Track my order
Advice
Contact us
Is the bean leaf the perfect way to stop bed bugs?
Author: Jonathan Warren
Bed bugs have long been the scourge of boudoirs around the globe, but a new discovery inspired by the natural world may be the best way to stop infestations in future.
The bloodsucking insects, which are known to result in burning, itching and swelling effects on the skin, can hide nearly anywhere in a person's home, while pesticides, freezing, vacuuming and washing is often a costly and unreliable means of getting rid of them. However, a traditional Balkan means of capturing them is now being taken to a new level.
As a popular way to kill bed bugs in Bulgaria, Serbia and several other eastern European countries, bean leaves are scattered on the floor near beds; these trap bugs as they walk along the floor, and the leaves are then burned.
Catherine Loudon, an entomologist at the University of California, Irvine, worked on the project to address the issue. She explained that sharp, microscopic hooks on the surface of a bean leaf impale the insects' feet, stopping them dead in their tracks.
Speaking to TechNewsDaily, she said: "There is absolutely no evolutionary history between bean plants and bedbugs, so this entrapment effect on bedbugs specifically is purely coincidental."
