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Mission: To
provide accurate, up-to-date and unbiased
information for solving common insect and mite
problems in least-toxic ways.
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Disclaimer
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Sevin (Carbaryl) Insecticide
- An older, carbamate class
insecticide -
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Summary:
Carbaryl,
the active ingredient in Sevin
insecticide, belongs to one of the older classes
of insecticides called carbamates. As a group
carbamates are only moderately toxic to mammals
and are still widely used by gardeners. There are
now, however, lower toxicity alternatives for
Sevin that gardens can use.
Jack DeAngelis, PhD
OSU Ext. Entomologist (ret.)
my resume
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Sevin (tm) Insecticide
Sevin is
the trade name for a widely used synthetic
insecticide containing the active ingredient
carbaryl. Carbaryl belongs to the chemical class
called carbamates. As insecticides go Sevin is only
moderately toxic to mammals and is still widely used
in gardens and landscapes. It is, however, highly
toxic to honey bees and many other beneficial
insects and mites.
Sevin is
sold as a powder (dust), granule, and liquid
concentrate. Uses include vegetable gardens,
landscape plants, lawns, tree
fruits and small fruits and the target
pest list is broad and includes many common insect
and mite pests.
While Sevin
insecticide can be used safely we believe there are
now safer alternatives that also avoid the harmful
effects that broad spectrum chemicals, like
carbaryl, can have on beneficial species (see
below).
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chemical structrure of
carbaryl; drawing from wikipedia
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Using Sevin Insecticide
Sevin is
still used in gardens, lawns and lanscapes to control
a wide variety of insect and related pests (see
package instructions for a list of allowable
applications). It is relatively inexpensive and widely
available in granular, dust, and liquid
formulations.
The granular
formulation is typically used for lawn pests such as white grubs while the
dust formulation is used in gardens and liquid
formulations for landscape pest control. Dust
formulations can be especially hazardous to
pollinators like honey bees (see below) and Sevin
Insecticide should not be used indoors, or on
animals. The active ingredient in Sevin, carbaryl, is
a potent neurotoxin.
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Alternatives
to Sevin
There are now
low toxicity alternatives to Sevin and most other
conventional insecticides that gardeners can use.
Examples are insecticidal
soap, horticultural oils, neem
oil and the microbial insecticides. These
materials are safer to apply, very effective and much
less damaging to beneficial species than Sevin (see Natural and
Biorational Pesticides for others).
You can use insecticidal soap
on soft-bodied pests like aphids and spider mites, neem oil on pests
that chew on leaves, horticultural oil on eggs and
small larvae such as codling moth, and spinosad
on a variety of pests, see Using
Spinosad in Gardens for more information.
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