I was helping a friend attempt to conquer his pest issues the last few days, and it came to my attention that I should share some knowledge about my method. After all, we could all save some bucks right now, right?
Last year I found myself battling the borg, outside. Hard to avoid, right? I tried all kinds of stuff, but eventually settled into using safers soap towards the end of the season. It seems just as effective as anything else, but was pleasant to spray. It smelled nice, and didn’t stink like alot of the other stuff.
Here’s the label
A buddy turned me on to jadam wetting agent @Tinytuttle. It’s just potassium Hydroxide, canola oil, and water. I wonder if that’s the same as potassium salts of fatty acids?
I cleaned everything thoroughly, and readied my 0 ppm water (you want distilled or close) . Use appropriate ppe such as rubber gloves, goggles, apron (of course safety first?). I mixed the water and the potassium Hydroxide in an old steel pot, and capped. Be careful, it gets super hot (missed my photo op🤦).
I then mixed in the canola oil. Mix it with my mud mixer on a drill, and let it sit for a day. It sets up like butter.
Two days later, start adding the rest of the water, and moving it over into my bucket. It’s a bit mucky for awhile.
The last load of water it says to mix by hand. Nope, not badger. Mixing by hand is for the birds. Badgers do not have feathers
Let it all melt in together for a day, and boom.
Kinda looks like that other stuff too. You can see it’s nice and clear in that wooden spoon.
Best part is that I made 3.5 gallons for like 10 bucks. Have you seen how expensive pest control is by the gallon? Geez. My buddy was working his butt off to pay the grow store! You can also add an array of essential oils that repel and or help kill insects. Cool thing is that mites cant become resistant to being suffocated. This stuff doesn’t have a shelf life either.
I hope you will make and share this with your friends and neighbors. Jadam wants it out there to help give us some ecologically friendly and affordable methods to deal with pests.