Friends, neighbors, old wives, the Internet and social media are full of home remedies for control of garden pests.

Some are elaborate recipes with hot peppers and lemon juice, while others are as simple as a household cleaning product or essential oil.

Some work very well, but unfortunately some of them may do more harm to plants than good. Here are some tips to sort the wheat from the chaff when it comes to DIY pest control:

• First, pests should always be identified before treatment is warranted. Aphids that feed in cool, wet conditions often go away on their own when the weather changes, and holes in the leaves of plants may be made by difficult-to-control grasshoppers or other large mobile insects. If whatever is eating the plant is indistinct or unnoticeable, spraying something is just putting the plant and beneficial insects at risk.

• Second, hot peppers, garlic and lemon juice are some of the most common ingredients in concoctions for a variety of pests, but none have proven to be very effective for insect control in research trials. They can also burn the plants you are trying to protect if plants are sensitive or they are used at high concentrations. If you used one or more of these and it seemed to have worked, it may just be that the insects had already completed their life cycle or moved on to a more favorable plant or environment. Garlic and hot pepper sprays can be effective at deterring deer and rabbits.

• Third, if you do choose to mix something up, test it on a small area and wait a few days before treating the whole plant. Even with seemingly safe concoctions, different plants will have different levels of sensitivity.

A few home remedies that work:

Water sprays: Aphids and spider mites, common pests on a wide variety of plants, can be washed away with a garden hose and a high-pressure nozzle. Hose the plants off again in a few days to catch any aphids or mites that were missed or that managed to make their way back up.

Beer: To control slugs eating hostas, set shallow trays filled with beer in and around the problem areas. The slugs will drown themselves in the beer. Trays should be refreshed every three days or until slugs are under control.

Sulfur: Sulfur is available as a powder/dust, wettable powder and as a liquid for both insect and disease control. It can burn plants when used in hot weather or if used too soon after other pesticide applications. Powdered sulfur is also effective at repelling chiggers.

Soap: Insecticidal soap is widely available at garden centers, but many people choose to mix up their own beginning with dish soap. If you go this route, make sure the soap is unscented, as added fragrance is almost sure to burn plants, and be sure to test it on a small area first.

Vinegar: Horticultural vinegar, available at some garden centers, is 20 percent acetic acid while regular vinegar is 5 percent acetic acid. The low concentration will burn the top off a plant but is unlikely to kill it completely. Higher concentrations are more effective but require protective equipment for the applicator.

Use of screening and row covers, crop rotation, hand picking, trapping, sanitation, and increasing biodiversity are also effective pest control methods.