We don’t want to use chemicals on plants or at home that we may end up eating or breathing and it’s better to use Natural Pest Control. Let’s make some Orange Peel Pesticide from food scraps to keep your garden and your home safe from bugs!
How to Make Orange Peel Pesticide
You can eliminate bugs by use pesticides which are expensive and harmful to the environment. Thankfully, there are natural ways that you can repel pests from plants and add added benefits to your kitchen garden.
One natural way of reducing pests is the use of orange peels in your garden. Although, oranges have many benefits to the human body that include boosting immunity. They may not react the same way to animals and pests. Oranges are part of the citrus family and, to some insects, they act as repellants due to the scent they produce.
Orange peels are cheaper and friendly to the environment. Sweet orange contains two main properties that enable it to repel insects. They include limonene which you find from its peels and zest. Limonene is a compound found in pesticides and, it is one of the ingredients in several commercial insect repellants.
Which Bugs Do Orange Peels Repel?
Oranges contain limonene which is found in the rind and is a natural insect repellent. Citrus peels contain the extra pest killer linalool, also obtained by extracting oil from the rind. Pests hate limonene and linalool and will avoid areas treated with them. While it may not kill adult fleas, limonene does paralyze them. A good washing will destroy the unsuspecting fleas.
Limonene is derived from the orange peels and, it repels several insects that include flies, fire ants, and fleas. Once limonene comes into contact with the insects its suffocates them. If you are having problems with mosquitoes, you try to place orange peels in your garden to repel them or apply them on your skin to avoid mosquito bites.
How Do You Use Orange Peel as Pesticide?
Make a Sweet Orange Pesticide Garden Spray
DIY Orange Pesticide Ant Spray
To repel ants, you will need to soak orange peels in white vinegar for two weeks. Make sure you have soaked it in an airtight jar. After two weeks, strain or pick out the the orange peels.Then pour the water into a spray bottle and spray where the ants are or pour on affected areas.
Mosquitos
Mosquitoes don’t like the scent of the orange peels and, it repels them and the oils extracted from orange peels could be an effective mosquito-control techinique. Another advantage is that using orange peel extract may help kill mosquito larvae which is a plus as it does two things at once. Lastly, you can rub the orange peels onto your skin to avoid mosquito bites.
Create Slug Traps
Slugs are notorious for feasting on plants like lettuce, spinach, strawberries, and cabbage. Slugs are responsible for holes in these plants. So how do you keep the slugs off your garden? You can create a slug trap.
Slugs love moist areas and avoid the scorching heat during the day. They feed on plants during the night when it’s cool and, there is no sun. You can place a fresh orange peel near your plant and let it stay overnight.
Check the orange peel in the morning and, you will find slugs hiding under it to protect themselves from the sun. Scoop them out using the orange peel. Repeat this daily to avoid them from destroying your vegetables.
Orange peels are effective in repelling bugs and pests. They are friendly to the environment, budget-friendly, and at the same time, can add a fresh sweet lovely scent to your home. Are you having problems with pests in your garden? Try an orange peel spray and confirm for yourself whether it works.
Other Pesticide Posts
How to Make Your Own Homemade Pesticide Spray
How to Use Essential Oils for Pest Control
