Organic Pest Control Products

Remember! This is general information only - it is the responsibility of readers to ensure that accuracy & applicability is suitable for their purposes.

Remember also that good organic practice involves long-term strategies for sound pest management within a healthy farm/garden ecosystem, and aims to minimise reliance on pesticides - even allowable natural substances.

PRODUCT	CONTROLS	COMMENTS
Petroleum Oil(White Oil)	Scale insects, some mites, aphids, mealy bugs	Avoid hot weather. Don't mix with sulphur or use within 21 days of a sulphur spray or dusting. Don't use oil on a regular basis as leaf pores are blocked and growth may be adversely affected.
Codacide Oil	Wetting agent ffor adding to most other spray products, except protectant fungicides.	Made from rapeseed oil (Canola). Acts as a wetter, sticker, spreader and rainfastener; enhances activity of other products, especially Dipel, Soap Spray and Pyrethrum; can adversely affect redispersal of copper fungicides - not reccomended with these.
Soap Spray (Safer's, Natrasoap)	Aphids, mites, mealy bugs, thrips, whitefly.	Use with Codacide or clear white oil. Care with use of white oil with soap. Follow up spray may be necessary after 5 to 7 days , especially with mites as eggs are not effected
Dipel (Thuricide, Biobit, Bio-caterpiller Killer) Bacillus thuringiensis Berliner	Many different species of caterpillar.	Concentrated form of a naturally occuring bacteria only harmful to many butterfly and moth larvae; No contact action - residual only. Must be eaten by larvae. Feeding stops quickly but death may take a few days. Young stages of larvae are more easily killed. Best used with Codacide oil and applied late afternoon.
Derris Dust (Rotenone)	Caterpillars, aphids, etc	Made from ground up root of the Rotenone plant. Is more toxic than the alternatives. Dipel or soap spray may be a better choice.
Pyrethrum (Kendon, etc)	Broad spectrum knockdown. Kills most insects, including beneficial insects	Made from pyrethrum Daisy (flower extract). Best Kept for difficult to kill insects which cause bad damage. contact action only - very short residul life. TOXIC TO BEES. Best used with Codacide oil and applied late afternoon.
Garlic Spray (Garden friend)	Aphids, thrips, caterpillars, slugs, etc.	Mainly has repellant action. May be added to other sprays for residual value and wetting action or used alone as deterrent.
Sulfur (wettable and dusting)	Mites, white louse scale, powdery mildew, some other fungus diseases	Avoid hot weather. Don't mix with petroleum oil or use within 21 days of an oil spray. May burn some sulphur-sensitive plants - refer to label or do test
Lime Sulphur	Many mites and scale insects, powdery mildew, some other fungus diseases.	Mainly used as a winter on many dormant tree crops. Not compatible with petroleum oil,except winter oil on some deciduous tree crops
Copper oxychloride	Fungus diseases - brown rot, anthracnose, black spot, downy mildew, etc	low toxicity, broad spectrum chemical fungicide. Allowable under NASAA organic standards but copper hydroxide preferred.
Copper hydroxide (Bordeaux mixture, Kocide, Champion)	As for copper oxychloride.	Made by the combining of copper sulphate to hydrated lime. Similar compound to copper oxychloride, also allowable under NASAA standards. Available as a pre-mix (superior fine grades Kocide or Champion) or bulk ingredients.
Q-Fly trap (Dak-pot alternative)	Attracts and kills male Qld fruit fly.	Wick contains sex attractant and insecticides. Does not prevent fruit stinging but leads to less fly fertility - less larvae. Trap is a good indicator of fruit fly activity in area of crop. Available without insecticide also, to conform to organic standards.
Q-Fly lure (Yeast autolysate, protein aotollysate)	Attracts male and female Qld fruit fly	May be used in traps as attractant (yeast based). Not likely to prevent fruit stinging on highly susceptible crops but will reduce fly numbers and may provide adequate control in less susceptible crops. Use in conjuction with Q-Fly trap.

THIS IS A GENERAL GUIDE ONLY - ALWAYS REFER TO PRODUCTS LABELS

This information was supplied to TROPO by Steve Grace of Northern Rivers Rural Buying Service in Lismore, and was originally published in the TROPO journal Going Organic.
This information is intended as a general guide only. Always read product labels carefully, and use products only according to directions

Readers' Comments

From: Herry Alexander.Herr@csiro.au
Date: 14 April 2004

Am looking for certified treatment of termite infestation. Are there any available in Australia, yet?

Trea guard from Cooe (certified) seems to prevent attack, but what about destroying existing infestations. There is some potential with fungi, but no accepted and registered product is available.

Do you have any further info?

From: Gideon and Sonali promise@bgl.vsnl.net.in
Date: 5 July 2004

This is from Gideon and Sonali - also struggling with Termite Infestation in India!

We have tried with about 60% success the following to deal with termites:

1. Drill holes in the soil to a depth of about 1 foot.
2. Fill the holes with the powder of Neem seeds.
3. Repeat about 4 times a year.

Seems to help.

Important: The Neem Powder should be fresh i.e. Neem Oil should be present in the powder. Just chucking neem leaves or bark has the opposite effect - they attract termites!

Good luck and let us know what happens!

From: "Russell Deppeler" <lamont77@bigpond.com>
Date: 17 Jul 2006

We have a small native plant nursery with a large pill bug/slater infestation. Laying habitat traps for them is not enough as they enjoy the potting mix in the bottom of pots more. Is there any organic spray to help deter them?

Kim

If you have some relevant experience, please send us your comments to be added to this page.

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