How is drenching your food plants in this chemical soup appropriate for an organic forum? Dawn's ingredients listed on bottle
⢠water,
⢠sodium lauryl sulfate,
⢠sodium pareth-23,
⢠sulfate C-12-14-16,
⢠dimethyl amine oxide,
⢠SD alcohol,
⢠undeceth-9,
⢠propylene glycol,
⢠cyclohexandiamine,
⢠polyacetate,
⢠protease,
⢠fragrance,
⢠FD&C blue,

Kreg .... Rinse them off and wait it out. They may survive it.

What problem did you think you were solving?

Detergents are synthetic products and have no place in an organic garden.

Kreg - I'm sure you came across all of the DIY solutions proposed for Dawn. It's much too effective to be organic :-)
Whitefly, probably? Or mealybugs? Tomatoes, for all their vitality, can be picky - as I guess you already know. I think the advice to give them a good rinse is good - but I would give them several good rinses, and as much watering as they'll take without drowning them.

It's organic! The Internet says so!

{{gwi:143937}}

:-)
I've seen that, too. And you can see why people would feel it's benign; after all, we use it on our dishes. There are dish soaps that would be acceptable for organic gardening and would serve the same purpose. They're basically botanicals. I'd worry about their grease-cutting elements, though - might not be good for the leaves. I have used something of the sort successfully, but it was long ago and I don't remember how or what.

The attached Fact Sheet might shed some light on why commercially manufactured insecticidal soaps are the far better choice for plants. Sometimes, homemade is simply not better in any way.

Here is a link that might be useful: About soap sprays

What, beside the Vinegar, in the above "weed killer" is the purpose. Epsom Salts have been touted for years as plant food, something to help plants grow. The jug says dish soap, not dish detergent. The Vinegar, by itself is a very good "weed" killer. Nothing needs to be added to make it more effective.
Some people may have gotten the idea that some detergents are acceptable to organic growers because they have been used to degrease wildlife that have been covered by oil the manufacturers of those products have spilled on our water.

That could be. We had a thread on FB about what the epsom salts were for - maybe someone confused it with salt? I wish higher percentage vinegar would make the internet rounds - maybe it would become easier to find!

Anyway, kreg123, sorry to waylay your thread. Have you seen any recovery?

Vinegar at 20 percent Acetic Acid is available, both in your local stores and on the internet.

There's some possibility that we live in different towns. :-)
If you know which of my local stores carry it, let me know!

Vinegar I understand but, how do they manufacture affordable 20% acetic acid without using the Monsanto process

Repeat: Vinegar I understand! But, how do they manufacture affordable 20% acetic acid without using the Monsanto process

This post was edited by albert_135 on Tue, Jul 8, 14 at 16:28

Vinegar is made by fermentation or distillation and it will be higher then the 3 to 5 percent vinegar you buy for salad dressing. That comes about by diluting the higher level vinegar with water to get to that level. People were making vinegar, by fermentation, long before the Monsanto process came about.

There are several ways to get above natural fermentation levels starting with fermented vinegars:
Distill it and trap the acetic acid vapors ("the common "distilled white vinegar")
Freeze it and fish out the ice crystals

You can stop clutching your pearls about industrial acetic acid. The "Monsanto Process" (starting with methanol) has largely been replaced by the "Cativa Process",

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cativa_process

Thanks. I had forgotten, or perhaps never learned about freezing.