Posted: 8/5/2025 2:01:53 PM EDT
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Our regular exterminator of 20 years has passed away. We haven't had the exterior or interior of the house treated for bugs in several years now. The exterior is full of cobwebs and I have found several large dead black ants on the floor of a corner bedroom. I looked on Amazon for spraying solutions, wettable powder and a powder bulb. I was quickly overwhelmed by the choices. Has anyone a tried and true product for homeowner DIY? Thanks! |
| Had better luck with glue boards than spraying, depends on the type of spiders. |
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"Demon WP" is my go-to, cost effective, easy to use (water soluble powder, drop a packet in a 1.5 gallon sprayer full of water and go), It's a crack and crevice spray that's especially effective on spiders and ants. It's not a "knock down" spray but will kill insects in about 5-10 minutes if they walk through it. 60-90 day hang time. I alternatively use "Cyzmic CS", different pesticide then Demon WP, liquid, mix with water and spray, cost effective and strong. If you want "die right now and 3 months from now" (as if a 5 minute Demon WP kill time isnt fast enough) you can use "Demand DUO". Same company as Demon WP but has two pesticides in it, one is a "knock down" and the other is a 90 encapsulated pesticide. Mix 1oz with 1 gallon of water and spray. All are available on Amazon or do my own pest control. For your use case, I'd use a lawn and garden pesticide (Triazicide by Spectracide for example) that goes on a hose end sprayer. Nuke the outside, eves, bushes and lawn 20' out, thats the quick knock down for whats out there. Then come back and crack and crevice spray (under siding edge, in the garage, under baseboards, around doors, etc.) with either Demon, Cyzmic or Demand DUO in that order. eta: I've been doing my own for years with the above solutions. In some cases Ive used other products like Max Force ant bait gel when I had to deal with ants inside but that was always paired with Demon or some other spray. |
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I have brown recluse spiders at work Battalion strength My building mtce guy says spraying doesn't work with them, sticky traps do. BRB with pic Attached File |
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Attached File |
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Demon WP. Spray outside 18" out and 18" up where the ground meets the house. Get all the windows and doors too. Supposedly its indoor safe once dry for baseboards, etc. Ive never had to spray inside. I can usually spray May ish and September ish and Im good for the year. I think a two pack is like $15 on amazon |
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Originally Posted By Oldgold: https://www.ar15.com/media/mediaFiles/443141/IMG_0801_jpeg-3601148.JPG suffer frequent PVC's and troublesome heart palpitations whenever I use this and exposed to fipronil in the environment; Bifen I/T is my current go-to (should have longer residual activity than Demon & Tempo) |
| I've been using Spectracide Home Barrier for a few years now. Spray once in the spring. Does a great job. Used to have at least a couple false black widows. None now. |
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Active chemical ingredient Bifenthrin. The tractor supply brand is pretty cheap. 1 ounce per gallon of water or 2 ounces per gallon at most. Can be used inside and outside. Bifen |
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| Tempo works really well for spiders and scorpions in my area. Not 100% sure but I believe you can use it inside the home. When I say inside I mean around your baseboards. Taurus SC works really well outside and have noticed it is effective on some insects that are not on the label. Especially wasps and fire ants. Have not had wasps in their usual areas outside of my storage building since I started spraying them in the spring. Also noticed I have only had one fire ant mound in the yard after spraying it for something else with it 2 years ago. The Taurus is mainly labeled as a termite pesticide along with some wood eating type of ants IIRC. |
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Most of the structural applicators I know use Bifenthrin indoors. (My commercial applicator's license is for landscape/lawn/ornamental--I am not allowed to spray inside buildings for money.) It will get SOME spiders. It will not eliminate all spiders, and in particular it will not eliminate Brown Recluse if that's what you have. (I have these and have dealt with them for more than 25 years now) The trouble with spiders like Brown Recluse is that a-they hide for long periods in places the spray won't reach and b--they're tall. Advice from my structural applicator friends: *Spiders are easy to kill if you get the spray on their soft body parts. Getting the spray there is the trouble. Usually you can't. *They use sticky traps. A LOT of sticky traps. This also tells you what kind of spiders you're dealing with. If they're jumping spiders you might want to live and let live. *They use a dust that they put out everywhere. (I think it's a form of DE but I'm not certain of that. It has a chem component. I think it's Deltamethrin but I can't remember for sure). The bad spiders are tall, so the exoskeleton on their legs protects them as they cross the barrier of Bifenthrin around the edges of the hidey holes/walls/baseboards, etc. So the exterminator scatters the dust into those crevices--there's a special applicator tool to do it. IT's like a bulb with a long skiny hose thingy so you can poof the dust into those spaces. I don't know how to use one. I want to learn. Good ones are not really cheap though. As the tall spider runs through the dust, they also scatter it, it gets on them and they die. (I think there's also grooming that comes into play but that's above my structural app knowledge) *As mentioned above, Bifenthrin is what most of them spray inside for general bug/spider. I don't know anybody who uses permethrin or esfenvalerate but I know they are used by some companies. There's another barrier application some do, OUTSIDE as it has a longer residual , but I don't know which chem they're using for that. So if you want to find a chemical, it's best to look for the actual generic chemical name. Like...you can go buy Talstar, but you're paying for the name brand when you can buy Bifenthrin much, much cheaper. So that's why I'm using those names instead of brand names. Bifenthrin Permethrin Esfenvalerate Dust (deltamethrin I think?) These are good chems to search for. READ THE LABELS. FOLLOW THE LABELS. MORE IS NOT BETTER. Please don't be one of the "a few glugs will do it" neanderthals. (Not saying you are. But they are out there, and plenty on this forum). The correct amount will do a better job and is less likely to harm your family/pets/etc. You are welcome to ask here if you need help with the mix or anything else on the label. Labels are not user friendly, and not easy. The math and language can be confusing. IM me if you need help. I vote to start with sticky traps. See what you've got. Then take action if needed.  I hope this is helpful. EDITED to add: Buy from Do My Own or Solutions Pest and Lawn. They have pros who can help you and are set up for DIYers. I sometimes ask questions of the folks at Solutions when I haven't used a chem before and especially if I want to mix two chems and would rather not spend for the (expensive) stuff I buy only to find mixing two turns it into a ball of unsprayable goop. The knowledge base there is deep and wide. @efxguy |
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