Among the useful products for the natural defense of the garden is tomato macerate, an insecticide that can be made for free and in a very simple way. This mash can be useful in countering the threat of aphids and cabbage without resorting to chemicals. The tomato contains solanine, a toxic substance that the plant produces to defend itself against parasites and fungal spores. The green parts, especially the leaves, are rich in it. As the fruit ripens, it loses much of this toxin and the tomato becomes edible.
Solanine is not suitable for human consumption but it has the excellent characteristic of being harmful to the organism of various insects, so it is possible to obtain a natural insecticide from tomato. To take advantage of the antiparasitic properties of solanine, let the tomato leaves macerate in water, thus obtaining a very useful liquid to defend the garden with an organic method.
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How to prepare the mash
The self-production of tomato macerate is very simple, the basic indications are those explained in the article on how to prepare a vegetable macerate. This is to put the leaves and the stem of the tomato plant soaked in water, possibly rainwater. The ideal container is ceramic, but you can get by with a plastic container. Parts that were removed during the deflagration, which would otherwise be discarded, can be used.
Dosage . The correct dose to obtain an effective insecticide is approximately 250/300 grams of plant per liter of water. Once macerated, I do not recommend using the fruits, as they have a lower concentration of useful substance and therefore are not very effective.
Time. If you start macerating whole leaves and stems, it is best to wait four or five days before the preparation is ready. If we want to speed up the process, we can grind the parts of the plant and in a few days our insecticide can be used.
Use of tomato macerate
Treatment. Tomato puree is effective against aphids and cabbages, it is sprayed directly on the plants to protect them, without diluting. I advise not to spray during the hours of full sun, to prevent the glare of the sun’s rays on the wet leaves from damaging the plant. Being a natural product, less aggressive than chemical insecticides, it is important to use it for prevention, or in any case to spray it as soon as an infestation is noticed. With specific treatments at the right time, tomato maceration is effective.
Against aphids. Aphids are small plant lice that attack virtually all vegetables, I recommend reading the article on how to control aphids to learn how to recognize this problem. If you find aphids on our garden plants, it is best to manually remove the most affected parts of the plant, then spray the leaves with tomato paste. If aphids are carried by ants, it is also useful to intervene with macerated mint.
against the guinea pig . The guinea pig is a Lepidoptera that mainly attacks crucifers (i.e. arugula, radishes and all types of cabbage), tomato macerate is indicated to deter it, since it has a repellent action on adult individuals. The advice is to treat periodically between April and October to eliminate them and prevent them from laying eggs. When the larvae attack the plant, it is better to use bacillus thuringiensis, a very effective biological insecticide that is above all non-toxic to humans.