Toxicity and Repellent Activity of Plant Essential Oils and Their Blending Effects Against Two Spotted Spider Mites, Tetranychus urticae Koch

Miticidal and repellent activity of twenty plant essential oils against the adults of two spotted spider mites, Tetranychus urticae, were examined. Sandal wood oil was the most potent one in mortality, whereas clary sage oil exhibited the greatest repellent activity. On those twenty essential oils tested, no apparent correlation between toxicity and repellency was observed. When the most active oils were blended, the combinations tend to exhibit antagonistic interactions in both toxicity and repellent activity. The chemical compositions of sandal wood oil and clary sage oil were identified via GC/MS analyses, and the major constituents of sandal wood oils were sesquiterpene compounds, whereas the major ones for clary sage oil were monoterpenes. Among the major components in clary sage oil, linalyl acetate was not only the most abundant constituent, but also the most responsible one for its repellent activity.