[saltmarsh]

Finally, something safe, fairly inexpensive, and organic that kills the bloody things.

Rosemary Tea

To make 2 liters of tea you will need:

2 liters of water

1/8 cup of Rosemary leaves (a typical coffee measuring spoon)

1 teaspoon molasses

1/2 teaspoon Palmolive Orange dishwashing liquid

Put the water and Rosemary leaves in a nonreactive pot and bring to a boil covered. Reduce heat to a slow boil and boil for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool. When the tea has cooled, strain and pour half of the tea into a 2 litre drink bottle. Add the molasses to the drink bottle. Shake well to disolve the molasses (it will foam. allow foam to dissipate). Finish straining tea into bottle. Add dishwashing liquid.

To use. Pour into a sprayer, hand or tank, spray full strength onto bugs. This is best done early in the morning or late in the afternoon when they are less active.

I'm testing this on their eggs also, but don't know the results yet. I'll update with those results later.

I originally made this tea for use on Spider Mites. The problem is I don't have any Spider Mites to test this on. So help me out on this one. If you have Spider Mites make some of the tea, spray the foliage where the Spider Mites are and repeat every 3 days and let me know the results.

The recipe is scalable for larger amounts. To make 3 gallons at a time, use 3 gallons of water, 3/4 cup of Rosemary leaves (fresh or dried are equivalent), 2 tablespoons of molasses, and 1 tablespoon of dishwashing liquid. Give it time to cool, don't try to work with hot liquids. Claud