You can kill insects with soap and water

Get an empty spray bottle, fill it with Dawn dish soap a little bit maybe like a near half way, and then fill the rest with water.

Insects breathe through their bodies not their mouths, so when you spray them with soapy water, it clogs their breathing mechanism and suffocates them. You can do this with wasps spiders, stink bugs, and I'm pretty sure this would also work on lantern flies.

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4meAndyou · F

Yes...that's an organic gardening tip I used to follow. Supposedly it kills Japanese beetles.

However, ANOTHER tip, which was kind of gross...was to put loads of dead Japanese beetles in a jar of water, and let them marinate, and THEN use that water to spray your flowers or plants.

As far as I could tell, neither method really worked very well. The soapy water ruined my Impatiens, and the marinated beetle juice just seemed to attract MORE of them.

ArishMell · 70-79, M

I'd never use it against insects and other invertebrates, such as spiders, that are not causing any harm (so most of them - and many are even beneficial); but soapy water has long been recommended for ridding plants of aphid attacks.

James57 · 61-69, M

This is correct. I was an agronomist and pesticide operator in commercial agriculture. The organic pesticides I sprayed on crops was basically concentrated washing up liquid. I know a farmer who actually washed his dishes with it.

TinyViolins · 31-35, M

I've been doing that for fleas on my pets. I go in with a flea comb and then dunk them in the soapy water

Dawn soap also works pretty good as a shampoo for fur because it's safe for pets and bad for bugs

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