Neem oil soil drench against root mealies?

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Brunãozinho
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Neem oil soil drench against root mealies?

Post by Brunãozinho »

I was recommended by a garden center employee to use the Bayer product Provado against root mealybugs. I will probably do that, from previous readings on the forum I know it should be efficient because of the imidacloprid ingredient. But I also wonder if a soil drench in diluted neem oil would have any positive effects. I know neem oil is not recommended to be sprayed over the plants, but I have also read that it works as a sistemic inseticide, I have my doubts if that is true, I also wonder if my plants could be damaged by the neem oil even if I'm not spraying it over them.
Bruno
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Steve Johnson
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Re: Neem oil soil drench against root mealies?

Post by Steve Johnson »

Brunãozinho wrote:I was recommended by a garden center employee to use the Bayer product Provado against root mealybugs. I will probably do that, from previous readings on the forum I know it should be efficient because of the imidacloprid ingredient. But I also wonder if a soil drench in diluted neem oil would have any positive effects. I know neem oil is not recommended to be sprayed over the plants, but I have also read that it works as a sistemic inseticide, I have my doubts if that is true, I also wonder if my plants could be damaged by the neem oil even if I'm not spraying it over them.
Since no one else has responded yet, I'll answer by saying -- stay with Provado. It's chemically impossible for Neem oil to act as a systemic, so I'd be very skeptical of any claims that the stuff is effective in soil soaks.
Last edited by Steve Johnson on Fri Feb 21, 2014 2:52 am, edited 1 time in total.
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CactusFanDan
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Re: Neem oil soil drench against root mealies?

Post by CactusFanDan »

Neem oil is horrible stuff. Smelly, sticky, stains concrete and plants very easily. :P I'd stick to imidacloprid.
-Dan
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greenknight
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Re: Neem oil soil drench against root mealies?

Post by greenknight »

Neem is not a systemic, and I've never seen neem oil suggested for soil application. The only form that is applied to soil is neem cake, aka neem seed meal, the stuff that's left after the oil is extracted. That's used as a mild fertilizer that's also a pest repellent.

I found a number of sources that say neem is safe to use on cacti. One said that 100% neem oil was safe, but the 70% stuff was not (something else they add to it?). They didn't discuss the possibility of staining, though.
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Brunãozinho
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Re: Neem oil soil drench against root mealies?

Post by Brunãozinho »

It was nice to know all of that before trying the neem oil, I'll stay with the imidacloprid and hope I get rid of the root mealies. Thanks! :D
Bruno
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