Insect Soap Concentrate

I use this product primarily to keep aphids off my broccoli, cabbage, onions, kale, and plum tree. So far, I've had a lot of good success with it and it hasn't damaged my plants like some other products that I've used in the past. There's a couple of tricks to this product. First, most of the pests congregate on the bottom-side of leaves so you need to have a strategy to access and spray the bottom-side. Spraying the topside of the leaves is a waste of time and won't do anything for you. My method of getting to the underside of the leaves without being a contortionist is to use a pump sprayer that has a wand with an angled tip. Second, don't be cheap. Once you access the underside of the leaves, give them a good spray and make sure all critters are fully soaked. Ever notice how your hands feel dry if you wash them often with soap? That's exactly how this product works...it "dries out" the critters. That's why it's so important to make sure the critters are fully soaked. As an added bonus, I've realized that this product can also kill soft bodied caterpillars that also love to chew on most plant leaves. I've successfully used this product on my apple and cherry trees to get rid of caterpillars; the only trick is that you have to catch the critters in the act. That said, if you have a heavy caterpillar infestation, you're better off using BT instead of this product. Safer Brands offers a BT formula that I use and is very effective if you have lots of caterpillars around. Buying the concentrate is the way to go from a $$ perspective. It's not that hard to make a spray solution. I use 2-4 tbsp of the product in a 1 gallon pump bottle and then fill it up to the top with water. Shake well and you're ready to go. A funnel is not necessary but certainly makes it easier to fill the bottle without getting the concentrate or water everywhere. Depending on the level of infestation you have, you can adjust the concentration up or down by adding a few more or a few less tbsp of the concentrate. I recommend starting at a lower concentration (i.e. 2 tbsp/gallon of water) and working your way up based on an assessment of how effective the previous spraying was. Always spray in early morning or late afternoon when the temperatures are cool and the plants aren't getting direct sunlight. Otherwise, you risk burning the leaves. Now some final thoughts. If you find yourself using this product every week to keep critters under control, you should really examine your cultural practices. In a healthy garden, the plants should be able to ward off most infestations and there should always be predators (i.e. good bugs like spiders and lady beetles) roaming around that are munching on the bad bugs. I use this product no more than half a dozen times a season, when extraordinary circumstances (i.e. a heat wave) lead to an explosion of aphids and Mother Nature isn't able to keep up. Recent update: I had an ant infestation this year unlike anything I've seen before. There was a 200 feet trail of ants along my fence line and there were thousands of them going back and forth. Ants are known to shepherd aphids so getting rid of them was a priority. I used poison granules leftover from a previous application and all the ants did was shift their route by about a foot. I tried cinnamon. I tried corn meal. I tried boric acid. I tried vinegar. Nothing was working. I finally told my wife that I was going to pick up a can of Raid on the way home from work. But then I wondered if insecticidal soap would get rid of the ants since they don't have a shell and are considered a soft bodied insect. So I made a super concentrated solution (2 Tbsp w/32 oz water) and sprayed the ants along the path. To my amazement, the ants died on contact. This stuff worked as good as Raid!

I really love this stuff. I had a severe case of aphids that spread rapidly. So much so, I was actually considering just tossing the infected plants which is not something iv ever done because my plants are like my babies. I didnt want to use any store bought pesticides because in the past, even with following the directions exactly, my plants always ended up getting chemical burns. I have two cats who love to nibble when im not around and a 3 year old who shares my loves for plants and is always helping to water and care for them. I needed something strong enough to take care of this problem but mild enough to cause no harm to my daughter, cats and the plants themselves. I did a ton of research and decided this was my best choice. Im soo pleased with how well this worked. The smell is strong but thats mother natures fault lol I just tried not to breath it in, I also wore gloves and sprayed them down away from where we hang out outside. Being its summer, I let them hang out outside for a few days under my table umbrella and would check on them daily. I would say 90% of the aphids were dead by day one and by day 3 any leftovers slowly died off as well. The plants didnt get any burns at all, in fact I feel like they all look healthier and stronger then before all this happened. I would 100% recommend this. I plan on doing this bi yearly to all my plants as a way to prevent infestations in the future. A couple complaints iv read were that the bottle you get is smaller then it looks in the pictures because it has a handle and most bottles with handles are meant for gallons, although I agree the pictures can give off that impression, its really not a problem considering one treatment doesn't require a lot of product, so I don't find that to even be a problem. In fact I like that its smaller because it was easier to pour and control plus storing it doesn't take a lot of space. Another complaint was that when it arrived it solidified, yes mine was this way as well, but I simply left it out in the sun while I set up my treatment area and got everything I needed together and by the time I was ready to use (about 30 minutes) it was melted enough that I was able to use it. By the time I put everything away it was completely melted. It sais in the directions that you can always heat up some water and let the bottle sit in the water for a bit (like heating up a bottle for a baby). Again not a big deal and for how well this product worked is certainly not going to stop me from purchasing again when I run out. In short, it was effective, easy to use and considering its natural and safe, its a no brainer.

Smell: heavy soap. I'm good with it. Mixing: takes very little. I'm good with it. But I had a very difficult time keeping it off my skin. It worked on gnats but they returned with a vengeance. I believe it works but I treated on Fri, didn't return til Mon, saw a big difference so I used twice what was called for - mistake. I may have killed 2 of my 20 plants, so I stopped treating for fear of killing more, and gnats tripled. I think I did some thing wrong, and I believe this product works but I goofed. I removed 1 star because I thot it was pre-mixed & was in a spray bottle, and for Me mixing is difficult.

Best soap for getting tid of plant bugs.

This is amazing! I bought several small succulents and one turned out to have mealy bugs. This small bottle of soap concentrate seems to work quite well and the directions are good except if you only need enough mix for one plant you have to figure out the ratio. The bottle warns to be careful using on succulents but I have a variety of kinds and none were harmed by the spray (I was concerned the mealy bugs might have spread to other plants so dosed them all).1 tablespoon in 3 cups of water mixed in a hand sprayer works fine. It creates a foam all over the plant which disappears as the bubbles pop and the mix washes over the plants. 1 cup water and 1 teaspoon of the soap can be mixed as a soil drench in case the mealy bugs are hanging around the roots. For a few house plants this concentrate should last me a long time.

I had a plant in the back of my house that was completely infested with white flies, and the leaves were falling off of it; it normally has beautiful purple flowers. I used to periodically get a hose and clean off every leaf to see if that would help. I bought this product and within a week, it took a huge turnaround and I was actually getting some purple flowers back. My neighbor has a small potted. Ixhora plant that was infested with these black bugs. It had some flower buds, but they were full of black bugs, and the flower buds kept falling off according to my neighbor. I treated his plant and shortly after, he had five flowers. He said he's never seen that many flowers on his plant. This product works! You just pour the appropriate amount in a gallon jug with water and then put it in a spray bottle. I've only applied it to my plant with a purple flowers a total of two times which was a week apart. It's been several weeks and still no white flies have returned. This product is amazing! And a little bit goes a long way.

Didn't really save my plants

Soap is effective against the aphids. Try to make sure you soap up the leaves completely it works