GARDENERS have a lot of different options when it comes to pest control remedies.
While you can opt for the traditional insecticides on the market, you can also go the organic route with all-natural remedies – but do they actually work?
A plant pro who goes by the name of The Millennial Gardener on YouTube put four different organic insecticides to the test in a video.
The expert found some of his garden's pests, placed them in a glass jar, then tested the natural insecticides on them.
You may be surprised to hear which one did virtually nothing and which one was the best.
DISH SOAP
In his video, The Millennial Gardener said he's been told endlessly about using dish soap as an instant insect killer, so he decided to try it out for himself.
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The pro added about a teaspoon of antibacterial soap into a spray bottle filled with water and made sure the water was sudsy.
He then sprayed down the bugs with the soapy water and waited to see how long it took before the bugs were dead.
It turned out that he didn't have to wait long as the bugs were dead in a matter of seconds thanks to the dish soap method.
He even tested the spray on a few bugs found on his plants, and the soap was just as effective.
"I honestly can't believe that dish soap is this effective," the pro said.
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NEEM OIL
The next organic insecticide the gardening expert put to the test was neem oil.
Like he did with the dish soap, the gardening expert filled a spray bottle with water and one dropper full of organic cold-pressed neem oil.
After spraying the pests with the oil mixture and waiting for two minutes, the bugs were still alive and kicking.
He then decided to move on to the other natural pest remedies since the neem oil was working very slowly.
PYRETHRIN EXTRACT
The plant expert then tried out natural pyrethrin extract but explained the organic remedy comes with a catch.
"One of the downsides of this insecticide is because it's so toxic to all insects, it will kill all pollinators and very quickly," the pro said.
However, an easy fix is just to wait until dusk when all of the bees have left your garden for the night.
Once again, he took a spray bottle of water and added one teaspoon of the pyrethrin extract.
It only took the bugs around a minute to die after being sprayed with the pyrethrin mixture.
However, one tough pest lasted about 15 minutes before dying in the pyrethrin, whereas the dish soap spray killed all of the bugs in less than a minute.
SPINOSAD
Lastly, the expert tested spinosad, which he explained was a "natural bacteria."
"You can broad-spectrum spray all of your crops with it and it kills a certain amount of the bugs once they ingest it," he added.
The pro mixed a spray bottle of water with a tablespoon of the spinosad and again sprayed his pests.
Within two minutes, the spinosad killed all of the insects; however, a Japanese beetle took a bit longer to kill.
He said: "Much to my surprise, the spinosad killed even faster than the pyrethrin, I'm really surprised by that."
FINAL RESULTS
After testing all four natural pest remedies, the neem oil still seemed to be ineffective.
"The biggest disappointment is this neem oil. It hasn't done anything so far," he said.
The pro then smothered his pests in the neem oil, which eventually killed them, but he credits it to the oil thickness itself.
Finally, he revealed which insecticide came out on top.
He said: "The best contact killer by far was surprisingly the dish soap…"
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"It killed everything within a minute or two from the point that the soap suds touched the bodies of the insects.
"Radically impressive, I give it an A+ as a contact killer."
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