Forest Service trail crews originally used this, and it was adapted for milking goats as well.
This next concoction is horse repellant.
1 oz citronella oil
2 oz Skin-so-Soft or Coat-so-Soft
1 cup cider vinegar
1 cup water
20 oz spray bottle
You can also add a couple of tablespoons of garlic powder (NOT garlic salt) to their feed a month before fly season, or 1/4-1/2 cup apple cider vinegar (depending on size) to feed. The vinegar has been reported to help prevent entroliths in places where horses are prone to them (mostly in the west).
Repel garden pests with companion planting
Recently, while innocently hunting mushrooms, I was viciously attacked by a poison oak bush. We can skip the gory details of the next week: the part about looking like raw hamburger and not being able to sleep. The point is that now, when I suspect there is poison oak nearby, I get as far from it as I possibly can. And that, my friend, is how repellent plants work.
The mystery of companion planting has fascinated gardeners for hundreds of years, and only now are scientists beginning to give the subject serious study. Of course. their first action was
to give the study of chemical interactions between plants an unpronounceable name; they call it allelochemics. Why didn't we think of that? Gardeners just call it companion planting and are content to know that it works. There are several different reasons for choosing specific companion plants:
You can plant to increase the health and vigor of your crops. You can plant to get more plants into less space. And you can plant to repel or attract insects. Repellent plants are those that discourage harmful pests. Or, as in the case of poison oak, they can discourage people. Among the vegetables there simply aren't many repellent plants. Let's face it, veggies like everyone, even flea beetles and slugs. Among the herbs and flowers, however, there are some real tough guys.
Herb gardens are becoming popular as more people realize how easy herbs are to grow. Rather than planting them all together, try scattering them around the garden where they can help with pest management. Have you noticed that herbs rarely have slug or insect damage? The trick is to plant
herbs where the pests they repel are likely to be.
If bean beetles are having three-martini lunches in your snap beans, plant summer savory with the beans. Then throw a few sprigs in the pot when you cook the beans; savory enhances their flavor.
Onions, garlic, chives, leeks, shallots -just reciting the names of the onion family can affect your breath. These are the most powerful of all repellent plants, and should be a part of the defensive arsenal of every organic grower. The most commonly used repellent is garlic, which repels everything from aphids to neighbors. It is especially useful planted around roses to
discourage aphids and red spider mites. Roses are the focus of more poisonous sprays and dust than any other flower, but you can have beautiful roses without poisons. Clumps of garlic chives planted around and among your rose bushes are both attractive and repellent. They please the eye with delicate white blossoms while repelling red spider mites and aphids. They are nearly as
effective as garlic, and much better behaved. Though it has not yet been scientifically proven, it appears that members of the onion family exude a chemical from their roots that helps to
prevent black spot.
Chives and garlic chives can be started from seed in the spring, but they're very slow starters. It's easier to divide and replant clumps. Pick up a pot of chives at your local nursery. Once you have a single clump of chives, you can propagate all you'll ever want or need. Scatter clumps of chives, onion sets, and garlic cloves throughout your garden. Those you don't eat will come back even stronger next year. Unlike commercially grown garlic, which has usually spent weeks in storage and under lights before reaching your table, homegrown garlic, harvested as you need it, is never hot or bitter. Marigolds are among my favorite repellent herbs. They exude a chemical
from their roots that discourages the growth of harmful nematodes. Nematodes are nasty microscopic worms that damage or destroy the roots of many crops. Marigolds also repel Mexican bean beetles from snap beans and improve the health of strawberries and potatoes. It's the small, aromatic French marigolds that repel pests; the tall. odorless plants, such as "Crackerjack,"
are not effective. The chemical in marigolds that repels nematodes is very slow to release, so grow marigolds every year and in as many areas as possible.
Recent studies have found the incidence of nematodes was cut by 83% where marigolds had been growing for at least one full season. Catnip repels flea beetles, but, being a mint, it is both perennial and invasive. Plant it in a pot buried in the center of a large bed. Plant potatoes
around the catnip, and scatter a few small pots of the herb around the bed. If you have cats that enjoy the catnip, their presence may help to repel gophers, a pest unaffected by catnip.
Both potatoes and the Chinese cabbage bok choy are favorite foods of the flea beetle, and they work well in rotation. After digging potatoes, scatter bok choy seeds around the catnip as a fall crop. Bok choy is easy to start, and once started, will self-seed in mild climates.
Another fine garden ally is coriander, also called cilantro. This strongly scented herb not only repels aphids, but grown among carrots, will protect them from the carrot rust fly.
Rhubarb is a beautiful plant that's not grown as often as it deserves to be these days. People think of it only as an old-fashioned pie ingredient, but plant it with columbine to repel red
spider mites or near potatoes where it will exude a root substance that improves the health and productivity of the potatoes.
Rue is a beautiful herb with bluegreen fronds and a bitter taste and smell. Plant it in flower beds where it will complement bright colors and repel Japanese beetles. If you have dogs, put rue leaves in their bedding to repel fleas.
Feverfew is one of my favorite herbs, and I scatter it around the garden with a liberal hand. It has repellent properties, grows easily, and makes a fine filler flower in bouquets. Barely a foot and a half tall, with finely sculpted foliage, it makes a fine border plant to grow around roses.
Feverfew can be started from seed in the spring or grown from cuttings or root divisions. It even self-seeds readily. If you're interested in exploring the use of medicinal herbs, all good herbals abound with recipes for this excellent, safe herb.
Some plants both repel damaging insects and attract beneficial ones. Parsley discourages carrot flies and provides a favorite home for ladybugs. Borage is another double-duty herb. It repels
the tomato hornworm while attracting bees. Borage is an easily-grown self-seeder, often found growing wild. In our garden, we permit at least a dozen scattered borage seedlings to grow each year. They can get large and weedy, but they provide food for the bees both earlier and later in the year than most other plants.
Repelling insects makes much more sense than poisoning them along with bees, spiders, ladybugs, your vegetables, and your soil. Companion planting is not an exact science, so do some experimenting on your own. Most of what has been learned about repellent plants has been learned not by scientists, but by observant gardeners and farmers. There is still so much to be learned, and it's a field wide open to anyone who has a genuine interest and the ability to keep good records.
As long as you're experimenting with herbs, plant plenty of valerian. Being rich in phosphorus, it adds to the vigor of plants grown near it. And if the strain of trying to decide which plants should be together gets to you, cut a piece of valerian root and make yourself a nice cup of tea.
Valerian is the precursor to Valium. It has all of the calmative and muscle relaxant properties, with none of the adverse side effects.
