Connecting to Collections Care

Hi Christina,

Great inquiry! I briefly reviewed the presentation abstract, "Potential Applications of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) in Museum IPM," by Elizabeth Salmon, UCLA (https://museumpests.net/conferences/museumpests-1st-public-presentation-session-march-11-2021/ ) that you are referring to. Sounds like a pretty interesting study and a great contribution to the IPM knowledge base. I personally have not used neem leaves for IPM in a museum setting per se, but I have used them in my home and garden as a natural pest deterrent option. To my knowledge, I am unaware of any such study that examines the efficacy of neem leaves as a deterrent for odd beetle larvae, specifically. But- it sounds like this could be an opportunity to contribute to this study! I reached out to insect guru Pat Kelley from Insects Ltd., and here's what he had to say about the matter:

I have personally never used neem as a deterrent for museums or elsewhere. I know that it is a natural pesticide and repellent for some pest species. I am not sure what distance of radius away from the cloth bags that it would be effective in repelling the odd beetle? In my mind, your main concerns in the collections space would be staff poisoning through inhalation and possible oil residues coming through the cloth and settling on collections nearby. The quantity of leaves, airflow in the space, and proximity of the collections to the cloth bag would all play a part in this. Here is a link from the National Pesticide Information Center: http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/neemgen.html. 
It vaguely says to keep exposure low for humans. Too low though, and it likely doesn't work for the insects either.

I also think maintenance and "refreshening" of the cloth bags could be somewhat labor intensive, depending on your collection size. Or maybe not? I'm not sure of how long neem leaves maintain their azadirachtin levels.  Again, could be an interesting study!

I'll keep looking into this as well, as I also favor more natural means of insect/pest mitigation. I'll update this thread as I find information.  In the interim, C2CC gladly welcomes comments from our forum followers who may have experience using neem in their collection spaces.

Stay tuned!

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Nicole Peters
Conservator
Peters Art Conservation Services LLC
Connecting to Collections Care Monitor
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Hi Christina,
The MuseumPests Working Group was very pleased with the program that we put on last week.  Thank you to all the people who attended on Zoom and Facebook Live.  The PowerPoint slides will be loaded to the Conferences page of MuseumPests over the next few weeks and the video of the presentations is available on the MuseumPests Facebook page. We are excited to hear where Elizabeth Salmon's research leads. Integrating indigenous/local knowledge is a great goal. Like Pat, I want to caution people to understand that this is not a proven technique and that research is needed to see how this can be used safely for collections and humans. If institutions are interested in doing that kind of work I am sure Elizabeth will be interested to hear from you and the MuseumPests Working Group will want to hear from you in a future presentation session! 

Christina, I know how experienced you are in good IPM practice. But for others with less experience I want to put out a general reminder that just because something is natural doesn't mean it can't be dangerous. The MuseumPests.net site states across its pages that chemical methods should only be applied to spaces by licensed professionals.  Whille we search for new, safe and effective methods we shouldn't forget that the most effective ways of reducing pest infestation have to do with housekeeping and fostering good behavior in our buildings in regards to food and garbage.    
Best,
Rachael
MuseumPests Working Group Co-Chair

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Rachael Arenstein
AM Art Conservation LLC
(917) 796-1764
rachael@amartconservation.com
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