Key Points
Cinnamon prevents fungal diseases and pests, helping plants stay healthy and thriving.
Its antifungal and antiseptic properties protect seedlings, cuttings, and damaged plants.
The strong scent repels insects, ants, and rodents, acting as a natural garden barrier.
A common kitchen staple, cinnamon can also do wonders in the garden. Cinnamon can be used for everything from germination to protecting plants from pests and diseases, from stimulating plant growth to as a natural antiseptic, fungicide, and pest repellent.
Here, we chatted with a garden pro to find out all the ways she uses cinnamon in the garden.
Meet the Expert
Lucie Bradley is a gardening and greenhouse expert from Easy Garden Irrigation.
The Benefits of Cinnamon for Plants
Cinnamon has some antifungal properties, and applying it to plants can prevent soil-borne fungal diseases, rust, and mushrooms. It also helps keep fungus at bay and encourages plant growth.
Lastly, its strong odor is known to keep away many common garden pests.
Seed Care
Cinnamon can help with seed germination as it will protect newly emerging seedlings from damping off—a soil-borne fungal disease. According to gardening expert Lucie Bradley, damping off is the main reason seedlings might stop growing before drooping and dying.
To apply the cinnamon, simply dust the surface of the seedling’s compost with ground cinnamon powder to prevent the development of fungal pathogens in the compost.
Natural Fungicide
There are a wide range of fungal diseases. This includes powdery mildew, white and gray molds like botrytis, slime mold, and black spot, Bradley says.
However, cinnamon is effective at preventing all these. Sprinkling the surface of the soil with ground cinnamon powder once a week should help to prevent these diseases.
“It’s also useful to make a cinnamon spray to reach all the stems and leaves of infected plants,” she says.
Mushroom Prevention
Cinnamon not only keeps fungus-related disease at bay, but when sprinkled over groundcover, it can reduce other fungi like mushrooms.
True, mushrooms can be a good sign of healthy lawns and soil, but some mushrooms make pets sick when ingested. So, keeping away mushrooms might be the right thing to do for your yard. Cinnamon can prevent mushrooms. This is especially true if the spice is added to damp or shaded spots, where mushrooms like to grow.
Growth Stimulant
When starting plants from cuttings, cinnamon powder can act as a natural, cost-efficient, and effective way to protect cuttings from disease, because of the spice’s natural fungicide properties.
At the same time, Bradley explains how cinnamon can stimulate root formation with the cuttings, making this spice a wonderful tool to support cuttings as they grow. Simply dip the cut end of the plant stem in ground cinnamon powder prior to planting. This will prevent fungal infections, reducing the chance of rotting before roots form, Bradley says.
Rust Prevention
Common in gardens, rust is another fungal infection that can attack your plants. A soil-borne disease, rust is spread by spores and can affect every part of a plant, including the flowers.
Calendula and daisies are just some common flowering plants that can be impacted by rust, but cinnamon sprinkled onto the soil in which you plant your flowers can aid in rust prevention, Bradley says.
The spice, when used alongside other smart measures, like spacing out your plants and rotating crops, can help prevent rust from blighting your flowers.
Natural Antiseptic
Cinnamon is a good fungicide you can use as a natural antiseptic on any cuts on your plants.
“If plants have been damaged by overzealous pruning, accidental snapping, or storm damage, the plants can be left with these open wounds,” Bradley says.
To treat the wounds with cinnamon, sprinkle the spice directly over the exposed surface and spread it with your finger or a paintbrush, Bradley says. You can also apply it as a poultice by sprinkling it onto a wet paper towel, or mix the cinnamon with water in a spray bottle to help spread the spice into hard-to-reach areas on the plant.
Ground Cover Aide
By helping deter mushrooms and other fungi, cinnamon may also support ground cover. Without mushrooms or fungal infections either vying for space or wreaking havoc on your plants, ground cover can flourish unabated.
Insect Deterrent
Ground cinnamon can also work as a natural pesticide, protecting your plants from insect infestation because of its strong smell.
“Cinnamon contains cinnamaldehyde, a compound found to disrupt the nervous system of insects, making it difficult for them to move, find food, or locate mates,” Bradley explains.
The spice is effective against mites, aphids, mosquitoes, fruit flies, flies, and wasps. It can be a very potent ant deterrent. In small numbers, ants make good pollinators, but too many could cause damage to your plants and their roots.
“Although cinnamon doesn’t kill ants, it is extremely effective at keeping them away,” Bradley says.
Mice and Rat Preventative
Larger pests, such as mice and rats, will also find the scent unsavory because it will irritate their mouths and noses, Bradley says, as these animals crawl close to the ground.
Place a line of cinnamon powder around those plants or places you wish to protect walking insects from, such as ants, creating a barrier that these garden pests won’t want to cross.
Frequently asked Questions
Should you sprinkle cinnamon on all your plants?
Generally, yes, but cinnamon can inhibit the growth of some plants. Don’t use cinnamon with tomatoes, pepper, or garden cress, as well as ferns, prayer plants, and orchids.
Does cinnamon keep bugs away from plants?
Cinnamon contains cinnamaldehyde, a compound found to disrupt the nervous system of insects, and works as a chemical-free pesticide to deter ants, fungus gnats, mites, aphids, mosquitoes, fruit flies, flies, and wasps.
What pests do cinnamon repel?
Aside from many insects, animals that will inhale cinnamon as they are close to the ground, such as mice, rats, squirrels, moles, and rabbits, will be deterred by cinnamon as it irritates the mucous membranes in their nose and mouth.
Read the original article on The Spruce
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