Horticulture Hotline 08/20/18
By Bill Lamson-Scribner
Continuing from last week’s article about fleas…
Professional pest managers will always do a great job at
controlling fleas because they are professionals and they do this for a
living. Since fleas are in so many
different life cycles, give the exterminator at least two weeks for their
product to work. As mentioned last week,
the flea population are in several different life cycles at any given time.
Adult biting fleas only account for
about 2% of the population, the rest are in the egg, larva and pupae
stage. If you help the professional by vacuuming,
you will get better results.
When treating fleas, it is good to treat your animal, your
house and your yard. This three-prong
attack gives you the best results.
If you are a “do it yourselfer” there are a few products
that can make a difficult job easy.
Fleas can be controlled by starting with your animal. There are two products that you can apply
directly to you animal that I use. Prefurred One and Petcor work great
preventatively and will work once the pet is under attack. At Possum’s we sell
several other products that are very effective. I just happen to use these
because I have them at my house.
Precor 2625 (new product and very effective on many pest), Ultracide,
Precor 2000 or Alpine IGR should be sprayed inside your house. As mentioned last week, it is important to
vacuum your house daily when you are trying to control fleas. If your vacuum has a bag, you want to remove
it and put it in a plastic bag, and put it in the trash can outside after each
vacuum. Ultracide will kill the biting
fleas and has a growth regulator that will prevent the treated population from
maturing into reproducing, biting adult fleas. EcoVia EC is an effective NOP
(National Organics Program) compliant product; however, it doesn’t have the
growth regulator.
Since I am cheap and know a little bit about fleas, I
usually limit my spraying of the house to a few key areas where my dog hangs
out. Remember from last week, when a dog
gets up from a nap and shakes, he is shaking eggs off of his body. I concentrate my spraying in and around those
areas where he usually naps. A can of
spray can last several seasons with this method. As a store owner (Possum’s),
tips like these can put you out of business!
Outside use Lebanon Insect Control in the yard. Be sure to treat mulched areas because the larvae
live in moist wet areas. This product
will knock down the adult flea population.
Lebanon Insect Control will also control chiggers, ticks, chinch bugs,
grubs, fire ants and many other pests. Bug
Blaster and Essentria G (organic) will also do a good job.
Nylar (Pivot) is a growth regulator that will prevent the
fleas from becoming reproducing adults.
Be sure to spray the Nylar in your beds. Nylar is a great product
outside because the sun doesn’t break it down like some growth regulators
(Precor). Nylar can be used indoors as well.
Nylar mimics an insect hormone that can be sprayed around mammals,
reptiles, birds, you, your pets and children.
Nylar also controls roaches and mosquitoes as a bonus.
Always read, understand and follow product label. The
product label is a Federal Law.
