Garden pest control with neem oil…

You plant this awesome garden. This garden starts to produce awesome things like, tomatoes, basil, strawberries, peaches. You see the beautiful flower blossom. Then you see the flower turn into the fruit you have always wanted. You get excited that you, after years of picking off the fruit so it can stabilize, finally get to taste the fruit of your labor. Then…

BAM…

…that beautiful round tomato got taken out by some damn pests. Or that beautiful basil of yours has little holes on every single leaf. When you have a garden these inevitable challenges occur. Just like weeds, but we now know that we let the weeds live, right? Anyway, back to the pests. If you are attempting to grow an organic garden, which I highly encourage you to, sometimes you are left scratching your head not knowing what to do because chemicals in an organic garden is a no no!

Two words, NEEM OIL.

Neem is an evergreen tree. It is a vegetable oil pressed from the fruit and seeds. It contains Azadirachtin, which is a very effective chemical that is non-toxic. The oil coats the leaves and also acts as a fungicide. Neem oil prevents fungus from starting and also smothers soft bodied insects like aphids.

This dandy little oil takes care of up to 200 insects in the garden. Now I need to stress one point here about neem oil. It has to be 100% pure. Many store bought brands contain other unnecessary chemicals that are going to do more harm than good. I suggest buying this brand, it has worked beautifully for us and my husband, (who is the garden guru of our family) gives it two thumbs up.

So that little bastards that keeps eating your perfectly sized tomatoes, GONE. Those tiny little bugs that you can’t even see eating your gorgeous basil leaves, GONE. That army that took down your beautiful looking zucchini that you were so excited about, GONE.

Are you pumped up now?

How to make neem oil mixture.

What you need:

1 tsp. of 100% cold press neem oil

32oz. spray bottle

32oz. of water

1/4 tsp. standard dawn dish soap with no additives

How to make it:

1. You want to put your oil in first.
2. Then add your water then add your dish soap. If you add your oil and dish soap together, when you add your water you’ll end up with a bubbly mess. Then slowly turn your bottle side to side to gently mix the solution.

How to use your neem oil mixture.

You want to spray your plants early in the morning. You want to spray the top side of the leaves and the underside of the leaves as well. You also want to spray the soil around your plant. This is usually where those little bugs like to lay their eggs. So make sure you wipe them out before they even have a chance. Now you don’t want to drench the leaves or the soil, just enough to coat everything.

Spray plants as needed or once every two weeks for prevention.

***This mixture is only good for about 24 hours then as time goes on it becomes weaker and weaker so make sure you go on a mission after making this stuff.

You can also watch our YouTube video on how to control aphids.

We would love to hear how this mixture worked for you. Leave a comment or question below!

Happy pest killing!

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