An ancient insectide - Printable Version +- RomanArmyTalk (https://www.romanarmytalk.com/rat) +-- Forum: Research Arena (https://www.romanarmytalk.com/rat/forumdisplay.php?fid=4) +--- Forum: Ancient Civ Talk (https://www.romanarmytalk.com/rat/forumdisplay.php?fid=12) +--- Thread: An ancient insectide (/showthread.php?tid=14321) |
An ancient insectide - Jona Lendering - 01-01-2009 Strabo, quoting Posidonius, mentions an ancient insecticide. He says: Quote:Posidonius also speaks of the asphaltic vine-earth which is mined at the Pierian Seleucia as a cure for the infested vine; for, he says, if it is smeared on together with olive oil, it kills the insects before they can mount the sprouts of the roots; and, he adds, earth of this sort was also discovered in Rhodes when he was in office there as Prytanis, but it required more olive oil. (Geography 7.5.8 )Does anyone have any idea what product may have been meant? Re: An ancient insectide - D B Campbell - 01-01-2009 Rather than a genuine insecticide, it sounds as if the smearing of a sticky bituminous substance (asphalt) on the stalk prevented insects from climbing up to the "good bit" (i.e. the fruit). There would be a precedent in the use of sticky "bird-lime" (crushed mistletoe berries) to capture birds. Re: An ancient insectide - Magnus - 01-05-2009 Yeah, kind of like fly paper...it's covered in sticky goo that the insect can't free itself from. Re: An ancient insectide - Tertius Mummius - 01-06-2009 Hey, my father used something like this in the orchard (1980ies). Re: An ancient insectide - hoplite14gr - 01-06-2009 In Greece farmers up to now use asbestus on orchards and cover part of the tree trunk from the ground upwards. Hope it helps. Kind regards Re: An ancient insectide - Eleatic Guest - 01-29-2009 Is there any evidence of the ancients using one species of animals or plants to keep in check another one? I mean, apart from the shepherd's dog and the sheep. :wink: More like, if we deliberatley cultivate this ant heap or that insect, it will keep this rodent or that vermin out of our fields. Basically, people exploiting natural antagonisms in the wild life for their own (agricultural) ends. Any examples? Re: An ancient insectide - PMBardunias - 01-29-2009 Finally a question that combines my proffession and my hobby! Jona, if you send me an email, I'll return one with some papers on the topic of ancient insecticides. In short, many substances, such as ashes and earths, were mixed with olive oil to act as repellents. The bitter liquid left over after olive pressing was used as well. Sesame oil is still used as an organic pesticide, but the caterpillars that ate my Zucchini treated it like tahini. From one reference: Quote:The overall impression gained is that |