How Often to Use Neem Oil for Plants: Make and use

The Neem oil spray is a natural insecticide that can control the most pests and diseases on your houseplants and is safe for your family, pets and environment. But How often to use Neem oil for plants?

 💡 I almost always spray neem oil regularly every seven or fourteen days after spotting the symptoms of pests and gain a good result in controlling most pests. But please avoid spraying it too often for example every day or every other day. I did it and it harmed my houseplant.

keep reading to get pro tips about making and using this magic natural pesticide: Neem oil spray. 

You can find various types of neem oil products in your local garden market but they cannot work as well as the homemade ones. Here, I will tell you how to make your homemade natural pesticide spray step by step and pro tips about using it on plants.

In addition, you will find out all the things you must know about how to use it. I will walk with you and you can ask me your questions below this page. So, let’s get going.

What Is Neem Oil?

Neem (Azadirachta indica) is a beautiful tree (as seen in the following picture) with magic leaves, fruits and seeds. The extracted oil from its fruits and seeds has a lot of benefits such as:

• Making natural pesticides against pests, fungi and bacteria
• Medicinal usages like treatment of infections, inflammation, skin diseases, dental disorders and fever.

As you may find out from its scientific name (Azadirachta indica), Neem trees are native to India, although they are planted in many countries. Some people cultivate this magic tree in pots as an indoor plant in the USA.

In the following, we will show you how to make and use neem oil spray for plants to control pests and diseases such as

• Aphids
• Mealybugs
• Leafhoppers
• Caterpillars
• Spider mites
• …

Let’s get going to make your own homemade neem oil pesticide and then show you how to use it on your plant.

How to Make the Neem Oil Spray and Soil Drench for Plants?

First Step: Make the Table!

Materials:

• The Neem oil (1-3 spoons): you can buy it from a supermarket. But if you have a neem tree, you can extract the oil from its leaves and seeds.
• Warm water (one gallon is about 4 litre)
• An emulsifier such as horticulture soap (1-2 spoons)

Equipment:

• Gloves
• A Spray Bottle
• Spoon
• A Gallon or Pan

This recipe is for making about one-gallon neem oil spray. Before the next step, you can increase or decrease the quantity evenly as required.

Second Step: Mix the Emulsifier with Water

As you saw above the basic materials you need to make your natural pesticide spray are neem oil and water. But how can you mix an oil with water? Your emulsifier (emulsifying agent) will help you to do it if you follow the below recipe:

• Prepare one-gallon warm water in your garden spray or a pot.
• Add 1-2 spoons of your emulsifying agent (horticulture soap, tween 80, etc.) to it.
• Mix them thoroughly.

Third Step: Add your Neem Oil to the Above Mixture

If you have been won to make a mixture of water and emulsifying mixture, now, add 1-3 spoons of your neem oil to it and then stir them thoroughly.

Congratulations! Your natural pesticide spray is ready. Let’s get going to show you how to use it.

How to Use Neem Oil Pesticide?

before telling you how often to use neem oil for plants, let me tell you how you must use your neem oil spray on your houseplant’s leaves and its soil too. In the following, you can find out pro tips about how to use it.

• Wear gloves to avoid any contact.
• A high concentration of neem oil will cause sunburning signs on your plant.
• Spray it in the early morning or late evening to save the beneficial insects most of which are usually inactive during these times.
• The neem oil may cause the burning of leaves in sunlight and hot conditions. In this situation spraying the plants, even in the early morning will cause damage to your plant. If you are going to use neem oil on hot days, you must spray it at sunset.

How Often to Use Neem Oil for Plants?

• Test your natural pesticide on a few leaves, if you don’t spot any damage symptoms on them, spray it on all over.
• If you want to use it on leaves you should Spray all plant surfaces until it drips from leaves and leaves get wet.
• Spray it regularly every seven or fourteen days to gain a good result. Avoid spraying neem oil too often for example every day or every other day because it will harm your plant.

Pro Tips for Using Neem Oil Spray on Houseplants

• If you buy your neem oil from a local gardening or home improvement store, read its label and take note of its compounds. Some of them may contain synthetic compounds that can hit your plant.
• Prepare your natural pesticide spray on the day you wish to use it and avoid using an old mixture because its compounds have been separated.
• You should shake the bottle during use to keep the oil distributed throughout the mixture.
• Some essential oils such as mint, lemon, etc. can improve the effectiveness of your natural insecticide against certain pests but make sure about their effects on your plant too.

Your Common Questions:

Which plants can you treat with neem oil?

The research shows that nearly all plants including herbs, trees, vegetables, flowering plants and houseplants are well with neem oil but there are tips for using it:

• First test your natural pesticide on a few parts of your plant and after several days if you don’t spot any burning, spray all over.
• Avoid using it on baby plants or transplants.

How long does neem oil stay in the soil as soil drenches?

If you want to use neem oil to control the tiny bugs in the soil, you must consider its half-life. The essential pesticide component of neem oil is Azadirachtin. The research shows that the half-life of azadirachtin is between 3 – 44 days in soil and it will be decreased to 48 minutes to 4 days in water.

How often to apply neem oil to the soil as a soil drench?

We recommend doing soil drenching with it every week or 3 weeks depending on infestations.

Can you put too much neem oil in the soil?

Avoid doing it. An extra dose of neem oil will reach to roots and may hit them.

Conclusion

Now, you can make your homemade neem oil spray and know how to use it on your plant. We tried to answer the most common questions that were asked during this article but if there are still questions that you couldn’t find their answers, please ask below this page. I will respond to them as soon as possible.

Do you have any experience with making or using neem oil spray? Did you gain a good result from it? Do you think the above recipe will work well? Please share your experience and ideas with our readers below this page.