Up at the barn, there's one particular beam that is being slowly (actually, quite quickly) eaten away by insects. It's right up under the roof, so not easy, for the moment, to reach.
The simple solution seemed to be these insecticide smoke bomb things. Light blue touch paper and retire!
Underneath the ring-pull lid was a wick and lots of surrounding loose white powder. I followed the instructions, and lit up.
The can instantly bellowed smoke; there was only just enough time for me to descend the ladder, take a professional photo, and run hot-foot for the door.
Will it work; I have no idea. I lit the beast directly below the infested beam, and seeing that smoke gets into every tiny crevice, I'm hoping for great things. The proof will be (in a few days time) if there's any more fine 'sawdust' on the ground beneath the offending beam; I'm crossing my fingers that there won't be. If the little buggers were all holding their breaths, I shan't be pleased.
The tin advises that I don't venture back before 6 hours have passed..... I think I might give it a bit more!
The tin advises that I don't venture back before 6 hours have passed..... I think I might give it a bit more!
16 comments:
I bought some of these for the hen houses
And even the red mite survived
Dirty little buggers!
I was just wondering what Cro was up to now, when this compelling evidence of the use of chemical weapons pops up. Expect an arial visit from the U.S. Military.
Sounds like waste of time and money then!
We use Phostoxin here. Our biggest problem here are rats, termites, wood boring beetles and cockroaches. A dose of Phostoxin does for them all but...
I have condensed the quite lengthy hazmat sheet for you;
"Phostoxin is a commercially available chemical for use by trained and licenced professionals for gassing bulk stocks of grain and such like. Releasing a canful into something as voluminous as a warehouse will kill anything crawling, walking or flying and requires a period of 36 hours to pass before personnel in Self Contained Breathing Apparatus can enter with specialist detection equipment in order to determine that the lethal gas produced has deteriorated to safe levels and consumers can no longer get a whiff of it on their cornflakes."
We do not have SCBA or testing eqpt so we just hold our breath when we open the can, toss the pellets in and close the door.
I would advise that you get someone in to spray all of the timbers with a property brand of wood preservative.
The stuff above contains 'Permethrine'. I've not heard of this before, and have to rely on their honesty. I just hope that it kills the bugs I don't want.
We shall treat all the wood as we can get to it. The high-up bits are still out of reach. When we do the floor I'll be able to give it all a good dose (and replace where necessary).
Permithrine based insecticides are what we use to spray inside walls of residences with to control mosquioes. It is a very effective contact insecticide; the bugs land on the walls and die.
If the smoke bomb does not work, try to find one of those back pack pressure sprays with the long spray lances orchard owners use to spray their trees and give the beams a good soaking. There'll be a good Bayer product out there which you mix with water specifically designed to deal with wood boring insects.
Chemicals make me nervous, but bugs, especially termites eating my house, scare me more. I hope it works for you, Cro.
Bugs...ick. I don't leg chemicals but I don't like bugs more. Good luck Cro.
Getting quite adventurous I would call it Cro.
Menagerie Manor was built in 1916, we constantly spray for termites. Sometimes I think it is just a big lunch box for bugs.
that's 'like' not leg...sheesh
HA! Nice of you to hold your breath long enough to snap a picture for your blog. Let's hope the buggers don't hold theirs, too.
HA! Nice of you to hold your breath long enough to snap a picture for your blog. Let's hope the buggers don't hold theirs, too.
Coming from a place where termites are a constant and dangerous pest this post fills me with horror. That looks like a supporting beam to me and it is rapidly being weakened by those rotten little beasties!You really need to find out what they are so you can tackle them properly or you won't succeed and your roof won't too high up to reach if it all comes tumbling down !!!
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