preventive pest control for house in woods

Please advise; looking to treat our home with insecticides this summer. The house is deep in the woods of Pennsylvania. The house is sealed up pretty good including our basement but the insects still find a way in. We see inside and outside mostly spiders, misc. small bugs & silverfish. I would like to treat outside & inside of the house with your best insecticides. From what I’ve read is seems wettable powders are the way to go? We do have kids so something not too harmful for treating the inside of house. What are your recommendations? Your knowledge is greatly appreciated. B.

I have two recommendations. The first will be the simple answer which will be very direct. The second will be the more complex involving a lot of reading. Both will provide product suggestions; the second will provide a lot of “explaining” and if you’re interested in the “why” part of what I suggest, reading the article will help answer your questions and concerns.

Based in the information provided, I’d say a solid preventive pest management program is warranted and very much needed if you wish to keep the home pest free. If done right, you should be able to both hold off invasive pests and monitor any inside activity so it can be best treated when you are present and able to perform follow up treatments. To accomplish this, you’ll need to do the following.

1) Apply BIFEN GRANULES around the home. At least a 10 foot band is needed; the wider (more area) you treat, the better. Do this quarterly.

2) Foundation spray with BIFEN IT. This odorless concentrate is easy to apply and effective on most any invasive pest. Do this quarterly. And yes, wettable powders do last long but the Bifen is a time released formulation which is at least as good lasting at least as long as any wettable powder.

3) Dust attics and crawl spaces with DELTAMETHRIN DUST once a year.

4) Treat the interior baseboards with the Bifen spray; alternatively (and what I use in my home) spray the PT-PHANTOM AEROSOL which will go on dry compared to the liquid Bifen. If you have a lot of hardwoods or tiled floor, this might be better suited for the treatment. Odorless and long lasting, I use it monthly in the spring and then every other month by July and it keeps my home bug free on the inside. My house is on a large river buried in the woods and subject to all kinds of invasive pests so I follow a program very similar to what I’ve listed above and the Phantom is a key component of this routine.

5) GLUETRAP INSECT MONITORS should be set up throughout the house to help monitor and catch anything when you’re not around. Since you’ll be away so much, these traps could prove real helpful at providing details of pest problems you might not otherwise be able to identify.

My second recommendation is more of an assignment involving extensive reading. Our PREVENTIVE PEST CONTROL article covers the “why” and “how to” details and will address any common question relating to the products and treatments mentioned above.

For your convenience, here are direct links to the products and information menitoned above:

http://www.bugspray.com/catalog/products/page71.html

http://www.bugspray.com/item/bifen_it.html

http://www.bugspray.com/item/452825.html

http://www.bugspray.com/item/phantom_aerosol.html

http://www.bugspray.com/item/826414.html