a great evening.
M. says
Jami, thank you for sharing this. I have a couple of mint plants that I grow for their beauty, but I’m not fond of the flavor of these plants. One is apple mint, the other is grapefruit mint. As they are truly mints, is it likely that these mints will work in this recipe? I’d be happy to use them for such a good purpose. Thanks!
Jami says
I think so, but maybe it’s the more minty smell that helps repel the bugs? You should certainly try it and see if it works. ๐
Diana says
Does this smell bad? How long does it smell for?
Jami says
I probably didn’t emphasize this enough – the mint actually makes it smell good, Diana! The garlic is the main smell, and you could throw a bit more mint in if you had it to smell a bit nicer even.