The cedar oil product is advertised as a safe, effective insecticide for controlling a variety of public health pests including bed bugs. Rutgers University have partnered to put a variety of bed bug products to the test. This cedar oil is the first in the series. “Eradik8” Cedar oil was chosen due to the claims being made by the Cedar Mountain Inc., to the public for use in controlling and elimination of bed bugs.
Rutgers University’s, Dr. Changlu Wang conducted research that examined the effectiveness of “Eradik8” cedar oil. The research examined the effectiveness of the cedar oil product on both bugs and eggs that were treated directly with the product as well as the residual effectiveness of the product once dry. This is a brief summary of the research findings.
The product tested was cedar oil blend, “Eradik8” cedar oil. “Eradik8” is a category 25b EPA exempt product that contains 10% cedar oil and 90% latex. The bed bugs used in this research were from a field collected strain.
Direct Contact on Bed Bugs and Eggs:
The direct spray of “Eradik8” caused immediate immobilization of the bed bug nymphs, followed by 100% mortality within 1 minute of the topical application. In addition to being 100% effective on bugs directly treated with the product, it also proved to be effective against eggs that were directly treated. None of the 61 treated eggs hatched after 17 days compared to 75% egg hatch in a non-treated control group. The results showed that “Eradik8” is highly effective against beg bugs including eggs and larvae when applied directly.