Whole Food Home

Food, Health and Beauty for a Real Home

  • Home
  • About
  • Recipes
    • Quick Light Bites
    • Breakfast
    • Lunch
    • Dinner
    • Desserts
  • Beauty
  • Gardening
  • Homemade Gifts
  • Contact

Tomato Leaf Homemade Pest Control Spray

July 1, 2016 by Sara 7 Comments

An easy Homemade Pest Control Spray to make from unwanted tomato plant prunings and perfect for an organic garden..

Maybe it’s because I’m naturally frugal, but I’ve never been very happy about pinching out the side-shoots on young tomato plants and just throwing them away. If you want lots more tomato plants, you can always use them to Multiply Your Tomato Plants and of course your compost heap will always happily convert them into next season’s compost. But using them to make a Tomato Leaf Pest Control Spray is the perfect solution; both money saving and problem solving!

Tomato leaf pest spray

 

It’s quite obvious that the tomato plant has a natural resistance to bugs, as they never seem to get nibbled at all. It turns out that those pesky little pests aren’t as simple as they look, and they have a very good reason to be cautious.

As members of the nightshade family, tomato plants contain toxic compounds called alkaloids in their leaves. When the leaves are chopped and steeped in water, they release these alkaloids making a very effective repellent that is both toxic to aphids and other leaf eating insects but completely safe for us and other beneficial bugs like bees and ladybirds..

Tomato Leaf Pest Spray

 

Harnessing the natural defence mechanisms of the tomato plant in this way will not kill anything, just make the plants you want to protect seem less attractive, and effectively persuade the pests to relocate.

To make tomato leaf homemade pest control spray:

  • Collect the leaves to make the spray when you’re pinching out the unwanted side shoots, or stripping off the lower leaves of your tomato plants.
  • Just soak one to two cups of chopped tomato leaves in two cups of water.
  • Let it steep overnight.
  • To make the spray, strain the leaves from the water using a fine sieve. Add another one to two cups of water to the liquid and add it to a spray bottle.
  • Spray the leaves of the infested plant with the spray, paying special attention to the undersides of foliage, since that is where aphids most commonly congregate.
  • If you have a stubborn aphid problem, you could add a couple of chopped garlic cloves and 2 drops of dish soap to the steeping solution. This 3 Ingredient Anti Aphid Spray remedy can be even more effective, but do be very careful to avoid any beneficial bugs such as bees and ladybirds.

Caution: While this spray is very safe for humans, if you are allergic to members of the nightshade family, it might be best to avoid this recipe and try this other simple 3 Ingredient Anti-Pest Spray

 

 

Related Posts

  • How To Multiply Your Tomato PlantsHow To Multiply Your Tomato Plants
  • DIY Organic Neem Oil Garden SprayDIY Organic Neem Oil Garden Spray
  • Things To Do With Used Tea bagsThings To Do With Used Tea bags
  • Simple 3 Ingredient Organic Pest Spray – Natural Kitchen Garden RemediesSimple 3 Ingredient Organic Pest Spray – Natural Kitchen Garden Remedies

Filed Under: Gardening Tagged With: Natural Kitchen Garden Remedies, Tomatoes

« Chinese Style Pork Spare Ribs
Easy Courgette Fridge Pickles »

Comments

  1. Kory says

    August 29, 2018 at 10:13 pm

    Boil the water then add to leaves?

    Reply
    • Sara says

      September 21, 2018 at 6:06 pm

      Yes, just add the boiling water to the leaves in a large screw top jar and allow to steep over night.

      Reply
  2. kris brown says

    July 9, 2018 at 1:29 pm

    ???????????????

    Reply
  3. Linda says

    March 16, 2017 at 2:18 pm

    Thank you for all these wonderful natural pest control recipes. I’ll be trying them out very soon.

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Pests And Pest Control Of Tomatos - Critters Gone says:
    April 17, 2018 at 3:30 pm

    […] Tomato Leaf Homemade Pest Control Spray – Whole Food Home – Jul 1, 2016. But using them to make a Tomato Leaf Pest Control Spray is the perfect solution; both money saving and problem solving! Tomato leaf pest spray. It's quite obvious that the tomato plant has a natural resistance to bugs, as they never seem to get nibbled at all. It turns out that those pesky little pests aren't as. […]

    Reply
  2. 10 Common Garden Pests—and Natural Pesticides to Keep Them Away – The Ethical Feed says:
    January 30, 2018 at 5:56 pm

    […] Tomato Leaves Spray – The alkaloids in this nightshade’s leaves repel leaf eaters and aphids, naturally! […]

    Reply
  3. 10 Common Garden Pests—and Natural Pesticides to Keep Them Away - Eco Warrior Princess says:
    January 30, 2018 at 12:20 pm

    […] Tomato Leaves Spray – The alkaloids in this nightshade’s leaves repel leaf eaters and aphids, naturally! […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Hi, I’m Sara

Welcome to Whole Food Home where I'll be sharing whole food, homemade recipes with a few all important healthy treats too to make every day seem special. And watch out for my DIY natural beauty tips and easy gift ideas - all pure and simple.
Pinterest Pinterest Pinterest Pinterest Pinterest

Search this site

Pinterest
This error message is only visible to WordPress admins

Error: No connected account.

Please go to the Instagram Feed settings page to connect an account.

How to make more tomato plants

How To Multiply Your Tomato Plants

Time To Make Your Christmas Cake - Get ahead with your Christmas preparations.

Time To Make Your Christmas Cake!

One good Chicken 3 Dinners

One Good Chicken Makes Three Great Dinners

Categories

Pinterest Pinterest Pinterest Pinterest Pinterest
One good Chicken 3 Dinners
Healthy homemade marzipan
homemade orangecello
Time To Make Your Christmas Cake - Get ahead with your Christmas preparations.
Homemade Christmas pudding
organic homegrown vegetable

The posts on Whole Food Home may contain affiliate links for your convenience

Copyright © 2021 · Foodie Pro Theme by Shay Bocks · Built on the Genesis Framework · Powered by WordPress