Edible oil droplets trap bugs without the harm to people and wildlife that synthetic pesticides can cause

The insect glue, produced from edible oils, was inspired by plants such as sundews that use the strategy to capture their prey. A key advantage of physical pesticides over toxic pesticides is that pests are highly unlikely to evolve resistance, as this would require them to develop much larger and stronger bodies, while bigger beneficial insects, like bees, are not trapped by the drops.

The drops were tested on the western flower thrip, which are known to attack more than 500 species of vegetable, fruit and ornamental crops. More than 60% of the thrips were captured within the two days of the test, and the drops remained sticky for weeks.

Work on the sticky pesticide is continuing, but Dr Thomas Kodger at Wageningen University & Research, in the Netherlands, who is part of the self defence project doing the work, said: “We hope it will have not nearly as disastrous side-effects on the local environment or on accidental poisonings of humans. And the alternatives are much worse, which are potential starvation due to crop loss or the overuse of chemical pesticides, which are a known hazard.”

Link to the study

    • enbyecho@lemmy.worldEnglish
      42·
      6 months ago

      Thrips aren’t beneficial.

      Um. No kidding. Did you read the article? (Edit: that I linked to)

      This year again, we released green lacewing larva in the Public Garden, the Boston Common, and Commonwealth Avenue Mall. As generalist predators, the tiny larvae (Chrysoperla rufilabris) provide a vital service by eating aphids, small caterpillars, beetles, thrips, mites, whiteflies, mealybugs, and even insect eggs.

      Edit: My point, which seems to be completely lost on most people here is that no physical means of trapping insects is going to only target the problem insects. You will always capture more of the insects you didn’t mean to harm. Source: me, having tried sticky traps and various oils in commercial farming settings.

        • enbyecho@lemmy.worldEnglish
          22·
          6 months ago

          Most of us totally got your point

          Who is “most of us” and which point?

      • jack@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        23·
        6 months ago

        Did you read the article?

        I’m left wondering if you read it. It doesn’t make the assertion you do:

        no physical means of trapping insects is going to only target the problem insects

        This seems self-evident, but I have to ask why you didn’t cite a source that backs that up before slapping me with an “Um.No kidding.”

        Maybe your communication skills are less developed than you realize?