Talstar P Professional Insecticide - Questions & Answers

Our most popular general use product is called Talstar.  It is widely used by pest control companies because it is labeled for almost every insect you could have a problem with and you can use it outside the home as well as inside, it is odorless and very safe for use around children and pets.  It is a liquid concentrate that you mix with water in a one gallon hand pump sprayer.  It will last for 60 to 90 days outside in between treatments.  It is also labeled for lawn and ornamental use, and can be used on trees, plants, bushes and shrubs for all sorts of ornamental pests including Japanese beetles, mosquitoes, and other leaf eating pests. Talstar is also available in a granule formula called Talstar PL if you prefer to use granules.

Based on the fact that you are in Texas and the description you gave, the multi-legged critter with the stingers on the back end sounds like it could be the Texas Red Headed Centipede (they are venomous) but we can't say for sure without seeing a picture of the insect. You can Google Texas red Headed Centipede to do a comparison if you like.

There are many products on the market that have a long lasting residual. Unfortunately, all of them will only have very limited results. Stink bugs move into structures to overwinter. They usually squeeze into wall voids, false ceilings, attics and other areas that are inaccessible to people and insecticides. As the heat kicks on in the house, the stink bugs warm up and start becoming active and emerge from hiding, driving residents nuts. Because most folks usually have no idea where the bugs are harboring you can only treat around baseboards, door frames and window frames and hope the insects will emerge where you have sprayed. After they contact the treated areas, it can take several hours for them to die. It is still worth spraying now to get rid of some of the bugs, but you will keep seeing them until spring when they will emerge en masse and leave the building. They do not eat, mate or lay eggs while indoors so need to worry about any damage or future baby stink bugs. This year you can be proactive by stopping these pests before they move in for the winter. You can use Talstar P outdoors around your door frames, window frames, vents, eaves, around the bottom of your foundation, and any other crack or crevice where an insect could gain entry, once a month August-November.

Talstar P is effective for fire ant control.  Per the product label, "Fire Ant Mound control is optimized by combining broadcast applications that will control foraging workers and newly mated fly-in queens with mound drenches that will control existing colonies. If the soil is not moist, then it is important to irrigate before application or use a high volume application. Apply broadcast treatments at 0.5 to 1 fluid oz. per 1,000 square feet. Use enough finished volume to penetrate thatch or sod. Treat mounds by applying 1 oz of Talstar P per mound in 1 to 2 gallons water by sprinkling the mound until it is wet and treat 3 feet out around the mound. Use the higher volume for mounds larger than 12”. Treat mounds with sufficient force to break their apex and allow the insecticide solution to flow into the ant tunnels. For best results, apply in cool weather (65 - 80 F) or in the early morning or late evening hours."

Talstar P is NOT labeled for use in pastures containing grazing animals. Extinguish Plus is actually the product of choice in areas where horses may be kept or will be grazing (as long as the horses will not be used for feed or food). Extinguish Plus combines the power of hydramethylnon with an insect growth regulator (IGR) to kill fire ant workers and prevent queens from laying fertile eggs. The result is complete fire ant colony control. Extinguish Plus Fire Ant Bait is best used in the spring or early fall, or whenever fire ants are active. The ants will feed off Extinguish Plus and spread the bait throughout the entire colony, halting the infestation within weeks. You can use this product on pastureland, however you must remove all grazing livestock for at least 48 hours after application.  Then they can return to the land after 48 hours.

Cicada Killers are actually benificial insects and will not harm you, your son or your dog. They are not aggressive insects just ominous looking because of their size, and you would literally have to take one and force it on your skin to get it to bite you. If you are wanting to eliminate them, the best way to treat is to use a dust in each hole in the yard. This may seem extremely time consuming and tedious but it is truly the most effective and thorough treatment method. Dusting the holes with something like Tempo 1% Dust will allow it to flow through the nest better than a liquid. You could also use the Talstar P or the liquid version of Tempo-Tempo SC Ultra-since it has a quicker knock down to control the surface areas they could land to help control new ones that enter the area. Dust the holes and treat plant/lawn surfaces with Tempo every 30 days through the season. Please let us know if you have any other questions.

Spring tails can be tough to eliminate because they reproduce very quickly. In almost every case where people have spring tails they also have a moisture problem such as a leaking or sweating pipe, poor ventilation in their crawl space, lots of wet mulch right up next to their house, etc. You must locate and correct the moisture problem to get rid of the spring tails, insecticides alone will not do the job. We do carry Talstar P for indoor and outdoor control which can help you to reduce the numbers of springtails. For indoor control be sure to spray along the baseboards, window frames, door frames, piping like under the bathroom and kitchen sink, etc. As for outdoor control you should spray 2 to 3 feet up the side of the house and 2 to 3 feet out on the ground. If you have mulch close to the foundation wall rake the mulch back away from the house and spray Talstar P under and over top the mulch. That will give you a 4 to 6 foot barrier around the exterior of your house. If you are on a crawlspace be sure to inspect that area for any moisture issues and spray accordingly.

Our most popular general use product is called Talstar.  It is widely used by pest control companies because it is labeled for almost every insect you could have a problem with (including ants, roaches and silverfish) and you can use it outside the home as well as inside, it is odorless and very safe for use around children and pets.  It is a liquid concentrate that you mix with water in a one gallon hand pump sprayer.  It will last for 60 to 90 days outside in between treatments.  It is also labeled for lawn and ornamental use, and can be used on trees, plants, bushes and shrubs for all sorts of ornamental pests including Japanese beetles, mosquitoes, and other leaf eating pests.

For mounding ants in the yard you may also want to consider using a bit such as Extinguish Plus. The bait will kill both the workers and other ants in the colony and sterilize the queens so the mounds won't keep moving and popping up in other places. (by using just a topical spray such as Talstar, only the ants that contact the treated areas are killed but the other ants that remain in the colony usually just move and make a new mound).

Bayer Tree & Shrub Protect & Feed is not labeled for bagworm control. The imidacloprid products that we carry are not labeled for bagworms and we would not recommend that you try to use them for bagworm control. We recommend that you choose a product that lists bagworms on the product label such as Talstar P (Talstar P is the product most commonly selected by pros for bagworm control), Thuricide, Mavrik, or Permethrin SFR. Please take a few minutes to read our article Bagworm Control to learn when you should start spraying for bagworms.

Talstar P is our most popular selling product for mosquito control.  It is a liquid concentrate that you mix with water and apply using any hand pump sprayer or backpack sprayer.  The key is to apply it to all shrubs, trees, and other foliage around the house or patio you are trying to provide relief at.  It should be directed not only on top of the leaves and plants, but on the underside of the leaves as well which is where the mosquitoes hang out.  It should be applied every 30 days for optimum control.  It is also very good for bees and wasps, however you would not want to apply it or any other product directly to play sets where children will touch treated surfaces.  Also, Talstar P is labeled for over 100 different insects and will work in just about any situation. 

You mentioned four very different pests in your question. Spiders and crickets can be controlled using Talstar P. Talstar P is a great general use insecticide that can be applied indoors and outdoors to help get rid of and prevent most crawling insects. Fruit flies and pantry moths on the other hand will require you to locate the source of the infestation to get rid of the pests. We do have fruit fly traps as well as pantry moth traps but these traps are meant for monitoring purposes and will not get rid of the entire infestation. You can learn more about fruit fly control by reading our Fruit Fly Control Articles and Pantry moths by reading our Pantry Moth Control Articles. These articles will help you learn how to find and eliminate the infestation.