permaculture

["John Schinnerer" <johns@eco-living.net>]

Aloha,

 

I know an 'elder' woman from India who tells me that neem is somewhat of an all-purpose antibiotic/disinfectant/etc. there (among other things) - simplest recipe she mentioned was to simmer leaves in water for 10+ minutes.  Don't know if this solution would repel bugs from plants or not or is simply for a topical antibiotic...I've used a neem-based bug juice that was quite effective at keeping New England mosquitoes and blackflies at bay; much better than a citronella-based one I tried.

 

One could process home-grown neem to extract the oil for various uses, using similar methods to those used for extracting other plant oils, I would guess.  I will be planting some on my land in Hawai'i this winter...maybe in a couple years I will have more info!  ;-)

John Schinnerer
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Cultural & Ecological Designing
Human Habitat Design
john@eco-living.net
http://eco-living.net