Beekissed
Garden Master
Didn't see a thread about them in a search here, so thought I'd make one. I've never really used many insecticides on the garden or orchard, though I've been known to use sweet lime dust on taters or cukes for keeping off certain pests and I once tried a soapy water spray.
Other than that, I've not had the need for any kind of insecticide....until last year, when I saw more numbers and kinds of squash bugs than I've ever seen, not to mention hoards of Japanese beetles that decimated my apple tree saplings leaves, squash borers and horn worms. Seemed like they all came out for the buffet last year.
Not to mention the blight that swept across the garden to affect tomatoes, potatoes, beans, and squash.
This year I purchased some concentrated Neem oil(around $10 for a bottle of concentrated liquid which, according to the dilution ratios, I'll be able to use for years upon years before using it all up) and am going to do some preventative applications, as well as as needed for pests. Did some reading up on it and was pretty impressed with the effectiveness, the lack of damage to beneficial insects, and that it is dual purpose, taking care of insects and fungal spores also.
http://www.discoverneem.com/neem-oil-insecticide.html
http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/neemgen.html
Neem oil has many complex active ingredients. Rather than being simple poisons, those ingredients are similar to the hormones that insects produce. Insects take up the neem oil ingredients just like natural hormones.
Neem enters the system and blocks the real hormones from working properly. Insects "forget" to eat, to mate, or they stop laying eggs. Some forget that they can fly. If eggs are produced they don't hatch, or the larvae don't moult.
Obviously insects that are too confused to eat or breed will not survive. The population eventually plummets, and they disappear. The cycle is broken.
How precisely it works is difficult for scientists to find out. There are too many different active substances in neem oil and every insect species reacts differently to neem insecticide.
Neem oil does not hurt beneficial insects. Only chewing and sucking insects are affected. It is certainly fascinating.
Like real hormones, neem works at very low concentrations, in the parts per million range. A little neem oil goes a long way.
But this is not something that happens over night. People spray neem oil as an insecticide and expect everything to die instantly, because that's what they are used to from chemical poisons. When that does not happen they conclude neem does not work.
It does work! Give it time to work. It's a much smarter way to deal with insect pests than to just kill everything.
It looks like Neem is going to be my go-to hard core insecticide this year...well...as hard core as I get with such a thing.
I've used it once so far and it seems to be having the desired affect on the Jap beetles and the flea beetles. I'm hoping it will deter the squash borers as well. I'm not going to go overboard and coat everything with Neem all season, but I did give all the likely suspects~spuds, bean, squash, maters, honeysuckle and roses a spraying of it the other day...the tomatoes were sprayed to try and prevent blight issues this year, said it works best for that if sprayed BEFORE the fungal infection symptoms start to show.
Folks even use this stuff on their chickens for mite treatment, so not a bad product from what I've read.
I'd love to hear anyone's experiences with this insecticide, as well as any other more natural insecticides they have used~I lean in that direction, but please also post about your chosen pest control agents as well. I know the use of insecticides and fungicides can be a pretty controversial topic on here, so I encourage folks to keep it light and informational if they can.
Other than that, I've not had the need for any kind of insecticide....until last year, when I saw more numbers and kinds of squash bugs than I've ever seen, not to mention hoards of Japanese beetles that decimated my apple tree saplings leaves, squash borers and horn worms. Seemed like they all came out for the buffet last year.
Not to mention the blight that swept across the garden to affect tomatoes, potatoes, beans, and squash. This year I purchased some concentrated Neem oil(around $10 for a bottle of concentrated liquid which, according to the dilution ratios, I'll be able to use for years upon years before using it all up) and am going to do some preventative applications, as well as as needed for pests. Did some reading up on it and was pretty impressed with the effectiveness, the lack of damage to beneficial insects, and that it is dual purpose, taking care of insects and fungal spores also.
http://www.discoverneem.com/neem-oil-insecticide.html
http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/neemgen.html
Neem oil has many complex active ingredients. Rather than being simple poisons, those ingredients are similar to the hormones that insects produce. Insects take up the neem oil ingredients just like natural hormones.
Neem enters the system and blocks the real hormones from working properly. Insects "forget" to eat, to mate, or they stop laying eggs. Some forget that they can fly. If eggs are produced they don't hatch, or the larvae don't moult.
Obviously insects that are too confused to eat or breed will not survive. The population eventually plummets, and they disappear. The cycle is broken.
How precisely it works is difficult for scientists to find out. There are too many different active substances in neem oil and every insect species reacts differently to neem insecticide.
Neem oil does not hurt beneficial insects. Only chewing and sucking insects are affected. It is certainly fascinating.
Like real hormones, neem works at very low concentrations, in the parts per million range. A little neem oil goes a long way.
But this is not something that happens over night. People spray neem oil as an insecticide and expect everything to die instantly, because that's what they are used to from chemical poisons. When that does not happen they conclude neem does not work.
It does work! Give it time to work. It's a much smarter way to deal with insect pests than to just kill everything.
It looks like Neem is going to be my go-to hard core insecticide this year...well...as hard core as I get with such a thing.
I've used it once so far and it seems to be having the desired affect on the Jap beetles and the flea beetles. I'm hoping it will deter the squash borers as well. I'm not going to go overboard and coat everything with Neem all season, but I did give all the likely suspects~spuds, bean, squash, maters, honeysuckle and roses a spraying of it the other day...the tomatoes were sprayed to try and prevent blight issues this year, said it works best for that if sprayed BEFORE the fungal infection symptoms start to show. Folks even use this stuff on their chickens for mite treatment, so not a bad product from what I've read.
I'd love to hear anyone's experiences with this insecticide, as well as any other more natural insecticides they have used~I lean in that direction, but please also post about your chosen pest control agents as well. I know the use of insecticides and fungicides can be a pretty controversial topic on here, so I encourage folks to keep it light and informational if they can.
