Our society's ever increasing environmental awareness has driven a booming desire for green products and services, and the pest control industry is no exception.  A green product or service is defined as one that protects or improves the environment.  However, green should not be confused with organic, which infers that the product or service is natural.  Natural does not necessarily mean environmentally friendly either, especially if the end result of going organic is a greater use of energy.  Venus Pest Company was originally founded as Venus Organic Company as Dr. Scott Lingren saw the growing need for environmentally friendly services.  Although we have expanded to become Venus Pest Company with many options available, doing our part to protect the environment is still at the heart of everything we do.

You can find many theories out there regarding natural or organic pest control and some will actually work, although most will leave you scratching your head.  Even still, remedies that will actually kill pests on contact often do not truly eliminate a pest infestation and offer no residual, or long term control of the pests.  Here is a review of a few organic or natural methods of pest control that we have come across.  We want you to know which methods can be effective, but would also like to leave you with some realistic things to consider about them.  Our Bee Green^TM pest control service was developed to satisfy both the need to control pests in your home or business and the desire to protect your families, pets, coworkers, and the environment.

• Plant Oils - Rosemary, Citrus, Thyme, Pyrethrum, Basil etc.

• Benefits
  • All of these plant oils are natural and extremely fast acting.
  • They are broad-spectrum insecticides, meaning they will kill most any bug they touch.
  • Considered green because they last only a few minutes to a few hours in the environment.
• Negatives
  • Unfortunately plant oils usually have very strong odors
  • Require frequent applications to maintain control, using more energy.
  • You only kill what you hit directly.
• We use citrus oils on occasion when we need a quick knockdown kill and cannot use any insecticides, like on an fire-ant mound at a day care while children are playing.
• Spraying a wasp nest will kill any wasps currently there, but within minutes other wasps that were away from the nest can land safely.

• Diatomaceous Earth - Made up of the remains of tiny sea creatures.

• Benefits
  • This abrasive material is supposed to control insects by scratching their waxy under belly and causing dehydration.
• Negatives
  • It claims 48 hours to 1 week to control cockroaches, but we haven't seen that.  It is so slow acting that we would argue that it doesn't work at all.
• Don't waste your time on this one.

• Spices - Cayenne Pepper, Cinnamon, Peppermint, Mint Tea Bags, Cucumber Peels etc.

• Benefits
  • Some insects will avoid things like cayenne pepper and will not cross a line laid out in front of an entry point, like ants coming out of a wall into your kitchen for instance.

• Negatives
  • It is nearly impossible, and probably not a good idea, to leave piles of spices or tea laying around if you have pets or children. 
  • The effects don't always last very long.
• The insects may avoid one spot, or multiple spots if you want to spread cinnamon all around your house.  But you still did nothing to control them, they're still in your walls foraging for food.  How long before they find a new entry point somewhere else?  Don't forget insects are excellent climbers!
• Soapy Water
  
  
  • Benefits
    • Soapy water will have similar benefits to plant oils or spices.  You can achieve some mortality, and soapy water won't last in the environment.
  • Negatives
    • Moderate efficacy and no residual, or long-term control, meaning increased applications and energy use.
• Rice for Ant Control
  
  
  • Benefits
    • The theory holds that if you spread rice around an ant mound they will take it in, eat it, and die when they're stomachs explode from the expanding rice.
  • Negatives
    • How do you get the ants to eat the rice?  Ants are not naturally attracted to eat rice, so you have to somehow trick them with a different ingredient to eat the rice.
  • Finding the right way to make this work is not worth the effort when extremely effective baits are available.

These methods of attempting to control pests naturally or organically will often lead to less than desirable results.  But not to worry, there are other environmentally conscious options that are more effective.  Below are examples of green pest control methods that we regularly practice and should be incorporated into a good pest management program.

• Integrated Pest Management (IPM) - Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is a pest control strategy that relies on accurate identification and scientific knowledge of target pests, reliable monitoring to assess pest presence, and preventative measures (including judicious pesticide use) to correct pest problems.  In this 2002 study, Green & Breisch described IPM as the central technological paradigm for achieving pesticide reform and demonstrated IPM strategies reduced pesticide use by more than 90%.  Be sure that any pest control company you hire can clearly define IPM and how they use it.

• Bait - Using insecticide in a bait formulation reduces by 90% or more the amount of insecticide needed to achieve control.  One product for example, fipronil, is applied at a rate of 0.06% as a spray to control ants, but applied at a rate of only 0.001% as a bait.  That's 60 times less active insecticide needed!  When selecting do-it-yourself products, always choose the bait product over any other spray or granule.  We use a variety of baits for ants, cockroaches, and other insects.  Unlike cayenne pepper and other things that might repel insects from a particular location, baits will be taken back and shared throughout the nests, eventually gaining complete control of the pests.

• Insect Growth Regulators (IGR) - Molting is the process insects go through during growth stages where they shed their outer layer, or cuticle.  IGRs mimic insects' molting cues, tricking them into deadly molts.  Because they specifically target insects, IGRs are not harmful to other organisms.  They are most often used against cockroaches, fleas, bed bugs, mosquitoes, and termites.

• Boric Acid - Sounds scary, but this naturally occurring insecticide dust has been used for almost 100 years.  Unlike many of it's synthetic counterparts, it is just as effective now as it was 100 years ago.  It is slow acting, but has a very low toxicity to humans and animals, and is very long-lasting.

• Indoxacarb / Dinotefuran - These are two recent synthetic insecticides that have received fast track registration from the EPA because of their low environmental risk.  Showing great promise for the future of green pest management, we began using Indoxacarb in 2009 as part of our green service offerings.

• Bacillus thuringiensis (B.t.) - Bacillus thuringiensis is an insecticidal bacteria that is so specific that certain strains of it only kill one species of insect.  It is invaluable against mosquito larvae because it can be applied directly to water and will ONLY kill mosquito larvae. It is also used to control caterpillars in organic farming.  Commonly used in mosquito dunks, these work well and can be targeted very specifically to certain species with no effects to surrounding fish and animals.

• Spinosad / Abamectin -  Derived from bacterial fermentation, these two natural insecticides are used mainly in baits against ants or cockroaches and in animal applied products for controlling parasites.  Like B.t., spinosad is labeled for use on organically produced fruit and vegetables.  Spinosad is the active ingredient in some flea medications for your pets.  Some cockroach and fire ant bait that we use contains these ingredients and have proven to be extremely effective.

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