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Using Soaps As A Natural Insecticide

How much do you know about soap in its various guises? If you wash with it, it makes you clean and destroys some germs, especially those originating from using the toilet. It makes children vomit if they eat it. Shampoo hurts if it gets in your eyes. It does not taste very nice. Most dogs hate being bathed in it. Anything else? Did you know that it is it is a killer to the majority of creatures on the planet? The clue is in that it destroys germs.

Soap can be employed as an insecticide as well as a germicide. Everyday soap does not kill ‘ninety-nine percent of all known germs – dead’, as the advert for a bleach once went and it perhaps does not kill all the different types of germs either, but as a broad-spectrum insecticide, it is pretty good. Some types of soap are more effective than others.

Neem Tree oil soap is a good example. It will poison some insects such as fleas and repel a whole load more and it is a potent fungicide. In fact, there has to be a lot more study carried out on what Neem can do. It is a tree from south-east Asia, particularly India, where it has been used for hundreds of years minimum for its antiseptic, insecticidal and fungicidal properties.

However, it is very potent If you use it on your plants take care. It may kill delicate, scrawny or young plants, so you will have to make a few tests first. The oil seems to work by increasing the properties of sunlight in some manner.

Household washing up liquid, at the strength you use to wash dishes can be used to kill wasps, greenfly and some mites. However, but some plants depend on an outer layer for defense and de-greasing soaps can have an effect on that layer. It is safest to only use this detergent on woody plants like roses. If you want real, commercially-produced insecticidal soap, try your garden shop.

Soap usually works on insects by dissolving their outer waxy layer which is meant to stop them dehydrating. It can also cause cell injury. As a repellent? It possibly smells bad to them, which is a good enough motive for washing surface areas often.

Domestic soaps, with the exception of Neem, are only effective as an insecticide when they are wet, but you should never apply soap suds in strong direct sunlight or they may burn or boil your plants. Automatic dishwasher soaps are not good for plants as they are too harsh, but may be effective against ants’ nests and wasps’ nests and the like.

The most effective insecticide the world has ever known, borax or boric acid, used to be added to a lot of soaps and may still be added to some intended to poison insects. Boric acid is a little less safe than table salt to humans and their animals, so if you see that chemical in a soap, you know that it is not a cause for worry and that it is an insecticidal soap. Borax is meant to be consumed and will kill a whole ant colony in a few weeks.

Owen Jones, the writer of this article writes on many subjects, but is at present involved with Terro Ant Bait. If you would like to know more or check out some great offers, please visit our website at Killing Carpenter Ants.

November 11 2011 | Landscaping | No Comments »

Safe Methods Of Planting Caladiums

Starting caladiums in the South during March is not a good idea. We do not attempt to start our main crop of fancy leaved caladiums until the weather gets fairly warm; however, it is possible to start a few in a sunny window this month. If planted too early and if the weather remains cool, the bulbs may rot. A safe method of handling is to start the bulbs in a well-drained bed in a sunny spot.

Place the bulbs on a 2-inch layer of a sand-peat mixture and cover with an inch layer of the same mixture. When two or three leaves have developed, lift the bulbs with all the soil that clings to the roots and set them in their permanent places in the garden. If you are growing a mixture of bulbs this method will enable you to determine the colors and make pleasing combinations before setting them in their permanent beds.

A half-and-half mixture of garden loam and leafmold or peatmoss makes a fine soil for a garden bed of caladiums; we always place a handful of sand under each plant to improve the drainage. Caladiums, which are available as named varieties, are among our best plants for summer color. They are well suited to shady spots where many other plants will not thrive.

Cleaning my pools – Almost every spring I wait too long before cleaning my pools, and when I finally do get around to them there are scads of baby goldfish on hand to greet me. If you have a pool, let me urge you to clean it right away as goldfish and other aquatic animal life start breeding with the first suggestions of spring, and a late cleaning will materially disturb their young.

Early care for roses – If a stitch in time saves nine in the ordinary run of events, it saves about ninety-nine in the care of roses. The easiest way, by far, to keep black spot under control is to start your dusting or spraying schedule in March when the new growth is only a few inches long. Also remove and destroy all debris such as pruned canes, old leaves and faded blooms, for they harbor disease.

Pests of azaleas and camellias – The only insect that gives any great amount of trouble with azaleas is the lacebug; and the same can be said of scale on camellias. Each shrub just like caladium bulbs should be sprayed with an oil base material or malathion preparations as soon as it is finished blooming. Malathion is especially effective at this time and not during planting season when young insects are present in great numbers.

Questions of the Month

Q. When is the best time to divide and rest my lycoris bulbs? Also, when is the best time to purchase new stock?

A. Most of the lycoris species are green and growing during the winter months and should not be disturbed until the foliage has matured and turned yellow, usually about May. The best time to buy new stock is from May through June, as the roots start growing again in late summer.

Q. My amaryllis have formed large clumps and seem to need dividing. When should this be done?

A. You may divide and rest them immediately after they have finished blooming, but late fall is probably a better time. Be sure to replant immediately so that the roots will not dry out.

Q. I know that we cannot grow peonies very successfully in the Deep South, but are there any particular varieties or types that will thrive farther South than others?

A. Two factors seem to militate against growing good peonies down here. The winters are too mild and too short; and the hot sun in late spring blasts the buds before they can open. The very early varieties and those that produce single or semi-double flowers are likely to do the best.

Q. Is it necessary to hand-pollinate amaryllis to get them to bear seeds?

A. As a rule it is. A few may set seeds from self or insect-pollination but not many. Most gardeners wish to produce seeds only from their choice varieties and this can be done only by hand-pollination.

April 20 2009 | Gardening | No Comments »