4 Reasons To NEVER Use NEEM OIL In Your Garden Again!

In this video, I share 4 reasons to never use neem oil in your garden. Many gardeners believe using neem oil to control pests is harmless, but neem oil use comes with many side effects. I used neem oil for years, but I discontinued use due to lack of effectiveness and problems neem oil caused. I also share superior natural insecticides that are better at controlling insects with less downsides.

I use the following products* to control pests and grow vegetables in my vegetable garden:

TABLE OF CONTENTS
0:00 My Experience Using Neem Oil
1:30 Reason #1
4:21 Reason #2
6:14 Reason #3
8:43 Reason #4
11:38 Effective Insect Control Methods
13:56 Adventures With Dale

If you have any questions about how to control insects in your garden naturally, want to know about the things I grow in my raised bed vegetable garden and edible landscaping food forest, are looking for more gardening tips and tricks and garden hacks, have questions about vegetable gardening and organic gardening in general, or want to share some DIY and "how to" garden tips and gardening hacks of your own, please ask in the Comments below!

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ABOUT MY GARDEN
Location: Southeastern NC, Brunswick County (Wilmington area)
34.1°N Latitude
Zone 8B

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© The Millennial Gardener

#gardening #garden #gardeningtips #insectcontrol #pestcontrol

[TheMillennialGardener]

If you enjoyed this video, please “Like” and share it to help increase its reach! Thanks for watching 😊TIMESTAMPS here:
0:00 My Experience Using Neem Oil
1:30 Reason #1
4:21 Reason #2
6:14 Reason #3
8:43 Reason #4
11:38 Effective Insect Control Methods
13:56 Adventures With Dale

[PreferredMethods]

Everyone in the comments seems to love neem, but it never worked for me. Thanks for the heads-up.

[apiii]

I used neem on an indoor weed garden for years. It absolutely controlled and got rid of spider mites and never saw mildew again.

[kathywaterstradt]

I've used neem oil for many years with good results for chewing insects. 2 tablespoons per gallon of water does not leave the plants sticky. Its not a deterrant. It does stink tho. But so does fish emulsion. It worked for japanese beetles on raspberries and worms and fungus on my cherries. I have never seen it burn my plants but I live in the north. I will continue to use it.

[roywarriner]

Neem seed meal mixed in the soil prevents fungus gnats, neem tea used as a soil drench works too. Won't hurt worms or beneficial microbes. Worms love neem seed meal.

[jacobtucker]

My experience with neem oil has been positive. I used it the past 4 years in northwestern SC, and had noticeably less pests on tomatoes, peppers, and leafy vegetables. I used around a double dose once a week.

[here_now_I]

I use neem oil on roses to prevent all sorts of diseases, and it does work.

[Chibuzor-Joy]

To be honest, one of the difficult part of growing crops organically is controlling insects without harmful chemicals that'll leave harmful residues over time abd the fact that it is pricy as well, but i love organic Agriculture so much.

[lorib]

I too live in a hot climate. Ive used Captain Jacks Neem Oil spray for 3 years now and it was completely worthless and I hated the smell and destroyed the leaves. Like so many of us, I am trying to interplant with tons of herbs and flowers to try and naturally deter the plant eating bugs, but if necessary I will give the Spinosad and Pyrethrin a shot. thanks for doing the research for me!

[ljgerken]

I lived in Florida for many years and have recently moved to Indiana. I am so glad that you have made these same observations about Neem oil, as I have experienced. I lost all my bees once I used Spinosad too. I will only use soapy water and maybe minced garlic in the water. That's it. I just plant more "stinky" herbs and flowers around my vegetables and that themselves deter pests - because the odors of the other plants mask the scent of my tomatoes, etc. Great video!

[kb]

In GA I use Neem Oil as a soil drench for fungas gnats, it works great. I also use it in the winter as a dormant spray for fruit trees. I don't spray it on my plants in the heat of summer.

[E_Clampus_Vitus]

Neem oil works on aphids and mites. I’ve been using it for years. It changes the environment the pests live in and they move on. This is why he didn’t find the dead insect bodies.
I do like the idea of vegetable oil mixed with soap. If you add flour to this mix and spray it under the leaves, it can smother the pests.

[MsSwitchblade]

I'm glad you finally said it. I've used it a few times before and I've never seen it work.

[stephenlonon]

I just want to congratulate you on the insane amount of engagement that you’re doing to get from this video.

[jeffgordon]

I had spider mites in my worm bins, and I sprayed it with neem oil and got rid of them, so that's enough for me to keep on using it.

[cynthiacollins]

Thanks for the evening application tip for pyrethrum.
I killed my cinnamon plant with neem. I didn't know what the problem was. The county Extension Service guy said it had scale & to treat it with neem oil. He didn't mention to keep it out of the sun afterwards. I FRIED my cinnamon plant! 😭

[KidMangaX]

I'm also located on the East Coast, and I've had great success treating a variety plants with neem, including everything from sweet potato plants to tropical bonsai. The key thing to note is that most people do not use nearly enough of it for the active chemical in neem to be effective. You should really be spraying the plant _at night_ until the leaves of the plant are dripping wet with oil. If you do not do this, you can build up resistant populations. This is true for bacteria and viruses, and it is also true for insects. It is especially true when dealing with organic compounds, which tend to be weaker than commercial products. You need to treat the neem like a nuclear bomb, with the intention of eradicating every single insect, every time that you spray it. For people involved with container gardening or bonsai, this makes Neem an ideal product. On the other hand, if you have a home garden-- as is the case with most insecticides-- it is likely to come with undesirable effects on your local ecosystem.

PS: While the matter of smell is subjective, I have found that organic, cold-pressed, 100% pure neem oil actually smells _good, _ whereas the commercially available neem products such as Captain Jack's smell awful. I attribute this to the presence of an inorganic surfactant in these products. What you should be doing is mixing 100% pure neem with your own blend of an organic surfactant (I use yucca extract) and warm water. This will save you an insane amount of money, as well as get the results you are looking for, without the smell.

[MrGrowit]

100% agree!! I’ve been a gardener for many years, and fortunately never bought into the hype or used an ounce of anything Neem oil related. Too, there are some pyrethrum based insecticides with 99% plus canola oil as the carrier. Give me a break. No one in their right mind should be baking their plants in these types of heavy oils, let alone the financial waste all on unsubstantiated claims. Great job on the video!!

[IslandTiffiney]

Thank you so much for breaking this down for us. Two years ago, I tried the neem oil route. While I found it effective in killing a lot of the bad bugs, I couldn't tolerate the smell. I was disappointed that it didn't dissipate by the next morning, I stopped using it after the first application I then started controlling and reducing insects by hand. I cut back on the amount of produce I grow because there just aren't enough hours in the day to keep up with a large garden. I've been on the
fence using pyrethrin because of the potential harm to pollinators. I researched your statements on the half life breakdown after watching this video, and have come to the conclusion that you're absolutely right. Now I'm focusing on an even larger garden than ever, as I don't have a problem with doing pest control in the evening around sunset. Thank you so much for giving me the nudge that I needed.

[ejsman]

I lived and worked on an organic produce farm in Northeast NY on the St.Lawrence river and we never once used neem oil the while time i was there. The only thing we ever used was a product called Pyganic. Very effective and doesn't leave an greasy residue like neem oil does. It cost quite a bit more than neem but was very concentrated and lasted a very long time as we only had to use it when a pest population was evident.