Cinnamon as bug deterrent and grow booster?

Lolfo

Hello. I've read in several places that cinnamon mixed into the soil can keep bugs off houseplants and help boost growth. Great if so, but I'm suspicious it could be a nice-sounding myth. Does anyone use cinnamon in their houseplants potting soil and can you shed some light? Thank you.

MsPennyMinder

I've tried it before. It sort of worked? For a while at least. Certainly didn't hurt the plants but I don't know about growth. 

Woolsery

I'm too busy making curry with it I'm afraid, but it's reputed to have an effect like garlic spray. As with all these natural repellents, I'd expect it to wear off quickly through chemical change, but it will be interesting to see if others have had success. I saw someone grumbling it hadn't killed their spider mites; possibly the hardest test for any bug deterrent/killer.

Lolfo

Thanks both. I'll give it a proper go and report back. At the very least, I do love the smell!

Lolfo

Hard to say without doing a controlled test - but I don't *think* I've had many fruit flies or spider mites this year, and I've added cinnamon to every plant I've repotted.

I'm going to tell myself it works and keep on with it, since it doesn't do any harm.

thriftwizard

Interesting! I'm certainly up for trying this. We go through spices like nobody's business - the DDs are into Middle & Far Eastern cookery - so tend to buy them in much bigger quantities than most households. Will pick a large pack of cinnamon up next time I'm at the oriental grocers (somewhat thin on the ground round here) & give it a whirl as we've suffered horribly from fungus gnats since buying cheap compost (all that was available) in lockdown.

Brie

Lolfo said:

Hard to say without doing a controlled test - but I don't *think* I've had many fruit flies or spider mites this year, and I've added cinnamon to every plant I've repotted.

I'm going to tell myself it works and keep on with it, since it doesn't do any harm.

This is always the problem with trying things - there's so many variables to take into account.  Maybe there were less flies & mites due to the drier weather.  Or because there were more fly and mite predators about this year for some reason.  Or there was a sandstorm in the Gobi desert.  

But thinking if it does work maybe it was more effective due to the hotter, drier weather not washing away the effect as quickly.  It'd be good to try it all again next year.

twopenny

Well I looked up- do snails like cinnamon - and got a lot of recipies!

But it's suggested there are some smells they don't like but not how to get it round the plant.
I could get my veg protected and seasoned in one go.

But this thread made me think, I have a bundle of cinnamon sticks and a magnolia that gets some bug every season that is defoliating it to nearly terminal. I'm going to try it.

Gers

My SIL who lives in the hinterland of QLD sprinkles cinnamon round the skirting boards of her place which is meant to deter creepy-crawlies.  Nothing proven but worth a try I suppose.

twopenny

I had a lot of fruitflies in the kitchen this year.
I smeared neat lemon oil around the rim of the fruit bowl and they didn't go near it. Most seem to have vanished now a short while on.