Talstar P Professional Insecticide - Questions & Answers

Talstar P cannot be used as a broadcast spray indoors and would not be a good choice for indoor flea control. We recommend you use Ultracide for indoor flea control. It is our recommendation and industry standard that you vacuum immediately before the application of Ultracide and every day or every other day after the application for the next two weeks. Vacuums can physically remove a decent percentage of flea eggs that are in the carpet, along with much of the organic crud that the flea larvae feed on. A critical part of the diet of the larva is dried blood, present there as fecal material from the fleas that are on the pets. Wherever the pets spend time, they will shed the fecal matter and the eggs, so it is extremely important that you focus on these potential hot spots where the pets sleep. A vacuum also will remove a small percentage of larvae, but the larva is pretty tenacious, and will wrap around the carpet fibers down there at the base of the pile, and hold on for dear life as the vacuum passes by. The pupa is even tougher to physically remove, for it uses fibers as part of its "cocoon". The vacuum will stimulate the flea adults still in their pupa form to quickly emerge as the adult, and at this point perhaps be sucked up in the vacuum. Even if they are not removed by the vacuum, at least they now are exposed and susceptible to your treatment.   After two weeks most infestations require that you do a second application of the Ultracide and continue with the vacuuming. You should use a product that is registered to use on your pets for fleas such as Frontline or Advantage. Talstar P can be used effectively outdoors for places where your pets may frequent and also moist shady areas. Treating outdoors will help prevent your pets from re-infesting your home.

Ortho is a much less dialed down version of Talstar.  Talstar contains 7.9% bifenthrin, and Ortho typically has .05% bifenthrin.  Talstar is definitely the professionals version.  Ortho will probably realistically only give you 30 days of protection.  Talstar will typically give 60 to 90 days.  Due to the strength of Talstar, it would definitely be the better choice and should provide much better results.  You can apply Talstar in a few weeks probably if you just applied the Ortho.

Talstar P and Bifen IT are essentially the same product, they are just made by different manufacturers. Talstar P was manufactured 1st and is known to be the "name brand" and Bifen IT is known to be the generic.

What you are describing sounds like springtails.  They are common in bathrooms and kitchens because they can breed under the slab and follow plumbing pipes and drains into your house.  You should google springtails and see if this is your issue.  If it is, Talstar Liquid is considered one of the best treatments for springtails to control them, but honestly you will not get rid of the problem no matter how many products you use if you cannot find the source.  The whole key to getting rid of springtails is their breeding source.  You have to find it.  Usually they breed under the slab and enter the home through small cracks.  Unfortunately when they breed under the slab the product you apply on top of the ground like Talstar will not make it to them.  The slab has to dry out and you have to do whatever you can to prevent moisture from getting under the slab.  Usually springtails are breeding because of too much mulch around the house, grade against the house is not going away from the house and water puddles up, downspouts are not going away from the house, etc.   Getting rid of springtails is a moisture management issue usually and not something that pesticides can get rid of alone.

It all depends on the insect that is walking over the area treated with Talstar P, but most will die rather quickly, which means within 20 to 30 minutes to a few hours.  Larger insects can take longer, such as roaches, scorpions, and spiders can take a day or two sometimes.  Definitely not 7 to 10 days.  Most pest control companies say this however for a few reasons.  They want to make sure that you give it time to work and also they do not want  you calling the following day because you see an insect.  They want to give it time to work.

You can use Talstar P in a hose end sprayer as long as the hose end sprayer can be calibrated to spray the correct usage rate as specified on the product label. Most folks use the 1 oz of product to 1 gallon of product rate for outdoor insect control.

"Kudzu" bugs are a type of stink bug that is an invasive species in the south and has really started to grow as a nuisance in recent years. While there isn't really a repellent product to keep them away from your home you can use a product like Talstar P to kill the bugs that land on treated surfaces. Talstar P can be diluted at a rate of 1 oz  of product per gallon of water and applied using a hand pump sprayer on the areas that you mentioned (do not spray on top of porch railings where people place there hands frequently)

Talstar P is the most popular choice for army worm control. You should spray later in the evening when the worms are most active. You will continue to see moths, but it is only the actual worm that causes damage. The Talstar P product label recommends:

"To ensure optimum control, delay watering (irrigation) or mowing for 24 hours after application. If the grass area is being maintained at a mowing height of greater than 1 inch, then higher application rates (Up to 1 fluid oz. per 1000 square feet) may be required during periods of high pest pressure"

On average, 1 gallon of mixed solution will cover about 1000 sq/ft, so it would take you about 44 gallons to cover an entire acre. Please let us know if you have any other questions.

Outdoors, Talstar P should be used when it is dry outside and there is no rain expected within a 24 hour period. Outdoor weather elements will not have any effect on indoor treatments. For both indoor and outdoor treatments it is important that all adults, children and pets are out of the area that is being treated and they may return as soon as the treated area is dry.

Talstar P is labeled to treat for termites and lasts for about 5 years in the ground and works as a repellent, killing only those insects that come into contact with the treated area. A better option for subterranean termites non repellent termiticide such as Termidor SC or Dominion 2L. Termidor will last up to to 10 years in the soil and Dominion 2L will last 5-7 years. Non repellents work slower but much more effectively when treating a termite colony as they are able to be transferred thorought the entire colony therefore eventually elimating the colony. Talstar P will only repel the termites, not kill the entire colony. 

Talstar P will kill ticks that are present at the time of the application and it will kill ticks that venture on to treated areas while the residual is still active. Talstars residual will last for about 4 weeks when used as directed on the product label. Talstar P is not a repellent and it will not stop ticks from coming onto your property.

Yes, Talstar P can be used for fire ant control in the type of sprayer you described, but you will also need to do mound drenching. According to the Talstar P product label, "Fire Ant Mound control is optimized by combining broadcast applications that will control foraging workers and newly mated fly-in queens with mound drenches that will control existing colonies. If the soil is not moist, then it is important to irrigate before application or use a high volume application. Apply broadcast treatments at 0.5 to 1 fluid oz. per 1,000 square feet. Use enough finished volume to penetrate thatch or sod. Treat mounds by applying 1 oz of Talstar P per mound in 1 to 2 gallons water by sprinkling the mound until it is wet and treat 3 feet out around the mound. Use the higher volume for mounds larger than 12”. Treat mounds with sufficient force to break their apex and allow the insecticide solution to flow into the ant tunnels. For best results, apply in cool weather (65 - 80˚F) or in early morning or late evening hours."

How long it takes the ticks to die after they come into contact with a treated area will depend on a number of factors. It will depend on the maturity of the tick as well as how long they stayed on the treated area, how long it has been since the area was treated and the concentration that was used to treat the area. Typically it can take anywhere from a couple of hours to a day or so for them to die. It can take several weeks for you to stop seeing ticks indoors because the ticks like to stay hidden which also means they could be staying out of treated areas and eggs may hatch out prolonging the infestation. We recommend doing follow up treatments every two weeks at the highest usage rate of 1 oz Talstar of product per gallon of water until you do not see any ticks.

Talstar P is labeled for roaches, and should do a great job helping you eliminate the infestation. We recommend that in addition to a concentrated liquid insecticide like Talstar you also use a high quality roach bait gel such as Invict Roach Bait Gel to help get the roaches that hide in places where you cannot spray (cabinets, counter tops, drawers) as well as an insect growth regulator such as Gentrol Point Source to help stop the breeding cycle of the roaches. You can purchase both of these products together in our Roach Control Kit #1.

The Talstar is a residual which means it will not be a contact kill for the roaches. It could kill a roach within a few hours or within a day depending on how healthy the roach is, and how long it spent on a surface that was treated with Talstar. The spray will typically last indoors 90 days and outdoors 30 days, but for an active infestation you would want to retreat every 30 days indoors until the colony is eliminated.

The highest rate for usage with the Talstar or Bifen would be 1oz per gallon just as you have used. Depending on how heavy the population of the wasps/yellow jackets and spiders are, will depend on whether you will have to reapply in the beginning every month or not. If the population is heavy and large now, it would be recommended to spray all the areas favorable for these pest and their food sources every month until the numbers have dimenished, and then you can easily back off to spraying quarterly (every 3 months) to help keep them at bay. Each time you spray the 1oz per gallon rate would be the correct and accurate rate to use. The Talstar will kill any wasp or similar species that lands on a surface it has been sprayed on. It will not be a contact kill but as they pick the product up on their bodies after landing, they will slowly ingest it as they groom themselves and die from it. While spiders can be killed by the Talstar/Bifen, you tend to control spider populations more in an indirect way. If you have lots of spiders of any species around the home, then you have high numbers of other little insects around the home that they are feeding on. The Talstar/Bifen will eliminate those insects and in turn cause the spiders to search elsewhere for food. They need food and shelter to survive in any area and if the Talstar removes the food sources, then they will have to move away from your home to live. 

You cannot store diluted Talstar in your sprayer for two reasons: 1. Talstar P will start to breakdown rapidly when kept in a diluted solution. 2. Storing chemicals or even just water in your sprayer will make the valves and gaskets corrode. We recommend you simply mix up smaller batches of solution. For instance you can mix 1/2 oz of Talstar P with 1/2 gallon of water in your pump sprayer or a 1/4 oz of Talstar with 1/4 gallon of water instead of mixing more than you need.

Yes, Talstar can be applied to any bushes, shrubs, trees, and landscaped areas as well as flowering plants like roses.  However, you should minimize the spray on the actual flowering rose as you do not want it to get on any bees that help with pollination.

Talstar is not labeled to be used on vegetables or anything edible.  Most pest control products are not labeled for this use.  Talstar is safe for use around pets when used according to the label.  You should always keep children and pets away from the area while you are treating, and then once the treatment is dry it is perfectly safe to allow pets to re-enter the area.  We do have a product called Malathion 57% which is labeled to apply to vegetable gardens.

Yes. Talstar P can be safely used around pets and children as long as you follow the label instructions; all pets and children need to be out of the area while application is being made and they can return as soon as the application is dry. Talstar is none irratating if it touches the skin, but is not recommended to be around until it has dried. Talstar will not harm babies if the product label is followed.