Fighting Aphids: The 10 Most Effective Home Remedies

Last updated on October 23rd, 2023 at 08:51 pm

Aphids are a plague that can infest and damage plants in the garden, or even in the room, especially in spring. However, to get rid of aphids you do not have to resort to chemical or highly toxic means. The aphids can also be driven away with simple home remedies. Which home remedies are suitable to fight the aphids you will learn in the following article.

First, however, you should realize that the best way to avoid having aphids in your garden in the first place is to keep your plants healthy. This is because aphids attack mainly sickly plants, which offer enough attack surface. The most important home remedy for not having aphids in the first place is to have healthy plants.

For this, you should make sure that you do not have a monoculture in the garden. Even if for aesthetic reasons it seems better for you to plant your favorite plants predominantly, you should still ensure variety. Because only with variety you can build a healthy and natural garden.

Inside the home, humidity is also a big influencing factor. Especially in winter, the dry air is responsible for the fact that the plants are doing badly. Ventilate the rooms regularly and also bring in the fertilizer in the best possible way. Refrain from using fertilizers with too much nitrogen, as this can also be harmful to the plants in higher doses.

However, if the aphids have already infested the plants, then it is best to resort to means that you already have in the household. Now follow the best home remedies against aphids

1 Curd soap

Curd soap is one of the most famous home remedies in the fight against aphids. However, make sure that the soap is really free of any fragrances or dyes. These substances can be harmful to plants in the worst case. Natural soap should therefore be avoided, as it often contains additives that are unsuitable for plants. The conventional curd soap is already better suited.

To fight the aphids now with the home remedy, you should rub about 50 grams of the lubricating or curd soap in warm water. After a while, the soap will have completely dissolved in the water and you will have created a natural mixture with which you can drive the aphids away from the plants.

Now pour the mixture into a suitable spray bottle and spray it on the plants that are infested with aphids. However, here you should make sure that not only the top of the plants are sprayed, but also the bottom. This is because aphids are flexible in this regard and can be on both sides.

By spraying, the aphids are partly carried by the water jet already from the plants. Since the aphids are not very mobile, you can no longer return to the plants. The soap also ensures that the aphids do not find a foothold on the plants and simply slip off. However, afterwards you should clean the soil from the aphids and dispose of them.

2 Nettle decoction as a home remedy against aphids

Nettle has long ceased to be considered a weed or a pest. It not only has positive effects for humans, but can also be useful in many areas in the garden. In humans, for example, intestinal diseases can be alleviated and in the garden the nettle is suitable as fertilizer.

But also in the fight against aphids nettle is a suitable helper. You can find the nettles either in your own garden or on open meadows. Where you take the nettles from is irrelevant, the effect is the same.

To combat aphids, you should make a decoction from the nettle plants. For this purpose, collect a sufficiently large amount of nettles. Here the motto is that you should definitely collect more nettles, because here the decoction will be more intense, of course. Pack the nettles in a bucket and fill it up with tap water.

Let the decoction stand for a few days in a shady place. This has the advantage that the active ingredients are transferred to the brew, but the fermentation process does not start.

Filter the decoction with a sieve and catch the pure nettle water. Now fill a spray bottle with the nettle decoction and spray the plants. The aphids will loathe this mixture and move away from the plants. Thus, you have made a good home remedy for the aphids.

3 The clove of garlic

Garlic has an unpleasant odor not only for humans. The smell is also annoying for other animals and organisms. The aphid feels the same way and with a little garlic you can affect their new plant home so that the aphid prefers to find a new home.

Especially in case of a very light infestation, treatment with the help of garlic is helpful. The smell protects the plants so that they are not attacked by the aphids in the first place.

However, you don’t have to rub garlic all over the plant or pollute the entire environment with the garlic smell. Stick a clove of garlic into the soil near the plant. Only a small tip should stick out of the soil. This is already enough that the smell has such a great signal effect that the aphids do not attack the plants in the first place, but look for another environment.

4 Oregano smell drives away aphids

Similar to garlic, the smell of oregano is extremely unpleasant for aphids. The smell is so intense that it drives away the aphids and effectively combats them.

So that the smell also develops its full effect you should boil a decoction and spray this over the plants. Here, however, you must distinguish whether you use fresh or dried oregano. With fresh oregano you should use about 100 grams, with dried about 10 grams.

Now add the oregano to about 1 liter of boiling water and let it steep for about 20 minutes. In the end, you will get a broth that is very fragrant and with which you can get to the aphids.

However, you still need to filter the broth with a sieve and dilute it a little with water. A mixing ratio of 3:1 seems ideal here.

Now you just need to spray the plants with the odorous mixture. Alternatively, you can use fresh oregano and sow it on the borders of the plants. The smell then represents a natural fence, which the aphids do not want to overcome in the first place.

5 fern leaves

Another natural home remedy can be made with the help of fern leaves. The basis here is either the bracken fern or worm fern. Take about a dozen leaves of the fern and make a decoction.

This is done by placing the leaves in a pot of water, covering it, and then letting it sit for about 24 hours. The fern has now released its active ingredients into the water. However, before spraying the mixture on the plants now, the water should be boiled for about half an hour.

After the half hour, the decoction must be carefully strained and the home remedy is ready, with which you can now spray the plants. Spray the affected plants daily until the aphids are completely gone.

However, be careful with the bracken. This is not only highly unpleasant for the aphids, but can also be toxic to humans. In particular, however, small pets or farm animals are exposed to danger. Thus, you should not simply leave the collected fern standing around in the open. Even larger farm animals, such as pigs, or cows may experience symptoms of poisoning if they eat the bracken. So be careful when handling bracken and only spray the plants that are infested with aphids.

6 milk

One food that should not be missing in any home is the milk. So, if you do not want to first go in search of ferns or other plants with which you can drive away the aphids, then you should try the milk.

The preparation of the mixture is also very simple. To do this, you should simply dilute the skim milk with water in a mixing ratio of 1:2. Put this mixture in a spray bottle, stir well and then spray the infested plants.

This should be done several times a day and in the best case the aphids are already gone after 2-4 days. Again, do not forget to spray well under the leaves as well.

Of course, spraying also works with low-fat milk. Here, however, a mixing ratio of 1:5 should be present.

An additional tip is to add one or two drops of lavender oil. The effect of the essential is very suitable to drive away not only aphids, but also mildew fungi. Thus, you can quite gently fight several types of pests at once.

7 Onion as a home remedy against aphids

Similar to garlic, onion also has a strong repellent effect on the aphids. So that the aphids really disappear, you should also make a decoction here.

The tip that you just have to stick some onion in the ground, analogous to garlic, unfortunately does not work here. Here you need to spend a little more time to make a decoction.

For the optimal brew, chop up about 40 grams of onion and add it to 5 liters of water. Boil the water and let it steep for about 3 hours. At the end you should sieve the mixture well and ready is the perfect defense against aphids.

The positive thing is that you should spray the mixture on the leaves only about every 10 days. So you can let some time pass after the first spraying, because the effect of the onion mixture lasts a long time. For example, compared to the onion, the milk mixture must be applied several times a day. So, if you have a relatively large garden and many plants, then the onion mixture is a much more efficient way to get rid of aphids.

Another positive side effect is that various fungal diseases are also treated with the onion water.

8 Planting savory

When it comes to odors, you do not necessarily have to resort to bad-smelling home remedies, such as garlic or the onion. Essential scents also do a great job of keeping aphids from infesting your plants.

The easiest way to protect your plants is to intersperse savory among them. This will prevent monoculture in your garden and the essential scents are ideal in the fight against aphids.

However, if aphids have already taken up residence on your plants, planting the savory will only help to a limited extent. In this case, the application of a brew is much better.

To do this, take a clump of the savory, boil it in water for an hour, and in the end you will need only a small amount of the brew. In fact, you need just one time 10 milliliters of the brew, which you mix with a liter of water.

Now spray this mixture on the plants and you will notice that savory is a good home remedy to fight aphids.

However, make sure that the mixture does not get on your skin. So, for spraying, you need long clothes and you are already protected from causing skin irritation. Special protective clothing is not necessary.

9 The all-purpose vinegar in the fight against aphids.

Vinegar is a true miracle weapon in the household. Not only can it be used for descaling or cleaning, it also works wonderfully against unwelcome aphids.

The advantage here is that, unlike many other home remedies against aphids, no decoction is made. So, the vinegar does not need to be heated, but its effect is also seen in the simple mixture with water.

To make the effective remedy, it is best to take a larger bucket. Here you can prepare a mixing ratio of 1:10. That is, in 10 liters of water, should be added 1 liter of the vinegar.

Mix the two liquids well and now water your plants with this vinegar mixture.

However, since the smell of the vinegar is quite unpleasant, this method is recommended only in the garden and outdoors. In addition, when watering tomato plants, make sure that they can dry quickly. Otherwise, there is a risk that leaf rot can quickly develop.

Moreover, as far as the type of vinegar is concerned, aphids are not very picky. Instead of using the expensive Italian vinegar as a home remedy against the aphids, you should resort to a rather inexpensive distilled vinegar. This is also convincing in its effect and the aphids should disappear after a very short time.

10 potato water to drive away aphids

Have you just boiled up some potatoes and do not know where to put the water? Then you should not just throw it away, but give it to your plants if they are infested with aphids.

To do this, simply take the cooled water and spray this on your infested plants. The potato water does not need to be further diluted or otherwise treated, but can directly develop its effect in this natural way.

Responsible for this is the active ingredient solanine, which is present in the potato water. This treatment is particularly suitable for roses, which have been attacked by aphids.

Do you still have hot potato water can also be used as a weed killer in smaller beds.

Thus, potato water is a very versatile home remedy that is not only effective against aphids, but also has other benefits.

These home remedies are ineffective

Unfortunately, not all home remedies are equally effective against aphids. Some remedies work more indirectly, such as the stinging nettle decoction, which was presented here, by strengthening the plants.

Other home remedies, however, which are touted are completely ineffective. These include wormwood liquid manure, which may irritate the aphids, but in no way kills them or drives them away from the plants. In contrast, however, wormwood tea is actually known to be an effective home remedy against aphids.

Also, when choosing a home remedy, pay attention to whether there is already an acute infestation, or only the first few aphids are to be controlled. Not every home remedy is suitable for a heavy infestation and in these cases you should resort to other remedies against aphids.