Roger asks, “I have some bugs on my plants and would like to use a natural pesticide instead of a man-made one.”
A very popular natural pesticide is a substance called Neem. It is available as a powder, liquid, and spray. It is derived from the seeds of Neem trees. The large Neem trees grow in India and parts of Iran.
Neem is considered a safer alternative to synthetic pesticides because it comes from a natural source and rapidly breaks down in the environment. It can harm flowers and leaves, especially on very hot days. Neem works in a couple of ways. Neem has a nasty smell and taste to many insects. Coating the leaves with the oil makes the leaves unpalatable to the hungry bugs. The oil is not a poison that kills bugs outright. In immature insects, it interferes with their development, and they die. Neem will not hurt adult insects who decide to chew on the oil coated leaves. Neem is effective against around 200 insects, but will not control all of them. It is important to know what kind of bugs are munching on your plants and reading labels to see if Neem works on controlling them.
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Image by Bishnu Sarangi