Spider Mite Breakthru? Mellow Yellow banana peel revivial?

Here’s a powerful new organic weapon in the battle against spider mites and other pests. And it has a real interesting twist: The main insecticidial element in an organic bug treatment made from orange peels is a terpene found in cannabis that reduces anxiety! That’s right. d-Limonene is one of the hundreds of active elements found in marijuana, and it has been shown to have anti-anxiety effects. A new bug spray, available at health food stores and many hardware stores, is called Orange Guard. It contains 5.6% limonene which has been extracted from orange peels. This is exactly the same organic element to which researchers have attributed psychoactive properties to in cannabis.

A gallon of Orange Guard retails for about twenty bucks. It contains about six ounces of pure limonene. All the other elements in Orange Guard as listed by the Center for Disease Control as “GRAS”, or “generally regarded as safe” for human consumption. And, yes, it seems to be very effective against spider mites … but, first I will answer that burning question that just popped into your mind. But, before I do that, let me say one thing: Don’t ever drink bug spray of any kind for any reason whatsoever.

Here’s what happened to the guy who did try the Orange Guard for the limonene – nothing. And he said he wasn’t at all anxious after he chugged the stuff down, so he feels that the anti-anxiety properties may be present.

He actually consumed one millilitre of the stuff, expecting 56 milligrams of limonene (Orange Guard is 5.6% limonene). Plans are to try the experiment again when he hasn't medicated for a few days to see if any effects are more apparant.

Hopefully, the knowledge that one can actually consume psychoactive chemicals found in cannabis by drinking Orange Guard bug spray or eating orange peels won’t trigger a rebirth of a new form of the 1960s fad of smoking dried banana peels.

Listen to AM radio much in the Bay Area and you have heard a million ads for Planet Orange, a company that uses orange oil to kill termites. Termites are very tough to kill, and the orange oil does a great job.

Here’s our testing results to date using Orange Guard on medicinal cannabis.

1. I drenched a lower branch of an indoor indica every day for a week. Heavy spray. HPS lights on. No wash off. Absolutely no damage to plant visible. Orange oil seems to have the same “leaf polish” qualities as neem oil.

2. A friend sprayed a house plant that was heavily infested with spider mites. Killed the mites completely with no damage to the plant.

I have not had the opportunity to try Orange Guard on a live spider-mite infestation in cannabis, and I hope I don’t get that opportunity anytime soon. But if any of you fellow growers get the dreaded mites, you might want to give the Orange Guard a try … and share the results with us here.