Last person I talked to about it was using it for pest control on bamboo plants.

It's pretty impressive stuff and well suited as a natural pesticide, but I have never heard it referred to as a fertilizer and doubt it has much, if any, nutrient value. One of the characteristics that makes it valuable as an insecticide is that it has an oily consistancy, so is effective in smothering soft bodied insects like aphids, mites and mealy bugs. Neem oil also has fungicidal properties as it contains sulfur, a natural fungicide in its own right. Rose Defense, a common organic product for rose care, is essentially Neem oil and is used to control various rose fungal problems (black spot, powdery mildew, rust) as well as to control insects. It is registered with the EPA as a pesticide.

Perhaps they were talking about Neem Seed Meal. I use it in a blend with Kelp Meal and Alfalfa Meal as my prime fertilizer, both in my custom soil mixes as well as a top dressing of plants in production... works great!

From Dyna-Gro Data Sheet:

"Neem seed meal is the by-product of cold pressing the seed of the neem tree for its oil. What is left after extracting the oil is an excellent organic fertilizer with high N-P-K values and slow release properties. It contains more nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium and magnesium than manure or sewage sludge, and provides a variety of benefits to plants and the growing medium. In India, neem seed meal is used as a time released fertilizer for high dollar crops like sugar cane and vegetables because it enhances the crop yields. Neem seed meal also improves fertility by inhibiting soil bacteria from converting nitrogenous compounds (nitrification) present in soils to molecular nitrogen, a gas that is useless to the plants. When mixed with urea nitrogen it also reduces nitrification and may improve the plants survival in soilless media with this less usable form of nitrogen."

Azadiractin Content: >1000 ppm
Nitrogen (N): 2.0 Â 5.0%
Phosphorus (P): 0.6 Â 1.0%
Potassium (K): 1.2 Â 1.6%
Calcium (Ca): Magnesium (Mg): Sulfur (S): Copper (Cu) Iron (Fe) Manganese (Mn) Sodium (Na) Zinc (Zn) Neem Oil 5 -8 %
Crude Fiber 8 - 26 %
Fat 2 -13 %
Ash 5 -18 %
Acid-insoluble Ash 1 Â17 %
Carbon

Well there ya go! I am quite familiar with Neem oil but had never encountered Neem Seed Meal - looks to be a pretty decent organic fertilizer. You learn something everyday!

Ingesting neem stops insects from feeding, and they starve. It can be helpful in battling scale on houseplants, as well as insects outside in the garden. Take care not to apply neem oil on a hot sunny day, however - I've burned foliage this way.