Neem seed oil, i just read, has been used for thousands of years are a form of birth control. Pregnant women should not handle it. Just thought it was interesting. Anyone know what the 'half-life' of attributes applied neem oil sitting on a sprayed plant would have?
I bet that if you were to contact Ms. Usha Rao at The Ahimsa Alternative that she could either answer your question correctly or point you in the right direction. LD
She knows her stuff. I wrote her regarding the shelf life of diluted neem oil and she got right back to me.
Madodah, what did she tell you about the shelf life of the diluted Neem Oil? I have been using their Neem Oil religiously. JaK
I meant 'half-life' not shelf life... althought that was interesting to know that my diluted stuff only protects for 8 hours???, thank you for the info. Half life systemically in a human injesting it tho and dose needed for the action too, wondering how long the particular chemical action that it has on the human body's uterus might stay active on the sprayed plant too. might also be 8 hours actually, if it degrades that rapidly. Will write to the great contact, thank you LD.
To clarify, eight hours is the recommended use period from dilution according to what I consider professional opinion. I sometimes like to stretch 'pull' dates but not in this instance. I'd rather err on the safe side. LD had a good post on how long diluted, foliar applications last on the plant itself and I'm too tired to look it up. A couple of hours seems to be all plants get for acquiring water based application benefits due to application deterioration.
madodah Thank you very, very much for posting this information. I was not aware of a time frame once the neem seed products have been mixed. I've always just mixed it up on a 'as needed basis' It does explain a couple of situations I was involved with last summer trying to help a couple of different patients. It's obvious that pre-mixing the foliar concoction was the unknown (nee limiting) factor as far as the effectiveness. Much appreciated! LD
I also normally mix almost everything on an as needed basis but due to Oregon's dreary spring creating perfect conditions for mildew I was fighting white mildew. Thanks to your reference I didn't get lazy and mix up a big batch.
madodah I was sitting in the doctor's office this morning and I was pondering the 8 hour time frame Ms. Rao discussed with you. A couple of things came to mind and the first one is that she was obviously talking about neem seed oil and if one is making a tea from the neem seed meal/cake I would think that the time frame on that mix is probably even less. I could be wrong but I'm going to recommend a 4 hour time frame on neem seed meal teas. That's probably a safe bet/guess. I could be wrong obviously. The breakdown time once it's applied is less than 2 hours and that's if it's applied in the day photo-period. Light is the big player here. Applying at the very end of the day photo-period will extend the viability on the leaf and branches. Just a suggestion. LD
My personal rule of thumb on using aerated teas is four hours. I've read six hours by other posters but I tend to be conservative with anything that requires aeration to produce benefits. I remember that excellent advice in your earlier post regarding foliar application product deterioration. Anything such as lights or sunlight is going to quickly evaporate the water carrier.