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Borate & Silica Dust Insecticide

- Effective, low toxicity alternatives -

Summary: Borate and silica dusts can be used in a variety of pest control situations. Both are low toxicity and very effective if used properly.

Jack DeAngelis, PhD
OSU Ext. Entomologist (ret.)

Silica dust & diatomaceous earth

Silica dust is often combined with the natural insecticide pyrethrum and a compound called piperonyl butoxide (PBO), but it can also be used alone. Natural silica comes from two sources. Amorphous silica which is manufactured by heating ordinary sand to a high temperature and diatomaceous earth which comes from the skeletons of tiny marine organisms called diatoms.

Silica is a desiccant and destroys the waxy covering that protects insects against water loss. Pyrethrum and PBO are added to increase insect movement by stimulating their nervous systems. This brings the insects into contact with the silica dust more readily. Silica dust must be kept dry to be effective so is often used indoors or in gardens only during dry periods.

 

Silica dusts are especially useful as crack and crevice treatments for bed bugs, in food handling areas for cockroaches and nuisance ants, and as wall void treatments for carpenter ants. While diatomaceous earth is sometimes suggested as a carpet treatment for fleas (flea killer) there are much better materials now available for flea control. The most common amorphous silica-based products used for pest control are the products "Drione" and "Tri-Die".

Boric acid & borates

Borates are the sodium salts of boric acid. Borates are minerals and have a wide variety of industrial uses as additives, wood preservatives, insecticides, plant nutrients, and detergents. Borates act mainly as "stomach poisons" when formulated in baits for ant and cockroach control or used as dry powders or liquids on surfaces. Borate dust remains active as long as it stays dry and undisturbed.

The product Timbor, for example, is very effective for powderpost beetles and dry rot fungi as a surface spray and for carpenter ants as a wall void dust treatment. Borate powder also is used to treat carpets for fleas. However, as with diatomaceous earth, there are better materials now available for flea control.

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Jack DeAngelis, Ph.D.

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