Neem oil is made from the seeds of the neem tree (Azadirachta indica), which is native to India. Since ancient times, the neem tree has been prized as a sacred remedy and important ingredient in Ayurvedic medicine. In the garden, neem oil boasts a powerful insecticidal ingredient, azadirachtin, which makes it a great organic choice for controlling a variety of problems.
Uses for Neem Oil
Neem oil can be used to treat a number of garden ailments, including:
- Insects: Neem oil kills or repels many harmful insects and mites, including aphids, whiteflies, snails, nematodes, mealybugs, cabbage worms, gnats, moths, cockroaches, flies, termites, mosquitoes, and scale. It kills some bugs outright, attacks the larvae of others, and repels plant munchers with its bitter taste.
- Fungus: Neem oil is also effective in preventing fungal diseases such as black spot, anthracnose, rust, and mildew.
- Disease: As if that wasn’t enough, neem oil also battles viruses that can harm plants.
Advantages of Neem Oil
- Nontoxic: As long as it isn’t sprayed directly on them, neem oil is nontoxic to beneficial garden insects such as predatory wasps, honeybees, earthworms, ants, spiders, ladybugs, and adult butterflies. Neem oil is considered nontoxic to humans, birds, and other animals as well (see below) and can be used on fruits, vegetables, and flowering plants.
- Organic: Neem oil is plant based and easily available from organically grown neem trees.
- Biodegradable: Neem oil breaks down quickly and leaves no lasting residue.
Preparing Your Neem Oil Spray
You won’t need many ingredients to make a neem oil spray – just the oil itself, water, and an emulsifier. Don’t let that last word scare you, because the deal is simple. Oil and water do not mix, so you will need to add a mild liquid soap (an emulsifier) to the mix.
Basic Neem Oil Insecticide Spray – Instructions
For making 1l of a basic, mild 0,5% neem oil spray, you will need:
- 1-Litre of warm water
- 1 teaspoon (5ml) of neem oil.
- ⅓ tsp (1-2ml) of mild liquid soap, insecticidal soap or another mild detergent. Other sources say that 1 tsp of soap is also fine.
Mix water and soap in a closed bottle and shake well so the soap is fully dissolved. Add the neem oil, and shake again.
The concentration of 0,5-1% is the most common for general and regular garden use, although you can experiment with 2% sprays if you think you need a stronger solution.
How To Use The Neem Oil Spray?
Always test the neem oil spray on a limited area before applying it generously. This cannot be overstated. Patch test
Spray your solution on the affected plant leaves, but only on one limited part of the plant at first so you can watch for any adverse effects for a day. If the plant seems to take the spray well after 24 hours, you can proceed to spray the entire affected area.
Spray your solution on the affected plant leaves, but only on one limited part of the plant at first so you can watch for any adverse effects for a day. If the plant seems to take the spray well after 24 hours, you can proceed to spray the entire affected area.
You can use the neem oil spray when you need it, or regularly – once per week is a good measure. Using the spray regularly will make it a preventive solution, which is especially useful if you know you have an upcoming pest infestation in your area.
As with other oil-based sprays, make sure that leaves are completely coated so the active ingredients will have full contact with insects and fungi pests.
Some more general safety guidelines when using neem oil sprays are:
- Never use your neem oil spray in direct sunlight.
- Do not spray your plants in extreme temperatures, both hot or cold.
- Do not treat the plants that have been stressed with bad growing conditions, such as drought or overwatering; improving the plant’s conditions prior to spraying is important to avoid adding damage by spraying.
- Keep the neem oil and the neem oil spray in a safe place to avoid ingestion by children or pets.
Conclusion
Plants are compact chemical laboratories and contain many compounds that can help us control many diseases in our gardens, especially insect infestations. And since these molecules are naturally occurring, the damage they can do to their surroundings is much smaller than with man-made pesticides.
Neem tree is one such plant. Using neem oil-based solutions and products can have multiple benefits for your garden, all while keeping you safer. Neem oil sprays are one of the ways to have an organic garden while still using a safe chemical weapon against pests. To our knowledge, the toxic effects of neem oil sprays are limited to leaf-eating insects and other herbivorous organisms such as nematodes.
Before resorting to synthetic pesticides which have to be used extra-cautiously since they can harm human and animal health and influence biodiversity, it might be worth looking is what nature has to offer.