The sun is shining and temperatures are warming up, encouraging not only your plants to shoot up but pests to come out. I'm always looking for chemical-free ways to stop destructive insects in the yard, which is how I stumbled across the hack of using flour to deter garden pests.
It's a natural pest control method where you lightly sprinkle flour (just like all-purpose flour from Walmart) on the plants being attacked. Soft-bodied pests like aphids, mites, and even cabbage worms are disrupted by it, either by the plants becoming harder to feed on or by dehydrating the pests.
But, as with all hacks, using flour for pest control does come with a couple words of warning. It can be used as a short-term deterrent, but in the long-term can hinder plant health and potentially attract rodents. Here, I explain more about why this hack works and how to use it correctly to protect your plants this spring and summer.
How Does Flour Deter Garden Pests?
Many spring garden pests can be deterred by flour. In particular, it's most effective as a defence against aphids, mites, cabbage worms, and other soft-bodied destructive pests.
It works by lightly sprinkling flour on, or around, vulnerable plants. When the pests then try to feed on them, the flour gums up in their mouths and makes it harder to continue feeding on the plant.
In other cases, flour can dry out pests' bodies and dehydrate them, much the same as diatomaceous earth (you can purchase diatomaceous earth from Amazon).
However, it isn't just a case of chucking loads of flour on your plants. This often does more harm than good. Instead, you should follow a few rules when trying this hack.
How to Use Flour to Deter Garden Pests
If you're planning to use flour to deter garden pests, you should proceed carefully.
Just like using spices to deter garden pests, putting a thick layer of flour on plant leaves can block plant pores, known as stomata, which can inhibit essential processes like photosynthesis and stunt growth.
Not only this, but leaving flour on foliage can encourage the development of powdery mildew and mold as it gets wet and turns into a paste.
As food, it can also attract rodents, ants, and other unwanted pests to your yard.
So to avoid these issues, you should only use flour to deter garden pests as a short-term solution.
Lightly sprinkle flour on the plant that is being attacked, let it do it's thing, and then wash it away a day or two later. You can use a watering can with a rose spout (like this from Wayfair) to gently rinse the leaves.
You can also create a flour boundary around plants to form a physical barrier that stops pests in their tracks. Once again, you should take care to remove this once the pest problem subsides, as it can attract unwanted backyard visitors and encourage fungal issues.
Shop Pest Control Solutions
These marigolds can be used to repel pests, thanks to their scent and chemical compounds. Position them around vulnerable plants.
This peppermint insect repellent spray protects plants against the likes of aphids, flea beetles, slugs, and more.
You can use chili powder to deter garden pests like squirrels because they dislike the spicy capsaicin compound found in it.
There are so many more chemical-free ways to deter pests in your yard. For example, you can incorporate the scents garden pests hate and grow pest-repellent plants, such as these marigolds from Walmart.
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