Pest control kit and method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12376594-B2
Application number	US-202017598317-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 24, 2020
Priority date	Mar 25, 2019
Publication date	Aug 5, 2025
Grant date	Aug 5, 2025

Abstract

A pest control kit is provided to aid the control of a population of immature larval stages or pupal insects. The pest control kit comprises an amount of an entomopathogenic nematode and a wetting agent composition, the wetting agent composition comprising: a solvent; and a surfactant. The pest control kit aims to provide a naturally occurring entomopathogenic nematode for biological control of immature larval insects which can act as pests to plants, whether these be for professional plant protection including agricultural, forestry and horticultural or for home garden use. The new pest control product of the present invention aims to prove safe and sustainable protection for turf and plants all year round.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A pest control kit, the pest control kit comprising:
a) a predetermined amount of an entomopathogenic nematode; and
b) a wetting agent composition comprising dipropylene glycol methyl ether.

2. The pest control kit as claimed in claim 1 , wherein
at least 90% of the entomopathogenic nematodes survive for at least 24 hours after administration of the pest control kit.

3. The pest control kit of claim 1 , wherein the wetting agent composition comprises a solvent is at a solvent concentration selected from between 1% to 25% of the unmixed wetting agent composition.

4. The pest control kit of claim 1 , wherein the wetting agent composition comprises a polyoxyalkylene glycol.

5. The pest control kit of claim 4 , wherein the surfactant is present in a surfactant concentration selected from between 0.5% and 10% v/v of the unmixed wetting agent composition.

6. The pest control kit of claim 1 , wherein the wetting agent composition comprises one or more reverse block copolymer surfactants.

7. The pest control kit of claim 1 , wherein one or more wetting agents of the wetting agent composition are selected from alkylene oxides.

8. The pest control kit of claim 1 , wherein the wetting agent composition comprises one or more wetting compounds selected from polyhydroxyethyl alkoxy alkylene oxides.

9. The pest control kit of claim 1 , wherein the wetting agent composition further comprises one or more soil penetrants.

10. The pest control kit of claim 1 , wherein the wetting agent composition is provided in liquid or powdered form.

11. The pest control kit of claim 10 , wherein the liquid wetting agent composition is arranged to be mixed with water to provide a working wetting agent having a mixed concentration selected from between 1% v/v to 2.86% v/v.

12. The pest control kit of claim 11 , wherein the working wetting agent is arranged to be mixed with water at a mixing ratio of working wetting agent:water to provide a final wetting agent composition, wherein the mixing ratio is selected from between 1:35 and 1:90.

13. The pest control kit of claim 1 , further comprising a training package, the training package being arranged to train users to use the amount of entomopathogenic nematode and the wetting agent composition to control a population of larval insects.

14. The pest control kit of claim 1 , wherein the amount of entomopathogenic nematode comprises between 0.5 million and 5.0 billion entomopathogenic nematodes.

15. The pest control kit of claim 14 , wherein the amount of entomopathogenic nematode comprises between 2.5 billion and 5.0 billion entomopathogenic nematodes per hectare of land to be treated.

16. The pest control kit of claim 1 , wherein the entomopathogenic nematode is selected from the group: Heterorhabditis bacteriophora, Heterorhabditis downesi, Steinernema feltiae, Steinernema carpocapsae , and/or Steinernema kraussei.

17. The pest control kit of claim 13 , wherein the larval insects are selected from the group: Tipula spp., Tipula oleracea, Gryllotalpa Gryllotalpa, Agrotis spp., Otiorhynchus sulcatus, Otiorhynchus spp., Hoplia philanthus, Phyllopertha horticola, Amphimallon solstitialis, Melolontha melolontha, Serica brunnea, Cydia pomonella, Cydia molesta, Cydia splendana, Ephydridae, Spodoptera spp., Chrysodeixis chalcites, Mamestra brassicae, Duponchelia fovealis, Hylobius abietis, Frankliniella occidentalis, Chromatomyia syngenesiae, Phytomyza vitalbae, Anoplophora chinensis, Ips typographus, Synanthedon myopaeformis, Opogona sacchari, Diaprepes abbreviates, Grapholita molesta, Grapholita funebrana, Chrysoteuchia topiaria, Rhabdopterus picipes, Capnodis tenebrionis, Curculio nucum, Zeuzera pyrina, Thaumetopoea processionea, Paysandisia archon, Synanthedon exitiosa, Rhynchophorus ferrugineus, Diabrotica virgifera, Bibionidae , and/or Porcellio scaber.

18. The pest control kit of claim 16 , wherein the entomopathogenic nematodes are active at temperatures above 8° C.

19. The pest control kit of claim 1 , wherein the dipropylene glycol methyl ether is present in a solvent concentration selected from between 1% to 25% of the unmixed wetting agent composition.

20. The pest control kit of claim 1 , wherein the dipropylene glycol methyl ether is present in a solvent concentration selected from between 5% to 10% of the unmixed wetting agent composition.

21. The pest control kit of claim 1 , wherein the wetting agent composition comprises between 0.5% and 10% v/v of the unmixed wetting agent composition of a surfactant.

22. The pest control kit of claim 1 , wherein pest mortality is at least 90% for at least 24 hours after administration of the pest control kit.

23. The pest control kit of claim 1 , wherein pest mortality is at least 90% for at least 48 hour after administration of the pest control kit.

24. The pest control kit of claim 1 , wherein pest mortality is at least 90% for at least 72 hours after administration of the pest control kit.

25. The pest control kit of claim 1 , wherein dispersal of the entomopathogenic nematodes is increased compared with control entomopathogenic nematodes in the absence of the wetting agent composition.

26. A composition prepared from the kit of claim 1 , wherein the composition is produced by mixing the predetermined amount of an entomopathogenic nematode and the wetting agent composition with a volume of water to generate a volume of activated insecticide.

27. A method of controlling a population of larval insects with the kit of claim 1 , comprising:
mixing the predetermined amount of the entomopathogenic nematode and the wetting agent composition with a volume of water to generate a volume of activated insecticide; and
applying the volume of activated insecticide to soil containing the population of larval insects.

Assignees

• Syngenta Crop Protection Ag

Inventors

• Ansari Minshad Ali

Classifications

• A01N25/30

  characterised by the surfactants · CPC title

• A01P7/04

  Insecticides · CPC title

• A01N63/12 Primary

  Nematodes · CPC title

• A01N63/00 Primary

  Biocides, pest repellants or attractants, or plant growth regulators containing microorganisms, viruses, microbial fungi, animals or substances produced by, or obtained from, microorganisms, viruses, microbial fungi or animals, e.g. enzymes or fermentates (containing compounds of determined constitution A01N27/00 - A01N59/00; unicellular algae A01N65/03) · CPC title