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African Violets

Neem Oil - best way to use it?

kingminiviolets

17 years ago

Hi Everyone,

So what is the best way to use neem oil? On the bottle it says to either spray it on the plants or use once a month as the watering solution. For me the best way would be to use it as the 'watering solution' once a month but would spraying be better? Anyone see a difference in their plants using neem oil? Thanks in advance for any tips/info!

Lovie

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Comments (2)

scryn
17 years ago
It depends on what type of bug you have. I have used it for thips successfully. In that case you mix it up in water and add a little dish washing liquid and spray the plants.
I have attempted to use it as a drench also and it just makes a big mess. The plants diddn't seem to be too happy either. The oil would make the soil heavy. Spraying makes a mess, no matter how careful you are.

I don't think that I would suggest using it all the time. If you have bugs you need to use it at least once a week. Once a month won't do too much, so I think you would just be wasting your time. Also you need to make it up fresh every time. I guess the substance that is in the NEEM breaks down after diluting within 24 hours, so you need a fresh batch every time.

I am not trying to discourage you from using it, as I found that It really works on thrips and powdery mildew, however it is something that I found a waste of time to do unless I was targeting something specific and it was done at least once a week.

-renee
leslie_virnig221
17 years ago
i sprayed one of mine in febuary and he's only now coming back.if your gonna spray, make sure you keep them out of sunlight for about a week, i lost 2 of mine learning this lesson, i got 1 from wal-mart, it had thrips, so i sprayed it, and isolated it then i sprayed again a week later and then we moved shortly after that.
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Hello! Do your Impatiens get any direct sun? If so, then any oily spray will cause them to be burnt, no matter how organic it is. Neem oil sometimes works as a soil drench, though; you just mix up an 0.5% solution and water the plant with it. The roots suck it up into the branches and it can discourage certain types of pests. That shouldn't harm the plant. I don't know if it works for aphids, though. My favourite method for removing pests from impatiens is wiping with a wet sponge or simply spraying with the hose! It's surprisingly effective! Are these the common Busy Lizzie type Impatiens, though? Because, if so, it's *possible* that they have downy mildew. If that's the case then it's best to pull the sick ones out and throw them in the garbage bin. (Not the compost!) I recommend looking up Downy Mildew on Google to see if that's what your plants have.
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"The method of processing is likely to affect the composition of the oil, since the methods used, such as pressing (expelling) or solvent extraction are unlikely to remove exactly the same mix of components in the same proportions. The neem oil yield that can be obtained from neem seed kernels also varies widely in literature from 25% to 45%." wikipedia I was refering to how its pressed. Quite a few people told me it matters how it is pressed. You may want to double check yourself
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Neem or Hort oil does not help much with CLM. Spinosad does work very well against CLM and is organic. Bonide's "Captain Jack's Dead Bug Brew" is Spinosad and probably one of the most common brand you'll find. It works well on most any chewing insect. Doesn't work as well on sucking insects like aphid and scale, but is the best for Citrus Leaf Miner. It is a trans-laminate, which means it seeps down into the leaf between the cell walls so when the miner chews through the cell wall it ingests the Spinosad and so is dispatched. It's the only organic control that will get the CLM when it is already inside the leaf. Neem oil and Hort oil works very well against Aphid and Scale and other sucking insects, and works pretty well against Spider Mites.
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