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Some NEEM Questions & My Results
Howdy y'all...hope you aren't baking in the 100 degree heat we are! Gonna
have to buy a wider hat to keep my arms from burning :) Q: Is it OK to spray Neem Oil directly onto fruits and vegetables? I am spraying (amongst many other plants) pepper plants, tomato plants and some strawberry bushes which are all fruiting so the fruit is getting sprayed as well. I've seen (old) literature that said you could spray DDT on the actual veggies, too, so I don't really care what the label says. (Kinda like pressure treated lumber -- oh, it is ok, the aresenic doesn't get in you...oh, wait, we were wrong... and now the EPA says it is no longer approved for residential use.) My Results in May: Short of Garrett juice which ends up costing more, I've gone to Neem Oil for an Organic insecticide (I found two concentrates at Lowe's and bought 'Safer' brand 3-in-1 which is 'Clarified Hydrophobic Extract' at 70%) (Sulphur was really too toxic to spray in a yard with kids and cats me thinks...organic or not) (Took every store for 15 miles before I found it...) It was bought to treat (this year anyway) Black Spot, Thrips, Aphids and Scale. It has worked (albeit slowly) on all of those things, tho the roses are dying off anyway. Actually, it worked on the thousands of aphids attacking a sage and some mums over night. Since Neem Oil affects plant-eating bug's biology vs. killing them outright, some, like the Scale, have taken several applications over several weeks and some are still alive. I was afraid for living 'Good' bugs (Neem oil kills bees on contact so you have to wait late enough they aren't around) but my Lady Bug population (half a dozen) seems just fine. Suposedly it only affects the bugs that eat the plants and not the bugs that eat the bugs. Comments, questions and your results would be appreciated. Thx, John Austin, Tex Zone 8a...yeah, but I forgot what a freeze was like! |
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