We Bet You Didn’t Know You Should Be Using Baby Powder for Your Garden—Here’s Why
It’s not just for babies anymore! From keeping bugs away to helping gloves come off more easily, this is why all gardeners should have a bottle of baby powder on hand.
1. Protect plant roots
Protect your next batch of flowers from root rot by coating them in baby powder. The powder protects the roots from too much moisture.
2. Avoid ants
Granted, ants aren’t the worst pest you can find in your garden, but every home gardener knows the more tempting your landscaping, the more likely the little working insects will find their way through it and into your home.
Thankfully, baby powder can help! Just sprinkle some around your foundation, doorways, and other points of entry. Ants hate the stuff, and they’ll divert their path another way – and away from your house! – when they come across it. And even better .
3. Get your gloves off
After a hard day of working in the garden, it can be a pain to get those sticky gloves off. Next time, coat the inside with a bit of baby powder before wearing them to make removal easier.
4. Protect Your Flower Bulbs
New flower bulbs needs attention. So you just need to dust each of them with baby powder before you plant them.
Here is how to do this: just put about five or six bulbs into a Ziploc bag with about 3 tablespoons of baby powder. The effect? Baby powder will coat the roots of the bulb, protecting it from rot and it wards off voles, grubs, moles, and other rodents that may be eating your bulbs before they have a chance to grow.
5. Coat tools
Keep your hands blister-free by dusting baby powder on your tools. The powder will also keep your hands from slipping while you work.
6. Discourage rabbits
It’s not just the insects gardeners have to worry about attacking our plants; pests can be of the furry and adorable variety, too! Rabbits are one of the most persistent, hopping into beds to munch on just about everything.
Baby powder can discourage them from eating the younger plants and seedlings. Simply shake baby powder over them to discourage rabbits from putting them on the lapine menu.
7. Banish Beetles
Another common garden insect which is annoying is the Japanese beetle. Baby powder can help with this pest too and it will stop these beetles from coming and destroying your plants. Sprinkle baby powder onto the leaves, then reapply after it rains, just until the season of beetles is gone.
8. Deter Aphids
These sap-sucking plant killers are friends with ants. This is because some ants protect and feed on the milk these aphids produce and they can even carry eggs from plant to plant. So, if you keep your ants away, aphids will be gone too. Sprinkle baby powder around your flowers if you have noticed aphids.
