Dishwashing Liquid Bug Spray

[IsaanAussie]

Hi all,

I found a formula for a bug spray amongst the clutter in the inbox. Simple two tablespoons of dish washing liquid in an average size spray bottle full of water. I didnt think it would work but with a fly problem in the pig sty not much to loose.

Give it a try, amazing results.

Isaanaussie

Edited August 15, 2010 by IsaanAussie

[drtreelove]

Insecticidal soap is a good tool in the IPM arsenal. Like you say, pig sty, not much to loose, but I'd be careful using it on foliage unless you study up on the possible phyto-toxicity issue. I've used the commercial products, Safers brand in the US, successfully for simple pest problems like aphids, but heard that some detergents have additives that can be harmful to plant foliage. I heard that using a relatively pure soap like Ivory liquid is the safest, whereas dish and laundry detergents can have more risk for foliar application.

[473geo]

Used this method on wasps and blow flies, it gets them in flight and forces them down so you can nail them!!!

Aparently the males die faster, something to do with the shock that they might be expected to do the washing up!!!!

Edited August 15, 2010 by 473geo

[WatersEdge]

Hi Isaan Aussie,

Interesting solution...I made a pun.

The best remedies are sometimes right under our noses.

It is regrettable that your barn has flies.

My pigs are the ever fragrant variety,

so no flies have ever come.

Now back the real world where nice people tell the truth.

It is true that visitors have volunteered their observation,

that my barn doesn't stink as they've smelled elsewhere.

I think cellulose from various green forage absorbs the ammonia,

I remember reading in another thread

that flies are attracted to damp manure.

They won't light on manure that is sloppy wet nor dry.

Since that time, I've confirmed it.

Dish Washing Liquid soap is a surfactant,

any soap for that matter,

causing water to wet evenly over the entire surface.

This is useful in any water spray repellent application,

since all the surface is covered,

rather than just where the droplets land.

More solution stays on the surface,

since the droplets don't form,

so doesn't fall off.

At home in Nevada,

spraying pesticide from a large boom sprayer,

we used soap for this reason.

If the fragrance in the liquid soap isn't what the flies expected from a hog barn,

they may keep looking elsewhere.

I could be as simple as Citronella => Lemon Grass Oil,

in the soap....pure conjecture on my part.

A probable upgrade on the method,

Mixing Neem (Sadao) with liquid detergent is already posted on ThaiVisa.

Two weeks I discovered a small Neem (Sadao) tree in my new back yard.

To gain some first hand experience with it,

I picked off a basket of leaves and boiled them half an hour.

The resulting tea from bright green leaves is rusty brown reddish water

with a thin film of fluorescent yellow oil on top.

It tastes bad enough that a few drops is bitterly too much

My project for the coming week,

I have had a problem with flesh eating bacteria in my pigs

since rainy season finally arrived, with steady high humidity.

A relatively minor wound gets serious in a day or two.

I've been treating it with Iodine Antiseptic, Salt, and Diesel,

with pretty fair results,

but this week I'll start the Neem Tea and Dish Soap

If we drench the corral walls with it,

the flies won't have a place to light.

The hogs cool themselves in a splash bath,

so it would wash off them.

Neem leaf is so plentiful,

free for the picking alongside the highway,

that I might just try dumping tea in the splash baths,

so that the pigs are Neem treated every time they slosh.

and when the bath is flushed to the field,

even the trenches are Neem treated.

Neem is a contraceptive,

not a good idea in concentration with either boars or sows

but a marvelous feature for the flies.

Anyone know how to feed it to soi dogs, rats, cockroaches?

The Neem insecticide products sold are advertized as oil from the seed,

but I'm convinced that the leaf is far too potent to be overlooked,

and it's available by unlimited quantity in all seasons.

The Neem literature also recommends ambient temperature steeping,

overnight, a day, a week

of dried then powdered leaf.

because the active ingredient is partially degraded by heat.

I don't have time for all that, green leaves boiled will have to suffice.

My Bride requests my company at dinner....gotta go.

[IsaanAussie]

Watersedge,

As usual a gold mine of information.

As an offshoot, the residual soap doesnt hurt for washing down the pens or the pigs. I take a minimalist approach to water usage for this as the current capacity of the sty soak away system is limited. I have a high pressure washer which does a great job and uses less than 10 litres a minute for when the pens get dirty, and generally just use a gravity fed 3/4" hose (2-3 psi) for clean out following dry muck out with chopped straw.

So the pens are clean, the pigs are clean, there is no smell, but the flies are abundant due to the weather at the moment.

Isaanaussie

[RedBullHorn]

my pigs have no smell too...it's just the shittie manhole that's attracting all the flies, the big green colour type house flies...definitely will give the dish water detegent a try, Thanks Aussie and wateredge for the infos...

[IsaanAussie]

my pigs have no smell too...it's just the shittie manhole that's attracting all the flies, the big green colour type house flies...definitely will give the dish water detegent a try, Thanks Aussie and wateredge for the infos...

Good to have something that works reasonably at little cost. By the way RBH, I love your tag line quote. Just how appropriate is that here in Thailand dealing with the locals?

Isaanaussie

[WatersEdge]

Thanks for the kind words, Isaan Aussie,

As we seek to keep our pigs clean shiny healthy,

there is a obscure product which heals wounds and sores almost immediately.

Ever see a dog with a nasty wound?

Not for long, because a dog's saliva is amazingly therapeutic.

For a long time I've encouraged my dog to lick various cuts and barks on my hands.

Can someone out there please generate a way to gather and package dog spit?

There might be a purpose for Thailand's feral dogs,

more dogs than people I'd estimate,

after all!

Anyone know something that makes a dog drool uncontrollably?

In the Organic Farming forum,

there is a recipe posted for

Neem leaf,

Citronella Lemon Grass, and

a specific type of Ginger.

This is an ideal insecticide mixture.

Spraying this over the hog barn would sterilize and repel the flies.

The catch is that it doesn't harm a bug that doesn't actually eat it.

The contraceptive effect is limited to the bugs who eat the plant leaf,

that the solution has been sprayed over.

Thus the beneficial bugs are spared.

My hog barn is based on huge amounts of cooling bath / flush water,

with the whole perfect level terrace

alongside and 0.40 m below the hog barn floor,

being the soak away zone,

with ridges above furrows as the plant area

Same day

labor minimal

manure distribution

combined with overly abundant irrigation.

I don't have my long awaited Methane generator built,

so I watch it bubble up from the 0.60 x 0.60 m transport trench,

in such quantity as to lift mats of fiber waste up

from the bottom of the trench

to float on the surface.

This brings up a useful concept for Methane generation.

It requires warmth to generate Methane well,

32C => 90F ideal temperature,

so exposure to sunlight heat is optimal.

An open bottom concrete wall ditch with a poly tarp strip sealed over it,

would serve dual purpose:

Methane would bubble up

while the water travels to the field

I bought twenty Neem saplings in the nursery yesterday afternoon.

Seeing the useful beauty of the trees along the highways

in addition to it's chemical properties,

I'm convinced that it's time to have an on farm supply of Neem.

Also picked up a hundred Eucalyptus and ten Moringa

Well, since I've departed from topic, I'd best stop.

[RedBullHorn]

yeah...i've seem those methane generator pit, cost about 4-6'000 THB to build one, there was these guy in another village with over 200 pigs, villiagers are complaining the stench from his farm when the wind blows so he build his pits and connect the pipe line for free to anyone who make a fuss about the stench...free gas for the stove, complains solved

Aussie, as my plot is the head part of the streams, 11 yrs ago when i was doing 3000 RIR layers, the shed was build on top of my existing pond to stimulate plankton broom to feed the Tilapia , access water were drain out to the stream, lots of complains of skin irritation by villagers down streams during rice transplanting season , but when they witness the benefit done to their crops and the saving on Urea fertiliser ...following years had them literally fighting among themself by blocking the water just to their paddies . One farmer block the water, in the darkness of night another farmer will secretly destroy the dam and let the water flow to his own dam cornering the fertilised water to his paddies...the cycle goes on and on... Now with 9 ponds of catfishes and 2 sheds of piggeries, there's enought to go around...everybody's happy

[IsaanAussie]

RBH,

I'm green with envy at the ease of your setup, but there is a method to my madness (hopefully). The compost system is generating a lot of interest and the start of sales.

I was very keen on building a biodigester but Thai neighbours and explosive potential, coupled with the corrosive gas fractions and storage issues turned me off it. Maybe later. But I can back up the potential for it. The content of the septic tanks in my system generate a lot of gas despite the low proportion of solids.

Isaanaussie

[fruity]

yeah...i've seem those methane generator pit, cost about 4-6'000 THB to build one, there was these guy in another village with over 200 pigs, villiagers are complaining the stench from his farm when the wind blows so he build his pits and connect the pipe line for free to anyone who make a fuss about the stench...free gas for the stove, complains solved

Aussie, as my plot is the head part of the streams, 11 yrs ago when i was doing 3000 RIR layers, the shed was build on top of my existing pond to stimulate plankton broom to feed the Tilapia , access water were drain out to the stream, lots of complains of skin irritation by villagers down streams during rice transplanting season , but when they witness the benefit done to their crops and the saving on Urea fertiliser ...following years had them literally fighting among themself by blocking the water just to their paddies . One farmer block the water, in the darkness of night another farmer will secretly destroy the dam and let the water flow to his own dam cornering the fertilised water to his paddies...the cycle goes on and on... Now with 9 ponds of catfishes and 2 sheds of piggeries, there's enought to go around...everybody's happy

RBH,

I have seen pics of your rearing houses in another thread. Ideal setup, directly over the water. The majority of our pig waste gets washed directly into pools via pvc piping, no smell whatsoever & fabulous liquid fertiliser, no Urea required when pumped out onto rice paddies. By far the easiest method I've come across. The water doesn't look so attractive & if you are unlucky enough to get some on your person, yes, itchy as hel_l:)

WE,

I like the sound of your set up too, nothing like giving the pigs some water to lay in. Many very big farms here operate this system in their rearing houses & swear by the benefits...."not make pig serious, he happy"......which is true! If he's happy, he'll grow faster. Have you tried 'used' engine oil on your pigs skin? I have used this with positive results in the past. If you wanted to go 'whole hog' give the affected pigs a shot of CHLORAMINE, should be readily available in feed suppliers etc, this is an excellent remedy for skin irritations & usually does the trick. Just make sure you don't have a ringworm problem! If in doubt, give all your pigs a shot of IVERMECTIN.

IA

Have tried the 'magic juice' Works a treat! Thanks for the tip.

Fruity