The Golden State: Where & How to Live, Secure, Visit, Enjoy and Thrive in California

First Aid For The Ailing Houses

From a cost standpoint, the hand sprayer filled with the same type of mixture used in the aerosol can will give excellent results at somewhat less expense. Most hardware and large grocery stores carry liquid insecticide packaged in 1 pint to 1 gallon cans. Improvements in the old hand sprayer have provided a tool that will do a good job of breaking the liquid into a fine mist, and providing a steady stream of it into the atmosphere.

RESIDUAL INSECTICIDES

While pyrethrum is a contact killer and works quickly when applied directly, DDT and lindane are slower killers, which may not kill for some time after the insect comes in contact with it. Because both DDT and lindane have great residual effectiveness, they are often used as painted-on emulsion or as a powder, applied where insects will come into contact with them, and carry off particles to poison the rest of the colony.

Both DDT and lindane have more toxic effects on humans and animals than do pyrethrum or allethrin, and should be used with a great deal more care. If children or pets come into contact with the former, illness may result.

In any insect control, the most important thing is sanitation. If the breeding places and food are cleaned up, insects will not long inhabit the area in large numbers. But because it is impossible to remove completely all the material that will feed a fly, for example, chemical insecticides will have to be used to free the house of the strays that wander in.

TEMPERATURE

At temperatures below 50 degrees, almost all household insects become dormant; eggs do not hatch, worms are inert, and adults do not fly or move. Cold storage offered for the protection of furs and fabrics during the summer is usually at temperatures of 40 degrees or slightly higher, which is satisfactory in preventing damage but will not kill eggs and worms that may be in the garments. These will become active and will develop at higher temperatures, even after many months in cold storage. With few exceptions, exposure for some hours to temperatures of 10 degrees above zero or lower will kill all stages of insect life. In the cold climates, a house that is not heated over the winter, as in the case of a country house, will usually be free of insect pests when opened in the spring.

Should an infestation become apparent during the winter, upholstered furniture, mattresses, cushions, and similar articles can be cleared of eggs and worms by leaving them outdoors for at least 8 hours when the temperature is 15 degrees above zero or lower. The lower the temperature, the surer the effect.