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Anyone used Neem oil to kill bugs? Some advice needed


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Hello,

I have some bugs on some Sarra seedlings, and have seen many posts around where people recommend using Neem oil. I would like to try this, but have a few questions...

  • I've seen some people (ie mainly the people selling Neem oil, looking to make an extra sale!) say that you need an emulsifier to get it to mix with water, whereas I've seen others say you can just shake it up to get it to mix. Anyone any comments on this?
  • How much do I need to spray on the plants? I saw it said that it works by suffocating the bugs, in which case you'd need to spray it quite liberally, which could be a problem near the crown of some plants, as it would be hard to make sure you covered all surfaces
  • Do I need to do anything afterwards to wash it off, or do I just leave it?
  • Is it suitable for use with dewy plants like Drosera? I'm worried that the oil would dry out the dew drops.

Sorry if these are dumb questions, but I'd never heard of the stuff until yesterday, and I'd like to know what I'm doing before I use it. I don't want to lose any plants.

Thanks for any help you can give.

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I used an emulsifier (pink sun horticultural soap) with mine and I would recommend you do , I think some neem I had before already had an emulsifier in it but my current neem oil doesn't.  I found that I would need to be a human centrifuge to mix it without the soap, it separates like oil and water very quickly and seemed to coat the inside of sprayer . I followed whatever instructions were on the bottle and no harm came to the plants I used it on but haven't used it on drosera

Edited by corky
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I have used neem several times with my cps, the mix I use is the one recommended by the manufacturer (water+neem+dish soap). Recently I tried it with some of my south african drosera (t.ex. d. ramentacea) with no damage for the plants.

 

I make sure the oil mix covers completely the leaves and there is no need for washing it off later.

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I tried using Neem oil + washing up liquid + warm water and it did not mix, irrespective of how hard you shook the spray bottle, it just stuck to the bottle sides, also tried it as a bath for my Pleione bulbs and had the same problem, it just floated on surface.

Will give Corky"s Pink Sun a try.

Edited by Ron
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I haven't used it on CPS at all but tried it on cacti and succulent plants.  As mentioned above, it really needs an emulsifier to get it to work, even so I found it clogged my spray up so eventually I stopped using it.  Maybe I need to dilute it more.  I have a constant battle with mealy bugs on my cacti and succulents and found off the shelf insecticides such as Provado Ulitmate Bug killer were OK in the growing season but less so in winter when most of the plants were dormant. 

I now use a "neem/citronella nit shampoo" which I have found to be very effective for mealy bugs and possibly so for red spider mite.  I bought a 100ml bottle from Amazon and diluted it at around 0.5% strength (2.5ml/500ml). With the spray on fine mist setting it works great on the mealy bugs, for RSM they need a bit more of a drenching so I assume they drown.  I still haven't tried it on CPs but probably will give it a go on VFTs and selected Drosera (i.e. not rare ones) this season to control aphids.

The only problem I've had with this mix is when I've inadvertently sprayed over Echeveria and other succulents which have a "bloom" (powdery coating), I found it could temporarily spoil the bloom a bit.  I've never needed to wash it off, even the plants which I was giving a more thorough drenching for the odd RSM.

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Thanks to all of you for the advice.

Gaz, you say you used a 0.5% strength, was that just the neem oil, or did you add the same amount of shampoo. If not, how much shampoo did you use?

Thanks again. I'm waiting for the Neem oil to arrive and will give it a go.

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Hi Yossu,

Sorry, that wasn't all that clear was it...it comes as a ready to use shampoo like this https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B006YBSDJE/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Previously I'd used the Pink Sun Horticultural Soap which Corky mentioned with neem oil, these do have to be mixed together. I think what put me off this option was that, prior to mixing, the neem oil has to be at quite a high temperature before it liquifies.

I suppose I should also add that I can't vouch for it's efficacy at removing head lice but the folk who reviewed it seemed quite impressed :wink:

Edited by Gaz
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I've used neem for sundews and the dew on my plant does go for a little while but comes back.ive used neem on vft and pitcher plants with no ill affect.it can also be used as a fungicide but neem does smell quite a bit though.i think neem works by disrupting the ability to reproduce in most bugs as well as smothering them

Sent from my SM-T210 using Tapatalk

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1 hour ago, Gaz said:

Hi Yossu,

Sorry, that wasn't all that clear was it...it comes as a ready to use shampoo like this https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B006YBSDJE/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Previously I'd used the Pink Sun Horticultural Soap which Corky mentioned with neem oil, these do have to be mixed together. I think what put me off this option was that, prior to mixing, the neem oil has to be at quite a high temperature before it liquifies.

I suppose I should also add that I can't vouch for it's efficacy at removing head lice but the folk who reviewed it seemed quite impressed :wink:

Thanks for the link. It looks like that comes with its own spray, which saves clogging up another one.

How much of this do you spray on?

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27 minutes ago, Yossu said:

Thanks for the link. It looks like that comes with its own spray, which saves clogging up another one.

How much of this do you spray on?

It's more of a squirter than a spray, like those hand cream dispensers. I measure 2.5ml and put in 500ml of water in a standard garden/household spray bottle.  I started off at 5ml/500ml and then dropped it to 2.5ml which works fine, I haven't tried diluting it any further than that yet. At this dilution ratio it doesn't clog up the spray at all, even in winter temperatures.  I give the spray bottle a quick shake before spraying but, being a shampoo it doesn't really separate anyway so, this doesn't serve much purpose other than getting me pysched up for another man v's mealy bug battle :yes: 

As I'm mainly targetting mealy bugs I spray enough fine mist to make them turn a pink colour.  For red spider mite I found they need more of a drench as they move fast and I want to be certain they don't escape.  Haven't tried aphids yet but their day is coming.

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I had always used warm water , don't know if that helped keep nozzles clear but I didn't have clogging problems. Sure it says warm the water on my neem, I also warmed the neem up in winter temps as it goes thicker

Edited by corky
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Thanks to both of you. I'll give it a go and see how I get on. I think it's aphids on my plants, and will probably need to drench them to make sure they all get got, but as long as it's not going to damage the plants, it's worth a go.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've not used it on plants, but find it makes a brilliant fly repellent for the horses, also citronella is quite useful for making fly repellent as well.  A few drops of fairy liquid help it to mix in rather than float on top, and a good shake before each use. 

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  • 5 years later...

First, I will not say its fool questions, 

let me tell you a few months before I also used this neem oil for my plants. I also have the same query but, yeah I can tell you the perfect way to mix the neem oil.

1. Mix soap and water with an excellent shake the bobbles are fully dissolved

2. Add Neem Oil 1/3 of the soap and water mixture. And mix it well

3. Add into the spray bottle and you can freely use on leaves, roots, and soil. 

Thank you 🙂

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