Dr. Bonner's liquid soap - insect spray

**sanderson** 4/27/2015, 8:18 pm

I asked husband to pick up Dr. Bonner's soap, either bar or liquid. He brought home the Peppermint liquid and Lavender Bar. I was going to use Audrey's bar recipe but this is liquid peppermint style.

For 1 Quart spray bottle: 2 tablespoon of DBP and 1 tsp cooking oil. Sound right? I can also add a couple tsp. of dishsoap.

Comments please, and thank you.

mollyhespra 4/27/2015, 9:34 pm

Dr. B's is what I use in my home-made garden concoctions. I've never thought to add any other soap. I don't see how that would be beneficial. The soap:oil ratio sounds right, but I think I use more like a gallon of water. I'd have to look up the recipe. HTH!

yolos 4/27/2015, 11:11 pm

Here is a recipe -
http://www.todayshomeowner.com/how-to-make-homemade-insecticidal-soap-for-plants/
Don't know if this is the right mixture, but it will help gauge others inexact measurements.

**sanderson** 4/27/2015, 11:53 pm

Thanks. The lavender bar will be for me!

markqz 3/21/2022, 4:24 pm

Not all Walmart's carry this. It's about half the price of insecticidal soap per unit, and cheaper than DB. Have a major aphid infestation on one of my tall kales, so guess I'll find out how this stuff works.

Dr. Bonner's liquid soap - insect spray AD1f37L

Dr. Bonner's liquid soap - insect spray AD1f37L

OhioGardener 3/21/2022, 5:21 pm

Mark, if you mix that at the rate of 1 Tbsp Neem Oil and 1 Tsp of Castile Soap to a gallon of water, it will make a great aphid spray. When using Neem oil, it is best to use a small amount of hot water to emulsify it with the soap before adding it to the gallon water.

markqz 3/21/2022, 6:56 pm

OhioGardener wrote:Mark, if you mix that at the rate of 1 Tbsp Neem Oil and 1 Tsp of Castile Soap to a gallon of water, it will make a great aphid spray. When using Neem oil, it is best to use a small amount of hot water to emulsify it with the soap before adding it to the gallon water.

That's a very small amount of castile soap. It's also not much Neem oil. The recommended insecticidal soap is 5 tbsp per gallon. Maybe when I run through my current gallon mix I'll try it your way.

OhioGardener 3/21/2022, 7:10 pm

markqz wrote:That's a very small amount of castile soap. It's also not much Neem oil. The recommended insecticidal soap is 5 tbsp per gallon. Maybe when I run through my current gallon mix I'll try it your way.

It doesn't take very much Neem oil to kill the insects, and too much of it will kill the plant (it will block to pores on the leaves, and suffocate them). It needs just enough soap to emulsify the oil in the water.

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Dr. Bonner's liquid soap - insect spray

Dr. Bonner's liquid soap - insect spray

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Re: Dr. Bonner's liquid soap - insect spray

Dr. Bronner's substitute

Re: Dr. Bonner's liquid soap - insect spray

Re: Dr. Bonner's liquid soap - insect spray

Re: Dr. Bonner's liquid soap - insect spray

Re: Dr. Bonner's liquid soap - insect spray


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