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livingontheland - Re: [Livingontheland] Fabric Softener pest repellant

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  • From: "Gwen Giffen" <ggiffen@1st.net>
  • To: <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Fabric Softener pest repellant
  • Date: Tue, 28 Mar 2006 08:40:20 -0500

Someone in a goat forum I belong to has recommended spraying fabric softener around the barn to repel flies, ticks, mites and every other bug under the sun. They claim they have tried all other organic and home remedy routes, and nothing else has worked so well. They went on to say that some golf courses even hand out fabric softener sheets to golfers to use for insect repellant. Since there has been a recent discussion in this forum concerning such "home remedies," I wondered if anyone knew the scientific basis of fabric softener working?

I don't have a bottle of Downy sitting on my shelf, but I do have some cheap "Members Mark tm" sheets I've been using - mainly because I can stand the smell of them. Ingredients state: "Softening agents (cationic and nonionic types), and fragrance, in a nonwoven sheet." [note how incredibly informative...what fiber is in the sheets??? Which agents are they impregnated with???] I never gave it much thought before. But having been a textiles and clothing major through my junior year in college, and knowing about the petroleum base of polymer fibers and thus some laundering agents designed to detatch petrol-based dirt from petrol-based fabrics (like disolves like), and knowing that many insect repellants are also petrol-based, I am very curious as to how, exactly, fabric softeners work to repel insects. Does anyone know?

If flies, ticks and mites don't like it, should we? Some rusty wheels have started turning up there....

Gwen




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