When it comes to insecticides, the choice between chemical and organic is obvious. Neem Oil is a vegetable oil extracted from Azadirachta indica, an evergreen tree native to India, and has long been used by the Indian people as a safe remedy for a variety of ailments.
Neem Oil can be used as an insecticide, pesticide and bug repellent, without doing damage to beneficial insects. How? Neem Oil is unlike many common pesticides in that its effectiveness comes from blocking the hormones of biting and sucking insects. When these unwanted insects take even a small bite of a plant sprayed with Neem Oil, they will actually “forget” to keep eating and maintain their lifestyle, thus starving to death and discontinuing their reproductive cycle. Considering beneficial insects such as bees and butterflies typically do not bite in to plants, Neem Oil should not affect them.
Because Neem Oil has historically been used for a variety of physical human ailments, you can feel secure using it on your plants, knowing you are not subjecting your family to harmful chemicals. Finally, Neem Oil is effective at low concentrations so a little Neem goes a long way, and you won’t have to break your bank to keep your garden pest free!
