Castile Soap Spray for Plants

Print this articleAt work, you multitask by making calls, answering emails and eating lunch all at the same time. If you have castile soap in your cleaning cabinet, you have met your match in versatility. Not only does it help clean, use it to create a spray to protect your plants from insects.

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Castile soap is refers to olive-oil based soap. Produced by different manufacturers, Castile soap is made using all vegetable, natural ingredients. The soap is diluted to different strengths, making it suitable for laundry, cleaning and facial and skin cleansing. Because it lacks dyes or fragrances, when used as an insect repellent on plants. it does not expose plants to any toxic chemicals.

Spray Formulation

Purchase a liquid bottle of Castile soap. Pour 2 tablespoons into a 1-quart plastic spray bottle. Fill the bottle with water, and then shake it to mix the solution. The Castile soap spray kills bugs on contact and keep new ones from attacking your plants. Store it in a dark cabinet in between uses.

Application

Lightly mist your plants with the castile soap solution. Create a very light coating. Do not to soak the leaves or stems in the repellent. Apply it once a week until the insect problem clears up. If you are using it on outdoor plants, increase the application rate during rainy season because rain washes of the solution away. Reapply it every four or five days until the rain lets up.

Considerations

If your area is going through an uncommonly hot or dry period of weather, only spray the Castile soap every 10 or 12 days. Soap solutions can pull moisture out of plants, putting them at increased risk for wilting and damage from exposure to sunlight. This can do more damage to them than the original insect problem. Overspraying the solution coats the leaves with a too-thick layer of soapy water, which damages leaves if there are repeated applications.

References“True Food: Eight Simple Steps to a Healthier You”; Melissa Breyer, Annie B. Bond, Wendy Gordon; 2010Read Next:

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