Customer Reviews

Safer Brand 5118 Insect Killing Soap - 16-Ounce Concentrate

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have been using insecticidal soaps for mites, scale, and other leaf eating pests. It works well but you have to keep applying and be steadfast about it. However, the upside is its safe for you, your pets, and children.

This product does a good job of eliminating aphids from my roses and fruit trees, and it's much better for people and the environment than traditional pesticides.

This is the first thing I turn to when I have pest problems with my house plants, including my orchids.

a little goes a loooong way. safe to use on our garden plants to kill those aphids that the ladybugs miss.

This is a good product, which we have used for years in the pre-mix form. Non-toxic to humans. Kills aphids, etc. and also has same active ingredient as some deer repellants (we use it for both). Active ingredient is potassium salt of fatty acids, 49 wt% in this concentrate, compared to the usual 1% (or sometimes 2%) sold as the pre-made solution. My local stores carry the pre-mix, this is a 50/1 concentrate, so much more economical in the long run. I could not find the concentrate in any of the local stores. I am very happy with it.

I have some indoor basil, dill and thyme that was recently afflicted with a nasty aphid AND whitefly infestation after I had unwittingly brought home some contaminated herbs.

I read about all the fantastic things about this Safer Brand soap and figured I'd give it a shot before trashing my poor plants.

I've followed the instructions diligently. The aphids do go away a couple days after spraying. Unfortunately however, the bugs keep coming back every week. There are no other plants in the house that could be housing the bugs and promoting their return, and my herbs are all small plants.

If this product can't get rid of the bugs off of one little isolated, indoor plant, then I don't know what good it's for. I had just as much success when I was picking off the aphids by hand.

At least it's not toxic, and I guess it's faster than hand-picking.

i had gotten a spider mite infestation in my indoor plants it was really getting bad on my 10 year old bonsai ficus tree and i was not sure if it would make it - it was already too late for the gardenia and i was really worried - but - i made this soap spray at 1 teaspoon of soap mix to 1 cup water and i sprayed every three days after the sun went down for 2 weeks and the mites are dead. the tree had no damage from the spray and is now covered in new growth. keep at it and it will kill them.

I didn't have great success with this at first, but did later. Here's what I learned when trying to treat St Augustine grass for Chinch bugs (Central Florida):
- insecticidal soap works by killing bugs *on contact*: so apply it when they are active (but read the directions too)
- you don't have to kill all the bugs, just outlast them: eventually winter came and the chinch bugs didn't survive
- use a pump sprayer: hose end sprayers are awfully inaccurate and wasteful. the pump sprayer is well worth the extra $15
- I tried to spray every 4 days or so, but wasn't terribly consistent--consistency is key with this stuff

I will use this product again when needed.

I'm so glad I read the reviews and took a chance on this insect soap. After leaving my houseplants out too long this summer and inadvertently letting them get soaked in heavy rain, they got infested with little plant bugs that gradually took over our house. At one point I counted 40+ tiny black bugs squatting on my IKEA globe light alone. After one use I saw a drastic reduction in bugs. In fact, I thought one use had done the trick. But no -- it took regular use over about two months to eradicate them. I also changed the soil in a few badly infected pots. Now I spray my plants every month or two with this soap and haven't had a problem since. FYI: I started with a small pre-mixed spray and graduated to the large mix-it-yourself concentrate.

I have been using Safer Soap for many years, but always had to purchase it in small spray bottles
for $4 or more. This is a really good price for a container which will make over 6 gallons of
spray.