Horticultural soap

[AliSmith]

Have been reading about horticultural soap recently. Can this be bought and if so where from? If not can you make it yourself? I use soapnuts (which I boil a handful of in 2-300ml of water for 10 minutes) for washing various things. Could I use this solution and if so, does it need to be diluted?

As always, all help much appreciated!

[SusieG]

AliSmith ~ I've used a home-made soap spray on greenfly infested chilli plants - which worked a treat.....
I got the 'recipe' from 'Gardening Knowhow' website - easy to make with stuff you keep at home in the kitchen cupboards....

1 cup of vegetable oil (any)
1 tablespoon of dishwashing liquid (no bleach) - mix 2 teaspoons of this mixture into a cup of warm water and put into a sprayer bottle for use. (If chewing insects are the problem, Add 1 teaspoon of ground garlic. OR Add 1 teaspoon of cider vinegar to treat powdery mildew)

Just don't use anything with bleach in and don't spray plants in hot weather conditions .....

You don't say what you want to the soap for .... I'm presuming you meant to get rid of aphids ....

[spamvindaloo]

You can buy horticultural soft soap like this:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Horticultur...icultural+soap

but it's not cheap. I use this stuff:

Ecover ZERO Eco Washing Up Liquid | ZERO Green Washing Up Liquid 1L

[Nicos]

I looked into using soap nuts a few years ago but then we moved to France.

Anyway, Ifound one of the sites which I found interesting.....

How to use SoapNuts

It says 1 part soap to 20 parts water.

Depending on how extensively you use it - You could also use bath water etc on flower beds /tubs.
(I personally wouldn't water edible plants with grey water though)