http://www.ecosmart.com/products/garden-insect-killer/
Active ingredients
Rosemary oil, peppermint oil, thyme oil, clove oil
Other ingredients
Water, mineral oil, potassium oleate, lecithins
Have been using all organic natural everything in my garden, down to the untreated cedar planks for the bed, don't want to undo what I have been doing. Thanks!
Is this product really organic?
looks fine to me :)
all the active ingredients are just oils made from common garden herbs
Potassium Oleate and lecithin are forms of plant / animal fatty acid (which would eat through hard shelled insects like beetles)
Another way of telling is to look for the OMRI lable. Seems more organic companies are getting OMRI certified.
Thank you both!
If the lecithin is from soy, then it is very likely to be genetically modified, which is neither natural nor organic.
Mineral oil is made from petroleum.
i could be wrong about this but i think by definition, the term organic includes anything that is carbon based. petroleum is a carbon based material, so mineral oil would be considered organic.
even something like soy, whether modified or not, would still be carbon based and organic.
Trackinsand: Your "organic" definition is what chemists use -- and is entirely correct in that context. I've never read a concise definition for organic in the gardening context. I don't know if there is an "official" definition. In the gardening/agriculture community I take it to mean that you use things that came directly (or very near directly) from other living things.
It really drives us chemist-types nuts to hear that "chemicals" are bad -- everything is a chemical. ... and "Organic" is good -- even though it is still chemicals.
Jinx -- the following is strictly my own opinion. I am not, nor do I ever intend to be, any kind of "certified" organic gardener. I do consider my self an organic gardener, and with in my personal framework of organic gardening I try to avoid all spraying of general purpose "Insecticides". This mix wouldn't make my cut for general use because it would probably be equally harmful to beneficial insects and spiders as it is to the pestiferous kind.
To me, once you start spraying just to kill the "creepy little boogers", you have perverted the spirit of organic gardening -- even if you use things that meet all of the formal definitions. If using on very specific, very contained, limited problems (such as in greenhouse, houseplants, or just that one special bush), then they are worth a try if other more life oriented solutions have not worked. Spraying the whole flower bed/garden/yard would not be an acceptable choice.
Again, this is just my personal opinion.
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