Max Nihil said:
With edible plants I use the clarified hydrophobic extract and have found it to be extremely effective.
Many people avoid using the cold pressed oil.
Neem is chemically complex and not extremely well understood despite the chemically naive glib perspective being promoted by Solid7.
If you want to avoid ingesting an untested compound systemic insecticide that is linked to organ failure then avoid the cold pressed oil and other formulations that have a high content of azadirachtin.
If you don't care about feeding yourself and or other people an untested systemic insecticide linked to organ failure then take Solid7s advice and avoid using the clarified extract and use cold pressed oil or other formulations instead.
Yesterday I sprayed cuttings with a formulation that is 0.9% clarified hydrophobic extract of neem with 0.02% pyrethrins and 0.2% piperonyl hydroxide. I would not want to ingest this material, breathe it or get it on my skin however it works very very well and it washes off well. I use it to remove fungi and pests from cuttings of plants that perform well so I can grow them indoors and use them as mother plants and isolate them.
All of neem products work and that includes the clarified extract.
IMO, Cold Pressed Neem or Clarified Neem is probably the best pesticide you can use on any digestible garden product.
After using both for years now, can say without a doubt, Cold Pressed Neem Oil works long after the spray with repellent type properties for a much longer time period than Clarified Neem.
As far as Clarified being better for consumption than Cold Pressed, not so sure of that.
With Cold pressed and a simple soap like Dr Boners, thats all you get. Is it ok to smoke either of those,,? is it ok to eat either of those..?
Well, was talking with a customer, that also has a garden, I've given her pepper plants in the past. We got on the subject of garden pests and I mentioned Neem oil. She seemed shocked,
then told me she takes Neem as a supplement for over 10 years and can't believe it would kill garden pests. She is a vegan that looks 20 years younger than she is... She will start using neem oil in her garden.
As for Clarified being better for consumption of any sort, well if you look at the 30% 'inert ingredients' there are adjuvants in Clarified Neem Oil commercial products, there are surfactants, spreader stickers, crop oils, anti-foaming materials, buffering agents, and compatibility agents. Surfactants are adjuvants that facilitate and accentuate the emulsifying, dispersing, spreading, wetting, or other surface modifying properties of oils/liquids."
So guess the question is, whats better for consumption, AZA or the dozens of possibly non organic chemicals being used as adjuvants in Clarified Neem Oil commercial products...? Looking at my new bottle of AG Southern Clarified Neem Oil, now the OMRI organic certification its always had, is missing from the bottle.
If you look into what types of chemicals are being used in adjuvants, thats a whole lot of other stuff that may or may not be great for human consumption compared to Aza...
Btw, 100% of the Aza is not taken out of Clarified, a small amount is left I was told, at least as far as Southern Ag is concerned. An inexpensive Alcohol extraction process is usually used to 'clarify' neem oil and remove 90% of the aza, leaving behind traces of both aza and alcohol.
Wondering what that pepper you buy at the grocery store has had sprayed on it during its life span...?
jmo