The NEEM OIL thread

[kubrickzghost]

I've recently had a bug problem in my flower room and I had to go through the recent nightmare of Neem Oil. In fact, I'm still living it.

I had aphids, thirps, and whiteflys or gnats. As far as I could find, at least. I first started with an organic soap that had a tolerable odor. It seemed to solve the problem. Then I noticed some stunt in recent growth, and I discovered root aphids. These bugs are friggin scary. I highly suggest staying away from soil and keeping a clean sterile space to grow. For the aphids, I used Imid recommended from the linked thread. It is the only proven aphid-killing chemical on the market. I have a sticky strip hanging and also laid sand on the top layer of my soils to avoid landing and egg laying.

And then I tried the granddaddy of all pest control. The famous Neem Oil. Before doing the soil, I sprayed the plants with Neem II. So far, this has to be the worst smelling thing I have ever smelt in my life. I think I would prefer skunk spray over Neem. It is just as bad on the bad odor scale as it can get. I friggin hate Neem oil so much that I decided to create this post so others can help with coping. It is so bad, I almost cut all my plants and broke down my grow room. The worst part is you get used to it quickly and you're sitting in it. So when you go out and come back in, the smell makes you nauseous just as strong as the first time you smelled it. If a dead corpse could take a nasty diarrhea shit, then it would probably smell better than neem oil.

I FUCKING HATE NEEM OIL.

Would anyone support an anti-neem oil organization (non-profit, or course) called "GAHSSUCKS"?

Growers Against the Hell Stench & the Society of Unified Citizens Killing Stench



Don't use Neem Oil. Use Uranium or Plutonium to kill what you need to kill, but whatever you do, don't use the Neem Oil. Just don't do it. Don't jump. You will regret it.

 

[LastOneLeft]

Hey kubrickzghost,

Sorry to hear about your problem, just keep your head up and keep on growing!

I recently found out about my spider mite and was planning on using neem oil becasue I heard good things and a little bit of bad things (immune). After reading your rant it seems like you really have something against neem oil. Did it do its job? other then the smell part. lol. I am totally unsure of using this product now since a member had some experienced on it.

Damn spider mites!

 

[communistcannabis]

damn i know it smells, but not really that bad, did you dilute it before applying? how much were you useing?

 

[Leothwyn]

Personally, I don't mind the smell at all - sort of a nutty smell.
I've found that it does work well against mites (and unfortunately, pretty much has no effect on fungus gnats).
I have a bit of advice based on my recent experience with mites. If you can't stand the smell of neem, try it with something else - my point isn't to recommend neem... just to be focused about how you apply whatever you use. Guess, I'm getting sort of OT... sorry about that. But, I struggled with mites for a long time, and just wanted to share my little bit of learned experience.

The trick is to be persistent and consistent. I had used it (and other things) in the past, but I guess I was a bit lazy. I would spray, then do another spray 3 or 4 or 5 days later (or whenever I got around to it). I'd do it a few times, things would look good, and I'd stop. The mites came back eventually. It doesn't kill eggs, so by waiting too long between sprays I think I was giving them a chance to hatch, grow up, and lay some more eggs.
When I started writing down a spray schedule it seemed to work very well: every 3 days, never put it off for even 1 day; no excuses. I did this 6 times. So, every 3 days seems to get them before they can make new eggs, and dragging the whole thing out for 18 days (6x) was long enough for any of the original eggs to be hatched and gone. Also, I was very thorough in my spraying: tops and bottoms of leaves, stems, and even the soil around the plants. In the end, absolutely no sign of them, and they haven't come back.

If you have mites, I'd recommend being very consistent, and sticking with it longer than you think you need to (even if you're using something other than neem).

Edit: Personally, I would not have done so much spraying if I was very far into flower. My plants were fairly young when I did it. If in flower, I'd just do a bit of iso alcohol + water (50/50) to keep them at bay, then get serious with neem (or whatever) during veg of the next round.