Spray for chinch bugs myself or hire someone?

projectpete19 – posted 09 August 2007 07:10

Hello,

i have chinch bugs, which was confirmed by a lawn care company giving me a free estimate. they want to charge $125 to spray my yard (approx 1200 sq ft) i have a big yard. i bought some insecticide from lowes made to kill bugs which includes chinch bugs, can i not accomplish the same thing by spraying myself or do the professionals use a better product?

swflawn – posted 15 August 2007 06:04

Need to hire a company you trust. Products arent as good as they used to be making the job harder for the home owner to do themselves. Where are you located?

projectpete19 – posted 15 August 2007 07:00

I am in orlando

Alex_in_FL – posted 20 October 2007 12:59

$125 for 1,200 SF? That seems a bit over priced (okay, extremely over priced!!). Go to Lowes or HomeDepot or ACE Hardware and buy a bottle of permethrin in a container you connect to a garden hose. Remember to stay upwind, wear gloves and glasses, and take a shower afterwards (this is just to be safe, not to scare you).

Permethrin bought by Pros is the same permethrin you can buy, theirs is just more concentrated and they have to dilute it by law to label rates.

jr – posted 20 October 2007 16:12

You can not say that is overpriced. We don’t know what chemical they are going to use for one thing, prices of which vary wildly. Plus, they will have to come out twice to complete the treatment, unless they use the very expensive insecticide onyx, in which case he would definitely be getting his money’s worth, for up to a year residual. If $125 is too much for me to diagnose, sell the job, schedule, purchase and mix the chemical, and send a tech and truck to a property TWICE within thirty days, then I need to get out of the business.

Alex_in_FL – posted 27 October 2007 22:04

H’mm. Okay, JR convinced me. You should pay that service company $125 to do what you can do in 15 minutes for less than $15. That company needs your money far more than you do. And BTW – no more mowing your yard. You need to pay a lawn service $200 a month to do it. I mean, you might have to sharpen a blade or buy a new plug for your mower.

And you probably need to pay an HVAC tech $75 each month to come change out your filters.

Sigh. Yes you can do it yourself. Yes the permethrin from Lowe’s is as good as the permethrin the pros use. And yes, $125 to spray 1200 SF of lawn is extremely expensive. Oh goodness, I said $125 is too expensive again didn’t I… oh dear me.

[This message has been edited by Alex_in_FL (edited 27 October 2007).]

jr – posted 29 October 2007 12:38

I didn’t say he couldn’t do it himself. That isn’t the question I was addressing. I was addressing the price he was quoted, which is what you are going to pay if you hire someone to do it. If he wants to do it himself, more power to him, and yes it will only cost him fifteen or twenty dollars to do it. However, its obvious you have no idea about the costs of running a pest control business. Research it before getting snotty with people on an internet message board.

Alex_in_FL – posted 09 November 2007 17:25

JR:

Your right, I have no idea about operating costs. Perhaps you would be so kind as to tell me much I should be paying my full time exotic vegetation control crew and my part-time support crew???

Alex

[This message has been edited by Alex_in_FL (edited 09 November 2007).]

jr – posted 12 November 2007 06:53

Why don’t you just fire them all instead, and tell your clients to do it themselves for far less money, since that seems to be your attitude?I really don’t see why you decided to flame me on this thread, when all I did was agree with the estimate given to this man by another pest control company. I assume this board is for sharing advice and knowledge, and not for you to spam up threads because you choose not to read people’s posts, or misunderstand them, and go on a rant.

Alex_in_FL – posted 23 November 2007 09:56

JR:

You say the forum is about sharing knowledge and such. Okay, let’s compare posts:

JR: (1) Agreed with high quote, (2) said I could not say a quote was high, (3) went into rant about your business expenses.

Alex: Answered the questions (A: yes quote is high; B: yes he can do himself, and C: herbicide quality is same in this case), (2) identified an effective insecticide, (3) identifed supplier, (4) identified specific container (5) and gave tips on how to apply safely.

Now, JR, whose post provided the most knowledge useful to the poster?

My follow up posts used irony and allusion to show that your rant about your operating cost is irrelevant to the home owner and that I do have knowledge of this industry.

Jr: You could be helpful to posters if you answered their questions instead of flaming those of us who do answer questions.

Alex

[This message has been edited by Alex_in_FL (edited 23 November 2007).]

jr – posted 27 November 2007 15:31

You are so rational, and yet you are the one that managed to get offended by me agreeing with an estimate for services in a business that I am in, and repeatedly take out of context my comments about why you couldn’t say that price was out of line. I’ll explain it to you one more time. We did not really have enough information to make a judgement either way. First of all, we (professionals)don’t use permethrin on people’s yards to control chinch bugs. It stinks, its more hazardous, and people just don’t want it. Its cheaper yes, but people would rather pay for an odorless, safer product with better residual, like talstar. Secondly, we don’t know if that price included a follow up re-treatment in thirty days, as it should. Given those conditions, I think $125 is reasonable. If the pest control operator plans to apply permethrin once and disappear with his money, then that would be outrageous. So while we are so busy comparing whose information is more useful, I would agree that I should have explained that in the very beginning with my first reply to the thread.

[This message has been edited by jr (edited 27 November 2007).]

Heyyou – posted 30 November 2007 22:45

Permethrin is an odorless, colorless crystalline solid or a viscous liquid that is white to pale yellow.

Product: LD50 (oral rats)Bifenthrin (Talstar) 54-70 Permthrin >5,000 (~100 times safer)

Both are Toxicity II, with C ratings for carcinogenicity and have caution on the label. Bifenthrin may or may not be more persistent in the environment

Based upon this, Talstar would seem to be more toxic and less safe than permethrin.

According to the University of Florida (E. Buss), both products are satisfactory for chinch bugs.

projectpete19 – posted 03 December 2007 07:34

i bought a permethrin solution from lowes that i have to dilute made for chinch bugs. i did the coffee can test and found that i do have chinch bugs, how long should it take to kill the chinch bugs after i spray?

How long should i wait until after i spray to do the coffee can test again and not see any bugs? Will spraying once kill them?

Alex_in_FL – posted 09 December 2007 07:25

Adults and larva should be dead in 1-3 days after spraying. Any eggs will hatch in about 20 days.

Recommendation:- Do coffee can test and confirm you killed the adults (mainly tells you how effectively you put out the insecticide).

– Regardless of results, do a follow up application in about 30 days. Objective is to kill any new hatchlings and surviving adults.

Failure to follow up contributes to pests developing resistance to insecticides.

Good luck!

Alex

[This message has been edited by Alex_in_FL (edited 09 December 2007).]

OJT56 – posted 26 March 2008 18:49

Previously lived in Orlando. Go to Lesco Warehouse (now John Deere Landscapes) on Michigan in Kissimmee – purchase Talstar 0-0-7 and treat your lawn twice a year. Talstar will control most every insect that St. Aug is susceptible to except grubs. If you have grubs you will be able to pull the entire runner from the surface without much difficulty (resistance). Also, if you edge your drives and sidewalks do not sweep or blow the cut debris back into the grass or to the edges where the grass meets the concrete. Chinch bugs make their home in thatch and this practice is conducive to creating additional thatch. Also I have found that applying Talstar granular with a hand held spreader starting at the foundation of the structure and working your way to the perimeter of the property is best. Put product down dry and lightly water in the next day. I don’t claim to be a professional but have had much success with Lesco products for the past eight years in FL. Good Luck!

MousehouseDave – posted 15 September 2008 00:15

quote:Originally posted by OJT56:Previously lived in Orlando. Go to Lesco Warehouse (now John Deere Landscapes) on Michigan in Kissimmee – purchase Talstar 0-0-7 and treat your lawn twice a year. Talstar will control most every insect that St. Aug is susceptible to except grubs. If you have grubs you will be able to pull the entire runner from the surface without much difficulty (resistance). Also, if you edge your drives and sidewalks do not sweep or blow the cut debris back into the grass or to the edges where the grass meets the concrete. Chinch bugs make their home in thatch and this practice is conducive to creating additional thatch. Also I have found that applying Talstar granular with a hand held spreader starting at the foundation of the structure and working your way to the perimeter of the property is best. Put product down dry and lightly water in the next day. I don’t claim to be a professional but have had much success with Lesco products for the past eight years in FL. Good Luck!

OJT56,I am in Orlando also.I have a newly(2months)sodded yard,St Augustine.I also had chinch bugs and sod worms.I applied last week fertilizer with Insect control.How long do I have to wait before applying the fertilizer you mentioned?

Alex_in_FL – posted 12 October 2008 04:32

The Talstar he is referencing is mainly an insecticide. If you applied a an insect control with fertilizer product a couple of weeks ago you probably do not need additional fertilizer (…yet). Was it a grub control product (since you said you had grubs)?

Also, suggest you start new thread with your exact situation.