Pesticide compatibility
Side effects of a product on the beneficials you have released, and how long the residue stays harmful. Read the persistence column as carefully as the rating — a product marked safe on contact can still be lethal to anything released onto treated foliage two weeks later.
| Product / active | Aphidius colemani | Encarsia formosa | Phytoseiulus persimilis | Amblyseius cucumeris | Chrysoperla carnea | Persistence |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Diatomaceous earthAmorphous silica (fossil diatoms) | Works for as long as it stays dry and undisturbed (NPIC). Rain, dew or watering stops it. The supplier side-effect lists give no figure. | |||||
| Neem oilAzadirachtin and clarified hydrophobic neem oil | Short: hours to days for both forms (UC IPM). Azadirachtin's half-life on leaves is 1–2.5 days (NPIC). | |||||
| Insecticidal soapPotassium salts of fatty acids | None once dry. It kills on contact only and leaves no active residue (Colorado State; UC IPM rates its duration 'short' to 'short to none'). | |||||
| SpinosadSpinosad (spinosyns A and D, made by the soil bacterium Saccharopolyspora spinosa) | Short to intermediate: UC IPM gives hours to days (tomato table) or days to 2 weeks (greenhouse and nursery table); Encarsia harmed up to 28 days | |||||
| Horticultural oilRefined mineral or plant oil | Short: hours to days (UC IPM). Oils dissipate by evaporation and leave little residue (Colorado State). | |||||
| BtBacillus thuringiensis (strains kurstaki, aizawai, israelensis, tenebrionis, galleriae) | None to short; spores break down in sunlight within days | |||||
| SulfurElemental sulfur (wettable or micronized powder, dust, or liquid) | Short (hours to days) for wettable sulfur; days to 2 weeks for dust | |||||
| PyrethrinPyrethrins from chrysanthemum (pyrethrum) flowers, alone or with the synergist piperonyl butoxide (PBO) | Short: hours to days; under 3% left on leaves after 5 days | |||||
| ImidaclopridNeonicotinoid, IRAC group 4A (systemic) | Long: many weeks to months after a soil drench (UC IPM). The tree-and-shrub label claims up to 12 months' protection from one application. | |||||
| AbamectinAvermectin, IRAC group 6 (translaminar) | UC IPM rates its impact on natural enemies as long, meaning many weeks or months. In UK leaf-residue tests, though, it was one of the least persistent insecticides, with little or no activity against a parasitoid wasp detectable after 14 days. |
No product by that name in the matrix. That means we have no sourced rating for it — not that it is safe.
How to read this
Each rating comes from the source cited on the product's own page: UC IPM's natural-enemy toxicity tables (low, moderate, high), supplier side-effect classes, or a published trial on that species. Most were measured on the exposed adult stage; eggs, mummies and pupae often survive a treatment that kills adults. Persistence is how long the residue stays harmful after it dries, so read it as carefully as the rating: a product that is safe once dry can still kill whatever it hits wet.
Where a cell says no data, we found no published rating for that pairing — not that it is safe. Treat it as caution and try it on a small area first.
Sources
Each rating cites its source on the product's own page — supplier side-effect lists, extension toxicity tables and published trials.
Always follow the label. Labels are legally binding; this table is not.
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