Black Pepper Uses in the Garden

Gardening Tip of the Day

Regular black pepper found in almost every kitchen spice cabinet can be very useful in gardens as a pest repellent. Black pepper contains piperine, the substance that imparts the heat to pepper. The Journal of Economic Entomology has published articles where test results showed that piperine was toxic to various insect pests.

Lightly sprinkling black pepper around plants can help to deter most small animals such as rabbits, squirrels, cats, dogs, and others. The pepper will also help to discourage cats from using freshly-tilled soil as a litter box. Don’t overdo the pepper as a large amount of pepper is an irritant to earthworms.

Black pepper will also repel ants, aphids and other crawling insects. Ants, in particular, use scent trails so the pepper will throw off the scent for the ants.

A fine dusting of pepper on leaves of plants helps to repel slugs, snails, cucumber beetles, and other pests that chew on plant leaves.

Alternatively, a liquid pepper spray can be mixed and sprayed onto the plants. Simply mix 2 to 3 teaspoons of black pepper in 4 cups of warm water. Steep for a few hours or overnight. Add approximately a fourth teaspoon of dish soap and mix. Then strain through a cheesecloth or coffee filter, pour into a spray bottle, and spray plant leaves.

Damping off, a fungal disease caused by fungus and bacteria that attacks seedlings at the soil line can also be prevented by sprinkling pepper around the young plants.

The black pepper will need to be reapplied after heavy watering and rains, or high winds.

Click here for a great assortment of black pepper at Amazon.