Will Irish Spring Soap Hurt My Plants? [ANSWERED]

Irish Spring Soap is touted as one of those miracle products that can keep your garden safe by deterring frustrating pests and protecting your precious plants. However, it is hard not to wonder if adding such a foreign substance to your garden will it do any harm – will Irish Spring soap kill plants?

The good news is Irish Spring soap will not kill your plants. Unlike other soaps with additives, you don’t have to worry about Irish Spring soap being absorbed by your plants or edibles. It is non-toxic and won’t harm you or your plants. This means you can happily signpost Irish Spring soap around the garden to ward off any insects, rodents or unwanted larger pests, such as deer.

How Does Irish Spring Soap Work to Deter Pests?

Irish Spring deodorant soap has a strong smell.

There is no hiding from the smell – after all, the original intent of Irish Spring soap is to be used as a deodorant to mask body odor.

But this is a good thing, because we can use this strong smell to our advantage.

Many garden pests, like squirrels, deer, raccoons and rabbits, have a keen sense of smell. They not only use it to sniff out their next meal (hopefully not in your garden!). But they can also use their strong sense of smell as a defense. They can smell predators a mile away, giving them an opportunity to run away or avoid danger.

Fortunately, these pesky pests associate soap and detergents with humans – which includes Irish Spring deodorant soap. And once they catch a whiff of that good old familiar strong scent of Irish Spring soap, it will also trigger alarm bells, and they will steer clear of the area. Plus, the fragrance can be offensive to their noses.

How Can Soap Help Your Garden?

Besides being a great pest control mechanism, Irish Spring soap can be used for other purposes in the garden setting.

Here are some innovative ways of using soap outside in your garden.

Sick of Dirt Under Your Finger Nails?

One of the cleverest ways we’ve seen Irish Spring soap used in the garden is to protect your fingers from getting soil trapped underneath the finger nails.

Simply run your finger nails down a bar of Irish Soap to cake the soap under your nails. This will prevent dirt and loose soil from becoming lodged under your nails as you garden.

You may be saying, that’s all well and good, BUT now I have soap under my nails – so what’s the difference?

Soap is A LOT easier to remove from under your fingernails than soil. All that is required is to run your fingers under warm water, and the soap easily dissolves. Whereas, soil will stay lodged under your nails until you dig it out with tweezers or a toothpick.

Don’t believe us – try it out for yourself!

Clean Your Indoor and Outdoor Plants’ Leaves

Do you ever get hard water stains on your plants’ leaves? Not only is it unsightly, but if you allow the calcium build up on the leaves to remain, it can hinder your plant’s ability to photosynthesize. This will have long term detrimental effects, and weaken and stunt your plants’ growth.

Fortunately, Irish Spring soap can help you with this dilemma. Simply create a mild soapy mixture by diluting some Irish Spring soap in some distilled water. Place it into a spray bottle and spritz your plants’ leaves.

Proceed to wipe down and dry the leaves with an absorbent material like a kitchen paper towel or a muslin cloth.

Wash Your Tools

Why not use Irish Spring soap for one of its intended uses – to clean!

Cleaning your gardening tools is an essential part of the process that many gardeners overlook. It’s easy to throw your tools into the shed after a hard day’s gardening, thinking why bother cleaning it? It’s just going to get dirty again!

Leaving gardening tools dirty drastically shortens their lifespan, resulting in you having to waste money buying new tools.

Why not use Irish Spring soap to clean your tools and ensure they last the distance. Not only will you receive a lifetime’s use out of your tools, it is better for the environment (less landfill). Plus, you will have the added benefit of spreading the strong smell of Irish Spring soap in your garden shed – keeping rodents and pesky insects away from your goodies.

Frequently Asked Questions – Will Irish Spring Soap Kill Plants

Will Irish Spring Soap harm my Pets?

Fortunately, as Irish Spring soap is non-toxic to humans, it too is non-toxic for your pets. Obviously, you don’t want your pets eating mounds of Irish Spring soap, but the odd nibble won’t harm them. We still recommend being proactive and keeping it away from your pets as much as possible. Keep it in hard to reach places, and if it is at sniffing level, such as hanging from a tree branch, wrap it up in a cloth.

Will Irish Spring Soap harm my Flowers?

As we have already established, Irish Spring soap is not toxic to garden plants. And as such, it is not toxic to flowers. Whether it is in a solid soap bar, shaved with a cheese grater, pieces of soap or liquified from the rain, Irish Spring soap is safe to use in the garden.

Will Irish Spring Soap harm my Grass?

Irish Spring soap is safe to use in the garden, including your lawn. As with other plants, Irish Spring soap is not toxic to your grass. You can sprinkle soap shavings of Irish Spring soap around your lawn to keep pests away, especially hungry deer who will happily munch on your grass. An alternate option is to tie bars of soap to wooden stakes and position the stakes around the perimeter of your lawn. This way, you can create a barrier between the pests and your lawn, keeping it safe and pest free.