Finally got around to exterior painting just as the Asian Beetles mounted their autumn attack. Any of you full-time painters have a solution to keeping them out of your work?
Marc
Does drilling new screws into the roof rafters compromise the strength of the roof?
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Replies
Big fan? shop vac?
Napalm
Mr. T. MOTOL
"They keep talking about drafting a constitution for Iraq. Why don't we just give them ours? It was written by a lot of really smart guys, it's worked for over 200 years, and we're not using it anymore."
-- George Carlin
"I think natural selection must have greatly rewarded the ability to reassure oneself in a crisis with complete bull$hit."
I'm Swiss!
Bring them on! Im ready for the lil bistards this year.Last year we lost 2 days of work cuz u literally couldnt breathe.There must of been 8-10 every cubic foot of air.So in a futile fight ive used a case of caulk and 4 cans of foam and im trying to stop the buggers from coming into the core of the house(mainly crawl space).Push comes to shove ive got these old arteillary shells i found in my great uncles barn..says something like..m-st-rd ga-.
vinyl siding?
They don't weather well
What's an asian beetle, what do they look like?
Pics available here...... http://www.uky.edu/Agriculture/Entomology/entfacts/trees/ef416.htm and many other sites.Mostly resemble common ladybugs, but these critters are more much aggressive about entering your home.....and they'll bite ya (yes, it's annoying and hurts a bit)…….cause they're hungry and looking for food. Around here (NW IL), they live mostly in the soybean fields during the summer where they feed on aphids (That's what the extension service tells us anyway and I haven't had time to follow one around and make observations for myself yet).They're no problem at all around the home up this way until it's time to harvest soybeans (about two weeks ago here) and then they move to the cornfields since their supply of soybean aphids...is no more. Finding no supply of aphids there, they eventually (about a week to ten days after the harvest of all the local soybean fields) get hungry and go looking for a food supply.....and that means mass migrations of the things. Like a biblical plague every fall recently (last ten years maybe and population seems to increase very year)........that lasts until the first deep killing frost. We've tried all manner of "stuff" to kill 'em and that's not too difficult to do really. Problem is that most of those products/sprays don't kill immediately on contact and so you still end up with a house/garage/shop full of dead beetles to vac up. Most any insecticidal spray containing pyrethrins and similar ingredients will kill the things after a spell. The problem is… it doesn't repel 'em and so they still enter your home/garage/anywhere they can……and then eventually die there. This year, we've tried a different spray that worked really well for a neighbor here the last couple years and it seems to be doing a nice job because it also contains a pretty effective repellent………piperonyl butoxide…..combined with those pyrethrins. We've sprayed around the bottom course of siding, as well as the perimeter of all doors and windows and are in far better shape this year than in years previous. Hardly a bug inside here. They still congregate in mass on the house siding during the warmth of the afternoon, but not around those places where we've sprayed and that's where they usually find some manner of entrance …eventually……….like when you open a door to come or go. I too am about to begin (tomorrow) spraying a house with final coats and ain't lookin' forward to the potential. Haven't yet found or thought of an effective way to deal with 'em in that situation. Upside is they wash off pretty easily ……..after the fact. It's usually only their tiny little legs or wings that get stuck. No real big deal in previous years…but a definite annoyance (cursing involved) when they climb inside your clothes with ya and start nibbling on your flesh. Knowledge is power, but only if applied in a timely fashion.
Piperonyl butoxide increases the effectiveness of pyrethrins something like 1000 % Its a good thing. Look at the lable when buying pesticides and get the one with the highest percentage of active ingredients.
If you're willing to part with $14.95 these guys here claim to solve your problem for you.
http://www.stopasianbeetles.com/?source=epest
It's a big sales pitch, lots of words before they get to the point. But hey. ain't capitalism great?