Target Pest

 Product Type

 Active Ingredient(s)

Brand name examples

Aphids, scales, mites, leafhoppers, hemlock woolly adelgid, mealybugs and powdery mildew

Horticultural oil (dormant oil for winter season, summer oils for growing season)

Highly refined paraffinic oil or petroleum oil

SunSpray

Aphids, ants, scales, mites, mealybugs, small caterpillars, and other soft-bodied insects, weeds

Insecticidal Soaps

Potassium salts of fatty acids

Safer's Soap, Garden Safe 

Aphids, whiteflies, mites, extract of black spot, powdery mildew, rust, anthracnose, grubs and more

Neem oil

Clarified hydrophobic neem oil

Safer BioNeem, Azatin, Greenlight brand

Aphids, spider mites, thrips, whiteflies and others

Hot pepper insect repellent

Capsaicin 

Hot Pepper Wax Insect Repellent

Ants

1. Arsenic ant baits

2. Sulfluramid ant baits

1. Arsenic trioxide

2. N-ethyl perflourooctanesulfonamide

1. Grants Kills Ants

2. Hot Shot Maxattrax Ant Bait

Ants & Cockroaches

1. Abamectin ant & roach baits

2. Borax

3. Fipronil ant and roach baits

4. Hydramethylnon baits 

1. Abamectin

2. Sodium tetrahydrate decahydrate

3. Fipronil

4. Hydramethylnon

1. Advance Bait Station, Avert brand, Raid Max House & Yard Roach Bait

3. Combat Quick Kill Formula

4. Combat 

Ants, Cockroaches & Fleas 

1. Citrus oil spray

2. Diatomaceous earth,
Desicating dust, Insecticidal dust
 

1. d-Limonene

2. Silicon dioxide

1. Orange Guard,
Concern Citrus Home Pest Control
2. Diatomaceous earth

Ants, cockroaches, fleas, silverfish, termites

Boric acid/ borate products 

Orthoboric acid 

Boric acid
Borax laundry detergent

Fleas & ticks (on pets)

1. Fipronil topical or spray

2. Insect growth regulator topical

3. Lufenuron pills

1. Fipronil

2. Methoprene

3. Lefenuron
 

1. Frontline

2. Frontline Plus (contains both fipronil & methoprene)

3. Program

Fleas (indoors)

1. Insect growth regulator carpet spray (breaks life cycle, larva can't mature)

2. Boric acid-based carpet treatments (best used with steam cleaner) 

1. Methoprene

2. Borate

1. Precor

2. Fleanix

Mosquitos, aphids, ants, leafhoppers, thrips, whiteflies  

Garlic
(Concentrated garlic 'clips' to attach to plants OR Garlic oil sprays)  

Garlic 

Victor Mosquito Barrier

Garlic Barrier Insect Repellent 

Mosquitos (kills larvae in standing water for use in ponds, large puddles)

Bt mosquito dunks (Small, doughnut-shaped, floating disks)  

Bacillus thuringiensis

Mosquito Dunks
(found at home improvement stores)

Powdery mildew, black spot, rust, scab, damping-off virus 

Sulfur fungicide 

Sulfur

Safer Garden Fungicide, Orthoganics Garden Sulfur

Snails & Slugs 

1. Snail & slug bait

2. Snail & slug barrier

3. Diatomaceous earth

1. Iron phosphate

2. Coconut oil soap

3. Silicon dioxide

1. Monterey Sluggo,
Escar-go

Weeds

1. Herbicidal (insecticidal) soap

2. Corn gluten meal

3. Vinegar spray

4. Pelargonic acid herbicide 

1. Potassium salts of fatty acids

2. Corn gluten

3. 20% Vinegar, put in spray bottle

4. Pelargonic acid

1. Safer Superfast Weed & Grass Killer

2. Concern Weed Prevention Plus, Supressa

3. N/A

4. Quick Weed Killer 

White grubs

Imidacloprid

Also see Neem above

Imidacloprid 

Yellow jackets and other flying insects

Mint oil

Mint oil, sodium lauryl sulfate 

Victor Poison-Free Wasp & Hornet Killer Spray