Is Dawn better?

Mark Baker

I often see recipes for garden solutions that say to use "Dawn dish soap". Is Dawn any better than the other brands, or are we just used to saying "Dawn" for dishwashing liquid, like we say "Kleenex" for tissues? Has anyone used Dawn for a garden solution that worked, when the same solution made with a different brand of dishwashing liquid did not work?

kbmbillups1

Welcome to the forum!

I've used Dawn as well as other store brands of blue dishwashing liquid. I add a drop or two to a neem oil solution, so it stays on a little better. I haven't noticed any difference between the brand name and the store brands.

Lisa K

i used Dawn then I tried Safer Soap but the Safer Soap caused my hands t tingle, so I am back to using Dawn.

VermontCathy

Ivory soap is often listed as the purest soap. In other words, it contains soap and nothing else, no lotions, no scents, and so forth.

Lisa K

I like Dawn for things like scale and whiteflies because it cuts grease & their protective shells.

Torey

I'm not bashing Dawn here. This applies to most commercial soaps.

Most commercial dish soaps are petroleum based. They also contain a bunch of other chemicals including colorants, fragrances, preservatives, surfactants, etc., etc., etc. We probably don't want these things on our food.

Check the label ingredients or look up the MSDS sheets for the product. Its easy to do. Type MSDS in your search bar followed by the name of the product. (MSDS + Your Brand Dishwashing Soap). Gives you a complete list of ingredients, cautions and what to do for exposure.

Pure Castille soap is recommended for making insecticidal soaps. Or any other natural soap. But read your ingredient labels, don't just trust that it is "natural".