External House Sprays - Insects and Spiders

[ol' boy]

I have used those pre made packs before, products like these


But can anyone suggest an Insecticide in liquid or granular form, i could use with my standard 15L nap sack sprayer?

I guess i'm looking at stoping spiders, and the webs and other things that make a mess of the outside of your house.

The other problem i have, is Ants, mainly those "skippy ants", or Jumping Jack as some people call them.
I am allergic to them, its either a trip to the Hospital or a good rest to get over a bite or sting.

I put some dust on their nest year, which kind of worked, but also made things worse, as they packed up shop and moved even closer to my home, in fact, they are now living under my main deck and crawl up through the boards

Its not the biggest problem in my life, but if there was a bulk alternative to those retail pump packs, i might be more inclined to mix up a batch and go spraying.

Any ideas?
I have used a Commercial Spray guy on some of my jobs, i guess i could ring and ask him, but they kind of like to keep it all a bit of secret.

Ive read this is good for Ants


On the cheaper side, i have heard parmesan cheese in the can mixed with borax works a treat with ants.
They pick it up and walk it away, killing the family.

[gordon_s1942]

I dont know about those ants you have but here we have a quite tiny 'Sugar Ant' their called and every now and again they seem to become endemic and invade the place.
I have always used a paste/gel called Ant Bait and once I find a nest, I put a ring of the gel around the hole which forces the ants to walk through it because otherwise they seem to ignore it but this way, they take it into the nest and usually after 2 days, no more ants.
I would think Borax mixed with anything, better if its sticky, should work.

For Mice I have mixed plaster of Paris in with Icing sugar and put it in an old soft drink bottle with a hole cut in it and you can see they eat it because of the feet marks.

[macca]

Get a bottle of Zeus from your local rural supplier, gives the Jack Jumper Ants what for when you dose them with it.

[ol' boy]

I'll try that, i have a nice lawn, that i put so much effort into, but i cant go on it with bare feet for fear of getting bitten/stung.
And even worse, i really don't like seeing the new 1 and 2 year old family members on it.

Be great if i could just piss them off once and for all.

Looks good macca,

[Dishtrackted]

If you have ants you dont have termites is a common saying around here.
I usually let everything sort out its own balance
I have a few ghekos running around the house Ive seen them chewing a big swarm of ants coming out of a window sill.
They also keep the cockroaches and spiders in check.
I set up led garden lights on a timer under the house.
To deter termites and attract frogs and ghekos to eat what is about.
We also have a fair few wasps that kill spiders and caterpillars. and lots of little birds that come to the bird baths.

Ants dont like wet soil they like to dig in dry stuff they also dont like mint.
Around here ants start comming indoors when its about to rain to get dry
A pinch of borax and a bit of icing sugar in a lid should kill a fair few of them. if you have to.

[fandtm666]

see if they will sell it to you , i have used it in the past and is awesome
the 5lt will last you years and years

[ol' boy]

Some cool ideas there Dishtracked, i like it.
The LED lights under the house, pissa

Yeah, i'm not a real spray freak, and i really do enjoy the wildlife, birds, and other life that likes to frequent my area.

And the nest of these Jumper Ants is my Volcanic Rock Walls, giving them the perfect building location.

[ol' boy]

see if they will sell it to you , i have used it in the past and is awesome
the 5lt will last you years and years

Thanks mate, yep, pretty much the same as what macca suggested, they both use 100g/L Bifenthrin

[ol' boy]

Get a bottle of Zeus from your local rural supplier, gives the Jack Jumper Ants what for when you dose them with it.

Thanks again macca, i got 1litre of Zues for $49 with free delivery, was better than the $80 they wanted instore.
I was really close to buying the 5litre container, but the 1litre will allow me to make between 100-200 litres.
Considering my napsack sprayer only holds 15litres, it should last me a while, especially as its just for the house.
I'm actually not sure what the storage life was when buying 5litres.

Here if anyone is interested:

The 5 litre is here:

He is another similar product, it seemed to offer slightly more targets.

[JasonC]

I can't remember which State you are in -I use the David Grays 100mg/L bifenthrin which looks to be the same as the product you bought
I use from memory 10ml per litre of water about every 1-2 months, knocks off all bugs around the outside I bought a bigger container, works out to 90c to $1.80 per treatment

the same treatment the professionals sell you for $200 every 3 months!

[ol' boy]

Yeah, i am kind of kicking myself for not buying the 5L container, it was 1/3 the price then buying it by the Litre.
If i am happy with it, i'll buy 5litres next time.

I want to spray the House, areas where cobwebs get and make a barrier around windows and access points.
I also want to deal with ants that are in my yard, i am not sure if this product will do this?

I literally want to spray my lawn and surrounds with it....
Might be a waste, i might also kill helpful little critters too

[JasonC]

this will deal with ants no problems
it probably won't discriminate though

[ol' boy]

I like the sounds of that jason
The RoundUp for inspects

[shred]

Be very careful using bifenthrin based insecticides like Zeus if you have a cat - cats are very sensitive to that stuff. It's not good for dogs either, but they are not nearly as sensitive to it as the felines.

I've knocked off a few ant nests using the Mortein "ant sand". It claims to last for a couple of months, but my experience is that it lasts for a couple of weeks. [edit: it uses the same active ingredient as Zeus ("bifenthrin"), just in granule form].

[Dishtrackted]

I used a termite spray I got from bunning under the house about 10 or so years back and it was horrible stuff.
We were going to leave that day but something happened so we went to bed and woke up with head aches and numb buzzing lips and tongues.
This was just spraying the dirt and foundations under a very well ventilated house with a clearance from ground to floor of a metre at the least and 3 at the most.

[ol' boy]

Well, i have to say, the Zeus product has been amazing for the Ants i had in a problem area
And also for everything else (Spiders, etc)

I suppose its been 2 Months now and not a single Ant has been where they had nests, and better still, there are no new nests.
House has been spotless on the outside with no spider webs

All in All, very happy and wish i'd done this years ago.

[Dishtrackted]

Life is a compromise we exterminate what we dont like the look of and in the process absorb lots of chemicals which may be way worse for us..

[ol' boy]

Well, you could always get someone else to spray it then

[Dishtrackted]

You still absorb them in your skin by living there.

In Permaculture the solution is, "you dont have too many snails, just not enough ducks"
Maybe you just need to encourage ant eaters and micro bats and birds.
Build some bird boxes and bat houses,put in a water bath,plant predator insect attracting plants .
But too many ants usually just means not enough water,mulch compost organic material and maybe an irrigation system.

I would try all of these before I went the poison root ,but thats just me.

[ol' boy]

Yeah, the watering point is very valid.
I hadn't really considered that.