Volcani scientist Samuel Gan-Mor.

Thin-skinned vegetables such as tomatoes and zucchini are susceptible to insect infestation and fungi, and even new organic pesticides are not completely safe, says Israeli agriculture scientist Samuel Gan-Mor.

He’s got a new approach that could revolutionize the way bugs are kept from crops: a mixture of edible, off-the-shelf canola or rapeseed oil, soybean oil, cottonseed oil and even the slightly more expensive olive oil.

Seeds, the starting point of all oils, have developed complex evolutionary tricks to avoid being preyed upon. Unknown active ingredients in these oils, probably paired with the ability to block the breathing pathways of invertebrates and hamper their mobility, may explain why the oil solution developed by Gan-Mor and his colleagues works.

For years at Israel’s renowned government-run Volcani Institute in Beit Dagan, Gan-Mor has been working on optimizing industrial sprayers to cover more plant surface with less pesticide. The sprayers now sold worldwide by the Israeli companies Raz Spayers and Degania Sprayers.

The advanced sprayer is part of the package containing the blend of oils, along with an emulsifier. The product is being marketed as a new organic pesticide alternative that is 100 percent safe, even if used minutes before harvest. Chemical pesticides require a “cooling off” period between application and harvesting because of the health risks involved to people and wildlife.

Conventionally grown tomatoes, for instance, carry at least 35 pesticide residues, according to the 2008 US Department of Agriculture Pesticide Data Program.