Vegetables gardeners are always looking for an effective way to control insects in the garden that is also as safe and non-toxic as possible.
Soon they might be buying a new insecticide derived from the venom of an Australian spider. The new insecticide safely and effectively targets new metabolic pathways of pests, but is harmless to mammals (including humans!), birds, fish, honeybees and other beneficial insects.
Tens of thousands of insecticidal peptides exist in nature, and many of them are not toxic to mammals. Spiders alone produce an estimated 5 million to 20 million distinct peptide toxins, some of which target metabolic pathways of pests that current insecticides do not.
This targeted approach is why they can be non-toxic to mammals, honeybees and beneficial insects, birds or fish – species that do not have the receptor where the insecticide enters the cell.
Field trials of Spear products demonstrate results equivalent or superior to conventional control chemicals. The active ingredient uses two new modes of action to control insects, which will help delay the emergence of insect resistance, while enhancing performance.
The new spider venom based pesticide works effectively against many insect pests, including orders of diptera (flies), lepidoptera (caterpillars), coleoptera (beetles), orthoptera (locusts), blattodea (cockroaches) and Acari (mites and ticks).
They also have a four-hour re-entry interval and zero-day post-harvest interval to maximize grower flexibility. That means you can safely use it even on the day of harvest for your vegetables.
Vestaron focuses on developing the natural insecticidal properties of a class of peptides which have potent insect killing potential, but are safe to humans, birds, fish and the environment. These peptides utilize new modes of action that have never before been used for insect control, and therefore do not suffer from insect resistance.
Learn more
Study:Â Spider-venom peptides: structure, pharmacology, and potential for control of insect pests
Quartz: A new wave of environmentally friendly pesticides will come from spider venom
An arachnid avenue for insect control
Suppressing Resistance with Multi-Action Biopesticides (pdf)
Photo of spider courtesy of Wikipedia and taken by Fir0002/Flagstaffotos.
I tried the spider venom on cannabis this past season (that just finished thank goodness)
it did what it claimed, and after 2 applications the aphids and spider mites were literally GONE. Since it was VERY HOT for prolonged periods, I was nervous about leaf damage. VERY LITTLE noted. Im happy with the product, however, they ONLY sell it in 1 gal as smallest amt.
Im a small grower, and once the bottle is open, it will only last for 120days.
So, the companies SHOULD package in smaller amts like a 32OZ size available.