Insecticide question

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southern-ct-4
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Insecticide question

Post by southern-ct-4 » September 24th, 2021, 10:44 am

Not sure this really falls under 'lawn care' per se, but I have some questions regarding insecticide (general insect killer such as for ants/spiders/whatever, not specifically grubs or anything else in particular).

1. Do you have a preference as to what chemical to use (such as Bifen, Permethrin, Zeta-cypermethrin, etc...)? Historically I try to mix it up during the season (usually applying maybe 2 different products across 2 or 3 applications).

2. Do you have a particular brand that you've found to be the most cost effective (or, as I've often found, it really changes year to year/if something happens to be on sale...)?

3. If you have pets (we are getting a dog soon), is a particular chemical safer than others? I would only apply something before a heavy rain and not allow dog on lawn until it dries, but I'm still hesitant to use anything now that we're getting the dog. Or should I just use an organic insecticide knowing that it won't be nearly as effective, but will be safer?

Thanks so much.

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MorpheusPA
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Re: Insecticide question

Post by MorpheusPA » September 24th, 2021, 9:56 pm

I tend to ignore most insects in most cases, except for Japanese beetles. It's rare in the extreme that anything else makes an appearance at any threatening rate. Neither ants nor spiders, outside, would bother me. Inside, I'd probably buy a can of Raid.

If I did use something outside, I'd probably do some spot research to get something that will do the job in terms of minimal damage to other species, including the dogs.

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Dchall_San_Antonio
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Re: Insecticide question

Post by Dchall_San_Antonio » September 28th, 2021, 2:35 pm

I have not used an official insecticide in the lawn since about the 70s.

Indoors I have historically used boric acid to cover large areas against roaches. For individual roaches I use diluted Super Clean, a garage and auto degreaser. While it does kill them within a minute, the best part is that they are nearly immobilized so they cannot run away and hide.
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For fire ants I use 1 tablespoon of orange oil and 1 tablespoon of Super Clean (or shampoo) to a gallon of water and drench the mounds as they pop up. Pour it slowly into the mound and look around for a satellite mound away from the main mound. Hit the second mound with another gallon of mix. The orange oil seems to kill the ants within 20 seconds. It's very satisfying to watch.
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As for lawn bugs, I started using only organic fertilizer in 2002. Since then my lawn bug issues, if I ever had any, have gone away. I don't worry at all about spiders outside.

Inside spiders are a nuisance because of the webs and dead insects under the webs. I vacuum them up. Once you vacuum a spider, you need to follow up every 3 days or so to get the new spiders hatching from the previous spiders' eggs. After 3 treatments they usually disappear for a good long time.

Occasionally we get scorpions in the house. Super Clean is less effective against arachnids, so I usually just step on them.

At my old house I had tarantulas but I never saw one in the house. Thus far I've left them alone.
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Spiders are very speedy, and tarantulas are no different. When they start to run they can be hard to catch.

Wasps are your friends. Mud dauber wasps live in dark places and take care of spiders for you. Paper wasps live under your eaves and take care of caterpillars, like Army worms, for you. And if you do not harass the wasps, they will not bother you. The hard part about wasps is to not make them crazy. A couple months ago we were getting our house ready to sell. I thought I could suck the front door wasps up with my shop vac. Oh no, you can't. Once they are landed, they are very hard to suck up. But they are still very easy to piss off. Once one of them got riled up, within 5 seconds I got stung 7 times about the face, hands, and arms. Since I did have to get rid of them, I found a foamy spray you can shoot from a distance that encapsulates the wasps and nest for a few minutes. The dosage of insecticide is low since the wasps are most definitely encapsulated in the stuff. I like that there is no wispy overspray or smell.

flyin-lowe
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Re: Insecticide question

Post by flyin-lowe » October 5th, 2021, 4:11 pm

I spray Bifen around the perimeter of my house a couple times a year. I make a complete barrier wetting the bottom 2 to 3 feet all the way around. I also go around the every door and window. I very rarely have ants, spiders, etc. in the house. I don't worry about bugs in any other areas on my property. Just spray around my house to keep momma happy.

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MorpheusPA
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Re: Insecticide question

Post by MorpheusPA » October 5th, 2021, 9:26 pm

Yeah, I have a poppa who really hates spiders, but I haven't even hinted that there are chemicals to kill them at the house barrier. I'd rather not spray the chemicals (even though they're pretty safe) around the house, and don't want to reduce the population of arachnids around the property, where they serve a very useful purpose.

While I lack tarantulas, I do get Wolf Spiders of Unusual Size. They're not poisonous, generally very docile, and would very strongly prefer to head the other way. Rapidly. But they never come indoors as they're terrified of people.

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