You can’t use regular soap; insecticidal soaps are fatty acid salts with potassium, while regular soaps are made with sodium.
Comment on Natural Insecticides
blackbrook@mander.xyz 10 months agoYou can just make a simple soap solution to spray them with. Look up home made insecticidal soap.
BodyBySisyphus@hexbear.net 10 months ago
blackbrook@mander.xyz 10 months ago
As I do more reading though, I find warnings that many dish detergents will harm plants. Some people do spot tests, but buying a commercial insecticidal soap is safest. I guess I’ve been lucky, maybe because I use a crunchy natural dish detergent that is pretty mild.
blackbrook@mander.xyz 10 months ago
I don’t know what you consider regular soap, but my understanding is that liquid soaps typically have potassium, bar soaps may use either. But I was using the term pretty loosely, people often make homemade insecticidal ‘soap’ with dish detergent which isn’t technically soap at all. Any surfactant tends to kill insects by compromising the waxy coating that keeps them from drying out.
Engywuck@lemmy.zip 10 months ago
Last time I tried that I killed my plant, lol.
I_am_10_squirrels@beehaw.org 10 months ago
That’s thinking outside the box! No more plants, no more pests!
sem@piefed.blahaj.zone 10 months ago
Get at the root of the problem