neem oil insecticide for gardens and indoor plants

Neem Oil is incredibly handy to have in your medicine cabinet and also the garden shed. Made into an insecticide it’s a good alternative to chemical laden sprays. Neem oil is bioactive and works both as a pesticide and a fungicide combating insects and other infectious agents. You can also use it on your indoor plants as a leaf shine, your plants will look lovely and will be protected from fungus and other leaf disorders at the same time.

Do be careful when using this natural insecticide as it will kill ‘good’ bugs like ladybugs along with the ‘bad’ bugs. For those occasions when an insecticide is necessary I prefer to use this one created by nature, it doesn’t leave behind nasty residues in root systems and the soil.

Use your neem oil insecticide when needed, or use regularly (once a week) to prevent infestation or infection (although this is more hazardous to ‘good’ bugs) if you know that you get more pests at a certain time of year or can see pests migrating from other plants.

Before use test the spray on your plant, spray a little on one leaf and leave it overnight not when raining), if fine the next day spray away.

 Neem Oil Insecticide Spray

This recipe makes 1L of 0.5% spray.

1L warm water

1 teaspoon (5ml) of Neem Oil.

2ml Unscented Liquid Castile Soap

Put all ingredients into your spray bottle and shake to combine. Shake well each time you use the spray.

Don’t use this spray in direct sunlight and be careful with plants that are recovering from overwatering or under watering,

Keep the neem oil and the neem oil insecticide spray in a safe place away from children or pets and do not ingest.