Organic insecticides are a prime need for those who are into organic farming. In organic farming, you depend on your farming methods to ensure that your plants do not have pests, but even when there are pests, you can learn to ignore some of them as long as they are not enough to cause damage to your plants. However, when you reach a stage whereby you need to get rid of your pests, you need to use organic insecticides to get rid of these pests.
Organic insecticides are thought to be environmentally sound, causing no harm to the earth, humans, or animals. They often consist of such things as fatty acids and plant oils. Natural pesticides act upon pests either through contact, or through absorption by the pests of these chemicals. The advantage of using organic pesticides is more of a reverse strategy, whereby you consider that artificial pesticides can use harmful chemicals (DDT anyone?), with a lot of residue left behind that affects other insects and pollutes through run-offs into rivers and streams.
However, you should keep in mind that using pesticides is part of an overall pest avoidance strategy that employs the usage of traps, and naturally occurring insects / other animals which counter the pests. This is also because artificial insecticides are more powerful than organic ones, and you need to compensate with a more comprehensive pest avoidance strategy. You need to ensure that you are following all these tactics before you start considering the use of pesticides (even organic pesticides). Further, just because an insecticide is organic does not mean that it is totally harmless; you should make sure that you are using the insecticide in the quantities and in the mechanism as directed. Also, be careful about the exact insecticide you are using.
Read this article for how to buy organic insecticides (link).

If you are into organic farming (or if you are following organic principles for your kitchen garden), then it is very important for you to know all about organic insecticides. One of the problems quote in traditional ways of farming is the use of chemical / synthetic pesticides that leave residues that make their way into animals and humans, and also end up polluting the soil and water. So, what is an organic insecticide ? It is a substance made from natural ingredients that is used for repelling insects and pests; you still need to repel pests and insects even if you go organic.
Organic insecticides are also specialized, in the sense that certain insecticides work on different insects / pests, and you need to do the necessary research to ensure that you have identified the pest you need to get rid of, and what insecticide you need to use. Before making that decision though, ensure that you have actually reviewed that you do have an insecticide or pest problem. Just because an insect is eating away the leaves from your plant does not mean that the plant or the produce is getting harmed (plants can take a loss of upto 25-33% of their leaf cover before their growth is harmed).
Further, ensure that you have also checked out that there are no natural predators that you can use; for example, certain bugs eat insects or pests as a part of nature, and using that solution might work out better. However once you have decided that you have a pest problem that cannot be solved by any other means, then you need to use an organic insecticide.

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The Organic Gardener’s Handbook of Natural Insect and Disease Control: A Complete Problem-Solving Guide to Keeping Your Garden and Yard Healthy Without Chemicals

What do you mean by Organic Gardening ?
Organic Gardening primarily means not using synthetic products such as fertilizers and pesticides. It means working much more closely with nature, and using natural means to increase the level of ingredients and essential materials such as nitrogen to the soil, and using natural means to counter pests such as insects.
An important part of going organic is that you need to change your style of dealing with problems. In normal gardening, where you do not have to follow organic principles, you can deal with pests once they occur by treating them with pesticide; you can deal with scarcity of nutrients by adding fertilizer. If you are following organic gardening principles, what you really need to do is to try and prevent problems rather than having to deal with them as they occur. Taking the initial steps to make your garden healthier results in having fewer problems to deal with and healthier plants, fewer pest and disease problems.
As a part of this, you need to make sure that your soil is healthy, has all the required nutrients, that you take care to ensure that the plants you are planting are healthy (and you have enough knowledge of the plants you are planting in terms of their requirements and their growth cycles), that you check your plants on a regular basis and have setup a frequency of checking along with a checklist of what to check. It is very important to have a knowledge of the pests in your garden, as not all insects and animals in the garden are harmful (many insects and animals actually help in pest control); further, the damange inflicted by some pests can be minimal and not really affect your plants.
The insistence of not using synthetic pesticides and fertilizers is an important part of the growth of an organic garden, and not to be compromized with. It is more of a mind set change that you need to rule out the use of such chemicals. This does not mean that you cannot use pesticides, there are a whole range of pesticides and insect repellants that are based on organic ingredients and which are overall of benefit to the environment (the run-off of pesticides and fertilizers into water systems is now a major environmental and health problem).
Finally, let me round off this summary of organic gardening principles with this definition:

“an ecological production management system that promotes and enhances biodiversity, biological cycles and soil biological activity. It is based on minimal use of off-farm inputs and on management practices that restore, maintain and enhance ecological harmony”

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I was hunting for some information about pesticides, then came across this email (sent as part of an email group). I found this information useful, and hence decided to post this so that other people might find this useful as well:

BT Bacillus Thuringiensis

1. Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) is a naturally occurring, soil borne organism that paralyzes and destroys the stomach cells of insects that consume it especially larvae of flies and months. At present Bt is the only “microbial insecticide” in widespread use of insect control. Bacterial agents are effective in controlling insects in the larva stage only. The larvae is usually a caterpillar or worm and you must get it early at this stage both to eliminate the pest and to avoid too much damage to the leaves. This type of Bt kills many leaf-eating caterpillars–including those that will become butterflies. If butterflies are desired, try to use Bt only on the foliage of plants infested with a leaf or needle-eating larva. You’ll usually find the pests on the undersides of leaves and are usually the same color as the leaf so as not to attract predators. Therefore Bt should be applied to the UNDERSIDES of leaves because Bt must be ingested to be effective.

2. Bt is broken down faster in sunlight. Application to the undersides of the leaf surfaces will prolong Bt’s activity. High temperatures do not encourage Bt’s breakdown.

3. After the Bt spores are ingested, they grow and reproduce, producing crystalline toxins. The crystalline toxins paralyze the digestive tract of the larvae causing it to cease eating. Time of death can range anywhere from 12 hours to 5 days after ingestion. This depends on the amount of Bt ingested, the size and variety of the larvae and variety of Bt used for control. There are different strains or varieties of Bt available that have been selected for the control of specific insects. For roses use Bt variety kurstaki (BTK). This controls the European corn borer, tomato hornworms, fruitworms, cabbageworm, cabbagelooper, spring and fall cankerworm, spruce budworm, and other caterpillar-like larvae. Other Bt varieties like San Diego (BTSD) controls early larvae of the Colorado potato beetle, Bt variety tenebrionis coeopteran (BTT) has been developed for the control of the Colorado Bean Beetle while in its larvae stage and Bt variety israelensis (BTI) controls mosquitoes,
black flies and fungus gnats.

4. Bt has gained well-earned popularity because of its distinct advantages over other pesticides such as:

(i) Hazards to humans are negligible (avoid inhalation or contact with eyes or open wounds).

(ii) Bt can be used right up until harvest on vegetables, this allows for a longer-term control. There is no waiting period from time of application before re-entering the field.

(iii) Beneficial or non-target insects are not harmed.

(iv) Insects that ingest the Bt and later die from it are not dangerous to birds or other animals that may feed the dead insect. (v) Not known to cause injury to plants on which it has been applied and is not considered harmful to the environment.

Other Pathogens: The only other possible pathogen I was able to find is the Pheromone Mating Disruption. It lures the insect to it where they feed on a Pathogen that affects their ability to mate, in turn reducing insect population.

*Note: Relying on any one pesticide can lead to the build up of resistance in the pest population. Use of other insecticides and cultural control methods should be used to slow down or eliminate the possibility of resistance developing.

CORN GLUTEN – You may have heard the product “Amaizing Lawns” which has a pre-emergent herbicide effect on lawn weeds in the early spring when they are germinating and is also a fertilizer based on corn gluten. It works on the more common turf weeds and crabgrass. Corn gluten, a protein found in poultry feed, is a by-product of the corn milling process. If you can find source of corn gluten (feed mill companies) you can try it yourself. Here’s how:

Apply 20 pounds of the powdery gluten substance per 1000 sq. feet of turf area, using a fertilizer spreader with the setting adjusted as needed. When you are done water the gluten lightly into the surface, which will help it latch onto the germinating seeds.

DE (DIATOMACEOUS EARTH) is a non toxic flour-like powder made from fossilized skeletons of micro-organisms called diatoms. The sharp edges of the powder cuts the bodies of the insects, causing them to loose their waxy coating, dehydrating them, causing death. Wear a paper mask and gloves. Commercially available products may contain chemical pesticides so read the labels carefully.

DORMANT OR MISCIBLE OILS/SPRAYS mix with water when heated or agitated. Used as smothering agents for- larva, adults, pupae and eggs. Sucking insects such as thrips, scales and aphids are primary targets and also work to control spider mites. The oil forms a thin layer over the eggs, the insect and suffocates them. Only use dormant oil when temperatures are above freezing for at least 24 hours; spray each plant and the ground as well. Spraying should be done immediately after pruning in spring -plants should not have started to grow or bud out; and again in late fall when the leaves drop (usually late Oct.). Dormant oils do NOT control diseases and can be used every two to three years to provide the same control as yearly applications. This application is essential if you are having spidermite problems.

1 cup of liquid dish soap 1 cup of chewing tobacco juice 1 cup of antiseptic mouthwash Mix in 20 gallon hose-end sprayer, filing the balance of the sprayer jar with warm water. Apply this soap solution to the plants, and then use a dormant spray oil over the top. In early spring, before the buds swell up and open, repeat these steps.