How to Protect Plants From Pests Using Neem Oil?

Neem oil comes from the neem plant also known as the Azadirachta Indica Plant(scientific name), which is native to the Indian subcontinent. Neem oil is a vegetable oil that is extracted from the neem plant’s seeds and fruits.

Neem oil offers amazing properties that make it acceptable for use in your garden. This article discusses neem oil’s great safety profile and how to use it in your garden with a few efficient formulations and combinations.

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Steps on how to use Neem Oil in your garden :

Neem oil is completely biodegradable and has an excellent safety profile, but there are some precautions you should take when getting ready to use it in your garden because it can cause stomach irritation and eye irritation when ingested. Nevertheless, it has few side effects only when it is used in its concentrated form and is otherwise completely safe to use.

You may manufacture neem oil at home using a number of different formulations. Neem oil requires the use of a surfactant because it doesn’t mix well with water.

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Mix it with 1 litre of warm water plus 10-12 drops of liquid soap (handwash), plus 5 ml of neem oil. Mix thoroughly before use.
Perform a patch test on your plant or a leaf, so as to make sure it does not cause any burns, observe it for 24 hours for any uncertainties.
If it does cause some burns, this means you need to dilute it more.

To prevent the presence of dangerous nematodes like root-knotters, you may also use this solution in the soil where you grow your plants. You can use it once a week or once every 15 days, depending on how severe the pest infestation is. Neem oil should be used in the morning or evening. It shouldn’t be used in the middle of the day because it might burn plants when accompanied with sunshine.

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Is Neem Oil a good insecticide?

Neem oil is made up of numerous components. Most active is azadirachtin. It serves as a repellant and lessens insect feeding. Additionally, it disrupts the hormone systems of insects, making it more difficult for them to grow and lay eggs. Neem oil is a fantastic insecticide since it contains other ingredients that kill insects by impeding their ability to feed.

Azadirachtin decomposes quickly. The insecticide is broken down in soil, water, and on plants by microbes and light. In soil, azadirachtin has a half-life of three to forty-four days. The half-life in water varies from 48 minutes to 4 days. It also degrades quickly on plant leaves; the half-life is one to two and a half days. In most soil and water settings, microorganisms degrade the leftover neem oil components.

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Neem Oil benefits for plants

Neem oil is mostly used in gardens because of its insecticide or pesticide properties caused by the presence of the component azadirachtin, which kills pests at all stages of their life cycles, including the adult and larval stages. Additionally, it is thought to have antiviral, antifungal, and antibacterial properties. Paste made from neem leaves has long been applied to wounds on both humans and animals. Both neem leaf tea and neem leaf are used to treat chicken pox and stomach illnesses, respectively.

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What all insects does it control?

Neem oil’s pesticidal action is used to eradicate the following pests and diseases in plants, as well as to treat more than 200 diseases as a whole, including powdery mildew and diseases caused by caterpillars, aphids, mites, thrips, mealybugs, whiteflies, greenflies, grasshoppers, scale insects, and more. Additionally, it eliminates soil nematodes like root knotters and, most crucially, it has no negative effects on earthworms and infact helps them. Additionally, it also doesn’t have any impact on helpful pollinators like butterflies and honey bees.

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