Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

You can get this product to work and to work beautifully if you know what to the expect and how to prepare the oil. 1) Neem oil is extremely hydrophobic. No, that doesn't mean it has rabies. It means it is incredibly difficult to mix in plain water. It is stubbornly thick and viscous. In fact below room temperature it will solidify. The day I received this product it was 60F outside, and I basically unpackaged a brick. But I have no problem with that as it avoided a possibly leaky shipping disaster. Just remember that the oil will need to acclimate to a suitable environment before it is usable. If you must, gently bathe the tightly sealed jug in warm water. 2) Once your neem is flowing, you will want to dilute it into a distributable form. If you just pour your concentrated neem into water and try to blend it, you are wasting energy - it will separate. That comes from a very disappointing firsthand experience. Even a high-speed, high-wattage blender or food processor that can mix oil into mayonnaise or aioli will NOT handle neem. You need some chemical assistance in the form of an emulsifier. I have had tremendous luck with the methods recommended on the package. The manufacturer suggests using either a genuine soap or Dyna-Gro's own ProTekt product to emulsify your neem. Using both together gave me the most successful results. By genuine soap, I mean a fatty acid salt - the more basic the better. Ever wonder how soap works - it is by busting up oily masses and polarizing the droplets so they don't cling together. Adding soap also increases the solution's insecticidal properties as the fatty acids strip away the insects' natural coating, causing them to dehydrate. Make sure it is a soap like castile and NOT a detergent - it must be SOAP. I can not stress this enough. And as for the ProTekt, it is a silicon plant additive for strengthening stalks. It is very slick and also has the amazing ability to break apart the neem globules. So it does double duty as well. Here is the recipe you will need to make a gallon of solution: 2 TBSP Neem oil 2 TBSP ProTekt 2 TBSP Grated Castile Soap (or liquid soap - NOT dishwashing liquid, detergent or ANYTHING anti-bacterial) Put the above in your blender with a cup or so of lukewarm water. And blitz. The solution will turn to a yellowy milk. There may be some aerated foam on top. But the majority of the neem will remain in suspension. Add more water, blend a few seconds, pour into a gallon jug, and top off with more water. Then fill your spray bottle from the jug. You can easily add up the cost. 2 TBSP = 1 fl. oz. There are 32 fluid ounces in each quart of neem and ProTekt. A bar of castile is a couple of bucks. So for under $50, you can make 32 GALLONS of homemade and natural pest/fungus spray. That is about a penny an ounce. Compare that to what you would pay in the stores.