Beware Some ‘Organic’ Solutions

The organic garden industry has a lot of snake oil salesmen, or rather, neem oil salesmen.

Have you ever tried using neem oil? Are you as disappointed in it as me? A pint of the stuff can cost as much as $25. Lots of people swear by it, but it has never worked for me. Neem oil is supposed to be a natural pesticide. It comes from cold-pressing the seeds of the neem tree, which comes from the Indian subcontinent. It doesn’t really kill insects, but rather it acts as a repellent. I have never noticed any difference before or after spraying my plants with neem oil. For several years I sprayed neem, more out of faithful obedience to purveyors of its praises. Is there a neem oil racket? Are people getting paid to peddle it? Or am I doing something wrong?

Try this. Mix some neem oil with water according to the directions on the label in a spray bottle. Then mix some water with about a half ounce of Dawn dish soap in another spray bottle. Go out to the garden and find some squash bugs. Spray some of the bugs with the neem oil solution and some other bugs with the soapy water. Within a few minutes, the bugs you sprayed with soap will be as dead as a doornail. The bugs soaked in neem oil will continue to suck the life from your squash plants. Why is this the case? Could it be because Dawn dish soap costs about three bucks a pint? Is Big Soap peddling its influence to home gardeners on social media? Big Neem sure is. Seriously, before you go buy expensive “organic solutions” to your garden woes, give soap a try.