Use Quality Soap When Making insecticidal Soap

Q. When using soap and water for controlling insects, what do you use?

A. I use an unscented organic castile soap used as a baby shampoo that has been certified organic by one of the certifying bodies for the USDA and its Certified Organic program. 

This organic castile soap I use is available from Amazon

It is relatively expensive compared with a liquid dish soap. I just figured if it is certified as organic and used as a baby shampoo it should be safe to use. I use three tablespoons of it mixed in a gallon of water as recommended by Clemson University.

            Another good way is to use one of the commercial brands of insecticidal soap sprays for plants like Safers. These insecticidal soaps (yes, if it is used to kill insects it is technically an insecticide) are, hopefully, formulated with a decent soap or detergent that kills insects while keeping contaminants at a minimum and still safe for plants. For this reason, I use unscented soaps with no other additives like hand lotions.

            Laundry detergents are a no-no. They are too harsh on most plants.

            There is a misconception by some that these types of sprays are all around “safe” to use. We need to still treat these types of sprays with respect when using them. They are meant to kill any insect that is sprayed but once sprayed don’t stay long in the environment. Some soaps made from yucca extracts (Grow More’s EZ Wet for instance) and can be sprayed the same day as vegetables, herbs or flowers are harvested since it is also used to clean vegetables before they are sold. 

EZ Wet is an yucca extract made for washing fruits and vegetables prior to selling (commercially) but can be used as a wetting agent or insecticidal soap. I get it from Viragrow in North Las Vegas, NV.

These insecticidal soaps have no “residual” killing power like most traditional insecticides. For this reason, they must be sprayed more often.

             Insecticidal soap sprays, the kind you buy or the kind you make, do affect plants. Most are harsh on plants like portulaca, gardenias and Easter lilies. Spray a little of your formulation on a few leaves of the infested plant to find out. Soap sprays remove some of the waxy layer on leaves while they also remove waxy layers from insects so they dry out faster. Sometimes it may suffocate them.

            But soap sprays must be sprayed directly on insect pests to work well and these types of sprays do not kill only bad bugs. If good bugs are in the way, it will kill them as well.