Hi everyone,Heard it on the radio today that neem is a great organic pesticide thatcan be used against Japanese beetle. I have never heard of neem before andhad to run a small search on the Net. First thing that caught my attentionin the Wikipedia article about neem is that it is only effective againstthe pests that actually digest it via the sprayed plant tissue and itsuggests that some bugs (ladybugs for ex), among other insects are prettymuch immune. My greatest interest is in whether or not Japanese beetlewould be affected - we've been hit really hard by them in the past. So,does anyone in this respectable group have a real life experience usingneem as a pesticide? Could you please post your observations, especiallyif they include the japanese beetle?Where do people buy neem and in what form for garden use, anyways?Thanks!D~-------------------------------------##-----------------------------------------------##Delivered via Online CommunityWeb and RSS access to your favorite newsgroup - - 31445 messages and counting!##-----------------------------------------------##

Not useful for Japanese beetles. Here's my article on neem, including thefacts on the phony claim to kill Japanese beetles: if you drenched an area with neem on a very regular basisthat made the garden even more unpleasant for humans than for beetles,you'd kill a small percentage of larvae, none of the breeding adults, andyou MIGHT slightly lower the overall fertility rate. You'd lose morebeneficial insects than harmful, including those that would've kept manyother potential problems in check, so that other garden illnesses willarise.Plus you'd get the same effect using any horiticultural oil, there'snothing special about neem to kill any insect other than by drowning them,unless an actual pesticide has been added to the oil, which is what somecommercial formulations do (adding pyrethrin or azadirachtin, which killlots of beneficial insects, a few harmful ones, not much effect onJapanese beetles per se).The only serious organic treatment is bacillus. It has to be used verynarrowly as...

Neem as pesticide - how effective against Japanese beetle?

Mar 08, 2008 21 Replies

Rate this thread:

FarmI 18 years ago

Lee, remember that I am not all that computer literate. If I mentioned 'buttons' it means tha bits you can move the cursor over and it looks like you can click on them and go somewhere. That dumb site mentioned 'shirts' (or somesuch).

Vote

Bill 18 years ago

What do you folks do with all these wheels ? Make stuff I assume but who cares these days about hand woven. It is not in the malls.

Bill who would like hand made little feet warmers when and if we have a new generation appear. Yellow and blue.

Wall hangings as an art form popped in.

Vote

Join the Discussion

Have something to add? Share your thoughts — no account required.

Didn't find your answer?

Ask the community — no account required