preservation of insects without using naphthalene

[Paul Cherubini]

Stan Gorodenski wrote:
> 
> About a year ago I purchased vapona strips from BioQuip, 
> but have not used them yet. Assuming they are better than 
> PDB, in what sense are they, other than the lack of the PDB 
> smell? 

Stored product insect pests are highly susceptiable to tiny
amounts of Vapona (dichlorvos) vapor - amounts too 
miniscule to harm or bother humans.  That characteristic,
plus it's minimal odor make Vapona preferable to PDB
and napthalene in my opinion.

I think the reason some people report odor / metal staining
/ feeling ill problems from using Vapona strips are due to 
overdosing and overexposures.  For example, the label 
directions on a Vapona strip say to use 1 strip per 1,000 
cubic feet of air space for housefly control - about the size
of a guest bedroom in a home.  While a somewhat higher
dose is necessary for dermestid beetle and psocid control, 
it appears people with insect collections are using rather 
large pieces (1 1/2 inches square) of those strips per 
Cornell drawer and somewhat smaller pieces for Riker 
Mounts.  Thus the tiny airspace inside those drawers 
and mounts is receiving a comparatively massive dose 
of dichlorvos vapor - an unnecessarily high dose in my 
opinion based on 23 years' experience working with 
dichlorvos in dried food, fruit, feed and flower storage 
warehouses.

The vegetable seed storage warehousing industry has used
Vapona strips for years to protect seed stored in large bulk
bags and bulk metal bins (about the size of a Volkswagon) from 
museum type pests and they find one strip is a sufficient
dose. Therefore I think one tiny percil eraser sized bit of 
Vapona strips, or smaller would be sufficient 
for for a drawers / mount holding insect collections.

> Vapons strips seem to be very expensive

The strips are only five bucks at Home Depot / Walmart
type retailers.

Paul Cherubini

 
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