From kitchen to garden: Innovative eco‑friendly solutions against onion pests

Onion is an excellent addition to many dishes and can wonderfully enhance the flavour of many meals. Moreover, it has numerous health benefits—it acts as an antibacterial agent and protects the heart against diseases. It is also known that onions from your garden taste the best. Here, we suggest home methods to protect the vegetable from pests and fungi.

With increasing awareness of the importance of protecting the natural environment, we increasingly choose ecological plant protection products. This has a positive effect not only on nature but also on our health and the health of our families.

Many of the plant protection products for the garden can be prepared on our own, using ingredients that we can easily find in our kitchen. By doing this, not only do we save money, but we also take care of our health. How to prepare mixtures that will be useful in the fight against pests and fungi? We suggest.

Unfortunately, all onion varieties are susceptible to a common fungus - powdery mildew. You can find many products in stores that will handle the problem, but first, let's try home methods.

One very effective mixture can be made using milk. Prepare a solution of milk and water in a 1:5 ratio and spray it on the onions. Remember to do it very thoroughly and repeat the operation after ten days. Interestingly, the mixture will act not only on the fungus but also on bacteria.

Another very effective method that positively affects the protection of onions is a homemade spray made of baking soda. How to make it? Just dissolve a teaspoon of baking soda in about 2 litres of water and add to this solution 5-6 ml of liquid castile soap.

Then, mix everything well and spray the mixture on the vegetables. As a preventive measure, use such a mixture once a week, and if the fungus has already appeared, repeat the operation every 3-4 days.

Another equally effective way to fight fungus and pests is to use banana peels. Dry them in the oven, crush them, sprinkle the resulting powder under the plants, and then water them. This will not only protect the onions from fungus but also provide them with essential nutrients—nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus.