The benefits of essential oils are countless. Why do some Maggie’s Farm pest control products use plant essential oils as their active ingredients? Because they can be very effective in controlling bugs in your home, lawn, and garden.
What Are Essential Oils?
Natural essential oils are highly concentrated plant oil extracts. Extraction methods vary, as do areas of the plant where the oils are extracted from, but typically, essential oils are extracted from the most fragrant areas of the plant. The plant oils are extracted through a distillation process, or through other methods such as cold pressing. Essential oils produced via chemical methods are not considered true essential oils.
A plant's extracted natural oils capture the natural fragrance and aromatic effects of the source plant.
Because essential plant oils come right from nature, many mistakenly assume they are gentle and are not potent. Natural plant oils are very potent, especially against insect pests, and should be handled with care.
What are the Benefits of Essential Oils?
Essential oils are most commonly associated with “aromatherapy,” (also known as “essential oil therapy”) a holistic therapeutic treatment that uses natural plant oils to promote health and well-being.
Essential oils are also used in several other ways, including to add flavors and/or fragrances to foods and beverages, household products, cosmetics, soaps, perfumes, etc. We also use them in the production of our Maggie’s Farm Simply Effective Pest Control products. Most humans hate bugs, but so do plants! Plants have their own built-in defenses to keep pests away, and the best defense they have is their built-in plant essential oils.
There is a lot to be learned from essential oils and how they benefit humans.
Other benefits of using insecticides made with plant essential oils include:
- Earth-friendliness. They don’t linger in the environment as long as synthetic insecticides.
- More family-friendly, and therefore safe to use around children and pets when used as directed.
- Provides a safe and environmentally friendly alternative to synthetic mosquito repellents, such as DEET.
Plant Essential Oils Used in Maggie’s Farm Products
The plant oils we use in our products are specifically chosen to help you in the ongoing battle against bugs.
Because of the natural fragrance of many plant oils, we understand that some people might be sensitive to them and that others may simply not like certain fragrances. We formulate our products to make these fragrances as pleasant, soft, and non-lingering as possible. We recommend testing in small indoor area before using in a larger area.
Note that the fragrances we use are not harmful and generally dissipate quickly after product use. We do not use any artificial fragrances, dyes, or preservatives in Maggie’s Farm products!
Essential Oils in Maggie’s Farm Products
There are more than 90 essential oils commonly used, and each has its own unique aroma and benefits.
Here are the essential oils used in the creation of Maggie’s Farm Products. The natural plant essential oils we use are approved by the EPA for use in minimum-risk pesticides. When blended correctly, they are very effective at killing pests on contact, as well as providing a residual repellency for continued protection.
Do Essential Oils Stain?
Most essential oils do not stain because they are not actually oily. The essential oils used in Maggie’s Farm pest control products are not known to stain.
We have tested them on several different surfaces and materials, but it is impossible to test on all types of surfaces and materials. We recommend doing a small spot test on a surface before applying on a larger scale, to be certain.
Can You Safely Use Maggie’s Farm Products Around Family and Pets?
The ingredients used in our EPA-exempt products are all classified by the Environmental Protection Agency as “minimum-risk,” and are approved as food additives or classified as Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) by the US Food & Drug Administration.
All Maggie’s Farm products can be used safely around family and pets when used as directed. The only Maggie’s Farm product that is for applying directly to a person or pet is Maggie’s Farm Natural Insect Repellent. Before using our Natural Insect Repellent on humans or animals, apply to a small area to make sure no reaction occurs. Natural essential oils contain components that some people may be allergic to. While reactions are very uncommon, you want to be sure before you apply to a large area of skin.
Don’t ever apply essential oils directly to cats unless your vet says it’s okay. Cats (and especially kittens) are sensitive to some plant oils, and especially to wintergreen oil. When using a product with wintergreen oil in your home, keep your cat away from the treated area until the spray dries. The Maggie’s Farm products that contain wintergreen oils are Maggie’s Farm Home Bug Spray, Maggie’s Farm Spider & Insect Dust, Maggie’s Farm Mosquito Fogger, Maggie's Farm Ant & Roach Killer, Maggie's Farm Flying Insect Killer, and Maggie’s Farm Yard Bug Spray.
As an added precaution, we recommend that caged birds be removed from rooms and fish tanks need to be covered before applying any Maggie’s Farm product until the fragrance dissipates.
Check out our article on safe application around pets here.
If you have additional questions or concerns about the plant oils we use in our effective but earth-and-family friendly pest control products, please call us or text us at 816-379-5387.
How do you like using Maggie’s Farm pest control products? We’d love to hear from you! Leave a comment below.
It’s fantastic to see how essential oils are not only safe for the environment but also highly effective in pest control. Great work, Maggie’s Farm.
Thank you.