Don't Throw Out Cucumber Peels – Save Them To Keep Pests At Bay

While many of us toss things into the trash without a second thought, there are ways to reduce our carbon footprint that don't involve simply tossing recyclable items into a separate bin. We can turn empty plastic water bottles into seedling planters with just a pair of scissors and some string or turn old teacups into an array of houseplants using only soil and ingenuity. We can make organic waste into something reusable, too, such as using apple peels for an infused bourbon or crushed eggshells to enrich our plants.

If you've peeled a bunch of cucumbers for a cucumber avocado salsa, don't waste those precious peels in the trash or a compost bin — use them to help your plants grow and keep pests at bay. Cucumber peels can deter mites, ants, moths, wasps, and silverfish from infesting both your plants and your home thanks to a compound known as Cucurbitacins. Simply layer those otherwise discarded cucumber peels around the base of a potted plant or arrange them around the perimeter of a plant bed. You can also place cucumber peels along windowsills or floorboards, allowing the vegetable's natural properties to turn away any pesky little bug that might disturb your peace.

Cucurbitacins are highly oxidized tetracyclic triterpenoids (according to the National Library of Medicine) which are naturally bitter compounds perfect for deterring pests but not so perfect for the cucumbers we put in mixed drinks. These compounds appear in not just cucumbers but many other fruits and vegetables in the Cucurbitaceae family, such as melons, pumpkins, squash, and gourds. Cucurbitacins are most prevalent in the leaves and stems of the plant, which transfer into the fruit or vegetable's skin, making the produce more bitter. The Cucurbitaceae family developed this property as a defense mechanism against not only pests but herbivores, too, so we might as well use it to our advantage and do the same.

TikToker @creative_explained shared a helpful hack on turning cucumber peels into cucumber water, which helps your plants grow and deter pests the same way literal peels would. By submerging cucumber peels in water for about five days, most of the nutrients (including the Cucurbitacins compounds) will transfer into the water, making it easy to spray without leaving cucumber peels sitting around. Mites prefer a dry, dusty landscape on plant leaves, so by spraying the solution you're not only blasting the bugs with bitter Cucurbitacins compounds, but you're also disrupting that desert-like environment. Plus, the potassium and phosphorus from those cucumber peels will make your plants extra happy.