Homemade Organic Fungicides and Bug Repellants

If you are growing your own herbs for teas or spices or for natural home remedies, it is important to keep your plants healthy and protected from those little pests that like to destroy your hard work.

Since we are working toward keeping everything eco-friendly and healthy, that last thing we want to use on our plants are chemical sprays.

If you are going to use a commercial pesticide for your plants, ensure that it is organic in composition. If you want to stick to the format of home remedies and making things yourself, below are a few popular home concotions that will get the job done.

The following ingredients should be mixed in a spray bottle so that the solutions can be sprayed directly onto your plants to control fungus and disease:

Hydrogen Peroxide Spray: Mix 1 tablespoon per gallon of water.

Oil and Baking Soda Spray: 1/2 tablespoon of baking soda and 1/4 teaspoon of cooking oil mixed in a quart of warm water.

Listerine Spray: 1 teaspoon of Listerine mixed into a quart of warm water.

The above sprays should be applied to your plants every ten days. It will help with the disease and fungus problems.

To help control insects, use the following recipes:

Insects can be controlled with a solution of soap and cooking oil. Mix 1/2 teaspoon of dishwashing liquid and a 1/4 teaspoon of cooking oil into a quart of warm water. Spray the underside and top of all the leaves. This will help stop most of the common pests that love to destroy your plants.

The spray should be applied every 10 days.

Insecticide Garlic Spray:

Ingredients: 1 Garlic Bulb, 2 Cups Water, 1 Gallon Water

To make take an entire garlic bulb and two cups of water and blend in blender. Mix at high speed for 1-2 minutes. Pour mixture into a container and set it aside for up to one day. Strain the liquid through a cheese cloth. Mix the liquid with one gallon of water. Apply liberally on top and bottom of leaves.

Tomato Leaf Insecticide:

Ingredients: 1 oz. tomato leaves; 1 quart water

Take one ounce of tomato leaves and add to one quart of water and blend thoroughly. Strain the resulting liquid and use to repel insects. This works well on white cabbage butterflies too.

There are hundreds of natural insecticides and fungicides that work just as well as their toxic chemical counterparts. So why use chemicals?


Charles

Drying Your Herbs

A simple process which takes us back in time is the technique our mothers and grandmothers used. They would use attic rafters or a back room on the north side of the house to dry their herbs. Their home was their work place and every possible space was used. All that was needed was an area with low light and an opened window for ventilation. Air conditioning, if available, was a bonus because it sped up the drying process by removing humidity.

Leaves should be dried while on the stems. Bundle your material and wrap a string around the bottom of the stems and then hang them upside down for drying. The bundles should be small for faster drying time and can be hung from rafters or on the wall using push pins. Large bundles take longer to dry and can collect a lot of dust or can become moldy.

Another method is to place the plant material loosely in a paper sack into which a good number of holes have been punched in the sides for ventilation. Tie the top with a string and hang to dry. This serves to keep the dust from the plant material and allows for something suitable for labeling.

Attach an identification tag on your materials that are drying so that you can identify them later. Some herbs can look the same once they have been dried.

Another great idea for drying small amounts of material is to place it into a wicker style basket that has been lined with paper towels. The basket can be placed on a table out of direct sunlight. The material should be fluffed every now and then to prevent settling.

Once dried, leaves are easily removed by stripping them from the stems. Sometimes you may have to grind the stems along with the leaves, such as the case with thyme. It can be tedious to strip its tiny leaves, so the dried stems and leaves are both ground for use. Try it both ways and see which you prefer.

To harvest seeds, such as dill, place a paper bag over the seed head, then snip from the plant. You should attempt to get the seeds just before they have turned completely dark, and they are still attached to the plant. Once they begin falling, they go rather quickly. If a few seeds fall from the head when it is gently tapped, then it is time to harvest.

Another method of drying a lot of material at one time is to do it in an electric oven. If your oven can maintain a temperature between 80-90 deg. F, then you can dry your herbs on a cookie sheet. I do not prefer this method because of the cost involved of running an electric oven. But, if you need to dry a lot of material quickly, then this method may be for you. The herb is dry and ready for storage when the leaves crackle between your fingers.

Ideally, you should invest in a dehydrator if you plan to store a great many herbs. This is almost essential for roots. Cut the roots into small pieces, or sliced thin. It also makes the whole harvest ready for storage in a very short time. Try to get one that will operate without heat or has a thermostat.

After approximately one year, dried herbs begin to lose their potency and flavor, so they should be replaced by a fresh harvest every year. Some herbs can last longer than one year. Most herbs can be placed in plastic bags and fresh frozen. Basil will develop a dark color, but the taste will be unaffected.

Charles

Metabolic Syndrome Management

Body Composition and Markers of Metabolic Health Improvement from Internet-based Program

A cluster of risk factors for diabetes and cardiovascular disease is known as Metabolic syndrome.

Abdominal obesity, elevated blood pressure, atherogenic dyslipidemia and insulin resistance or intolerance to glucose are a few of these risk factor. As the rates of overweight and obesity increase, metabolic syndrome becomes more common.

In August 2009 a research was published in the Obesity and Weight Management journal confirming the effectiveness of a lifestyle changing program, which is hosted on the internet, that supports the improvement in cardiovascular and metabolic health.

The study consisted of a 12 week online intervention program that studied sixty individuals with metabolic syndrome. Tests were taken before, during and after the 12week program.

The Healthy for Life program was conducted, via the internet, and involved using standard weight loss tools, to include meal replacements, low-glycemic diets, behavioral change strategies, and self-monitoring.

USANA Health Sciences supplied the meal replacement shakes, pharmaceutical grade nutritional supplements, and snack bars used in this program study.

Results of the intervention program:

1. Average weight loss- 5.4%
2. Fasting insulin reduced to 32.3%
3. Insulin sensitivity increased to 31.6%
4. Improvement on triglycerides, total cholesterol, and blood pressure
5. Nearly half the subjects no longer met the criteria for metabolic syndrome

This study shows that an internet-based lifestyle change program can and does result in meaningful weight loss, as well as, improved cardiovascular health in overweight people with metabolic syndrome.

The researchers noted that given the need for strategies to help large numbers of obese individuals achieve weight loss, these results are significant.

(Source: Wyatt, et al. Successful internet-based lifestyle change program on body weight and markers of metabolic health. Obesity and Weight Management 2009 August; 5(4): 150-153.)

Charles