Repelling aphids with lemon juice

I love using home-spun potions in my garden. They’re cheaper than sprays from the garden centre, and they are normally far better for the ecosystem in the garden as well. This cheeky little lemon spray will send the pesky aphids in your garden running for the hills.

I picked this idea up from Tom Brown, the head gardener at Parham, who sprays all the plants in his potager with citrus juice and garlic. The citrus kills off aphids, while the garlic repels slugs, and discourages any aphids from crawling back again.

Here’s how to make it:

Ingredients
2 large lemons
3 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon of crushed chillis
1.2 litres of boiling water

1. Grate the zest from the lemons and add to a pan of boiling water, along with the chilli flakes.

2. Slice the lemons thinly and crush the garlic cloves and add to the pan. Cover and simmer for half an hour.

3. Leave to cool and decant into a spray bottle. Spray liberally over plants affected by aphids.

I tend to use natural insecticides like this as a last resort. A well-managed organic garden should provide plenty of natural predators for aphids, such as ladybirds and parasitic wasps. But every once in a while, you need to wheel out the big guns in order to protect your crops.

I’m so glad that I’ve made this spray as the blackfly infestation on some of my broad bean plants was getting out of hand. Although platoons of ladybirds and their larvae are managing the colonies very effectively on some of the plants, I’ve had to resort to this rather more heavy-handed organic approach on others to stand any chance of clearing the squatters.

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5 Responses

Garden Me July 23, 2010

I had great succes with soap+water against green aphids on my rose - killed the population completely. Will probably try lemon if I have to spray edible plants

Reply
Ashley Hathaway July 4, 2012

Thanks so much for your help. Do you mind if I share this to the class? This would help a lot for our Investigatory Project on “Garlic Spray to Repel Aphids”. Thanks again and happy gardening

~AHJS<3

Reply
- F&F July 7, 2012
  
  Of course Ashley - you are very welcome!
  
  Reply
Maryom July 30, 2012

We usually use soap and water but if this helps discourage slugs as well, it has to be worth trying.

Reply
Julia B July 30, 2012

Yes - does this actually work on broad beans. I have spent hours and hours wiping the blackfly off with a damp cloth. What insects should I be encouraging apart from ladybirds? And do you know what the ants do?

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