Talstar P Professional Insecticide - Questions & Answers

Absolutely not.  Talstar is not labeled to apply to any furniture, mattresses, or other areas that you may come into contact with.  Talstar is restricted to cracks and crevices and other areas that you would not come into contact with.  The instructions for applying Talstar for Bed Bugs are below, and you should know that even in the instructions it states that Talstar should not be used as your only protection against bed bugs.  Our most popular product for bed bugs is our bed bug kits.  

Bedbugs: Thorough application should be made to crack and crevices
where evidence of bed bugs occurs. This includes bed frames, box
springs, inside empty dressers and clothes closets and carpet edges,
high and low wall moldings and wallpaper edges. Do not use this product
on bed linens, pillows, mattresses or clothes. Remove all clothes
and other articles from dressers or clothes closets before application.
Allow all treated areas to thoroughly dry before use. Not recommended
for use as sole protection against bedbugs. If evidence of bedbugs is
found in/on mattresses, use products approved for this use.

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.

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.

Ground bees, also known as digger bees, can be very difficult to control no matter what product you use and they most likely will come back to your property year after year unless you do your part to alter your property to make it unfavorable to the bees. Ground bees prefer dry soils with thin grasses so irrigating the area frequently and correcting any issue that causes your grass to be thin will help deter the bees from nesting. In areas where you do not have grass, a layer of mulch will help deter the bees from nesting. Ground bees are solitary bees and are not very aggressive and are known to be a beneficial insect which is why you will not find any products specifically labeled for this type of bee. Talstar P can help provide some level of control but it will not get rid of all of the ground bees on your property. You should use Talstar P at a 1 oz of product to 1 gallon of water for a 1,000 sq ft area ratio. This will give you the fastest knockdown and the longest lasting residual. Talstar P does not offer an instant knockdown but will kill insects that come into contact with treated areas over a short period of time.

The flies normally associated with potted plants will be fungus gnats, living in the soil and whose larvae feed on bits of molds and fungi they can find in damp soils. The easiest control for them is to allow the soil to dry out completely between the times you are watering them, which may actually be the best thing for the plants anyhow. The second option would be to cover the soil in these pots with some material that prevents the flies from getting to or from the soil, such as a thick layer of spagnum moss or some screening. The third option would be to use an insecticide such Talstar P. Talstar P is a concentrated liquid insecticide that is diluted with water and then poured onto the soil and sprayed onto the plant itself. We recommend starting with letting the soil dry out between watering as this offers the fastest control in most cases.

 Talstar P will kill camel crickets. Apply Talstar P as a crack and crevice or spot spray to areas where pests hide, such as baseboards, corners, storage areas, closets, around water pipes, doors and windows, behind and under refrigerators, cabinets, sinks, furnaces, stoves, the underside of shelves, drawers and similar areas. Do not use as a space spray. Pay particular attention to cracks and crevices. We recommend treating the outside perimeter to help stop insect pests from coming indoors to start with. Apply Talstar P to a band of soil and vegetation 6 to 10 feet wide around and adjacent to the structure. Also, treat the foundation of the structure to a height of 2 to 3 feet. Depending on the pest pressure you may have to treat monthly during the times of the season when they are most prevalent. No insecticides will last a full year but a good application could allow you to see a knock down in the population of pests for a few months without needing to reapply. You can also use products like Niban Granule Bait to help kill the camel crickets that may try to enter the home by puffing into wall voids around electrical outlets and near crevices of baseboards, as well as broadcasting it in harborage areas outdoors. 

A parasitic wasp is a beneficial wasp that uses other insects including aphids, beetles, caterpillars, flies, sawflies, scale insects and true bugs as hosts into or onto which it lays its eggs. The development of the wasp eggs will usually kill the host insect. Parasitic wasps are considered beneficial insects for the natural control of many pest insects that they provide. A number of parasitic wasp species are commercially available from insectaries.

Talstar P is a great choice for treating the interior and exterior of most buildings and will eliminate over 75 different insect pests. Talstar P is diluted with water as specified by the product label and applied using a hand pump sprayer. Spray directly on baseboards, window frames, door frames, and places where utilities (pipes, wires, cables) enter in to the building and any other crack, crevice or gap where insects can enter. 

Yes, Talstar P Professional Insecticide is labeled for bedbugs and should be applied at the highest concentration of 1 fl oz per gallon of water. According to the product label: "Thorough application should be made to crack and crevices where evidence of bed bugs occurs. This includes bed frames, box springs, inside empty dressers and clothes closets and carpet edges, high and low wall moldings and wallpaper edges. Do not use this product on bed linens, pillows, mattresses or clothes. Remove all clothes and other articles from dressers or clothes closets before application. Allow all treated areas to thoroughly dry before use.
Important note from the manufacturer: “Not recommended for use as sole protection against bedbugs. If evidence of bedbugs is found in/on mattresses, use products approved for this use."

The most effective treatment for active bed bug infestations would be using a combination of products as we have in one of our Bed Bug Kits. These kits are based on how many bedrooms you have and contain enough product for the initial application and 2-3 follow up treatments that are required for bes results. Repeat treatments should be done every 7-10 days until you can go 30 days without seeing any signs of bed bugs or without anyone getting bit. 

You may also find it helpful to read our Bedbug Treatment Guide as it contains a lot of useful information regarding where and how to treat for bedbugs.

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.

Our Complete Ant Kit is perfect for sugar ants, or argentine ants which is what their real name is.  The ants will eat the products in the Complete Ant Kit and take them back to wherever their colony is and feed the bait to the queen and all of the other colony members.  Usually within 5 - 10 days the entire colony will be eliminated.  The ant gel is for placement inside the home or car, and the granules are meant for outside around the home.  However, since our kit comes with bait plate stations, you can place both the gel and the granules in the bait plate stations so the ants inside the car have a choice when feeding.

Neither Talstar or Bifen are labeled for dust mites and would not be recommended as they are very specific to the type of mites they will kill.  Please take a moment to read our article here on "Dust Mite Control"

Chiggers are not known to infest structures and are most likely outdoors in your yard.  While Talstar or Bifen are labeled for chiggers, Onslaught is typically the more recommended.  Onslaught is micro-encapsulated and will last a little longer on outdoor surfaces which does give it a bit of advantage over Talstar P.  Onslaught is also labeled for "mites" in general but would not be recommended for dust mites. Treatments for chiggers should begin in May and could need to continue through the summer as new chiggers move into the area. Treating the entire lawn is of little benefit because chiggers avoid direct sunlight and normally will not infest areas that are mowed or otherwise well maintained. Focus treatment on the unkempt areas of the lawn and lawn edge. You can also use Onslaught to do a barrier treatment around the outside of your home and in your crawl space to stop pests from moving indoors.

All of the products are pet safe when used as directed.  Pets should be out of the area during treatment until dry.