Ciao amici!!!!  I found this very old recipe that belonged to my Grandmother, writen in Italian and translated into American measuring units. the paper is a dark orange color from age and has alot of stains from sauce ect on it. It was probably near a stove. Its apparantly a repellent and killer for bugs on your trees and garden.  Alot of it is not readible by me but the recipe is there. I remember They ( Grandparents) never bought insecticides or anything like that. These are the bugs it said it would kill. Cutworms, mites,slugs ect ect, I couldn't read the rest. My question, could you use this on Figs I wonder.  I'm sure you can use it during leafing periods, but wonder if spraying this on the fruits would make the fruits taste like garlic?  I guess you could always wash the fruits. I think this would be very usefull especially in the winter month indoors with so many fruit flies and spider mites running around.

2 hot peppers
1 onion
6 cloves Garlic
4 ( CUPS ) water

You can substitute 2 what would be teaspoons hot red pepper for the fresh peppers. Let the mixture stand for 24 hours then strain and add one teaspoon of a liquid soap ( I would imagine something like dawn).  Spray on plants. 

Maggie,
in my opinion yes if sprayed on figs it would make them taste like garlic and peppers if eaten skin and all i would assume that would be the very dominant taste.
If peeled i wonder how it would taste hmm .
You know garlic is very strong then you have the hot peppers too !!!

Martin, I was thinking that and I absolutely abhore peeling the skin off of figs, reminded me of Giovanni in Philadelphia who peels his figs,I loved reading Bass' article and seeing him again, only thing we had an arguement Giovanni and I, I said " you must be a northerner peeling your figs!" we had a arguement in good humor, no disrespect, just we like to yell at each other sometimes.  I don't do this, I love the skins.  This is why I said during the other crucial periods where the leafing is taking place, this recipe would keep any critter away I am sure. What do you think especially indoors when so many people have troubles with mites and fungas gnats and all those other pesky fig killers, especially new rooting twigs?   

Maggie,
the oil used in over the counter products i believe is to stop the eggs from hatching which would stop the cycle , dish soap im not sure how good it would work, with garlic and hot peppers mix im sure the adult mites will at least get the runs. If you can be succesful in stopping the eggs from hatching you stop the whole cycle as they i found to be a rather destroying little bug for there size and will eventually kill a plant as i have found out last season. 
I enjoy the whole fig as well and im a Northerner!
You know last year i was able to taste Violet de Bordeaux and what i did on purpose was pell them this is what happened.
Before i ate the inside i ate several skin peels first only and they were very good thats where i had a flashback as a child when my brother and i used to go in alley and sit on a old wooden fence and eat off a mulberry tree as this skin had that type of taste overtone.
The inside has a slight crunch reminisent of my hardy chicago plant which i enjoy very much.

Hi Maggie, most organic garlic spray recipes that I've seen say to use the cheap(Non Antibacterial) Dish liquid. Not sure why. I don't know about using it on figs, but it's great on Tomatoes and especially on Squash(the squash borers make mincemeat of squash plants here). You could probably use it around the base of the fig tree to repel ants and other crawling insects. Don't you just hate using chemicals?

Ciao Martin, yes, I love the crunch of a good fig. I love the seeds.  When I teased Giovanni about being a northerner, I meant Northern " Italian " Because we southern Italians think they do funny things in the north different from us.  Thats what Imeant. No disrespect to the Northern It's, its just a long running joke.  Kinda like southerners and northerners and Californians in the U.S. We just tease each other in a good way!    I have used olive oil to get rid of spider mites and it works well. 

Fatnsassytexan, Yes, I hate to use chemicals, I absolutely do not. I found these natural ways work just as good. I am going to make a batch of this recipe today, it will be ready tomorrow. I have a few little pesty flies that fly around my greenhouse room upstairs. I am going to see if it kills them.  I think with the capsaiscum or whatever the word, It will kill them and the Garlic. These chemicals ( hot peppers and garlic) have been known to help fight cancer in humans.  We ate alot of hot peppers always, and still do, also we always use Olive oil and of course Garlic.  No one in my family ever died of cancer. I think alot of them died because of mental stress they encountered, but still lived to be very old. 

Maggie, I'm pretty sure that the dish soap makes the mixture stick to the surface you spray it on.  It also prevents the spray from easily coming off with moisture.

Oh, and your north/south works for the entire of USA as well.  I think it is most evident with the food and drink choices between the two.