Neem chili garlic brew pellicle

This bucket has been going for months. A mixture of neem leaves and twigs, chili and garlic waste, all sitting in water with the lid loosely covered, is exposed to the most extreme conditions. I use the water to spray on my plants, mostly on the indian lettuce and kangung... both of which are mostly affected by pests. Today there was a thicker pellicle than I have seen in a long time.

The catalyst must have been the chili. There were a lot of scrapes in there from my last batch of chili sauce.

Red neem water

 The water which I soak neem leaves garlic and chili in has turned from a dark brown to red.

 

Replacing some neem leaves

 The neem has been soaking in water for over a month now. The water has turned into a tea colour. 

There are some chili and garlic scraps in there too. Removed a bunch of old leaves (into the compost) and replaced with some new ones...

Neem water test

30Aug2020: Got a bunch of neem leaves, weight approx 330g. Soaked in 12 litres water. Duration of soak... no idea at this moment. I will go thru all the Youtube instructions I can find, and then average out the time.

Will test if the resulting liquid helps deter pests. 

31Aug2020: Selamat Hari Merdeka! Happy Independence Day! I was pleasantly surprised... day 2... nothing visibly bubbling like fruit fermentation, but heaps of bubbles on the surface! That's just neem leaves and water! There must be something special to this plant.

2Sep2020: Less bubbles. Something that looks like a thin layer of oil on top. I guess it's ready to use.

Summary of day 0 to 6

6 Sep 2020: I had a separate bottle of water with garlic and chili scraps that I was using as a spray. It wasnt really working. So chucked it all into the neem bucket. It will be a lot easier this way anyways. Anytime I hear about a plant that deters pests, I will add some of it to the brew. Never know I might stumble onto an all natural super bug deterrent!

12 Oct 2020 update: replaced some of the old leaves with new ones.