If you live in the South, do you do your own home insect pest control spraying? How often? What product do you use? What can go wrong? Pet issues? Anything else I need to know? All pertinent information appreciated.
You can do your own termite inspection. Learn what to look for. Keep the yard chemicals to a minimum. They are bad for your dogs. I put absolutely no chemicals down where my dogs are going to be.
Don't act like a puss and be scared of insecticides if you live in a bug zone! For biting and other bugs use deltamethrin and spray that [bleep] everywhere outside where it wont get rained on. Ie under eaves etc. Has a 3 mo+life, no smell and kills about everything with more than 2 legs. Try not to drink it or you will get real sick.
Roaches are the plague. Boric acid powder is the best. Sprinkle it in obscure places behind drawers etc and where wall and floor meet behind furniture etc. And on top ledges, attic + basement. Boric acid lasts for ever. it is a stomach poison which is ingested when the roaches etc groom themselves after walking thru the powder. Also dont bring cardboard boxes etc in your house/garage from stores. They hide in the flaps and re-infect your house.
If you have a basement crawl space then bomb it big time frequently.
If you get pissants then mix boric acid powder with maple syrup. Never use honey as it is an anticide.
I used to light their asses up with Demon EC, a secondary of Fenoxycarb IGR and chase the holdouts out with PT 565 pyrethrum and pipronal butoxide aerosol
Be looking like an apocalyptic scene with the ceilings crawling at Grandma Shîtbird’s ghetto hovel
I use Tempo and Demon and alternate months. Both of them are pet safe once they dry and last 30-40 days per application. Kills everything around here, so I don't have any bug issues.
Boric acid mixed with syrup kills some types of ants very well. I've dealt with tough indoor roach problems and as far as I can tell, boric acid is useless. Bifenthrin and some others basically just relocate roaches. Best for indoor roaches is to buy several brands of baits with different attractants and active ingredients, deploy widely and simultaneously. Then be patient.
With the cost of over the counter chemicals and depending on how bad of an infestation you have it may be cheaper to get a pest contract. I have Adam's come out every 6 mo. Cost $80. Termites will eat your house in no time if left unchecked and just 1 (one) German cockroache can multiply into 300,000 in a years time.
Termites are the ones to worry about - they can do serious damage. Don't buy a house without a termite inspection, and get regular checks after. Everything else is just a nuisance.
Used to pay a Pest Control Co to come quarterly and put a few drops of his commercial grade spritz here and there, plus a few granules of ant killer. It was costing me about 90 bucks per trip. Still had bugs! So on the advice of the bug technician I got a gallon of Home Defense from Rural King ($25). Spray it around the outside walls on the stucco about afoot above ground. Put a little behind the dishwasher, and in pipe penetrations under cabinets. Works great! The jug lasted a year and a half with 3 applications. Wife has to undergo psychotherapy if she sees a roach, so saved a lot on that as well. I have not told her about the rats and snakes.
Years ago, we signed an agreement with a local pest control company to keep our house and garage sprayed monthly. They show up once a month, and they spray inside for the crawling critters, put bait stations out for mice, spray outside at least once a year, and are on call as needed. That same contract today would be over 3 times what we paid for it way back when.
Hey RS, living in the South means dealing with bugs, that's for sure! I used to do my own pest control spraying, mainly using a general insecticide spray every few months.
For my yard and woodline, I mix up about 50 gallons of Cypermethrin and do outside perimeter of the house too, eaves, soffits, window frames, shutters, spray my ginormous firewood pile too.
The desert is a true treasure for him who seeks refuge from men and the evil of men. In it is contentment In it is death and all you seek (Quoted from "The Bleeding of the Stone" Ibrahim Al-Koni)
For ants and termites. Harmless to humans, dogs, cats and anything other than ants and termites. About $50-$60 for a pint. Mixes 1oz per gallon of water, to treat an average size house. Spray twice the first year, and once a year after that Your ants will die, your neighbors ants will die, any property within 100 feet of your treatment zone, the ants will die.
For ants and termites. Harmless to humans, dogs, cats and anything other than ants and termites. About $50-$60 for a pint. Mixes 1oz per gallon of water, to treat an average size house. Spray twice the first year, and once a year after that Your ants will die, your neighbors ants will die, any property within 100 feet of your treatment zone, the ants will die.
I kinda like the harvester ants around here.
They are one of the known eaters of the damn yellow alyssum weed seeds.
The desert is a true treasure for him who seeks refuge from men and the evil of men. In it is contentment In it is death and all you seek (Quoted from "The Bleeding of the Stone" Ibrahim Al-Koni)
Most of the actually effective long term sprays and powders are no longer sold to the public, you must have an applicator's license to buy the "good stuff."
Add in the invasive species no longer exterminated at ports of entry and it would be a good idea to have a real pro do the job in the south. Tried it both ways and when you run out of the good stuff, better have a stand by pro with the new slow release encapsulated sprays with annual spray plus in ground termite traps around all of the structures..
“To expect defeat is nine-tenths of defeat itself. It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. It is best to plan for all eventualities then believe in success, and only cross the failure bridge if you come to it." Francis Marion - The Swamp Fox
There is a website do it yourself pest control or something like that that sells chemicals and has educational info on how and what to do depending on the pests you are after.
I use Ortho. Been using it the last 20 years or so. About every two months I spray around the base boards and in the back of kitchen and bathroom cabinets. Garage as well.
Many years ago when I bought my first house in the south I had a company that came once a month. After watching what they did I came to the conclusion it wasn't worth paying for.
I live in Southwest Florida so its bug city. I occasionally see a dead bug but never a live one. Except those tiny sugar ants They pop up once in a few years. I have some bait I put out and they disappear in a few days. Bugs in the South are a reality. Took me sometime to get used to them.
If you live in the South, do you do your own home insect pest control spraying? How often? What product do you use? What can go wrong? Pet issues? Anything else I need to know? All pertinent information appreciated.
Thanks, RS
Read the reviews. 7.9% Bifenthrin. Tractor Supply and Rural King carry their brand also.
