Insect pests are inevitable. The sooner you accept that, the easier it will be for you to deal with them. Dealing with pests is absolutely one of the challenges that I'd rather not face, but if you are committed to producing crops in your garden, there's really not much of a choice for you.
There's always this temptation to find something strong enough to exterminate all of them, but I always try to keep in mind that not all of the insects in my garden are my enemy. This is why the key here is to try organic methods in controlling these pests from wreaking havoc in the garden. I've tried other organic solutions such as chili pepper + garlic solution and dishwashing liquid + cooking oil solution, but they don't seem to work at all. For me, one of the most effective organic pesticides is a Neem oil pesticide.
You can get a neem oil pesticide spray at any gardening supply store, but if you have a Neem tree in your backyard, you can easily make your own organic pesticide with it.
We have several Neem trees surrounding our property so I decided to just make a Neem oil pesticide myself. Making a neem oil pesticide is easy. I'm going to teach you two ways to do it.
Neem Tea Solution
You will need:
All you need to do is put neem leaves into a pot of boiling hot water. It's up to you how many leaves you're going to put, but for me, I usually put two cups full of neem leaves into 10 cups of water.
Doing this is pretty straightforward. Once the water has boiled, just strain the 'neem tea' and dispose of the neem leaves. Once the neem tea has cooled, put it on a spray bottle and you can now use it on your plants.
The only downside for this is that you have to use the neem tea solution within the day. If you store it overnight, it will smell bad the next day. One time, I forgot to dispose of the remaining neem tea. It smelled like poop the next day.
This is by far the easiest way to make a neem spray. But it's not what I would recommend in the long run.
Here's what I would recommend.
- Neem leaves (remove stems)
- Water
- Pot
All you need to do is put neem leaves into a pot of boiling hot water. It's up to you how many leaves you're going to put, but for me, I usually put two cups full of neem leaves into 10 cups of water.
Doing this is pretty straightforward. Once the water has boiled, just strain the 'neem tea' and dispose of the neem leaves. Once the neem tea has cooled, put it on a spray bottle and you can now use it on your plants.
The only downside for this is that you have to use the neem tea solution within the day. If you store it overnight, it will smell bad the next day. One time, I forgot to dispose of the remaining neem tea. It smelled like poop the next day.
This is by far the easiest way to make a neem spray. But it's not what I would recommend in the long run.
Here's what I would recommend.
Neem Oil Solution
You will need:
- Neem leaves
- Oil (Coconut oil, Olive oil, Palm oil, or whatever you have with you)
- Pot or saucepan
- Glass jar or any jar of your choice
- Food processor or blender (optional)
- Mortar and pestle (optional)
- Sieve or cloth
Step 1: Wash neem leaves and remove excess water.
Step 2: Put the neem leaves in the food processor or blender and blend the leaves until you get a thick paste of leaves.
Step 3: Set it aside.
Step 4: In a pot or saucepan, pour a generous amount of whatever oil you have and heat it up.
Step 5: Once the oil is heated, put the ground neem leaves and stir constantly for 5-10 minutes.
Step 6: Turn the fire off once the oil is green.
Step 7: Let it cool before filtering the oil on a dry glass jar.
And voila! You now have your own neem oil which you can use as your organic pesticide.
To make a neem oil spray, just mix 1 tablespoon of the neem oil you just made with 1 tablespoon of dishwashing liquid to 1.5 to 2 liters of water. Shake well before spraying.
That's it! Making your own neem oil pesticide is not difficult. So long as you have neem leaves, you can easily make one in your free time.
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