Dimethoate: An insecticide used to fight pests

blue insecticide on a leaf

blue insecticide on a leaf

Do you know of an insecticide called dimethoate? This is very powerful for many pests that can be the cause of different damages in the plants that you grow in your gardens and orchards and it is widely used for various characteristics that make it very beneficial.

Among these are its long duration and its ability to exterminate a large number of external agents that can generate problems in your outdoor spaces. In this article we will tell you what it is and what its particular uses are, so that you can evaluate if this powerful insecticide is what you need to preserve the plants in your garden.

What is dimethoate?

insects that are eating the leaves

insects that are eating the leaves

If you are in the world of botany, surely you already know it, because dimethoate is a powerful insecticide that is widely used in order to eliminate innumerable pests that usually directly affect various crops, even leading to their total destruction.

That is why this chemical is used, which It was developed by an American company in 1950. Its main function as a powerful insecticide lies in being an important inhibitor of the acetylcholinesterasewhich consists of an enzyme that regulates the correct functioning of the central nervous system of plants.

This insecticide is applied very easily on plant tissues, achieving a very fast absorption and distribution that will cover all the surfaces of the plant, so that when the insect of any pest approaches to eat the leaves, flowers or fruits of it, they ingest this chemical that is a poison that will exterminate it.

Dimethoate is recognized by agricultural organizations in all countries of the world, where it has been authorized for use for a significant number of specifically figured pest types.

But this does not mean that you cannot use this insecticide on other types of unrecognized pests and obtain positive results. Surely in different territories it will be enabled for the use and control in different types of pestsbut particularly in the European Union the scope and the permits for its use have been standardized.

Pests that are controlled with dimethoate

There are an infinity of pests that can be treated with this powerful insecticideamong which we can highlight: olive tree spider mite, olive tree borer, olive tree borer, orange cacoecia or carnation miner, almond tree bug beet, cottony orange and vine mealybug, red mealybug of the citrus or citrus red louse, pink worm, etc.

Notably these are just some of the pests that can be eliminated with this type of chemical and the list goes on with many other types and insects that attack different crops.

Its impact on the environment

purple grapes after a pest is eliminated with dimethoate

purple grapes after a pest has been eliminated with Dimethoate

Regarding the environmental fate of dimethoate, this one has a low persistence in the environment, but if it has a notorious persistence in the soils, where it can be found for about three days in those places that appear rainy.

In drier areas it can persist for a period of 120 days. In any case, this is an estimated time and generally the duration of this insecticide in soils is approximately 20 days.

In river water, dimethoate may persist for little more than a weekbut this does not mean that it persists longer in environments due to the mere fact that they are humid, because in the humid atmosphere it will be chemically degraded by oxidation and hydrolysis processes.

Its biodegradation in soils will depend on its alkalinity. This means that the degradation will come much faster in those soils in which there is an alkaline pH. In aqueous bodies, it does not present a binding to sediments, rapidly degrading by different biological and chemical processes, aided by volatilization and hydrolysis processes.

Dimethoate: An insecticide used to fight pests

Leave a Reply

Scroll to top

Discover more from DIY Gardens

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading