I was recently digging around in my garden and discovered what looked like soap suds on a few leaves and stems of my strawberry plants.  Perplexed, I gave the old timer up the road a jingle.  He told me that he didn’t know what the hell I was talking about and cursed at me because I was interrupting his nap. Undeterred, I jumped on the internet and quickly learned that I have a case of spittlebugs.

Yes… spittlebugs.  The name itself made me want to bomb my garden.  However, since I was completely out of explosives, I figured I’d better find a gentler method of eradication.

I know gardening and bugs go hand-in-hand, but I simply do not like them… at all.  I’ve been known to practically rip all my clothes off in the middle of the yard because I thought there was a bug in my shirt.  My first reaction with any garden infestation is to burn the mother down.  Realizing that is an unrealistic response, my next step is to always look for organic solutions.

Most of the information I found reassured me that spittlebugs are relatively harmless if there isn’t a big infestation and that the easiest way to remove them was to blast them off with the hose.  So, I spent the afternoon washing my strawberry plants and giving them a good spray of neem oil, which is a natural pesticide. Hopefully, this will control the disgusting little buggers so I don’t have to get naked in the garden because I have a spittlebug in my bra.

NATURAL INSECTICIDAL SPRAY

• 1 tablespoon pure neem Oil (OrganicDews 100% Pure and Natural Neem Oil)
• 1 tablespoon castile soap ( Dr. Bronner’s Fair Trade and Organic Castile Liquid Soap – Unscented)
• 1 quart water

Mix well in a spray bottle.  Treat plants during the early morning or late evening to avoid burning the leaves.  Be sure to spray both sides of the leaves.  Before you spray the entire plant, you should test a small area of the plant and wait 24 hours and then check for any damage.