How to Use NEEM OIL for Scale and Aphid Control || Black Gumbo

Aphids and scale are always common pests in the vegetable garden. On my lime tree, I have and infestation of citrus scale insects. These are sucking insects and are difficult to get rid of by simply spraying with the water hose as you might do with aphids. These insects produce what's called honeydew, A sweet substance that is attractive to ants. The ant farm the Honeydew, and protect the scale or aphids colony. A secondary problem is the black sooty fungus that forms where the Honeydew gathers on the leaves of the tree. In this video I will show you how to use neem oil in the garden to control pests like scale and aphids. This method of mixing neem oil applies to all kinds of pests that require an application of neem oil.

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Black Gumbo shares our suburban, backyard, sustainable gardening efforts. We work a small-scale, typical Zone 9a garden and raised beds, the kind of gardening accessible to all. We tend to take the slice of life approach and hope you will enjoy our family, our dog, our cooking, our adventures, and occasionally some commentary and advice. We love family, joy and friendship, and we invite you to enjoy these things with us!

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[GardenerScott]

Good video, Scott. I had success using rubbing alcohol for scale on a lemon tree, in addition to neem oil. A little on a Q-tip applied to the scale avoided damaging the plant.

[cimado]

Hey there! I have used Neem oil for years here in San Antonio. I have learned if I use in the daytime, my leaves will burn. So, I brave the mosquitos in the evening and spray my plants being careful not to get the flowers for the bees sake. Then I go out early before the sun is completely up and hose everything down. This has worked pretty well on everything except for the SVB. They’re the devil. Love your videos!

[Aquitania]

I bought the same neem oil you were using; I was so frustrated with awful orange aphids on my butterfly plants that were attempting to survive their 2nd year. So gross and btw I'd NEVER seen orange aphids with black legs. I sprayed everything in sight, including my tomatoes and roses. I am impatient. I thought the solution didn't work because the next day there were still aphids, dead and alive on my plants; however on the 2nd day all attackers were gone. It's been a week and all of my plants are critter free. Thanks for the video, a great help for sure. BTW I just came across your video about Phoebe. So sorry she had such issues! Think I told you we are on corgi #6 and I wish we had more, I adore them, they have been my constant companions since 1982. My mom had one as well when I was a teen in the islands. God is good; there are still people out there in these challenging times who still believe in the values I, at least grew up believing, and they are caring and generous. I kiss Howie each night. (short for Hell On Wheels, which he was when we rescued him in 2019) He was a 2 time throw away and was only 1-1/2 years old! He still gets upset if one of us is missing from the house for any length of time, poor guy, but he is a ball of fire!

[ceecee-thetransplantedgardener]

I've never seen the citrus scale pest (ugh, so sorry) - but plenty of aphids and other 'chewing/sucking" pests. Thanks for pointing our the correct kind of NEEM product that has azadirachtin. It can work, in most cases, if applied correctly and consistently. Please keep us updated on your battle.

[northeasttexasgardener]

Wow. I haven't encountered that problem yet, but there ARE a lot of aphids in my area. I thought we were going to lose my wife's Crape Myrtle trees because of the aphids. After weeks of spraying them with soapy water, we finally thinned down the aphid population. But it's an ongoing battle.

You seem to be feeling better, or at least you're putting up a good front. Keep cranking out the awesome content. I love learning all I can about gardening. Now I need to watch some David The Good vids. lol

[Aquitania]

Just watched the video per your suggestion; seems like it is simple enough, I saw some instructions elsewhere with alternatives which included neem as one, but it was spray this, do that, wash the leaves with water, run around the ladder 3 times counterclockwise while it is upside down, etc...since I was unwilling to go the distance, lol I was sure there was an easier way. Thank you!

[williamvillar]

i love neem oil and use it to treat all of my fruit trees when any kind of blight or mold shows up. I swear by it, it has worked on fire blight in my pears and other mold/mildew issues in my apples, stone fruits and mulberries as well.

[thestupidgardener]

Neem oil works! Had an Aphid issue on my tomatoes and Neem oil took care of it!

[jamescartwright]

This is my first time using need oil for white flies on a holly bush. Apparently, neem oil is bad for human lungs. I’ve been wearing a mask when I spray. No shortage if masks at our house these days. Thanks for the video.

[montanabaker]

This was supper helpful! I’ve never used neem oil and was worried I might hurt my plants. Thank you for the info!

[tish]

My argument regarding neem oil or any plant oil for that matter, it is an oil, right? In treating my Cycad against aphids and scale, I cut off all the leaves of the Cycad and then put methelated spirits in spray bottle and sprayed the complete trunk of the Cycad, and using a paint brush to really get into the "woolie" bits of the trunk where these crawlies are hiding. My Cycad is doing extremely well since the treatment and is happy, no more aphid or scale. Finally, it has five brand new leaves. I think, if you can use neem oil on plants, then surely methelated spirits is a definite option as a form of maintenance against aphids and scale. I have tried and tested it twice now, and it works!

[tyrehester]

Also I used rubbing alcohol to wipe down stems and leaves. I thought this might kill my lemon tree, but it invigorated it. I sprayed it with neem oil afterwards.

[mackwalker]

Hello Scott. Great show as usual. Trying to find out how the neem oil spray worked for your lime tree. I can't find any follow up on this. Thanks for all your great advice. Mack

[rasylifetoday]

Hello everyone, the land I used to use is very good for growing crops, I do this. I always do it on the roof of my house

[biglou]

That's what I noticed on my Australian finger lime tree yesterday and also dealt with that on my figs too a year ago.

[daniellecordova]

Thanks for the tip! Last year my grapefruit tree lost all it's leaves.Like something ate them? So this year I'm watching my plant like a hawk. It did come back after the freeze.

[naomi]

Thank you, its a battle this year in Texas 7b. Epic freeze, hail storms, Spider mites and fungus nats.
My garden is doing good spite the trials.
Wasn't sure about the best Neems oil mix. I got your recommendations for ants, orange oil, great stuff. Thank you!!

[richardpoliah]

Nice vid. I had this exact problem and used the neem oil as well. Now i'm facing a citrus mealy bug problem but hosing them off with water and periodic neem oil seems to control it.

[ausfoodgarden]

Yeah, I normally just manually remove a lot of the scale and then spray with white oil (soap and vegetable oil)
I use neem oil as a general remedy when I'm not sure what I'm dealing with on the plants.
I'm careful not to use neem oil around flowering plants though to protect the bees as best I can.
Nice video Scott 👍

[jodammerungii]

This looks like what was all over my asparagus beans. I sprayed with a baby shampoo/vinegar mix and it worked ok, but I really want to give the neem oil a try.