Spraying neem and soap on seedlings?

[calif123]

Hi All,

 

Ive just started my second grow and they are currently seedlings. I discovered something seemed to be on one of the little'ins and flew off when i picked the rockwool cube up. It was too small to kill or identify, but I have caught another one in the tent with a water bottle spray, and it seemed to be a small black fly. Not sure what it could be, but I'm looking at spraying them with Neem Oil and peppermint castile soap as I've heard that it good for many things.

 

Is it safe to spray seedlings (eg  1 week old 1st pair of leaves) with this?

 

Cheers

[ratdog]

i wouldn't mate, and that sounds like fungus gnats, you will need to control them, get some sticky traps asap and cover the surface of the compost with some sand if you have it.

[calif123]

@ratdog thanks - ive got the seedlings in a tray, and some babies potted up int larger nets sitting in a 4 pot hydro bubbler. Will try to get a photo but essentially the entire rockwool is exposed, not sure what to do? Fungus Gnats - will do some googling on how to get rid of, is there must anything as well as sticky traps that will get rid of them.

I grow ina room, and had the window open overnight a few night due to temp...they must have snuck in. I live near an area of trees. Ive closed the window and sorted the temp issues out, i suppose they must have came in through that window, but who knows 

[calif123]

@ratdog - This is my setup - the fly was either on the seedling or on the little rockwool cubes...

 

[ratdog]

sorry mate, i missed the rockwool bit, i seriously doubt you have a pest problem in hydro this early, and fungus gnat need compost of coco to survive, i would hold off before doing anything yet mate.

[Nervous]

I have seen them in hydroponic mediums other than coco before. They just need organic material like your roots/fungus. Admittedly they don't do very well in stuff other than coco/soil but it can happen! 

My oriental herbal nutrient (ginger, garlic, angelica bark, cinnamon liquorice fermented and turned into a tincture) worked wonders this year. Used garlic and ginger I had grown instead of store bought like last year when it didn't do so well. Didn't kill them all (as they're technically beneficial in soil if the population isn't big) but I have them under control enough to take the unsightly yellow sticky things away. 

[Nervous]

Also, normal soap and even horticultural soap are generally not so good. 

Use soap nuts. 

[calif123]

@Nervous cheers. what the *&* is soap nuts?!  Have you got a link to something I can order? Im curious why you say soap is no good - its all over the internet how good soap and neem is. Does that not reflect your experience? thanks again

[Nervous]

Horticultural soaps are derived from petroleum or plant products. You should check which it is, plant products being favourable. Even then the extraction of some of the plant oils may use other chemicals in the process, or the plants themselves may be of GM origin as things like soy beans are a popular choice for base oils.  

Soap nuts grow on trees. When you soak them they release saponin into the water - a surfactant which will break water tension, repel/kill some insects, help emulsify oils like neem so you don't get blobs of neem floating on the surface of the water and it sprays more evenly. Also helps whatever you spray stick to leaves better. 

Basically just does the same job as horti soap, without all the faffing about processing it. 

You can google soap nuts to buy some, organic or not they're not a pesticide heavy crop (if at all) because the insects dislike them so much. 

 

Edited March 26, 2020 by Nervous
can't type apparently