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[PEST] Dr. Bronners for pest control?

I

idrop

Hello folks,
 
I've been having a tough time eradicating my bell peppers, tomatoes, sage, bitter melon, and scarlet runner bean plants of pesky bugs of all varieties. Have been spraying them every 7 days with neem oil (30%) for the last month or so.
 
I just picked up some Dr. Bronners hemp citrus liquid soap for other household use and noticed one of the recommended uses is for garden pest control. Would love to hear any first hand accounts, successes, or failures with this method.
 
 
Thanks!
- idrop
 
It's probably just like any detergent in the fact that it will kill any soft bodied insect but I usually treat every 2 to 3 days when I have an active infestation to make sure I kill all life cycles of the bugs. Treating every 7 days would be more of a maintenance in my opinion.
 
I have used it to treat over winter pepper plants with some success dealing with aphids.  I was told for it to work best you are supposed to spray them liberally with diluted castille soap and then rinse a little while later.  There was 8" of snow on the ground outside at the time and the plants don't easily fit in my shower so I diluted more than advised and sprayed it on and left it.  The soap definitely cut down the aphid population but I still see some from time to time so I reapply.  It's finally getting warm though, so I plan to spray them thoroughly then rinse as I was originally advised.
 
Nice to hear from you two on this:
@Edmick -- I've been thinking of upping the frequency but decided to follow the labeling on the box, seems like it shouldn't be a problem to up it though.
@SmokenFire -- Thanks for sharing your experience with castile soap, I'll pick up a proper sprayer to get get coverage on all my plants.
 
I'm thinking I'll try to combine both your insights and stick to my weekly neem oil spray offset by a mid-weekly castile soap treatment.
 
 
@Gorizza -- I would very much like my plants to grow up! I know it may not matter but I'd like to try this season without synthetics. Have used pyretheroids around for roaches but seems overkill for the little plant buggies as they haven't reached destructive proportions yet, though they are constant niggles. Thanks for the response.
 
What I do is 1 teaspoon neem oil and 1/2 teaspoon detergent per liter every 2 to 3 days. It works very well. Just do it in the evening to give it time to dry before the sun hits it. I would honestly only recommend weekly for maintenance though. Every 2 to 3 days during an active infestation will control all life cycles of the pests.
 
Got it, that's a reasonable prescription. Just sprayed a couple of days ago so will try it out today.
 
The neem oil came with a spray head but I have some concentrate as well.
Any recommendations for sprayers? Was thinking of picking up an el cheapo Home Despot one.
 
 
idrop said:
Got it, that's a reasonable prescription. Just sprayed a couple of days ago so will try it out today.
 
The neem oil came with a spray head but I have some concentrate as well.
Any recommendations for sprayers? Was thinking of picking up an el cheapo Home Despot one.
 
Click to expand...
All I use is a cheapo 1 gallon pump sprayer from Walmart. Was like $7. I also use a 1 liter hand spray bottle when I don't need to make a large batch.
 
Got a cheap pump sprayer and rejoiced in the suffering of those reviling insects as the oily soap glazed and glided over their soft bodies. In my tardiness I had let them develop since last week - to build them up only to break them. They will not feel any respite from the torrential mist of death.
 
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