Neem Oil

[Gardenman39]

Hello Everyone!

I am new to this forum and I joined this because I was hopeful someone who is new to this hobby could learn some helpful tips on here.

I have a bunch of veggies growing in my yard and I sprayed Neem oil because it was touted as a great organic and safe way to control pests.

I have a few questions about it. How often can i spray it? I bought the gardensafe neem oil bottle at a big box store. Is that type safe? And are you supposed to reapply after a heavy rain?

Any other organic pesticide suggestions? Thank you!!

 

[Beth_B]

Welcome.

Neem oil is a fairly good pesticide but it's not organic (unless specified) and not really that safe either. It contains several chemicals that are known to disrupt both reproductive and liver functions.

Where do you live? Many bugs in your garden are beneficial; and should be left alone. Randomly spraying crap on them may not be a great idea.

 

[Gardenman39]

Illinois

 

[Chuck]

Most Neem is OMRI rated. It is a good safe pesticide but should not be used willy nilly. You should only spray something when you are actually trying to eradicate a particular pest. Neem is a natural oil which has certain properties that kill insects. Most times Neem is used for a particular pest such as scale insects and sometimes as a fungicide. There are better all around pesticides, the best of which is a spinosad based product. There are only 3 pesticides a gardener needs and Neem is at the bottom of the list. They are a spinosad based product, a Bt (Bacillus thuringensis) based product and Neem. These three products will control anything you may encounter except grasshoppers of which there is nothing.

 

[headfullofbees]

For other organic tips, I'd direct you to the, "Organic Gardening" forum.

 

[MaryMary]

First and foremost, Welcome to the forum, Gardenman39!

.

...snip...
Any other organic pesticide suggestions? ...

Are you trying to treat pests you know you have, or trying to protect the garden from anything . that might threaten it? Personally, organic or not, I wouldn't go treating problems that weren't there just in case they might .happen.

...snip...
Randomly spraying crap on them may not be a great idea.

I love the phrasing, and find it hilarious. In addition, it is sound advice.

About the only thing I'd advise you to do without knowing there was a problem; is if you put a thick layer of coffee grounds around the base of your plants, it is supposed to keep slugs away from them. The slugs apparently don't like the grounds sticking to their nasty, slimy, sticky, yucky, mucous-coated bodies. So they avoid it.

Added benefits; it adds nitrogen to the soil, and worms just love it. Coffee grounds are a good source of grit. Worms, like birds, have gizzards. So they need "grit" to help them digest their food. Also, caffeinated worms provide lots of vermicompost!

 

[Vinaya]

If your plants are thoroughly affected, you can use neem oil every third day, if your plants have few pests/insects, you can use once a week. You can also use insect trapper. Insect trapper basically is a jar with a hole and chemicals dabbed cotton inside. When insects get inside they are killed.

 

[IcyBC]

@MaryMary Coincidentally, I just use some old coffee ground in my mom's garden since there seem to be some sort of insects that keep eating the leaves of spinach. I am hoping this coffee ground would do the trick.

 

[MaryMary]

@IcyBC, I hope it works for you. You have to put it a little thick.

I believe in credit where credit is due - this is where I learned that. He runs an experiment, and shows how much they don't like it. (Video is 4 minutes long.)

 

[IcyBC]

Thank you @MaryMary ! When I was at my old house, I use banana peel, egg shells, and used coffee ground to feed my garden, but these also brought on ants, and those little creatures also ate everything too. If it is not from one insect then it is another

 

[Gardenman39]

This may seem like the silliest question ever but with the coffee grounds you add theme just straight out of the container right? You don't add it after you make coffee?

 

[MaryMary]

You use them after you make the coffee. Fresh from the can is too acidic.