Organic Insecticide Ingredients

Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) is the most proven organic caterpillar control available. This naturally occurring soil bacterium produces proteins that destroy caterpillar gut linings within 24-72…

Spinosad is a naturally derived insecticide that kills thrips, caterpillars, leafminers, and fire ants through nervous system disruption. OMRI-listed and effective, but must be applied…

Insecticidal soap kills aphids, whiteflies, spider mites, and mealybugs on contact by disrupting their cell membranes. It has zero residual toxicity, is safe for bees…

Neem oil combines insect growth regulation, contact kill, and antifeedant action in one organic product. Cold-pressed neem contains azadirachtin that disrupts insect development, while also…

Diatomaceous earth kills crawling insects through physical abrasion and desiccation — no chemical action means no resistance development is possible. Food-grade DE is safe for…

Pyrethrin is a botanical insecticide extracted from chrysanthemum flowers that causes rapid insect knockdown by disrupting sodium channels. It degrades within hours in sunlight, making…

Horticultural oil kills insects and eggs by suffocation — blocking breathing pores with a thin film of highly refined oil. With no chemical mode of…

Beneficial nematodes are microscopic soil predators that actively hunt grubs, fungus gnat larvae, and other soil-dwelling pests. They enter the host, release lethal bacteria, then…

Iron phosphate is the safest organic slug and snail control available. Slugs eat the pellets and stop feeding immediately, dying within 3-6 days. Uneaten bait…

Beauveria bassiana is an entomopathogenic fungus that penetrates insect exoskeletons and colonizes the body from within, killing the host in 3-7 days. Most effective in…

Metarhizium anisopliae (green muscardine fungus) infects soil-dwelling insects and ticks through cuticle penetration, producing destruxin toxins that kill the host in 5-14 days. Dead insects…

Kaolin clay creates a white particle film on plant surfaces that irritates insects, blocks egg-laying, and makes plants unrecognizable to pests. It does not kill…

Milky spore is a bacterial disease that specifically targets Japanese beetle grubs, killing them in the soil and releasing billions of new spores that persist…

Sulfur is one of the oldest pesticides known to humanity, still effective against spider mites and fungal diseases after 4,500 years of use. It disrupts…

Chromobacterium subtsugae is a USDA-discovered soil bacterium that acts as a stomach poison and antifeedant against beetles, caterpillars, and whiteflies. Insects stop feeding within hours…

Nuclear polyhedrosis viruses (NPV) are baculoviruses that infect specific caterpillar species with extreme selectivity. The virus replicates inside the caterpillar until the host liquefies, releasing…

Nosema locustae is a protozoan pathogen that infects grasshoppers through bait consumption, weakening fat body tissues and reducing feeding and reproduction. The infection spreads through…

Synergized pyrethrin combines natural pyrethrin with PBO, a semi-synthetic synergist that prevents insects from detoxifying the pyrethrin. More potent but not approved for certified organic…

Copper hydroxide is an OMRI-listed mineral fungicide and bactericide with secondary insecticidal activity against psylla and some soft-bodied insects. Effective but requires careful management to…

Lime sulfur (calcium polysulfide) is a powerful dormant-season spray for fruit trees that controls overwintering mites, scale, and fungal diseases. OMRI-listed but requires strict timing…

Rosemary oil disrupts octopamine receptors in insects — a nervous system pathway not found in mammals. While genuinely bioactive, its rapid evaporation and variable potency…

Peppermint oil's high menthol content makes it an effective short-term insect repellent, particularly against ants and spider mites. However, it evaporates within hours and primarily…

Thyme oil contains thymol and carvacrol — phenolic compounds that give it the highest insecticidal potency of any common essential oil. It disrupts insect cell…

Clove oil's high eugenol content makes it one of the more potent essential oils for pest control, particularly effective against ants and mites. However, eugenol…

Cedarwood oil disrupts insect respiration and octopamine signaling using cedrol and thujopsene compounds. It is one of the safest essential oils for pets and has…

Cinnamon oil contains cinnamaldehyde, a compound that kills insects and fungi on contact but is equally destructive to plant tissue. Its best garden use is…

d-Limonene from citrus peels dissolves the protective wax coating on insects, causing rapid dehydration. It is most effective as a fire ant mound drench and…

Geraniol is a terpene alcohol found in citronella and rose oils that research shows is five times more effective than citronella as a mosquito repellent.…

Rose oil contains beta-damascenone and other volatiles that trigger systemic acquired resistance (SAR) in neighboring plants — essentially activating the plant's immune system. This defense…

Matrine is an alkaloid extracted from Sophora flavescens (Ku Shen) that has been used in Chinese organic agriculture for over 2,000 years. It paralyzes insects…

Stemona root (Bai Bu) contains stemofoline and related alkaloids that act as acetylcholinesterase inhibitors in insects. Used for centuries in traditional Chinese medicine as an…

Chinaberry (Melia azedarach) contains insecticidal limonoids closely related to neem's azadirachtin, but with a critical difference: chinaberry fruit and bark are significantly toxic to mammals,…

Weaver ants (Oecophylla) are aggressive predatory ants that have been managed as biological pest control in Asian fruit orchards for over 1,700 years — making…

Thunder God Vine (Tripterygium wilfordii) contains triptolide, an extraordinarily potent terpenoid that kills insects but is equally lethal to mammals. Despite centuries of careful use…

Wood vinegar (Mokusaku) is a byproduct of charcoal production widely used in Japanese and Korean natural farming as a soil conditioner, foliar feed, and mild…

JADAM is a Korean natural farming system built on ultra-low-cost homemade preparations — wetting agents from canola oil and lye, sulfur solutions, and fermented herbal…

Neem soap spray combines two proven organic pest controls: neem oil's insect growth regulation and castile soap's contact-kill action. The most effective homemade insecticide recipe…

Garlic pepper spray is primarily a repellent, not an insecticide. Capsaicin deters feeding and allicin provides mild antifungal action, but determined pests return once the…

Pure castile soap works identically to commercial insecticidal soap — both are potassium salts of fatty acids. Use true castile (never dish soap) at the…

Vegetable oil spray smothers insects using the same mechanism as commercial horticultural oil but with higher phytotoxicity risk because cooking oils are unrefined.

Tomato leaf spray relies on glycoalkaloids to repel aphids, but DIY concentrations are too low for reliable pest control and spraying can spread tomato diseases.

Beer traps attract and drown slugs but have a critical flaw: they attract slugs from surrounding areas INTO your garden. Iron phosphate pellets are more…

While caffeine is genuinely toxic to slugs in laboratory concentrations, spent coffee grounds contain too little caffeine for reliable pest control. They are better used…

Dish soap is NOT insecticidal soap. Detergents contain degreasers and surfactants that strip the protective wax from plant leaves, causing cellular damage and sunburn. Use…

Vinegar is a non-selective herbicide, not an insecticide. Acetic acid destroys plant cell membranes on contact — spraying it on your garden to kill bugs…

Tobacco tea is a historic insecticide containing nicotine — a neurotoxin lethal to humans at low doses and easily absorbed through skin. It also transmits…

Neem cake is the pressed byproduct of neem oil extraction, retaining 2–5% azadirachtin plus soil-building nitrogen. Applied as a soil amendment, it suppresses grubs, nematodes,…

RNAi sprays use double-stranded RNA to silence essential genes in target insects — the most species-specific pest control technology ever developed. The insect's own cells…

Peptide insecticides use short-chain proteins derived from spider and scorpion venom to target insect-specific ion channels with high selectivity. They represent one of the most…

Nanoencapsulation wraps botanical insecticides like neem and pyrethrin in protective nanocarriers that extend their effective life from days to weeks. The active ingredients are identical…

Nanostructured alumina works like diatomaceous earth at nanoscale — engineered particles abrade insect exoskeletons with 10-100x greater efficiency per gram. Physical mode of action means…

CRISPR gene drives can spread genetic modifications through wild insect populations, theoretically crashing pest species by propagating sterility or lethality genes. The technology works in…

Entomovectoring turns pollinators into precision pest control delivery systems. Bees walk through biocontrol powder as they leave the hive, depositing it directly on flowers where…

Granulovirus sprays are species-specific viral insecticides that kill caterpillars from within. Codling moth GV (CpGV) is the most commercially successful example, widely used in European…

Rotenone was once the most widely used organic insecticide until research linked chronic exposure to Parkinson's disease by inhibiting mitochondrial Complex I. It has been…

Nicotine was one of the first insecticides used in agriculture, but its lethal mammalian toxicity (readily absorbed through skin) led to its ban. Ironically, the…

Rhubarb leaf tea is promoted online as an organic aphid spray, but rhubarb leaves contain oxalic acid — a corrosive compound that causes kidney damage…

Hellebore (Veratrum) was used as a garden insecticide since ancient Rome. Its steroidal alkaloids lock sodium channels open, causing cardiac arrest in both insects and…

Paris Green (copper acetoarsenite) was the first widely used chemical insecticide, deployed against Colorado potato beetle in the 1860s. It contained 58% arsenic and contaminated…

Amurca — the bitter wastewater from olive pressing — was ancient Rome's Swiss Army knife of pest control. Cato the Elder documented its use on…

Sabadilla, extracted from tropical lily seeds, was historically effective against stink bugs and squash bugs but has been largely abandoned due to mammalian toxicity, respiratory…

Ryania, extracted from a Trinidad shrub, killed codling moth through a unique calcium channel mechanism. It disappeared from the market around 2000 due to supply…