How To Make Saponin Insecticide

[Organikz]

First you need organic soap nuts. This is how you will make your concentrated solution.

"Boil 2 berries for every one cup of water for 30 minutes. You may want to crush or mash the berries before or during boiling to release as much of the saponins as possible. Allow the water to cool, then strain the solution through a muslin cloth, add essential oils if you prefer and store in a recycled jar in the fridge to prevent spoiling. Use the leftover soap nuts and the muslin cloth in the washer together for one load of laundry."

This works great suspending neem as well, it breaks water surface tension. Hopefully someone can add on to this because I'm still researching the concentration to use. I will probably start with 2 tsp per quart and see how well that emulsifies neem oil.

A mixture of this, neem, and a rotation of essential oil will make this a trifecta IPM.

• Lemongrass, lavender, or clove for adults.
• Rosemary and any citric oil for eggs.
• For powdery mildew chamomile works wonders.

This would eliminate the need for silica products as emulsifying agents for the organic gardener.

 

[Organikz]

We are organic gardeners for different reasons. I for one utilize living organic soil because it's much easier to maintain without being babysat. Especially in a large body of soil, similar to a salt water fish tank. Problems dont escalate nearly as quickly and a simple EWC topdress puts you right back in the game. Some of us are frugal or on a fixed income and don't see the sense in buying synthesized nutrients that are ridiculously priced. Coots has even laughed about this nutrient chasing mentality.

I am merely passing the information along as I learn it. Any place to save time and money is a plus in my book. I threw down alfalfa straw so I've pretty much made this grow a water only. We have to utilize what we have. I had some super soil amendments so i threw them over top of my compost heap in the cold compost worm reactor.

Understanding chickens have a gizzards therefore they eat pebbles to help digest food. That covers rock dust also.

 

[Organikz]

Wow those ratios are way off from what coot is doing. I found the exact post with some help.