|

|
Questions?
Enter keywords in search box below:
|
|
|
Botanical
Insecticides
- Use
these plant oils in place of conventional insecticides
-
|
Summary:
New, natural, plant-based botanical insecticides
offer an effective, low toxicity, and
environmentally friendly alternative to conventional
pesticides. A variety of formulations are now
available including dusts, aerosols and wettable
powders.
Jack
DeAngelis, PhD
OSU Ext.
Entomologist (ret.)
|
|
|
Plant-based (botanical) pesticides
Plants produce many powerful chemicals
some of which are used to defend themselves against
animals that eat plants and disease organisms. Just
a few examples of these highly active plant
chemicals are nicotine (Nicotiana plants),
plant sterols (drug precursors), urushiol (poison
oak and ivy oil), as well as pyrethrum and rotenone
(insecticides).
Some plants also produce essential
oils (from the word "essence") in specialized
gland cells. Examples of essential oils are
peppermint oil, clove oil, citrus oils, lavender
oil, thyme oil, and rosemary oil. Recent research
has shown that certain combinations of these
essential oils, sometimes also combined with natural
pyrethrins, are effective and low toxicity
insecticides.
Botanical insecticides are safer
I don't normally suggest that you use
insecticides indoors. With a few exceptions,
conventional insecticides are just too hazardous for
this use. Some of the new botanical insecticides, on
the other hand, are low toxicity enough to use
indoors by homeowners and can be just as effective
as conventional insecticides.
|
|
|
|
Clove (Syzygium aromaticum)
is a source of eugenol used in some natural,
botanical insecticides. Image from Wikipedia.org.
|
|
|
|
|
Insecticides from plants
Until recently the availability of
plant-based insecticides was limited to a few products
like neem oil and pyrethrum. While these products are
effective and exhibit very low environmental impact
they have a limited range of uses.
To be a truly effective alternative to
conventional insecticides, however, "botanicals"
must be available in a range of formulations that can
be used in a variety of pest control situations. A pesticide
formulation is simply the physical "form" of the
product and the way in which it is applied. Dust,
aerosol, liquid concentrate, and especially wettable
powder formulations are all useful in different
specific situations.
|
|
|
Best types of botanicals (see table
below)
Aerosol sprays** can be used when
the area to be treated is relatively small such as
crack and crevice treatments for cockroaches. Aerosols
are very convenient but are expensive on a per
application basis. Dusts must be kept dry but
exhibit very good residual activity. Dust formulations
can be used for cockroach and ant control as well as
bed bug and firebrat control. Liquid concentrates
are somewhat less expensive but are generally only
available in larger package sizes thus making them
more useful in garden and landscape applications where
larger amounts are typically used.
The most important change in recent
years has been that some botanical insecticides are
now available as wettable powders. Wettable
powders are made to be mixed with water and applied
with some type of pump sprayer. They are much
less expensive per application than aerosols
and exhibit the good residual activity of a dust. They
are also economical because you can mix up only the
amount of "spray" that you need.
What are
Different Pesticide Formulations?
**While I generally don't recommend
aerosol insecticides because they are expensive and
the pressurized spray can be a disposal problem, the
aerosol jet formulation of EcoPCO Jet or EcoEXEMPT
Jet (below) have obvious advantages when
dealing with an angry wasp nest because they
allow you to treat the nest from a safe distance.
|
|
EcoSMARTâ„¢ plant oil-based pesticides
One company, EcoSMART Technologies,
now manufactures pesticides from natural plant oils,
and other plant chemicals, for homeowners and the pest
control industry. I believe these insecticides are a
very important addition to the homeowner and PCO
markets because they are the first, that I'm aware of,
that provide a relatively low toxicity and effective
alternative to conventional pesticides in a variety of
useful types.
I am particularly interested in EcoPCO
Jet aerosol (near right) as an alternative for
treating troublesome wasp nests and EcoPCO WPX
wettable powder (far right) because it can be
economically applied with a small garden sprayer both
indoors and outdoors for problems as diverse as bed
bugs, black vine weevils, boxelder bugs and carpenter
bees.
Use the table below for an overview of
EcoSMART insecticides, for information about
individual products see Botanical Insecticides at the 'Bugs
Store powered Amazon .
|
|
|
EcoSMART (tm) Natural Plant Oil
Insecticides
|
|
Product
Name
|
Formulation
|
Uses
|
|
EcoEXEMPT Jet
|
aerosol |
aerosol stream (jet) spray;
yellowjacket and paper wasp nests; exempt from EPA
registration
|
EcoEXEMPT KO
|
aerosol |
aerosol spray; ants, bed bugs,
carpet beetles, centipedes, general household insect
pests, clover mites, crickets, drug store beetles,
earwigs, elm leaf beetles, millipedes, pillbugs,
scorpions, silverfish, spiders; exempt from EPA
registration
|
EcoEXEMPT D
|
dust |
dust; useful for dusting in/under
cabinets, behind furniture, etc.; ants, centipedes,
crickets, earwigs, silverfish, sowbugs, spiders; can
be combined with borate insecticide to extend residual
activity; exempt from EPA registration
|
EcoEXEMPT IC
|
liquid concentrate |
1 gallon concentrate; intended for
application by sprayer; indoor/outdoor use; food
processing facilities; schools, etc.; fire ant mounds;
broadly effective for crawling and flying pests;
exempt from EPA registration
|
|
EcoPCO ACU
|
aerosol |
aerosol spray; similar use to
EcoEXEMPT KO except EcoPCO ACU contains petroleum
distillate as inert ingredient; EPA registered
|
EcoPCO ARX
|
aerosol |
aerosol spray; contains
pyrethrins + plant oils; a "stronger" version of
EcoPCO ACU; contains petroleum distillate as inert
ingredient; EPA registered
|
|
EcoPCO DX
|
dust |
dust; contains pyrethrins + plant
oils; bed bugs, cockroaches, centipedes, firebrats,
spiders; can be combined with borate insecticide to
extend residual activity; EPA registered
|
|
EcoPCO WPX
|
wettable powder |
wettable powder; EPA registered;
contains pyrethrins + plant oils; intended for
application by sprayer; indoor/outdoor use; broadly
effective for indoor/outdoor and landscape pests; a
good alternative to pyrethroids for boxelder bugs
|
| EcoPCO Jet X |
aerosol |
aerosol stream (jet) spray; yellowjacket
and paper wasp nests; EPA registered |
|
|
'Bugs Needs Your Support!
If our information is useful
help us
maintain and grow 'Bugs. Visit our Support
Page or shop at
Amazon, one of our favorite affiliates. Amazon
is not just books and Kindles, they even have bug
stuff!
|
|
|
Don't forget to bookmark
us for next time - press ctrl-D in most browsers.
|
|
|
|
Mission: To provide accurate, up-to-date and
unbiased information for solving common insect and
mite problems around your home, business and landscape
using least-toxic methods.
Jack DeAngelis, PhD,
, email:
[email protected]
Please see the Disclaimer
statements as well.
|
|
|
|
Copyright © 2004-...
LivingWithBugs, LLC. All rights reserved.
|