Dish soap -
#2
According to this atricle it's the detergent that messes with the insects body structure.
http://homeguides.sfgate.com/dawn-di...den-88374.html
Just don't use Dawn dish soap around plants......it kills them by removing a protective coating on the leaves.
http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussi...-soap-for-bugs
http://homeguides.sfgate.com/dawn-di...den-88374.html
Just don't use Dawn dish soap around plants......it kills them by removing a protective coating on the leaves.
http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussi...-soap-for-bugs
#5
Super Member
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Central Texas
Posts: 1,310
I have found a spray bottle of Lysol kitchen disinfectant works GREAT to kill unwanted ants that seem to get in during the hot dry spells here - looking for water I presume. Just spritz them and they're toast!
#6
Power Poster
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Corpus Christi, Tx.
Posts: 16,105
We don't use Dawn on our plants. We do use it in combo with vinegar or ammonia on fire ant hills. Hubs said the other day I overkill but I stepped on a small ant hill as I was unloading groceries the other day and immediately got nailed. Had to drop everything, literally. Brushed them off and got into the car and turned it around. Yes the bites felt on fire. Ran into the house and immediately grabbed the alcohol to stop the stinging. When I finished I grabbed the Dawn and some ammonia. Sprayed the perimeter and worked my way in. It's been 2 weeks and I still have the bite festers to show for it. at least they don't itch. Thankful i'm not allergic to them.
#9
We don't use Dawn on our plants. We do use it in combo with vinegar or ammonia on fire ant hills. Hubs said the other day I overkill but I stepped on a small ant hill as I was unloading groceries the other day and immediately got nailed. Had to drop everything, literally. Brushed them off and got into the car and turned it around. Yes the bites felt on fire. Ran into the house and immediately grabbed the alcohol to stop the stinging. When I finished I grabbed the Dawn and some ammonia. Sprayed the perimeter and worked my way in. It's been 2 weeks and I still have the bite festers to show for it. at least they don't itch. Thankful i'm not allergic to them.
#10
An insect's nose is called a spiracle and is located along the sides, one hole on each side of each segment. They do not have workable lungs as we do, where we force air in and then expel it. The insects's method is called diffusing. The air just wanders in by itself, but then they don't need much. Since this is an inefficient method, bugs don't get very big. YES!!! But in the tropics where there is a higher concentration of oxygen, they do get bigger. Lots of plants give off lots of oxygen, it's their waste product. Plants need carbon dioxide to live, but insects are like us, consuming oxygen.
Any soap, such as Dawn is a surface tension breaker. If you break the surface tension over the spiracle, you cut off the bug's air supply. Trying to drown a bug in water often doesn't work, as the surface tension over the spiracle is in tact.
Marcia 1968 Entomology UCD
Any soap, such as Dawn is a surface tension breaker. If you break the surface tension over the spiracle, you cut off the bug's air supply. Trying to drown a bug in water often doesn't work, as the surface tension over the spiracle is in tact.
Marcia 1968 Entomology UCD
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