thanks for the reply dan! i had read on another website that someone used a homemade insecticide soap against leaf miners which is why i was planning on trying it. i have read some of the many threads on leaf miners, but nothing too promising has been revealed. is there anything you, or anyone else here, has had success with against leaf miners? the most useful advice seems to be to pick off the infested leaves, but that's pretty much going to mean all of my tiny chard plants... any ideas if i can still pick off nearly all the leaves and the plants will still produce new leaves? this is my first year gardening, so any advice is much appreciated! i know that for harvesting the chard you can pick off some stalks and new ones grow, it's just that my largest plant is only a few inches tall at this point, so i'm worried about the resilience of such small plants. and any reason why i shouldn't use murphy's or other soaps on plants/leaves that i plan on eating? thank you!

Froth is an indication that one is using enough soap to properly clean as well as keep soils/hard water minerals and muck suspended. This is why most every soap product from laundry to bath advertises or advertised "mounds of rich creamy suds". Pure soaps by design will create suds, quite allot of them, while detergents can be either low or high sudsing. Anyone brought up to do laundry with soap will tell you that if one does not see suds, then more soap was needed. When Ivory Snow was powdered soap, directions on the box recommended a 1 to 2 inch layer of creamy suds throug out the wash cycle as an indication one had added enough product. The problem with using soap in front loaders is even one inches of suds can cause problems, and you have very little control over how much soap to use. If you add too little in the drawer, you may not have a way to add more during the wash cycle. Add too much, then you have other problems. There is also the fact that even a one inch layer of froth may trigger a washing machine's internal "over sudsing" system to abort the wash cycle. The tumbling action of front loaders will cause even more froth to form, which not only will decrease cleaning results, but can damage the washing machine as well. Simply put soap softens water (by binding hard water minerals), and also cleans like all "detergents". Differnece is detergents are "built" with additives to soften water, while soap will do this by itself, but one must use much of the product depending upon water conditions. It is the binding of hard water minerals that causes soap crud which forms on everything washed in pure soap. Besides creating froth, which is bad for front loading washing machines; the first several rinses after laundering with soap must be either hot or at least warm water temperature to prevent soap and the muck it has released from becoming trapped in textiles when coming in contact with cold water. Soap is very difficult to rinse from laundry (just because the froth is gone, does not mean all soap has been rinsed from garments), indeed the fats and oils used to make soap will leave a residue on textiles that can build up over time, resulting in dingy, tattle-tale grey fabrics that can turn rancid smelling. Zote, is still widely used in Mexico and other parts of South America as bar laundry soaps have been for ages; to do laundry by hand in either a river bank, wash tub/sink or semi or totally automatic top loading washing machine. Personally wouldn't use soap in any of today's low water front loaders, with the exception of soap based products such as Persil's "Perwol". Do have bars of vintage Fel's soap, but use it more as a pre-treat than to do actual wash loads. C.dS

I don't think this is too easy to make. See the site below for some info. The second site sells in huge quantities, the clear and shipping is based on the weight. http://www.pioneerthinking.com/glycerin.html http://www.soapcrafters.com/soap_crafting_supplies/711 http://www.millersoap.com/glycerinsoap.html I did find this info. for you. Looks complicated. Let us know how you do. deb "You can also make clear soap from scratch. This method involves all the aspects of cold process soapmaking, but takes it a few steps further by adding alcohol for clarity and a glycerin and sugar mix to suspend and enhance the clarity. It is a dangerous process because of the alcohol vapors. If you wish to make clear soap (which will not melt down like melt and pour  itÂs one pour only soap), please read "Transparent Soapmaking" by Catherine Failor. This is an excellent resource for anyone wishing to make clear soap from scratch".

Jody, thank you for your comments; over the many years I�ve been coming here, not many that I have seen thank others for their help. I have looked into both hot press and cold press and thing CP is the way to go. CP is my favourite process to make soap, HP was too rustic for me, although some soapers can successfully make HP look like CP. I, like melissa have bought several fried herbs, oils, lye, etc and I am trying to find just the right recipe. I�m hoping that you meant "dried" vice "fried"? lol! (Sorry, I�m a bit of a kidder) Experimenting is a large part of this hobby; but the expense can get out of hand, especially with the scents. I would like to make soap with hemp seed oil. Do you happen to have a recipe you might share or recommend? I have stayed away from hemp oil; the shelf life is too short, if memory serves me, 6 months in the raw state? Used hemp like any other conditioning oil; like shea or coco butter. The herbs/colorants I am working with are things like lemongrass, chamomile, burdock, turmeric, spearmint leaves, dandelions, and a few more whose names escape me at the moment. Jody, what are you hoping to do with the above list? I have used turmeric for colouring a recipe, but none of the others in your list for colour. If you are hoping to use those herbs for scent, you�ll be disappointed. If these are EO (Essential Oils) or Fos (Fragrance Oils), then you�ll be ok. I have use parsley in some recipes, but after a year or so the parsley will fade into a pale yellow colour. I have successfully used clays for earth tones as well as Stevia for green. As for EO's I have several, and my favorites are lavender, lemongrass, mint, jasmine, etc Lavender EO or FO, I would use at 1 ounce per pound of oils. Lemongrass EO, is quite strong, I would consider around � ounce per pound of oils. Peppermint Eo is stronger then spearmint EO, peppermint I would use no more then � ounce per pound; spearmint slightly more, maybe .6 Jasmine (hint: remember white florals) can hurry trace, so make sure you have all equipment ready to pour before hand mixing the lye solution into the oils/fats and soap on the cooler side. I am looking for a reasonably small recipe for my first time, maybe 4-5 lbs. (even less) Jody, what are you asking here, if you can use the calculator, then what advice can I offer? About 2 pounds maybe a good start. I saw some soap in an organic store yesterday and couldn't believe how strong the fragrances were! I would love to make something that has a strong scent. These are all Eos: Peppermint, Spearmint, and Lemongrass would be good for strong scent. Some others would be; tea tree, Clove (not really recommended), Cinnamon, Rosemary and Patchouli.(You have to like the sent of these oils) Fos, will depend on who has manufactured them, not all are created equal. August is the beginning of my holidays, so I may not be available soon. My old stomping grounds used to be TheSoapDish (if it is still called that) lots of good info there. I understand the lye calculator and how to change measurements to % Hemp is a good conditioning oil, so you could use 5% or so of your recipe, although I have not personally used that one; but I do use Caster oil from time to time, depending on the other oils in the recipe. Good luck Jody, if I can be of more help, just let me know! (I hope the formatting is good here I had trouble with Word 2010)