Printed Pesticide

Decoy Butterfly by vik

Decoy Butterfly by vik

This is easily one of the most novel uses of a 3D printer in the last several months.  Apparently cabbage white butterfly females won’t lay eggs near what appear to be other cabbage white butterflys.  Vik’s solution was to print a white plastic butterfly, add two black spots with a marker, and stick near his plants.

A printed pesticide with no harmful side effects, no lasting chemicals, and reusable year after year!  That it works by trickery is just an added bonus.

Are there any other insects or garden pests that could be deterred in a similar way?

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One Comment so far

  • Allan Ecker
    February 28, 2011 at 5:50 pm
     

    Note: Pesticide literally means “pest-killer” which is not what this does. I bring this up since most pesticides are actually pretty deadly to everything, including, say, Bees, which are kind of the opposite of pests…

    Pest Deterrent?

     
 

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