I used your maxxthor and bithor all summer and they kept my yard and house pest free. My question is do I need to keep treating all winter? We’re in Missouri and get cold for a month or two. We definitely see bugs up to the new year but not much outside in January or Feb. Sometimes we get a lot rain and some warm spells and then they appear all over so I don’t want them coming back. What do you recommend?
So first, the cold won’t hurt your treatments. And having a recent treatment in place is always suggested so if you get a lot of rain or just a couple of warm days, insects that emerge won’t find your home and migrate inside. For more details on how the cold affect your application, visit this page:
So should you continue with regular monthly treatments? Probably. Especially if you reside in any of the middle or southern states.
The reasons are simple. First and foremost, contrary to what most people believe, cold does not kill most insects.The following short video shows active springtails and its around 27 degrees out. In fact it had been very cold for several days prior to the filming of this video. True, they were hiding. But the deck they were on was as cold as the air around it. More notable is that springtails are what we consider to be a “weak” pest when it comes to things like the temperature yet they were very healthy. In other words, the cold was not bothering them.
Now it is true that insects are essentially governed by temperature regarding their activity and so yes, if it gets below 35 degrees and stays that cold for a week, most insects will go dormant (mites, beetles and true “bugs” are cold tolerant so not much affected by cold). But if its warming to 40 degrees or higher during the day where you live, most pests can get on the move – especially in the afternoon.
But here’s the main reason why its important to keep treating: INSECTS ARE DRAWN TO ANYTHING WARM!
This means your home, assuming it’s heated, will be a giant magnet to both insects and animals during the cold season. So if you have trees and other vegetation around your home, any insect or animal living in that environment will NATURALLY MOVE TOWARD YOUR HOME WHEN THE TEMPS DROP.
Flying pests like LADY BEETLES and STINK BUGS will start appearing on your home’s siding looking for shelter. Same thing with crawling pests like ANTS and ROACHES not to mention TERMITES.
In fact the most likely time your home is literally “attracting” bugs and animals is when outside temps drop!
Same thing can happen if its too hot or when it rains a lot. So during the summer, insects and animals are doing whatever they can to keep cool. In nature, they’d seek the hollow of a tree or maybe a cave if available. But with most homes and other buildings being air conditioned, well, its easy to understand why bugs and animals want to get inside during summer. Same can be said when it rains; ground dwelling pests like CENTIPEDES and MILLIPEDES will readily move onto homes to avoid drowning. From there, they will end up in basements, crawl spaces and wall voids too.
And what about the winter? Same thing happens. All the pests around your home will find any house to be very comfortable when the cold arrives.
The other big reason is that most insects thrive on trees. Their foliage provides shelter along with food and water. But when trees drop their leaves in the fall? All of the insects and animals (like FLYING SQUIRRELS and ROOF RATS) will be forced to find a new home. This is when they end up on your rooftop and eventually, inside attic spaces.
For all of these reasons its generally true the most likely time for your home to become their home will be at the end of the year and the winter.
Now if you live in northern tier close to Canada, you can probably skip treating in January and maybe February. Especially if the ground remains frozen or covered in snow.
But if you’re in the middle of the country or any southern state? Don’t stop. Continue treating once a month. If you don’t, all your residual will fade away in 2 months leaving the home vulnerable the next time you get a warm spell.
And thanks for the feedback on Maxxthor and Bithor. Nothing stronger than Maxxthor/Boost for the yard and homes siding. And for inside treatments, Bithor is well formulated for the task!
Maxxthor EC: https://bugspray.com/catalog/insecticide/liquid/maxxthor-ec
Boost: https://bugspray.com/catalog/insecticide/additive/spread-x-boost-adjuvant
Bithor: https://bugspray.com/catalog/insecticide/liquid/bithor_sc
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