How to use Neem Oil as a Soil drench & Foliage spray on Cacti & Succulents 

A tip when mixing up your spray: if you put the neem oil and soap into a little jar first and shake it up, it emulsifies really quickly and easily. Then I add the water to the pressure sprayer, followed by the emulsified mixture. It all blends much more easily with less effort. No need to shake the sprayer occasionally during use to keep it mixed together. Also, the sprayer is much easier to clean afterwards. I used to mix up all the ingredients directly in the sprayer, and found it really difficult to clean afterwards due to oil deposits around the pump tube and at the top of the sprayer.

Thank you Lyn and Hans for taking the time to show us the benefits and how to use Neem. It is something I haven't tried before but this video came at just the right time. I am beginning to bring my babies in from the patio and the green house and was wondering the best way to get rid of and treat any problem pests from them being outside. You don't know how much we appreciate you guys for taking time out of your busy schedules to help us newbies along. Hoping you both have a wonderful day. Sending you love and plant power from Texas!

🕊💚Dear Ms Lyn thank you so much for sharing your precious experiences and knowledge. The systemic usage of neem oil as a soil drench would be a life saver and a much easier pest control method for a pretty crowded plant collection like mine. Your video encouraged me to perform it in a periodical routine fashion . Results are wonderful. You are great as a sincere and nice human being and a trustworthy teacher. 🙏🏼🕊☮️💚🙋🏻‍♀️

Thanks for the video! I’m trying this tonight on my succulents. I hope it works!😊

Excellent as i need a working link for others , never used it but handy to know . Thanks again. Not available

Thank you Lyn for this video. I’m going to buy these ingredients today! You have amazing cactus too. Once again, thank you.

Thank you for this information! I’m going to look for that Neem oil

I really enjoyed this video! I especially appreciate that you tried it out for a quite a while before recommending it to us! That really means a lot to me! I had to use regular dish soap because of the coronavirus and everything being closed, but I had a succulent that was about to be thrown out anyway so I figured I’d give it a try! I’ll let you know how it goes!

Thank you you’re wonderful advice Lyn and Hans have a great day both of you sending good wishes to you both and even more plant power 😊

Great info Lyn. Thanks a bunch!! :)))))

Hey friend i love this video .

Very informative and interesting video Lyn! Thanks

Thank you very much for your helpful video Lyn! I discovered an aphid infestation in the soil of two of my plants today. Best wishes all the way from Northern California💚

its so xpensive in my place

Loved your video. My 1st time to watch. Would love it if you would give American measurements also. We haven't joined the rest of the world with Millimeters and centimeters.Just a request. Also I mixed up my own neem oil but I only have like 45 plants so I had a lot of the mixture left over and was wondering if I kept it in the refrigerator could I use it for several weeks.Thank you!

Very helpful!! Thanks Lynn!

Great video.

I totally need to do this. I am tires of these Oleander caterpillars on my desert roses. Thanks for sharing.👍👍👍

Interesting concentration. I do a 10 ML Castile soap like Dr Bronner's and 40 ML of been for all my orchids as a foliar spray, to wipe the dust off leaves and as a drench. I can't help but wonder if you use too much soap in indoor container plants if it might muck it up. I'm curious about the build up of soap and been over time.

Thanks so much for this video! Going to try this since spidermites have found my Alocasias. :/

Should you do this when your cactus soil is totally dry? And how long should you wait before giving your cactus a regular watering after a Neem soil drench?

Thanks Lynn! Very helpful!! 🤗

Hope you are having a great day too Lyn! I recently found tiny insect eggs on my Echeveria soil. Not sure what it is, but this neem oil should do the trick.

let me share this to my grp

👍🏻🙋‍♀️ Hans. Lyn such good information. Thanks

Hi Lyn. Tq very much to your great demonstration. Just to know does the neem oil soil drench work replacing scheduled normal watering? Love + respect, Suresh

I just checked my Green Light neem oil and it is missing that substance. Out is goes. Thank you.

Did you lose neem oil concentrate? Great video. I need so much help. I have neglected my plants and its the first time doing what I need to do with them. Most of them forgave me. lol. They were not that bad but I did lose a few to bugs.

Very helpful, thanks Lyn!

Hi Lyn, I just came across your channel and this video. I love the approach and can't wait to try it to prevent pest infestations, especially as I acquire new plants that I don't know what they may be harboring. I did try to follow the amazon link for the Pink Sun neem oil but it seems to be an unavailable product these days. Just wondering if you found a supply elsewhere or can recommend another brand. Thanks from Calgary!

Well done very informative. Did you do the video about treating mammillaria I can't seem to find it. Thank you.

I hope I didn't miss it if you already addressed this, but have you used this on cacti that have the powdery coating? I tried neem oil before without using soap and it stripped my plants of the powdery coating. I'm wondering if the soap will prevent that.

Thank you so much 💚 my prickly pear is suffering a bit, so just needs a little gentle help

Hi Lyn, thanks for really good video, you are so full of life. I was wondering if you could use the neem oil drench in the spring before you plant your Garden plants like tomatoes and vegetables? Seems like it would be a good idea to kill any pests in the soil before you get started planting. Thank you and God bless you real good ✝️🥀🌻💚

Not getting horticulture liquid soap. Will a standard dish washing liquid soap work?

Hi Lyn, I will definitely use this on my cactus. However, I have echeverias which suffer hug set backs every few months due to mealy bugs. I can't even get them established enough to flower. I cant use neem on them directly and the systemic insecticide granules is only a short term solution as the pests will get used to it and will no longer be effective. What do I do for my echeverias? Using Alcohol does not reach the unseen mealies on the above the ground parts. They come right back. What are your thoughts. I'm beginning to hate farina, lol!

Thank you for the useful tips and the link as well.

hello, can i use pure CASTILE soap instead? is castile soap safe for cacti roots?

Question if I may , so you do not water your deserts cactus from the start of autumn, is that correct. Thanks

I love this video. Thank you for posting it. I live in the US, and our brands and measurements are slightly different so I am working out how to translate all the variables. One thing I want to mention although it is a bit pedantic, is that you are not actually using this as a foliar spray since most cacti do not have foliage at all.

Lyn, thanks very much for guiding me through this. What is the shelf life of the mixture once it is made? Love + Regards. Suresh

You have such an animated voice! I love it

Hi Lyn, pray and hope you are doing well. Wanted to ask if this soap will do..... Natural Dish Wash liquid - With Soap Nuts,Lemon,Lemongrass, Thyme And Bergamot. Thanks in advance. Suresh 🙏

Good sadly I can’t use and get neem oil here :(

I tried asking for advice in a Facebook group about using Neem oil. And I was pretty much made to feel like I was going to kill all my plants. They said "Neem oil will damage and kill true cacti". Right away I knew it wasn't true, because I know that you use it. They said to use isopropyl alcohol. Alcohol works for some things. But I know for a fact it's not going to get any pests in the soil. I'm so upset with myself right now. I bought some plants a few weeks back. But then I had a family emergency shortly after I came home with them, and was unable to repot them right away. I usually repot right away. Long story short, I am pretty sure that thrips and spider mites have hitched a ride to my home. And not only are they in my cacti and succulents, but they've also gotten into my African violets. And this year my African violets are so huge and full of blooms. And now, I have to remove the blooms, because that is what thrips feed off of most. Sadly, a lot of my cacti have buds forming, and I am afraid the thrips will go straight for those. Should I remove any blooms off of my cacti in succulents before spraying with neem oil? And I know that I need to get these plants that I haven't repotted yet into new pots and soil. So my question is do I repot them first before treating with the neem oil spray? The soil these new plants are in is hideous. The only neem oil I was able to find in my area was Captain Jack's neem oil concentrate. It says that it is a 70% neem oil. So do I use the same ratio that you were using in this video? Sorry such a long comment. I just have so many questions. And I want to make sure that I'm doing the right thing.

Can you use distilled water instead?

Also, tomorrow is supposed to be 91 do you think I should hold off on doing it tonight because I have heard that if it’s really hot out it can also burn plants?

Hey Lynn, I had wanted to ask you about using neem oil. I might have already asked you this before I couldn’t remember but I think I remember in your video before you mentioned that some people say that you’re not supposed to use neem oil on Euphorbias and some succulents. I did try the neem oil on basically all of my plants and I think that the euphorbias were a little sensitive to it. I did keep them out of the sun the following day but then the next day put them back in the sun so it’s not like it washed off or anything so I think I probably won’t do my euphorbias this time but I had really wanted to use neem oil on everything to combat/ prevent the mealy bugs. do you use Neem oil on your euphorbias? and without any damage? and do you just place them back in full sun or do you keep them in a partially shaded area anyway? I keep most of my euphorbias in full sun so this could be why they seemed around the spikes to of burned. but all of my other plants were fine so I just wanted to ask you that? thanks so much!

Hello! I'd like to use the soil drench method as a preventive pest control on my newly bought echeveria neon breaker. That succulent is known to attract pests and I heard too many horror stories about it so I want to be safe. Is there any cons to using neem oil? (pH, plant color...) Thank you!

Hi and thanks. We’ve already had frosts and I haven’t brought my succulents inside yet. Can i presume that all of this holds true for succulents?

Have you tried this on Mesembryanthemaceae such as lithops and pleiospilos?

Lyn this sounds great. Is it ok for bees 🐝?

Great video! Thank you! Can I use this on a velvety succulent like the Devotion Echeveria?

Will a neem soil drench affect earthworms?

How do we purchase these items to treat our plants here in the US. Amazon UK says it doesn't deliver to my location.

Hi. Thanks for the link to this video from your ‘Christmas cactus with flowers’ video that I had commented on. ;-) Can you put the mixing instructions in the description? I was excited to see your title to this video. I planned to write down the mixing instructions, but it was just about spraying water. Thanks for the links for buying items. Can you put a link for your sprayer? Thanks. ;-) PS: Do you live in England? If so, I’m jealous and will tell you why if you write back.

Lyn I have a question, if there’s any of the solution left in your container, would you use that in six weeks time or would you make up a new lot?

Like 124. Love it tfs

Hi Lyn, as a soil drench will it get rid of fungus gnats?

Hi Lyn this is such a great video. I am dealing with scale on some of my cacti so this method would be great to prevent future infestations. Do you know where I can find the Pink Sun neem oil in Ireland? Caroline

I don’t see the link? What’s it called? I couldn’t understand

Will this mix be safe to spray on 1 inch Pilosocereus seedlings and other tiny cactus seedlings in trays?

Is it ok to use only 10 ml neem oil mix in one liter no dish soap ill mix ?

Question: 1) Can your method of Spraying the neem oil be used to spray on succulent babies, without harmful effects? 2) I got the neem oil from Amazon and the instructions say any liquid dish soap can be used. Horticulture grade soap is not available and therefore I used a standard dish washing liquid soap. Will this be harmful? Thanks in advance. Suresh

Will this burn the leaves?

Hi I may have missed this part; but you said when you use this, as a drench, it is absorbed into the plant. Does this affect edible plants, and cacti? Thank you for the helpful videos. Love and happiness back at you.

Hello, I just used neem oil as a soil drench and noticed my cacti are starting to turn yellow from the top. Any advice?

Great video. I’ve noticed mould on my succulents during winter. Can I spray the Neem oil on now, or do I have to wait until the spring? I’m worried it is spreading to other plants, which are all kept indoors during the winter. Please advise.

Don’t use on moss( not recommended for lichen or liver wort). Works well, thanks.

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