Homemade Insecticidal Soap

It looks like I got some spider mites on my hop plants so I went to Home Depot to get some insecticidal soap. Well I spent $4.50 on 24 oz. spray bottle. And since I got seven plants, I was out of soap half-way through spraying, and then I had an idea to go online to find out if I can make this stuff myself. There it is:

1.5 tablespoons liquid soap
1 quart water

That's it. It's that simple. If I knew that, I would save myself a trip to HD and $4.50.
BTW, "Liquid soap" means any dish soap, i.e. Dawn or whatever you use to wash your dishes.

Homemade insecticidal soap recipe
Homemade insecticidal soap recipe
Insecticidal soap - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This mixture works good for leak detection of CO2 on kegs and regulators too. Just mix some up and in a spray bottle and use it for both purposes.

I made some of this, and also added a bunch of tomato plant leaves. I read that the leaves are mildly toxic and good to use in homemade bug spray. Seems to work alright. I've read tobacco soaked in water works well too because of the nicotine.

You can soak cigarette butts in water add alittle soap. good for many things but is vary toxic for pets and small children!

Scooby_Brew said:

...BTW, "Liquid soap" means any dish soap, i.e. Dawn or whatever you use to wash your dishes.

Click to expand...

Not exactly... Most dish "soaps" are actually detergents. I know a lot of people suggest using whatever liquid dishsoaps you have laying around... If you're using it simply as a wetting agent in an insecticidal formula it can work, but for an insecticidal soap, it's the fatty-acids in soap that is really effective on insects. Then there's the issue of what sort of residue might be left behind. I would suggest a natural soap such as Fels Naptha, Murphy, etc...

Last year I had a pretty major outbreak of spider mites after using Sevin on Japanese beetles. Got them under control by simply spraying the plants with a garden hose twice a day. This year I think I have a good population of spider mite destroyers that have moved in.

i tried using dawn but i only sprayed a few leaves. all those leaves i sprayed turned brown and shriveled up. the rest of the plant that was not sprayed continued to thrive. i wouldn't use dawn.

Bum a couple ciggs and make tobacco tea in a spray bottle. As long as you aren't spraying tomatoes, it works well as an insecticide.

How to Make Your Own Insecticide - Associated Content