spraying dangerous chemicals at home

Gordon

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Jan 24, 2011
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Advice requested on spraying. I want to stem the ill effects of termites and other wood eating insects, ants in the kitchen and wood furniture and mosquitoes. I am thinking of purchasing a back sprayer and chemicals. I would also like to protect the person applying the chemicals.

Can someone assist in evaluating best equipment for spraying, best chemicals to use, best way to protect workers, best way to protect people and animals, and things like frequency and bad side effects?

Perhaps it is not even a job for the non professional. It seems there is a lot of biological safe products and basic looking home use tools for sale, and I see lots of unskilled looking people everywhere with back packs of unidentified chemicals.

I would like to treat wooden door frames, window frames, furniture and shelving, perhaps the perimeter and exterior of the building and newly trimmed back two acres of undergrowth. I would like to provide work for some labourers that do not have access to their own tools. Is this something that can be done safely and effectively without a lot of experience?
 

zoomzx11

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Jan 21, 2006
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The most effective treatments involve the use of highly toxic chemicals. This is a big job. Get some estimates. This requires an experienced person. Try it yourself or hire inexperienced workers and you will get poor results and expose them to some serious chemicals. And you will need to repeat some of the treatments as they wear off in time and the bugs come back, along with their friends. Experienced pest control people will know the correct chemical to use and how to apply them.
 

Gordon

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Jan 24, 2011
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I know in the civilized world I would not attempt pest control myself and also probably not need the frequency either. From looking in on some of the shops around with signs up for pest control I get the feeling that with lots of research and recommendations, controlling the process with common sense might actually be the lessor of many of the evil choices out there. At least in this country.
 

zoomzx11

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Jan 21, 2006
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There are few safeguards as regards toxic chemicals in the DR. For me, I try and stay as far away as possible from this stuff. When my guy sprays my house we leave for the day and that includes the dogs. You would not want to be any where near as the fumes were unbelievable. Made my eyes water from across the street. And he was walking around in it without even so much as a mask. One fumigation is good for two months and it kills everything that crawls. I never asked what it was. It worked just fine. I did not want to know. Twenty dollars plus lunch did the trick.
 

Gordon

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Jan 24, 2011
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Zoom that sounds a little scary to me. I do not want strangers in my house here unattended. I do not want someone putting chemicals around my kitchen, bed and other such places without me knowing exactly what they are and I do not want to pay someone that does not understand things like potential for lung cancers etc and using poison. This is exactly why I do not think I can find a professional easily and it might be better for me to control it myself. If he does not care about himself he will not care what he sprays onto what I sleep on or eat from.
 

Hillbilly

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Jan 1, 2002
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My basic, gut, instinct, is to tell you not to bother. There is no way in hell you are going to halt the advance of the termites unless you get into their nest under your house. As for mosquitoes, screens and mosquito nets are your best bet over time and perhaps a squirt or two of Baygon or one of the aerosol sprays...

The level of toxicity that you would have to install in the house would make it a "Love Canal" in the DR...

HB
 

zoomzx11

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Jan 21, 2006
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Gordon, you are right. You will not find a professional easily. The toxicity of the chemicals as regards you breathing or coming into contact goes quickly. Our house is never unattended (spraying excluded) and I understand your concern. You can buy almost anything here in terms of poisons. The alternative is to live with the insects and tarantulas. When we had the house sprayed every two months we had no ants, no roaches, no tarantulas. We did live with a few large hardy spiders but I kind of liked them and got good at catching them usually in the bath tub and throwing them out the window. We were never able to get rid of the tarantulas in the stone fence and the dogs from time to time got bit and swelled up for a day or two. Which ever way you go, good luck.
 

Criss Colon

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Jan 2, 2002
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yahoomail.com
I was thinking along "HillBilly's" advice.
When I had about 30 chickens,we saw very few "Bugs",but very little "Vegetable Garden" as well.I ate the chickens!
I "used" to have screens on the entire house.Little by little,my wonderful Dominican family have destroyed most of the screens."Why"?,why do they destroy everything?
When I bought my house 15 years ago,there was no wood,just paint on top of a few fibers.Termites ate everything! Before we moved in,I told my woodworker,"Remove all wood(Pino) and replace with "Caoba".15 years later,no termites!
If you have pine,or other soft wood,it's like "Field Of Dreams","If you build it,THEY Will Come"!
I put out a few "Ant Traps",the ones that say they will "Kill The Queen",they seem to work prettey well.I have some raid "Wasp and Hornet"spray.I shoots a concentrated stream about 20 feet.If I see a termite trail anywhere outside my house,I soak it.
My cats,also take a toll on anything that craws,runs,or flies.
"Good Kitty"!
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Personal note:
I turned 65 this month.I now have to read my "Rants" before I post them.This is due to the huge amount of "Typos",mistakes,and incoherant sentences.
Is this the "Beginning of the End"?
Will I be like "Ronnie" soon?
Does it matter?
Will I KNOW,or will I just stay in bed drooling some morning?
Maybe someone who has alraedy gone through the gate to senility,like "Yanadoo/pi2" can tell us.
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and what's up with all those "C's"???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
 

Gordon

New member
Jan 24, 2011
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CC the cccccccccccccc might have something to do with an allergy to all those ccccccccccccccchickens.

I have things like wooden door and window frames that I do not know its type although I did run into the craftsman that built them. He said a truckload of wood was brought up for the project from the SW border close to Haiti. After five years the termites eat at the base and up to and around the door hinges. I had a "professional" come in and apply some chemical to penetrate and stop the rest while he replaced the damaged portion. It was Drago 25 and it worked well enough that I would like to do regular maintenance.
I do some spot cleaning with the ants and it works for a bit but they come up the walls and in and send back for buddies at any smell of leftovers from the raspberry cheesecake baking day. They are so invasive and I would like to stop them coming up the walls. They love coming for my hummingbird food supplies and toast crumbs. I have heard you can spray Diatomaceous earth but have not found it or tried it. The ants get into the smallest of places to set up home even in the cement grouting.
I can live with a few mosquitoes that only come for a small drink of blood around dusk for a half an hour but you also have to keep the women happy. I am up in the hills and they do not bother me much.
Now you have also touched a sore point in my life. I had a minor problem with rats and my vet rudely encouraged me to take home one of his little kittens. I was convinced when he offered free checkup and a spay job for 1000RD. I am now distraught. The cat is absolutely gorgeous and a very hard worker (at times and on her schedule) but my furniture is torn, my screens are torn and I have pieces of gheckos each morning and all the frogs legs I could every want to eat stretched out on the floor at many times during the day. She has that Domincan sense of pride about it too. She is sure she will get one of my hummingbirds next and you know I think she might be right. It is a real love hate relationship but the smell does drive the rats away. Go figure!
 

Gordon

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Jan 24, 2011
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I recently cut back some heavy growth on about two acres (and delivered to a local organic composting operation Puro Verde). A "professional" with 7 years history in hotel maintenance administration told me I should kill back the resulting new growth with a chemical he brings in by "special" order and has to order it. For now I have decided to use machete mowers on a regular basis in order to keep things in better order and will monitor the changes in the bug situation as a result for now. I also cut back any branches that come near the house and give the coco rats a bridge to enter on. Slow to learn and very hesitant to rely on local professional advice any longer.