Neem Oil

[Stone]

I've been having a pow wow on another forum about the effectiveness of neem oil. I say its not much good
Thoughts?

 

[Paul]

not much good actually...

you can use it occasionnaly, it makes the same "greening up" effect as kelp extract, but it can have bad sides effects (deposit on the leaves). So I prefer the kelp extract!
slighlty phytotoxic too (on long term, decolorations)

 

[Ozpaph]

Not much good for what?

 

[ALToronto]

I thought neem oil was a pesticide. What else is it used for?

 

[slipperscout]

In my experience the Neem oil products are poorly formulated emulsions which clogged my sprayers and were a marginally effective contact insecticide.
For mealies I drenched every plant in the greenhouse with Talus twice at a 1 month interval at the concentration of 1 tsp/gallon. No mealies even after 1 year!!

 

[NYEric]

I use Neem oil in my pesticide formula, I think it works.

 

[Justin]

i don't like it. pretty useless on spider mites, which is what i have tried to use it on in the past.

 

[abax]

Neem oil is not very effective and doesn't smell particularly good either.

 

[Stone]

I use Neem oil in my pesticide formula, I think it works.

But is it the oil smothering the pest or the chemical doing the job?

 

[limuhead]

I think the neem extract, I think its called used with Dr. Bonners liquid soap works on just about any insects. The problem with pure neem oil is that it too thick and leaves a nasty residue. Used with soap it works great.

 

[Ozpaph]

My guess is smothering. What do you use for mealy bugs etc, Mike?

 

[cnycharles]

There is part of the oil, azidaractin (sp) that is supposed to be an insect growth regulator, and the whole is supposed to help encourage some bugs to not chew on the leaf, and another part that may be slightly anti fungal. Like with any organically sourced material, how it's treated and/or stored can protect or negate these effects (the right chemicals break down)

Azidaractin is the main ingredient in some greenhouse igr's, (insect growth regulators) and those pesticides work well.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[NYEric]

But is it the oil smothering the pest or the chemical doing the job?

I'm not sure, I use it in a mix with Dr. Bonner's lavender oil soap, which thins it. The mix also has water, alcohol, and for potency, Merit 75!

 

[Justin]

i have not had any kind of bug problem on my orchids since i went to a coctail of Enstar II AQ and Decathlon 20.

 

[iwillard]

Neem oil,triple action! whatever that means,it just didn't work ridding mites in my greenhouse.

Bought horticultural oil and had AzaMax ( Azadirachtin extracted from neem oil) on hand,mixed those 2 and used it once a week,so far so good as long as it is done in the middle of the night :sob: with a flashlight on hand since everything is kicked out after mighty mite infestation. 4 weeks is now gone and some plants suffered due to mites eradication program but the good news,new growths are appearing along with new roots.

 

[NYEric]

I believe mites are usually a result of low humidity. My floors attest to that not being our problem. Good luck w/ Neem, but as I said, not alone.

 

[Hera]

In my situation Azamax has been effective with mites but not very effective with mealies. I use Malathion or Bayer rose and flower for mealies.

 

[Stone]

My guess is smothering. What do you use for mealy bugs etc, Mike?

Confidor and malathion. Luckily I don't get many. What is diappointing is the the constant dumbing down of Chems so its getting harder and harder to get things that work. Of course all this chemical phobia pushed by shows like Gardening Australia and others. They like to promote ridiculous things like garlic spray and chilli spray. Obviously they have never grown orchids in a greenhouse!
This year I had a terrible infestation of boiduval scale. Really hard to control.
I went thru every single orchid in the glasshouse and prayed every square mm of each with oil/malathion. But if you miss just a couple of females you're back to square one.
I need to get Supracide from somewhere! Something that rips your face off:evil:

 

[Eric Muehlbauer]

I've never found neem to be effective. The straight oil may work, but it's thick and it stinks, and is no better than sunspray oil, which is great on scales.

 

[cattmad]

Confidor and malathion. Luckily I don't get many. What is diappointing is the the constant dumbing down of Chems so its getting harder and harder to get things that work. Of course all this chemical phobia pushed by shows like Gardening Australia and others. They like to promote ridiculous things like garlic spray and chilli spray. Obviously they have never grown orchids in a greenhouse!
This year I had a terrible infestation of boiduval scale. Really hard to control.
I went thru every single orchid in the glasshouse and prayed every square mm of each with oil/malathion. But if you miss just a couple of females you're back to square one.
I need to get Supracide from somewhere! Something that rips your face off:evil:

get some crown from garden city plastics, cleans up mealies & scale very quickly.