Help Emulsifying Neem oil

Ok, i been using neem for decades without knowing how to really mix it properly. Now that i figured out how to mix it properly , its not working anymore.
Its come down to the type of water being used. Ive used the same dish soap and same cold pressed neem , ordered from the same company. Everything is the same so it HAS to be something in the water.
I take one once of neem oil to about a teaspoon of dish soap and mix it with a drill, then i mix about a cup of warm water and run the drill again , then i fill up the spray bottle to make a gallon. I always use a clear glass after mixing the water with it to check for separation. A couple months ago it was emulsified. The oil did not settle on top of the water. Now i mix it the same way and it will not emulsify?!
Should we try an exact temp ?
Could it be ph?
Hard water ?
How do you guys keep your neem from separating ? This is a HUGE deal when using neem oil. When it doesnt fully emulsify then its a waste of good neem.
Thanks in advance.

Trying to understand why you are doing that. Can’t you just use neem seed meal as an amendment like a normal person?

Get some neemazal man, it’s cheap and organic and you just have to use a spoon to mix it no power tools are necessary

Richard Drysift said:

Trying to understand why you are doing that. Can’t you just use neem seed meal as an amendment like a normal person?

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Im old , i thought normal folk sprayed with neem ? Geez time flys.
So, as a preventative, you ammend the soil with need seed meal ? Supposedly that will get into the plant and detour the mites ? thanks

Does anyone use pure neem ?

getogrow said:

Im old , i thought normal folk sprayed with neem ? Geez time flys.
So, as a preventative, you ammend the soil with need seed meal ? Supposedly that will get into the plant and detour the mites ? thanks

Does anyone use pure neem ?

Click to expand...

What do you mean by pure neem? I use neem meal and use neemazal spray as a preventative. Not very frequent tho. My last spray was 3 months ago. Still neem oil can contain aflatoxin which is a known carcinogen so instead of using neem oil i use neemazal. And neem meal works great in soil. A good N source with plenty of micro nutrients and worms and microbes love it.

crimsonecho said:

What do you mean by pure neem? I use neem meal and use neemazal spray as a preventative. Not very frequent tho. My last spray was 3 months ago. Still neem oil can contain aflatoxin which is a known carcinogen so instead of using neem oil i use neemazal. And neem meal works great in soil. A good N source with plenty of micro nutrients and worms and microbes love it.

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i mean pure neem oil. That used to be the "norm" ....ive never heard of neemazal. what exactly is it ? i need gallons of spray. so that sounds outta the budget. Ive always heard of using neem meal for the soil but have yet to get around to it. Does the neem meal do the same thing to the spider mites? Does it absorb into the plant to keep me from having to spray it ? Thanks

ok , neemazal is neem , its just more concentrated basically. Has a lot more of the chemical that messes up the mites. how do i buy it ? how do you use it ?

getogrow said:

ok , neemazal is neem , its just more concentrated basically. Has a lot more of the chemical that messes up the mites. how do i buy it ? how do you use it ?

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Yes, neemazal is a waterbased extract of neem kernels. Pure azadirachtin compounds and other beneficial molecules extracted by using only water. Then they use organic vegetable oil to dilute that. They must be selling it on amazon. For example azamax from gh is the same stuff (neemazal technical diluted in vegetable oil). I only used neemazal because it’s more accesible in europe. You just mix it with a spoon and voila!

You're issue sounds odd. I just fill a spray bottle with warm water, add neem and then some dawn. Put the lid on and shake it up and spray away. I've never had any problem and have been using neem for years. I use the Dyna-Gro pure neem oil.

To emulsify it, you can use Dawn dish soap. Just a little bit and you're gtg. I make a tea out of neem meal and also put about 5% of the total volume into my soil mixes.

getogrow said:

Ok, i been using neem for decades without knowing how to really mix it properly. Now that i figured out how to mix it properly , its not working anymore.
Its come down to the type of water being used. Ive used the same dish soap and same cold pressed neem , ordered from the same company. Everything is the same so it HAS to be something in the water.
I take one once of neem oil to about a teaspoon of dish soap and mix it with a drill, then i mix about a cup of warm water and run the drill again , then i fill up the spray bottle to make a gallon. I always use a clear glass after mixing the water with it to check for separation. A couple months ago it was emulsified. The oil did not settle on top of the water. Now i mix it the same way and it will not emulsify?!
Should we try an exact temp ?
Could it be ph?
Hard water ?
How do you guys keep your neem from separating ? This is a HUGE deal when using neem oil. When it doesnt fully emulsify then its a waste of good neem.
Thanks in advance.

Click to expand...

Everything I've read about mixing this stuff says you're using 2x the amount oil needed in relation the the volume of dish soap. Supposed to be 1T to 1t. There are 2T's in a volumetric ounce.

Also, if you think it's the water (I've had issues with this), try some RO or distilled...

waktoo said:

Everything I've read about mixing this stuff says you're using 2x the amount oil needed in relation the the volume of dish soap. Supposed to be 1T to 1t. There are 2T's in a volumetric ounce

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usually it only takes a few drops per Tb and the same amount does an ounce or prolly more. either way ive tried extra soap....it just aint mixing.
i been mixing for a half hour....this is just rediculas... mix a cup , throw it out, mix another throw it out, rinse an repeat. (only mixing small batches but still...this is crazy)
i just mixed a batch 3 months ago just to show the pic of it all mixed up. now it only sits 5 seconds before i know its not happening.... im going to the store to grab some water and dawn and tell yall the results. im completely lost.

A silica powder could help, Dyna Gro makes one, but a totally clean dish soap like dawn blue should work. You could try putting it in a blender using distilled water? I am curious, let us know how it goes budy

Federucci said:

A silica powder could help, Dyna Gro makes one, but a totally clean dish soap like dawn blue should work. You could try putting it in a blender using distilled water? I am curious, let us know how it goes budy

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i been using a drill with a mixer on the end.
ok i found the prob.... Waktoo somehow you nailed it without knowing me.
Apparently i only been using a couple ml vs 5 or 10 ml. i went and bought some dawn....bought some distilled and turned my water heater up..... Then when i was using vegetable oil instead of neem (just to prevent wasteing the rest of my neem) i used way too much soap and it finally emulsified....
So i went back to the neem and used too much soap and it emulsified. Now im going to break out the teaspoon thing to measure correctly and while im on that subject , im going to run through all my foods and make sure my eyeball is still spitting out 7ml in a cap so im not uner/over doing the food too.
Bottom line: i trusted my human measurements too much and should have used a teaspoon like normal folk.
Thanks guys , this has been a big deal for a couple months. mites are breeding and throwing parties while im trying to mix neem.

getogrow said:

i been using a drill with a mixer on the end.
ok i found the prob.... Waktoo somehow you nailed it without knowing me.
Apparently i only been using a couple ml vs 5 or 10 ml. i went and bought some dawn....bought some distilled and turned my water heater up..... Then when i was using vegetable oil instead of neem (just to prevent wasteing the rest of my neem) i used way too much soap and it finally emulsified....
So i went back to the neem and used too much soap and it emulsified. Now im going to break out the teaspoon thing to measure correctly and while im on that subject , im going to run through all my foods and make sure my eyeball is still spitting out 7ml in a cap so im not uner/over doing the food too.
Bottom line: i trusted my human measurements too much and should have used a teaspoon like normal folk.
Thanks guys , this has been a big deal for a couple months. mites are breeding and throwing parties while im trying to mix neem.

Click to expand...

I had the same issue (I'm an old head too and live and die by neem oil) and realized I had forgotten about Coco wet. It's like dawn dish soap but organic. You can add a ton of it and it won't hurt the plants.

What brand of neem oil are you using? Are you letting it get warm so it's liquid? I put mine in a bowl of hot water for a few minutes if it's started to get too thick. It will get solid at too cold of temperature and needs to be heated up so it's easy to pour. I also mix it into warm almost hot water.

Grandevo. Expensive. Total chewing insect annihilation.

getogrow said:

Im old , i thought normal folk sprayed with neem ? Geez time flys.
So, as a preventative, you ammend the soil with need seed meal ? Supposedly that will get into the plant and detour the mites ? thanks

Does anyone use pure neem ?

Click to expand...

I use pure Neem oil. I warm up the Neem oil bottle (tightly closed) In very warm not hot water. Shaking it every min or so until the oil is all softened and mixed together. Next I add warm water (from the tap) to my empty gallon jug(I use a empty gallon of water jug). I pour in 3 tablespoons pure Neem oil and 1/2 tsp dawn dish detergent and then put the lid on and shake very well. Then I pour this into my sprayer and apply it to the plants. I have found this to work very well. I must emphasize using warm water to mix it up it really helps, when I have used cold water it didn’t work! Good luck I think Neem oil is great!!

im glad you have it taken care of budy

I use silica as an emulsifier.