Essential oils for organic pesticide: brown oils?

[ptk2k]

hey all, for a while now i’ve liked using a mix of organic essential oils as one of my few methods of pest prevention. thyme, rosemary, peppermint, lavender & clove. i just got a few bottles from vitamin shoppe, “nature’s answer” brand, all organic, and they’re all a dark brown liquid? i’m just curious if anybody else has seen or used dark brown essential oils, as the only ones i’ve ever used have been clear / yellowish. let me know, thanks in advance!

 

[clrwatrtom]

im following this one 4 sure

 

[SmokingWings]

I have some of the oils from the same company but I do not use more than a few drops at a time and those go right into the spray bottle. Maybe if I pour a large quantity into a white bowl I might notice the brown color.

Maybe brown is the natural color and the oils I have look somewhat clear because they were made with a different process.

Do a web search and find the company's web site. I found and read the FAQ & did not see a question and answer that matches your concern. I just checked and there is a contact form.

Good luck.

 

[ptk2k]

this is the spray bottle i mixed up (10 drops of ea.)

and this is what all the oils look like

 

[ptk2k]

anybody have a clue?

 

[SmokingWings]

Have you contacted the company yet?

 

[ptk2k]

Have you contacted the company yet?

i haven’t, i guess that’s my best bet. i’ll do it today.

 

[SmokingWings]

Tell them the UPC number or the exact name of the product. I have the feeling that they make several different types of oil. They might have two or three different type of Lavender extract or essential oils and maybe one type is clear and one type is brown.

Have a good day.

 

[catnips]

They shouldn't be brown. I wouldn't trust them to use on your plants. Also note that the bottle doesn't claim to be pure essential oils, just concentrated oils meaning that the herbs could have been burned in the process of making that extraction, which would color them brown. Or they may have been extracted with heat and alcohol, which it also states it has on the label. True therapeutic grade essential oils should not use alcohol as a solvent. They should be steam or CO2 extracted, I believe.

I've seen people report using small amounts of alcohol in insecticide formulations, so it may be ok, but the issue with that is that you don't know how much is going in and have no control over it, meaning that your 10 drops each of those oils could be 8 (impure) drops of oil and 2 of alcohol. Or whatever it is, but since you have no idea, it would be easy to overdo or underdo. Too much rubbing alcohol sprayed on the leaves can make them burn or dry up, and using heat as an extraction method removes many of the therapeutic properties of essential oils so the terpenoids of the oils (thymol, limonene, cinalool, etc) may not be as effective in your formulation because the concentrations are lower.

Those particular oils shouldn't be phototoxic, so spraying them shouldn't burn the leaves, but the alcohol can and as an insecticide, you're probably not getting what you think you are.

Has the mix been effective for you up till now, as a preventative or treatment? I've seen products with similar ingredients in the past, and have toyed around a bit with using essential oils in gardening. Curious about the effects/results.

 

[ptk2k]

They shouldn't be brown. I wouldn't trust them to use on your plants. Also note that the bottle doesn't claim to be pure essential oils, just concentrated oils meaning that the herbs could have been burned in the process of making that extraction, which would color them brown. Or they may have been extracted with heat and alcohol, which it also states it has on the label. True therapeutic grade essential oils should not use alcohol as a solvent. They should be steam or CO2 extracted, I believe.

I've seen people report using small amounts of alcohol in insecticide formulations, so it may be ok, but the issue with that is that you don't know how much is going in and have no control over it, meaning that your 10 drops each of those oils could be 8 (impure) drops of oil and 2 of alcohol. Or whatever it is, but since you have no idea, it would be easy to overdo or underdo. Too much rubbing alcohol sprayed on the leaves can make them burn or dry up, and using heat as an extraction method removes many of the therapeutic properties of essential oils so the terpenoids of the oils (thymol, limonene, cinalool, etc) may not be as effective in your formulation because the concentrations are lower.

Those particular oils shouldn't be phototoxic, so spraying them shouldn't burn the leaves, but the alcohol can and as an insecticide, you're probably not getting what you think you are.

Has the mix been effective for you up till now, as a preventative or treatment? I've seen products with similar ingredients in the past, and have toyed around a bit with using essential oils in gardening. Curious about the effects/results.

thanks for all the info, i have yet to use them on the plant & also have yet to call the company (i know, i’m a lazy bastard). i’ve just been using neem for the moment. and yes, i’ve had success with an essential oil mix alongside neem every other week.

 

[SmokingWings]

thanks for all the info, i have yet to use them on the plant & also have yet to call the company (i know, i’m a lazy bastard). i’ve just been using neem for the moment. and yes, i’ve had success with an essential oil mix alongside neem every other week.

You mentioned "...success with an essential oil mix alongside neem every other week." Are you spraying all the plants one week with Neem and then all of them the next week with oil mix? Just curious.

I gave up spraying with essential oil mixes after a couple of months of attempting to just keep the mite population under control. Neem worked much better.

 

[ptk2k]

You mentioned "...success with an essential oil mix alongside neem every other week." Are you spraying all the plants one week with Neem and then all of them the next week with oil mix? Just curious.

I gave up spraying with essential oil mixes after a couple of months of attempting to just keep the mite population under control. Neem worked much better.

yep, except it was more like every 3-4 days. I had a ton of grasshoppers and thrips but I was able to fight most of them off, enough for a good harvest at least.