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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Poplarville, Mississippi » Southern Horticultural Research Unit » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #233281
Title: Trying to Catch Lightening in a Bottle: Can Essential Oils be Used as Effective Biopesticides?

Author
item Werle, Christopher
item Sampson, Blair
item Sakhanokho, Hamidou
item Pounders Jr, Cecil
item Tabanca, Nurhayat
item Wedge, David

Submitted to: Extension Publications
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/2/2008
Publication Date: 10/2/2008
Citation: Werle, C.T., Sampson, B.J., Sakhanokho, H.F., Pounders Jr, C.T., Tabanca, N., Wedge, D.E. 2008. Trying to Catch Lightening in a Bottle: Can Essential Oils be Used as Effective Biopesticides?. Extension Publications.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The azalea lace bug, Stephanitis pyrioides (Scott), is a primary pest of azalea (Rhododendron sp.) throughout the eastern U.S. We tested dozens of plant-derived essential oils from many different parts of the World against S. pyrioides using 1% oil emulsions in distilled water and 9%DMSO. A 1% solution of the commercial insecticide Malathion mixed with distilled water and 9%DMSO was used as our positive control, and a 10% solution of DMSO in distilled water was used as a negative control. Percentages of dead bugs in the bioassay trays were calculated hourly for five hours. Overall mortality rates of the 1% oil emulsions from several plant sources far exceeded those for Malathion (66.1%) and the DMSO blank (3.1%). The most powerful of these sources were species of Geranium Pelargonium (94.5%) and their pure compounds (96.2%), Cinnamon Cinnamomum (91.4%), Ginger Hedychium (85.9%) and Marigold Tagetes lemmoni (93.3%).