Dish soap for plant health? Yes, it works. Here's how.

There's no need to run to the store for pesticides. Chances are, you have just what you need, right under the kitchen sink.

Dish detergent (like Dawn) isn't just for squeaky clean dishes and saving wildlife. It's also an environmentally-friendly product that works all kinds of wonders for your yard.

No, this isn't hogwash. Check out this article posted by the University of Minnesota, which refers to the dish soap-water mix as "the Holy Grail" for your plants' bug battles. It won't work for every pest, but it's pretty effective when it comes to small, soft-bodied bugs, like aphids. (Beetles and caterpillars, for example, probably won't bat a buggy eyelash at the stuff.)

This is perfect for plants being chewed up by bugs, as well as those causing sooty mold. Not sure what "sooty mold" is? It's the appearance of soot or dirt on a plant's leaves. Like this:

It's caused by insects, such as aphids, leaving secretions on a plant, which then makes the plant appear dirty or blackish. (Gardener's Path has more info and pics of sooty mold.)

So, here's a simple solution for both issues. Make a homemade dish soap-water concoction and spray these problems away.

Experts over at Horticulture.com explain it this way: Spraying these critters with the right mix of soap and water covers the pesky bugs, dries out their exoskeleton, and then they die.

Here's what they look like, in this photo from Encyclopaedia Britannica:

Aphids and their eggs. (Photo courtesy of Encyclopædia Britannica)

The University of Minnesota experts recommend a 2% dish soap solution. That means 2 teaspoons of Dawn dish soap per pint (16 ounces) of water. Use a spray bottle to saturate the plants in peril, and make sure you cover it completely.

For sooty mold, spray your homemade concoction all over the plant. And don't go easy. Really saturate it. Then, spray it off with a garden hose. We've personally found this works wonders.

For more on tapping into dish soap for plant health, check out these links below:

University of Minnesota Extension

Horticulture magazine

Gardener's Path