What is insecticidal soap?
 

I've heard it mentioned on here before for pests involving bananas.

I have yucca bugs infesting my Yucca filimentosa, and the recommendation is insecticidal soap. What is it and where do I find it?

I still have plenty of "good stuff" left but do not want to waste it if there is something available that will work.

Re: What is insecticidal soap?
 

Personally I don't bother; I grab some liquid dishwashing detergent, mix up about 2 T per gallon and spray my plants. (Sunlight was my go to soap; it's no longer available so I have to settle for Dawn or generic Dawn.)

Purists are down on using any soap containing detergents. (Surely you have made soap, yes? You want a liquid form of that it seems.)

BTW, you can kill a plant by mixing too strong--AMHIK. A little goes a long way. IMO the reason spraying sudsy water works is that it leaves a bad tasting residue behind (and clean fruits/plants!) besides making active chewers pretty darned miserable.

Perhaps I've missed something...

Re: What is insecticidal soap?
 

I'll bet a little DDT would leave a bad taste in their mouths as well. I wanna kill these things, not just chase them away. They had to come from somewhere else to begin with.

Thanks for the info, BTW. :08:

Re: What is insecticidal soap?
 

Maybe neem oil would work... That's what I plan to use in the fall. During summer, I do what Kat2 does... You should try it too. I don't like chemicals too much...

Re: What is insecticidal soap?
 

Well, he asked about soap. Dr. Bonner's is high priced Olive oil or, for the snobby, castille soap. You can make soap with lye and lard; from what I've read if you melt that down by adding water you have insecticidal soap.

Doug, it does more than chase them away IME. My 1st time using Sunlight was in 1983 or maybe 1985 when I had 5 very pretty juvenile mugo pines get infested by a swarm of chomping green "worms" that descended in Biblical proportions. I picked them off for days and finally decided there had to be a better way. I had Malathion; it was ancient. I grabbed my dish soap, a sprayer and went at it. A few hours later bodies lay around the ground. I did lose the plants. Did I mix too strong or had they already done too much damage? Probably a combination of both. 2 T is max for a gallon.

Re: What is insecticidal soap?
 

I used to make and sell soap. It's simple but you have to be well informed and careful when you use lye. This stuff is dangerous.

Re: What is insecticidal soap?
 

Last year my neighbor had a row of ficus that were infested with whitefly which took the liberty of spreading to my banana, canistel and papaya trees. I sprayed with neem, horticultural oil and sevin. Not before my neighbors ficus were dead and in the landfill was I able to control them.

Nowadays Kat's generic recipe for insecticidal (using Dr. Bronner's peppermint) soap and hort oil keep the insects at bay.

Re: What is insecticidal soap?
 

Will it kill them though, or just drive them into someone else' yard? :2723:

Thanks for all the answers, BTW.

Re: What is insecticidal soap?
 

Unless you are going to eat some part of it consider drenching it with imidacloprid. it gets into the plant and kills all sucking insects. it will take a while to make it's way through the whole plant but it kill bugs. I didn't pull up a label to see if your plant was listed as approved to use so you might want to check before buying any. And as with all insecticides more than the recommended amount is not necessary and wastes money. Any of the soap sprays only work if you can get to the bugs. make sure to use plenty of pressure getting under the leaves and down to the base of the trunk where the leaves meet the trunk as this is where bugs like to hide. spraying soap on your plants can cause them to burn if you spray in the middle of the day. Recommended spray times are when winds are below 5 mph and just before the sun comes up or just before the sun goes down. I prefer the late evening because all the bees have gone home for the day.

Re: What is insecticidal soap?
 

I bought some Insecticidal Soap by Garden Safe from Lowes, active ingredient is potassium salts of fatty acids... I noticed what looked like white flies on my basjoo. Tucked down in the crown and they jump all over the leaves. Tried it out tonight, and it seemed to work because the ones it contacted dropped off the plant., i checked back a bit later and only saw one, which i killed manually. We will see how well it works long term.

Re: What is insecticidal soap?
 

don't stop with just one spraying, wait 3-5 days and spray again. It will kill the adults and larva but may not kill the eggs. Expect to spray at least 3-4 times.

Re: What is insecticidal soap?
 

Soap and oils affect the pores of the exoskeleton. Soap dissolves the protection and oil suffocates. I never had a speck of luck with neem.