Aug 18, 2012 – Baits versus Sprays
QUESTION:
With roach baiting using gel baits I understand you can't liquid/aerosol treat in the same room where you place the bait. BUT, can you treat a basement with liquid AND gel bait in the kitchen? Can you liquid treat a living room on 1st floor and Gel bait a bathroom on the 2nd floor? Please define the word "area" when I read statements that say "you should not bait and spray the same AREA". Thanks for your help.
ANSWER:
I think that a better word than "area" would probably be "surface". You would not want to apply a bait in a crevice and then apply an insecticide spray over the top of the bait, and that is probably the only conflict that exists. Our "spray" type insecticides are not volatile materials. You will not have vapors carrying the active ingredient out of cracks and crevices where you applied spray products, and have them floating around and re-depositing on bait materials in other crevices. They simply do not do that. I believe that you could place a bait in a crevice for German Roaches, since this is the preferred technique with gel baits for these roaches, and a few feet away treat other crevices with spray residual products and not contaminate the bait.
View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.
With roach baiting using gel baits I understand you can't liquid/aerosol treat in the same room where you place the bait. BUT, can you treat a basement with liquid AND gel bait in the kitchen? Can you liquid treat a living room on 1st floor and Gel bait a bathroom on the 2nd floor? Please define the word "area" when I read statements that say "you should not bait and spray the same AREA". Thanks for your help.
ANSWER:
I think that a better word than "area" would probably be "surface". You would not want to apply a bait in a crevice and then apply an insecticide spray over the top of the bait, and that is probably the only conflict that exists. Our "spray" type insecticides are not volatile materials. You will not have vapors carrying the active ingredient out of cracks and crevices where you applied spray products, and have them floating around and re-depositing on bait materials in other crevices. They simply do not do that. I believe that you could place a bait in a crevice for German Roaches, since this is the preferred technique with gel baits for these roaches, and a few feet away treat other crevices with spray residual products and not contaminate the bait.
Insect baits are food, and the goal is to offer the roaches a bait that is so tempting they cannot resist eating it. You can enhance this attraction to the bait by ensuring that all other food resources are removed first, so this is where Sanitation is so important. If the filth remains the roaches may not even notice the bait provided for them. Other insecticides could impart a repellency or off-taste to the bait if they were applied over the bait, so keeping them physically separated is important.
I don't think you need to go to the extreme of separating bait use and spray applications as widely as you suggest. Absolutely you could treat the kitchen with both baits and sprays. If you dribbled or puffed a granular bait into a wall void you would not want to apply a residual dust product in there too, as this is going to coat the bait and deter feeding. Just be sure to apply your residual materials in separate locations / surfaces / crevices to keep the bait as tasty as possible.
View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.
