Author Topic: Horticultural soap?  (Read 2262 times)

grannyjanny

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Horticultural soap?
« on: June 14, 2009, 18:27:46 »
Just watched Beachgrove & they were using horticultural soap. What do I look for when I go shopping please or is there an alternative. I've just googled it & an American site showed neem oil which I can get from the health food shop.

Baccy Man

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Re: Horticultural soap?
« Reply #1 on: June 14, 2009, 18:56:33 »
Neem oil is frequently used for pest control most of the time horticultural soap is labelled as insecticidal soap, some ready to use preparations found in garden centres will also contain horticultural oils to increase the range of pests they can be used to control.

Kepouros

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Re: Horticultural soap?
« Reply #2 on: June 14, 2009, 22:26:17 »
In the days when soap was about the only form of insecticide one could get, we normally used domestic Soft Soap , as bought in large tins for scrubbing quarry floors.  I think we mixed it on the basis of a small handful to a 2 gallon bucket of water, or maybe that was the sodium chlorate I`m thinking of.

grannyjanny

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Re: Horticultural soap?
« Reply #3 on: June 15, 2009, 07:12:14 »
Has anyone heard of or tried Dr Bonner's pure castile soap for this purpose. I can only find the ones with essential oils added, eg lavener & tee tree. What do others use. The aphids are rampant. Green fly, black fly, white fly & I even had a blue fly on me the other day.

Hector

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Re: Horticultural soap?
« Reply #4 on: June 02, 2017, 12:38:39 »
We are inundated with grey aphids on our kale and humumgous green ones on broad bean....so going to try this. We use this soap as bodywash too...wonderful stuff....

Mixing a tablespoon to a gallon and adding some chilli powder
https://www.hunker.com/12257372/how-to-use-dr-bronners-as-insecticidal-soap
Jackie

ancellsfarmer

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Re: Horticultural soap?
« Reply #5 on: June 02, 2017, 20:55:33 »
I think the use of soap to 'clean-up' crops is to unstick such as aphids and caterpillars, the alkali nature also irritates them,  and allows more toxic chemicals to work, rather than run -off as if a ducks back,so to speak. Liquid detergents mainly are oil derived and not for food crops .Traditionally horticultural soap was "soft soap", applied with a brass syringe once dissolved in water. Simplest to obtain today would be Lux or Fairy hand- washing powder. Interesting research with the alcohol- based hand sanitizer would demonstrate that one could 'dissolve' caterpillars and beetles etc, but its probably outlawed by the Geneva convention.
 Note: a wasp disintegrated into three body sections can still sting you!, but only from one end.
Freelance cultivator qualified within the University of Life.

Vinlander

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Re: Horticultural soap?
« Reply #6 on: June 03, 2017, 12:21:07 »
definition of soft soap
noun
1.
a semi-fluid soap, especially one made with potassium rather than sodium salts.

Easily found on google if you ignore the longer names that are tarted up.


All bugs rely on air holes/pores (spiracles) - which are protected by water repelling oils that have to be shifted first - detergents can do this so it kills bugs outright by effectively drowning them.

Soft soap is tried and tested, and your plants will benefit from the potassium (and the dead bugs).

Cheers.
With a microholding you always get too much or bugger-all. (I'm fed up calling it an allotment garden - it just encourages the tidy-police).

The simple/complex split is more & more important: Simple fertilisers Poor, complex ones Good. Simple (old) poisons predictable, others (new) the opposite.

Hector

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Re: Horticultural soap?
« Reply #7 on: June 03, 2017, 12:31:18 »
Thanks all :)

Well, a cautious " yippee!!" Had a go last night and then it heaved down....so thought maybe diluted effect. This morning however, there's Lots of dead bugs. Well impressed.

It is also great for sensitive skin. I take a weebittle of it when travelling and its shampoo/ face wash andbodywash. Find the peppermint a bit strong but the almond or lavender is great.
Jackie

 

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