Delta Dust Insecticide - Questions & Answers

Delta Dust will not kill on contact.  In fact, no product will kill a bee or other insect immediately other than Wasp Freeze or a pyrethrin aerosol.  The bees that you covered with Delta Dust will die, but not until the bees ingest the dust.  When bees walk through a hole or land on a surface that you dusted, they pick up the dust on their bodies.  Later, when they groom themselves as most insects do, they will ingest the small dust particles and die soon after.  All dust products work better the less you apply.  You should only apply a very thin light dusting of the material.  Bees and other insects have thousands of microscopic hairs on their bodies and will pick up the dust quite easily.  A pile of dust in one place will look like a mountain to a small insect and they will walk around it instead of through it.

The main difference in these two products are the active ingredients. Delta dust contains the synthetic pyrethoid deltamethrin while Drione dust contains the natural ingredient pyrethrins. Both will do a fantastic job eliminating almost any insect including spiders, though you should note that dust insecticides can take several days to actually kill the insect. Delta dust does have one advantage over Drione dust, Delta dust is the only waterproof dust on the market and it will still be effective even if it gets wet.

The main difference is that Delta Dust is water proof and will keep killing even if it gets wet (other dusts become ineffective if they get wet). Tempo Dust on the other hand is known to have a much faster kill than most other dusts on the market.

Yes, Delta Dust is very safe to use indoors around pets and children. You should keep children and pets out of the room while you are applying the product, and then it is ok to allow them to come back in once you are done.  Of course, you want to use common sense and not dust out in the open or inside the parrots cage, but if you apply Delta Dust into the areas specified on the product label, (cracks and crevices, under appliances, and inside wall voids) there should be no issues.

How quickly the Delta dust will kill a spider is dependant on how much dust the spider picks up on its body and the size of the spider.  Typically dust can kill a spider in as little as an hour or as long as 24 hours or more depending on these factors.

Delta Dust is a very safe product and only strong enough to kill small insects.  If the Delta Dust has already been applied and settled, it should be perfectly safe to re-enter the attic space. 

We carry professional strength products that are not available for purchase in a local home improvement store. We carry the product and offer fast, free shipping! We are not aware of any other local store that will carry Delta Dust.

The shelf life of Delta Dust is 3 years form purchase date. The delta dust should still be effective, as long as it was properly stored in a dry moderate temperature area.

Please check out our article "How to Get Rid of Yellow Jackets". If you can get close we highly recommend applying a dust like Delta Dust that is water proof and when the yellow jacket comes in contact with it, the dust will transfer from bee to bee killing adults and larvae. This product would be great to use in those cracks in the cement blocks.

Yes, Delta Dust is perfect for underneath and behind appliances as well as in wall voids and cracks and crevices.  All of these areas can be treated without removing any food from your kitchen.  Of course, you would not want to dust in the open if you have food sitting out on the countertops exposed.

You can use Delta dust for ground dwelling hornets though you should note that Delta dust does not offer an instant knockdown. We recommend applying Delta dust with a hand duster directly to the hole and to the area immediately around the hole. Applications should be made very early in the morning or very late in the evening when the insects are less active. As long as you follow the product label you can use Delta dust safely in a yard with a dog. If you feel that you would also like an immediate knockdown spray you should consider a spray such as Eco PCO Jet-X. Eco PCO Jet-X provides instant knockdown and kill of stinging insects (does not offer residual control). The Jet Spray can be sprayed up to 15 ft.

You can apply Delta Dust as often as needed, however Delta Dust like any other dust products are meant to be applied only in wall voids, cracks and crevices, underneath appliances, etc.  It should not be applied out in the open.  When you apply Delta Dust correctly in these places, it can last up to 8 months, so you don't need to apply Delta dust but every so often.

Yes, Delta Dust is labeled for roaches and works great.  However, you typically will see better results by using additional products along side the Delta Dust.  You should apply dust underneath appliances and inside wall voids in the kitchen, but you should not apply dust openly into cabinets and drawers.  Our most popular product for the cabinets and drawers that is safe to use around food handling areas is Advion Roach Gel. Below is a link to a great article on the best treatment for roaches.

Roach Control Article

Yes, Delta Dust will kill honey bees as well as other forms of bees, wasps and similar flying, stinging species. 

Cicada Killer wasps thrive in disturbed environments, such as landscaped yards and places where bare soil is exposed. You can discourage the wasps from nesting in your yard by cutting your grass on the highest setting and by adding a thick layer of mulch to flower beds during the Cicada Killer Wasp season. These wasps do not like over saturated lawns either, so over watering during their season will help prevent them. Unfortunately, there is no fool proof way to prevent cicada killer wasps. For current infestations, you would need to use Delta dust in each individual burrow.


We also like to let our customers know that the Cicada Killer wasps are beneficial insects that provide free pest control for a couple months each year. Cicada killer wasps paralyze and provision their burrows with other insects to feed their young.  The beneficial Cicada killer wasps, while large and intimidating to see, are mostly harmless and there have been very few reports of anyone getting stung by just being near them. In most cases where a sting was reported, the wasps were being held or molested in some way. Cicada Killer Wasp stings are also reported to be almost painless.

It would be best to use a duster like the Bellow hand duster to apply Delta dust. This way you can dust further into the wall voids. 

Delta Dust is good to use as part of a scorpion control program. Delta dust can be applied using a hand duster directly behind baseboards, to window and door frames, corners, pipes, storage locations, attics, crawl spaces, and other areas which these pests may enter or crawl. We also recommend that you use a concentrated liquid insecticide such as Demon WP around the outside perimeter of your home to help create a barrier to keep these pests out. You should treat a band of soil 6 - 10 ft wide around and adjacent to the building. Also treat the building foundation to a height of 2 - 3 ft where pests are active and may find entrance. It is important that you do not rely on insecticides alone to control scorpions, you should also make some changes outdoors to make your property less favorable to this pest.

Non-insecticide methods for scorpion control are:

Harborage Removal- Harborage removal is key to scorpion control and will greatly reduce the numbers of scorpions in the area surrounding the structure, making it far less likely that they will enter. Harborage removal includes eliminating piles of lumber, bricks, and other stacked items that create clusters of tight spaces, elimination of vegetation and other heavy ground coverings near homes and buildings, trimming back tree and shrub limbs from walls and roof, and keeping gutters clear of leaves and other debris.

Exclusion- Scorpions and other pests can be kept out of structures to a large degree by installing tight-fitting screens, weatherstripping around doors and windows, and caulking cracks and crevices.

Delta dust can be harmful if it is ingested by animals. Delta dust can stay active for several months after the application. We will say that most animals will not eat Delta Dust because there is nothing to attract them to the dust and it would be extremely drying to the inside of their mouths if they did try to eat it. Still, it is best to contact your veterinarian if you think your pet ingested Delta Dust. We have linked the product label and the MSDS in our answer so that you may print them out to give your veterinarian.

Delta Dust is an excellent product choice for treating a bees nest.  If the bees are in a utility room, there must be a vent or opening where the bees are going in and out.  The key to treating the bees nest is to apply the dust where they fly in and out.  You would want to apply early in the morning or late at night when the bees are not as active.  Go up to the opening and just apply two quick puffs and walk away.  Wait a couple days for the bees to pick up the dust when they go through the opening and spread it around to the other bees in the nest.  You should open the utility closet once you no longer see activity going in and out of the opening the bees were using.  You may have to dust twice to completely knock the whole colony out.  Repeat the same steps again if need be.  You should wear a basic dust mask when cleaning only as a precaution.

Delta Dust will eliminate ants that cross over treated areas. That being said, ants can be very sensitive to synthetic pyrethroids like the active ingredient that is contained in Delta dust, and can avoid treated areas in some situations. It is helpful to use Delta dust to treat the ant nest directly to eliminate the colony or if that is not possible than to use the dust to treat all of the cracks or crevices where the ants are gaining access to the home. We also carry several products that are non-repellent to ants such as Alpine Dust, Phantom Aerosol and for outdoor use Termidor SC as well as several ant bait products which the ants pick up and carry back to the colony.