Do you use pesticides in your home?

[Yollam]

Poll question: Do you use pesticides in your home?

For the most part, we don't use them. I don't like bugs, so we try to keep the house as clean as we can to discourage them coming. For the most part this has not been a problem. There were a couple of times in Florida when we had very bad infestations and had to fumigate, but overall, we avoid their use as their residue is harmful and we do have kids.

But now we are living temporarily with the father-in-law until our house is built and he insists on spraying bug spray all the time, all over the place. He sees one roach, and he is filling the room with a cloud of noxious spray, when if it was us, we'd just hit it with a shoe.

So how about you?

[Warpy]

1. I've had the same can of Raid under my sink

for 20 years. I've used it just once, at the exterior threshhold, in an attempt to discourage big, black ants from coming any farther. I think that must've been about 10 years ago. It worked.

I'm sure the propellant has long since departed. I really should throw it out.

[CountAllVotes]

2. try "Orange Glo"

Orange Glo is a type of furniture polish. Pergo flooring was recently put in my kitchen. I noticed a bunch of ants had come in and I wiped them up with a wet sponge, dried they area and sprayed the area with Orange Glo. The ants went away and did not come back. Every time I have any sort of "bug" problem, I use Orange Glo. In fact, it is even used to spray around the outside of the house as it seems bugs just hate this stuff and yes, it is furniture polish (you can find it in KMART, etc.) and it is not horribly expensive.

Strange I know, but hey it works! :D

:kick:

[Viva_La_Revolution]

22. Orange 409 worked for me

It's the citrus they hate. :)

[CountAllVotes]

27. I think the reason the Orange Glo furniture polish works is ...

because the ants cannot move in it. It is very oily and it doesn't come off. I find it keeps them away for a good long time. Probably between the citrus odor and the oil that is the reason it works so well, especially on ants it seems.

I'll have to check-out the other orange based pesticides mentioned.

Thanks!

:kick:

[NMDemDist2]

3. we have the foundation sprayed once a month professionally

mainly to keep the termites out (our guy uses a watered down termite spray)

since we are moving, we discontinued service last month and I'm already seeing the bugs again

I don't have any or use any inside and haven't for years

[CountAllVotes]

4. try spraying Orange Glo around the foundation

Shocking I'll tell you, shocking. Pests? Where?

[knitter4democracy]

5. I use Dr. Bronner's liquid soap diluted with water in a sprayer.

It kills them and cleans up any trails. Works great!

[NMDemDist2]

14. I love Dr Bronners! n/t

[knitter4democracy]

26. Me too!

We first started using it when Hubby was in med school and his gross anatomy prof told them all that it was the only thing that gets out that dissection smell. He was right, and I started using it for a lot of things.

[OhioChick]

6. I rarely spray any chemicals around the house......

Not good. Chemical sensitivities, here. Not a good idea for your father in law to be spraying all the time with the kids around.

[Synnical]

7. I use Combat Roach Baits

Change them out about every six months. I'm also allergic to stinging/biting insects so I keep a can of Raid under the sink for spiders. I also use Frontline on my dog to control the fleas and ticks.

[Rosemary2205]

8. We raid for massive ant problem

I cannot overstate how bad our ant problem is. A single bread crumb can draw 1000's of ants within 10 minutes. I tried every non-toxic or less toxic method ever relayed to me - including the Orange glow - to no avail. Even Orkin failed with the ant gel product.

We finally went to Triazide granules around the outside perimeter of the house and Raid for ants on all the baseboard inside. If I do it on a regular program we still have to keep everything we own in zippy bags and clean mercilessly, but so far, no ant crisis.

[mike_c]

18. are they the little argentine sugar ants...?

Those are among the most invasive. I've achieved long-lasting control with a combination of Grant's ant baits and a sugar water boric acid bait. The later takes time to work, but it does the trick, especially for sub-colonies established indoors, e.g. in flower pots. I had a thriving colony inside my coffee maker once, LOL. Grants is quicker and gets most colonies though.

I recommend you try the Grants first, putting stakes outdoors AND indoors, especially along foraging trails where ants will encounter them easily. That usually achieves significant reduction within a couple of weeks. Then go after any remaining colonies if necessary.

[vireo]

9. I understand Tom Delay is available

But seriously, try substituting your FIL's toxic product with something more natural, like Orange Guard http://www.orangeguard.com/.

For ants, I have found that borax products work well, or try diatomaceous earth.

[donco6]

10. Very Very rarely.

Thankfully I live in an arid climate, so we don't have many bugs. But the ants can get a little crazy at times. Fire ants at the cabin have to be controlled. That's about it.

[techhead]

11. Hells yes!

I live on a farm, and on any given day we have:

1) Wasps
2) yellow jackets
3) ants
4) mice
5) raccoons
6) spiders

and numerous other critters who love nothing more than to camp out indoors with us. We clean constantly and they still manage to make it in. No roaches in the country, though.

[NMDemDist2]

13. welcome to DU techead!

:hi:

[techhead]

19. Thank you kindly!

[kapkao]

12. yes, but mainly for fleas.

aside from having 4 furry family members and an occasional snafu with drops, etc we also occasionally have bigtime trails of Argentine Ants going to nutritious places like sink w/ dirty dishes, catfood bowls, etc. They're an introduced species if it isn't obvious, and proliferate during above average rainfall. They definitely don't bite, and I'm not sure how harmful they are, but we 'draw' lines of petsafe antkilling goo across the trails to make them stop. I in addition to that my pa powders insect nests as they come about. I think we also have one of those annual sprayings that supposedly last all year. I see a fat, dark woodroach once every 3 months (if that); I just let it slide or inindate it with anything furniture safe (to suffocate it), and that'll be it. We also had a mouse problem many years back. So did many of our neighbors.

I am a very messy, disorganized person, and I don't think it has much to do with filth. Pest problems seem to infinitely be more connected with regional and external trends rather than internal ones.

ed,

oh yeah, almost forgot.

I absolutely must be flea-free because just having one tickling my hide is enough to make me scratch and probe my skin for hours. It makes me very OCD-ish (Monkish!), and even if i'm not scratching, i'm still thinking a lot about it and worrying. BLEGH!

[in_cog_ni_to]

15. I use "Orange Guard" it's all natural, can be used around food, pets and

humans. It has a slight orange scent and WORKS. Ant trays work well too.

[otohara]

16. No Toxins In My Home

all natural cleaning products -

[mike_c]

17. I use passive baits on occasion against Argentine ants...

...but that's about it. Of course,I'm an entomologist and have no issues with insects-- the argentine ants would be tolerable if it weren't for their sheer numbers. Spiders are quite active here and they keep any other insects under control, at least in my house. I use Advantage (imidicloprid) on my cats occasionally too, but fleas aren't usually a big problem.

[lectrobyte]

20. We try to use non-toxic solutions if possible, plain old boric acid for

ants and diatomaceaous earth for roaches.

[AlienGirl]

21. Aerosol sprays of any kind are bad for birds

Anything in an aerosol spray--pesticide, air freshener, hairspray, WD-40, etc--is dangerous to birds' respiratory systems, so any of that stuff is only used with extensive precautions to keep the birds away from it. I also am reluctant to put out ant baits or anything like that, because you never know where it might get tracked or what chewy piece of wood it might accidentally end up on.

I normally do most of my cleaning with vinegar, baking soda, Bon Ami cleanser, Poop Off, and small amounts of bleach or Pine Sol (again, well-ventilated and with precautions).

Tucker

[Blue_In_AK]

23. No pesticides...

Just those little yellow sticky strips to catch the white flies on my curry trees, and insecticidal detergent for the same purpose. We don't have roaches or ants up here, and I've learned to live with the mosquitoes.

[dysfunctional press]

24. i spray for mosquitos and bees/wasps in the yard...

and under the eaves...but i never use anything inside the house.

[Southsideirish]

25. We used to wage pitched battles against ants and other creepie crawlies -

then we began adopting the Buddhist philosophy of harm no living thing and gave up the war.

Now when we find one we just pick them up and toss them outside. Oddly enough, our new passivity completely stopped the huge ant invasion we had a few years ago - they were everywhere. When we started acting in a more benevolent way towards them, i.e. gently sweeping them up and putting them outside, they went away and never bothered us again. We learned our lesson and do that with all of them now.