Food-friendly insecticide

By mudlark • February 2nd, 2008

What do you do to control bugs and little critters on your vegetable garden? Are you ready for this? (Drum roll please…) Rhubarb!

Rhubarb leaf tea, that is. Next time you buy some rhubarb to make your fantastic strawberry-rhubarb pie, don’t discard the leaves. Put them in a pot of water, boil them for about 10 minutes, then leave the pot to cool. Now discard the leaves, but put the ‘tea’ into a spray bottle and apply it to your plants! It’ll keep the pests away but keep your garden chemical-free and food-safe.

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Comments(8) Organics, Outdoors

Comments

By Lara on February 2nd, 2008 at 5:46 pm

I’ll have to remember that! We have rhubarb growing in abundance here in MN!

By Kathy Porter on February 2nd, 2008 at 8:06 pm

Thanks, that is helpful we are in the process of buying a house and we plan on putting in a garden and like you we don’t like to use chemicals especially around our baby. Again many thanks!!

By AJ in AZ on February 3rd, 2008 at 12:46 pm

What a great idea! Where did you find it?

By Joy on February 11th, 2008 at 6:30 pm

Interesting! I’m will try that for some of my indoor plants…I’ve got a few little ‘cotton ball’ aphids on a few of them this winter. Thanks for the tip!

By Deb on May 22nd, 2008 at 12:15 pm

I will try watering my turnips and radish with this tea and will let you know the results. I am a little concerned though because rhubarb leaves are known to be toxic. Any concern there?

By mudlark on May 23rd, 2008 at 7:00 pm

Rhubarb has Oxalic Acid in it and that’s where the toxicity comes from. In trace amounts (like you’d get from using the tea on your vegetable garden), it’s harmless. It’s also found in other things we eat, so our bodies can certainly handle it in moderate amounts. I would not recommend replacing your 6-8 cups of water daily with rhubarb tea, nor would I give the tea to our furry friends or use it to fill the goldfish tank. But your turnips and radishes will be fine – in fact they’ll probably like the reprieve they get from pesky critters!

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