Essential Oils - A Review

Okay, since my last thread about oils bombed, I'm starting this one to help inform everybody here about the uses of plant derived pesticides, which are far less expensive and dangerous than manufactured chemicals.

This information may have been covered already, but I haven't seen anyone consolidate the information yet. If it's been done, my bad, I didn't see it.

Anyways, onto the info.

!!!READ THIS!!! http://jonnsaromatherapy.com/pdf/GC-MS_Rosmarinus_officinalis_2006_01.pdf


"The purified terpenoid constituents of essential oils are moderately toxic to mammals (Table 1), but, with few exceptions, the oils themselves or products based on oils are mostly nontoxic to mammals, birds, and fish (Stroh et al., 1998), therefore, justifying their placement under “green pesticides”. Owing to their volatility, essential oils have limited persistence under field conditions; therefore, although natural enemies are susceptible via direct contact, predators and parasitoids reinvading a treated crop one or more days after treatment are unlikely to be poisoned by residue contact as often occurs with conventional insecticides.

Other essential oils such as lemon grass (Cimbopogon winteriana), Eulcalyptus globulus, rosemary (Rosemarinus officinalis), vetiver (Vetiveria zizanoides), clove (Eugenia caryophyllus) and thyme (Thymus vulgaris) are known for their pest control properties. While peppermint (Mentha piperita) repels ants, flies, lice and moths; pennyroyal (Mentha pulegium) wards off fleas, ants, lice, mosquitoes, ticks and moths. Spearmint (Mentha spicata) and basil (Ocimum basilicum) are also effective in warding off flies. Similarly, essential oil bearing plants like Artemesia vulgaris, Melaleuca leucadendron, Pelargonium roseum, Lavandula angustifolia, Mentha piperita, and Juniperus virginiana are also effective against various insects and fungal pathogens (Kordali et al., 2005). Studies conducted on the effects of volatile oil constituents of Mentha species are highly effective against Callosobruchus maculatus and Tribolium castanum, the common stored grain pests (Tripathi et al., 2000). Essential oils derived from eucalyptus and lemongrass have also been found effective as animal repellents, antifeedants, insecticides, miticides and antimicrobial products; thus finding use as disinfectants, sanitizers, bacteriostats, microbiocides, fungicides and some have made impact in protecting household belongings. Essential oil from Cinnamomum zeylanicum, Cymbopogon citratus, Lavandula angustifolia syn. L. officinalis, Tanacetum vulgare, Rabdosia melissoides, Acorus calamus, Eugenia caryophyllata, Ocimum spp., Gaultheria procumbens, Cuminum cymium, Bunium persicum, Trachyspermum ammi, Foeniculum vulgare, Abelmoschus moschatus, Cedrus spp. and Piper species are also known for their varied pest control properties.


Citronella (Cymbopogon nardus) essential oil has been used for over fifty years both as an insect repellent and an animal repellent. Combining few drops each of citronella, lemon (Citrus limon), rose (Rosa damascena), lavender and basil essential oils with one litre of distilled water is effective to ward off indoor insect pests. The larvicidal activity of citronella oil has been mainly attributed to its major monoterpenic constituent citronellal (Zaridah et al., 2003)."

Source: http://www.nri.org/projects/adappt/docs/63-84.pdf


Lavender, Lavandula angustifolia – linalyl acetate, linalool, borneol, geraniol, lavandulol, lavandulyl acetate, terpineol, cineol, limonene, ocimene, caryophyllene, aeranyl acetate, pinene

Eucalyptus, Blue Gum, Eucalyptus globulus – cineol, pinene, limonene, cymene, phellendrene, terpinene, aromadendrene, citronellal, camphene, fenchene

Clove bud, Eugenia caryophyllus – eugenol, eugenyl acetate, caryophyllene

Mint, Peppermint, Mentha piperta – menthol, menthone, menthyl acetate, menthofuran, limonene, pulegone, cineol, carvone, jasmone, carvacrol, phellandrene

Rosemary, Rosmarinus officinalis – pinene, camphene, limonene, cineol, borneol, camphor, linalool, terpineol, octanone, bornyl acetate, cuminic, caryophyllene


Source:http://cherylin.co.uk/chemical-constituents-essential-oils-may.pdf




Eugenol is a component of clove oil. It is a fast acting contact insecticide that is effective on a wide variety of household pests such as cockroaches, ants, dust mites, flies, wasps, spiders, crickets, and fleas. It is also used on some ornamental plant pests such as armyworms, thrips, aphids and mites.
Eugenol has little or no residual activity, although the scent of cloves will linger. Products based on eugenol are considered minimum risk pesticides with very low risk of damage to the environment or user.

Source:HGIC 2770 Less Toxic Insecticides : Extension : Clemson University : South Carolina

Limonene is a naturally occurring chemical which is used in many
food products, soaps and perfumes for its lemon-like flavor and odor.
Limonene also is a registered active ingredient in 15 pesticide products used
as insecticides, insect repellents, and dog and cat repellents.

Source:http://www.epa.gov/oppsrrd1/REDs/factsheets/3083fact.pdf

Pulegone - The essential oils (EOs) extracted from the mint species Mentha pulegium and Mentha spicata, together with their main constituents, pulegone, menthone, and carvone, were tested for insecticidal and genotoxic activities on Drosophila melanogaster. The EOs of both aromatic plants showed strong insecticidal activity, while only the oil of M. spicata exhibited a mutagenic one. Among the constituents studied, the most effective insecticide was found to be pulegone, while the most effective for genotoxic activity was menthone. Data show that both toxic and genotoxic activities of the EOs of the two studied mint plants are not in accordance with those of their main constituents, pulegone, menthone, and carvone. Pulegone is significantly more effective (9 times) as an insecticide, while menthone and carvone are less effective (6 and 2 times, respectively) insecticides when used in their authentic forms, and a mixture of authentic pulegone and menthone, in levels resembling their content in the oil of M. pulegium, showed that the strong toxicity of pulegone is suppressed in the presence of menthone. All the above suggest that synergistic/antagonistic phenomena may be involved that alter the toxicity of the whole EO.

Source: Insecticidal and genotoxic activities of mint essential oils. - Abstract - Europe PubMed Central

Linalool - Linalool has been shown to be good at killing mites: It's called an acaricide, which is are "pesticides that kill members of the Acari group, which includes ticks and mites" (p. 411 and 420, Bioactive Natural Products). "As a pesticide, Linalool is intended for use indoors to control pests (fleas and ticks) on pets and the spaces they inhabit by affecting the insect’s nervous system. Linalool is also used as an outdoor mosquito inhibitor..." (from the FDA handout), although there is some doubt about its efficacy for mosquitoes.

Source: Point of Interest!: Essential oils: Linalool

I could go on about pinene, cineol and acetates, but I'll stop here and supply some scientific evidence displaying the power of plants.

This is truly an important read for anybody interested in making their own cheap, safe and effective insecticides, using readily available plant material.

This is for the people who still doubt there are beneficial applications for our favorite plant, in regards to pest control.

!!!READ THIS!!! http://jonnsaromatherapy.com/pdf/GC-MS_Rosmarinus_officinalis_2006_01.pdf

2.5 Comparative toxicities
Based on the 100% lethal concentration and following the natural composition of the oil indicated byGC/MS (see Table 1), individual constituents were tested at levels equivalent to those found in the LC100 of the oil (20ml litre−1 for beans and 40ml litre−1 for tomatoes) (see Table 2). Individual constituents (α-pinene 98%, β-pinene 99%, 1,8-cineole 99%, p-cymene 99%, α- terpineol 97%, bornyl acetate 97%, borneol 99%, camphor 96%, D-limonene 97% and camphene 95%) were obtained from Sigma-Aldrich (St Louis, MO, USA). In order to identify the contribution of each constituent to the toxicity of the oil, we made a blend of all major constituents as well as blends each lacking one of the ten major constituents (see Fig. 1).We compared the toxicity of the complete and incomplete blends with that of pure rosemary oil. In the next step we made blends of those constituents which contributed to the toxicity of the oil (active constituents) and compared them with those which did not affect the toxicity (inactive constituents)

One more time, in case you missed it;

!!!READ THIS!!! http://jonnsaromatherapy.com/pdf/GC-MS_Rosmarinus_officinalis_2006_01.pdf

Lol, if you still doubt, go look up the MSDS of SNS 217, one of the most effective spray treatments you can buy over the counter.

Check out the active ingredients, then compare the price between that product and essential oils.


Hope this helps some people stay cleaner and healthier, not to mention save a few bucks.

Time to burn one, this took too long...

 

Thanks MGB, I know about the existing thread, I just thought having a separate thread would allow for it to be found easier via the search tool.

If Chunk or another mod wants me to, I'll copy and paste this into the sticky and he/she/it can delete this one.

You too!