Thursday, September 18, 2014

Increasing your results

Ok, so synthetic pesticides are potentially the best roach killer. However great they are, they can't get everything and it still takes time. No matter what you do or choose to use it takes time. That doesn't mean you can't decrease the amount of time it takes to get rid of them completely.  Combine your treatments with IGR, insect growth regulators, and reduce the time it takes to kill them off.

What are insect growth regulators?  They're exactly as they sound. They prevent roaches from growing up into adults. What they are is man-made cockroach hormones. Just as we have learned to make pesticides imitating these designed by nature to fend off insects,  we have discovered how to make the hormones that roaches need to molt into adults.

For a juvenile roach to molt into an adult and achieve reproductive capabilities, it has be completely free of a specific hormone. Using these man-made hormones and exposing the juveniles to them, they will not be able to turn into an adult. Since we are always keeping them exposed to the hormones, they can never be completely free of them. That means less reproducing and results in lower numbers of roaches to deal with.

As great as insect growth regulators sound, don't mistaken them for a pesticide. They are not capable of killing the cockroaches in your home. The only thing they will do is help reduce the numbers from exploding again after your treat it with pesticides properly. You must use IGRs in combination with a pesticide such as boric acid, or cypermethrin (my personal favorite and what I consider to be the best roach killer ever)

Ultimately you are able to kill them all in a shorter amount of time because there are way less roaches that you have to kill. One important thing to remember about IGR is they are ineffective by themselves.  They won't kill roaches if used alone. Make sure you spray insecticides as well.

Where to spray pesticides for maximum results

Having access to the same pesticides that professional exterminators do doesn't mean you'll automatically get the same results.  You may have the tools, but you need to know how to use it properly. Failure to do so will only end up emptying your pockets and worse, allow the roaches to survive and grow resistant to the pesticides.  Spray them in the right spots to make sure they die fast. How do you know where the right spots are? I'll cover that here.

Before you jump to any specific areas, you need the do a little observing.  Look for signs where that tell you there are many roaches nearby or that many of them move through the area. One sure sign is roach droppings. They're often very small and dark in color (black most of the time). They look almost like coffee grounds. 

You can also wait until nighttime to observe where you see them most.  Leave the light off for a few hours and come back. Turn on the light quickly and look where most of them are and where they run off to. These areas should be sprayed.

Now to common areas that need to be sprayed. Let's start with the outside first. Spray along the entire perimeter of the house. What we're doing is forming a pesticide barrier. Any cockroaches that come in from the outside will touch the pesticide and likely die. Spray along any potential entrance spots like cracks and vents too.

On the inside of the house, you need to spray under the cabinets and especially along all the baseboards.  Door and window trims should be sprayed too. Also look for small cracks and holes where roaches can fit in through and they those spots too.

Spraying in these areas will increase your results. Since the roaches are more likely to walk through these areas, the chances of them touching it and dying from it are much higher. Also remember that you need to reapply these pesticides every month until they are gone.

This is IT, THE Best!

Cockroaches should be left alone; IF we're talking about the outdoor ones who are minding their own lives in their part of the woods. But we're not talking about those guys; they're fine as long as they stay there. We're talking about the roaches that invade our homes and act like they're the ones making the payments.  The only thing we need to be asking about these pests is, "what's the best roach killer EVER?" And that is what I'll be concentrating on.

Why should we kill them?
I really hope you didn't come here with that question in mind. If you're still thinking they should be left alone, then I'm afraid we won't agree and you may not like what I have to say here. If you know the frustration they bring and the concerns they raise then we'll get along just fine.

If you feel you need a little convincing then let me give you some. Roaches are known to carry diseases with them. They crawl through the nastiest of places and they eat will eat rotting garbage full of harmful bacteria. All these nasty and potentially harmful germs cling to their bodies. Covered in these germs, they make their way argument through your food, eating surfaces and eating utensils. What happens when you eat something they've taken a bite out of? You eat whatever germ they were carrying and spread onto the food. The same goes for when you use that spoon, fork, or knife.
nature's best roach killer
Nature's roach killer (as well as other insects)

Looking on the brighter side of things and assuming they aren't carrying diseases, they're still going through your food. Would you find it appetizing to know that the sandwich you were half way through, the bag holding the bread had a couple of roaches crawling through there? Just moments before you made your sandwich, they were in and out numerous times munching on the very same slice of bread you're biting out of.

What is the best killer?
If we weren't in agreement before, I hope we are now. I'm sure many of you are here because you have already experienced what living with roaches mean. Let us get to talking about the best cockroach killer. What is the answer? The answer is pyrethrin, a pesticide designed specifically by nature to kill harmful pests to flowers of the chrysanthemum family. These flowers create this natural pesticide that attacks the central nervous system of insect pests attempting to bring them their deaths.

We aren't quite done just yet though. Pyrethrins are great, but they aren't the best. The best are actually the man-made imitations of these natural pesticides, called pyrethroids.  What makes these synthetic pesticides so much better that they get the crown to be the best? Staying power is the answer to that question.
The natural stuff does what it was created by nature to do, but it has one major flaw.  It will lose Its effectiveness very quickly if it's exposed to light and/or oxygen. The synthetic stuff kills pests just the same, but it doesn't lose its effectiveness as fast. In fact, one spray application of the man-made stuff can last as long as three full months. At least that's what the manufacturers are claiming. I personally think the magic number for them is thirty days.

There are several variations of these synthetic pesticides.  One of the most popular and commonly used among professional exterminators currently go by the name Cypermethrin. They're also used in many popular over the counter but sprays, but the concentration is very low and doesn't pack the punch needed sometimes.

Where can I get them?
It used to be that only professional exterminators could get their hands on professional strength cypermethrin. Not these days though. Thanks to the internet these are now easily available to purchase through the World Wide Web. A quick search on Google or your favorite search engine will yield plenty of results.  Otherwise check out your favorite market places like eBay and Amazon.

I only covered what I felt is the best roach killer. I didn't cover how to use it or where to use it because those will be covered in the near future. In the meantime, I've found pestsoff.com to be a great source for info about how to use them and such. By the time you read this, it will probably already be done. If you have roach problems, give this insecticide a try because it is well worth it.