Monday, August 20, 2018

Flea Control 401


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.