Is there such a thing? Locally, all I find are chemically made up.
For the garlic spray...I heard a long time ago that garlic can be used as an effective deterent for insects. Anyone ever use this?

I haven't used it, but here is a recipe from a book:
"An all-purpose spray made be made of ground pepper pods, onions, and a garlic bulb. Cover with water, let stand 24 hours and strain. Add enough water to make a gallon of spray. Use several times daily on roses, azaleas, chrysanthemums, or beans, to hold down serious infestations. Do not throw away the mash, but bury the residue among the plants where insects occur.
Protect your hands with gloves when you work with hot peppers and be very careful not to get the juice in your eyes."
Hope this helps.
ellen

When I get grocery store produce trash for my compost piles, I separate the pesticidal foods from the rest of my compostable "greens" for my compost bins.

I make my own generic pesticidal tea brew. I keep several 5 gallon buckets of garlic, onions, hot peppers, ground cloves, orange and lemon peelings, canola oil, and liquid soap. I let this pesticidal tea soak for several days before using. I always use it diluted (maybe 1:10 or more dilution ratio) in order not to burn my plant foliage, or to harm or kill my beneficial insects.

This stuff really works on the soft body pests I have seen on my corn, canna lilies, eggplants, and elephant ears.

Captain, thank you for the pesticidal tea recipe, I'm going to try it! Does it work on cabbage worms and squash bugs? Haven't seen any yet, but I'm going to be armed and dangerous when I do!

You should write a book and get paid for all this info!

Thank you for your suggestions....I will do both...see how things work here...Captain...I just need approximation for the ingredients so I don't make things too strong...i agree that you should write your own book...you have great ideas for the average and new gardener. ;\

How can you tell which soap to use in these recipes? I would think nothing perfumed, or colored with dyes perhaps. And what about all the extra ingredients in so many liquid soaps, do you need pure soap? What about Ivory (99 44/100% pure) Bar Soap and shaving it into the mix? Thats what I have on hand and would like to use. Any plants that you shouldn't spray with this type of mix (i was going to add the garlic and cayenne along with). Sorry for so many questions at once, thanks for reading.

I've used the following recipe on hollyhock weevils and aphids and it seems to work.

One large strong onion;
several cloves of garlic;
hot peppers

Put in blender with enough water to barely cover and roungly blend. Put into jar with holes in lid and let sit in sun for a couple days, strain. Spray on plants.

I'm sure you could add dish soap to this for more effectiveness (I use Dermasage or some other biodegradable variety) Good luck!

You're on the right track....pure soap is best. Your mix would probably work; I use Dr. Bronners ( available at health food stores) liquid soap as it is already a liquid and I have it on hand. Every home made spray will be different, so a good rule is to spray one plant, or small area, to see the effect. Then, a day or so later spray the entire crop. You'll see what bothers the plants. Spray early in the morning as hot sun and sprays don't mix. Remember that this is a contact spray; you must wet the bug. Good luck.

Here is one recipe: soak 3 oz.finely minced garlic in 2 teaspoons of mineral oil for at least 24 hrs. Add 1 pint of water and 1/4 oz. pure liquid soap. Stir well and strain into a glass jar for storage. Combine 1-2 tablespoons of this with 1 pint of water to make a spray. Spray on a few leaves, wait 2-3 days to check for injury. If no injury, spray on the entire crop. I have just added some granulated dry garlic powder to water, in a blender, then put that in my 1 1/2 gal. sprayer. This seems to repel curculio bugs. If the plant doesn't smell right the bugs don't go there. Spray must be reapplied after rain etc. Hope that helps.

I have made a insecticidal soap spray that works
great!
you put a bar of soap in a bowl of water for about 4 hours then drain the water into a spray bottle
make sure there is about a cup of water in the bowl
and then add 1/4 cup of vegetable oil..
I spray in the evening after the sun goes down.
I keeps the slugs off and everything eles..
Good luck

This is a good thread with a lot of bug spray mixes.

Soaps have been used as insecticides for many years and some research has found that it is the fatty acids of potassium in soaps made from animal fats that are the control mechanism. What is needed is about a 2 percent solution of soap to water, more does nothing except harm the plant. Detergents much more easily cause phytotoxicity in plants and do not work as well, according the research I have seen, as soap does.
A mixture of 1 teaspoon of soap in 1 quart of water is about a 2 percent solution.
Garlic has been used as a deterent for many years, growing garlic near plants that need protection, mashing cloves of garlic to make a spray, mixing garlic with other things to make sprays. One really old time insect repellent (this also deters beneficials) is 1 medium size onion, 1 medium hot pepper, and 1 clove of garlic whizzed in a blender with about 1 cup of water and then steeped for at least 24 hours. After steeping strain and dilute and spray. I have never seen anything about how much to dilute this to but I have put that 1 cup of liquid in a 2 quart sprayer which I then filled with water and sprayed that and have seen many insects flee.

My wife is a tattoo artist and she uses green soap when working. She tells me it is totally organic...I can't prove it is or not but I know it works.

i just got a shipment of "Safer Insecticidal Soap" havent tried it yet but it seems to get pretty good reviews, the main thing im worried about is how it will affect my benificials. i especially want to avoid any bee damage. Ive also got some BT powder i was going to use. any news/info/experience with any of these?

I've never used Safer but it isn't supposed to harm beneficials. Bt also doesn't harm beneficials. As well as Spinosad- both are effective only by bad bugs ingesting them.