So I’m about to get alot of springtail products but before I do, I want to get an idea of what to expect time wise. Like how fast will we see results. We have them in our home siding and coming out from the baseboards, first floor. None upstairs yet. House has an unfinished basement too but we don’t see any there, just on the first floor. Also none in the sink or bathroom. I’m getting the Maxxthor and Bithor and from what I can tell from the reading, if I Power Inject, I might be able to slow them down faster? I’d like to get rid of them as fast as I can so hopefully that will help, let me know. I like the idea of making my own aerosol like mixture to inject so I know it will be plenty strong.
So first, it’s important to understand that Springtail problems don’t happen overnight. They can take years to migrate from the ground onto home siding, then through to the inside wall voids and eventually into living spaces like you have on the first floor. Since they’ll be very content living under the siding or in the wall, there is no reason for them even come out inside. Homes with AC or Heat tend to be too dry for them anyway and why they migrate to sinks/tubs if they are inside. If they don’t, they’ll surely die and in fact, most do once they leave their home nests. But if you’re seeing them inside, it’s because populations in the wall voids have gotten quite large and now they’re reproducing why you can have surges and waves of springtails migrating out during the spring/summer/fall.
All that said, in theory you could actually eliminate them all immediately if you are precise with your applications. As we explain in many of our posts, springtails do not have singular nests. They will be spread out as they try to live everywhere. This is not done on purpose other than they are wired to try every where. This is also why most attempts fail but some end up being successful – even in crazy locations. But using the Power Injector gives you the ability to eliminate every nest with the two products, Maxxthor and Bithor. But we don’t want to give you false expectations. We’re 99% sure it will take multiple treatments over the course of 1-2 months to get them to where you barely see any. After that, its more about you being able to reach their hidden nests. If you do that, there won’t be any leaving those areas and coming out into the open.
Also keep in mind that some homes are constructed in a way that leads to chronic issues. For example, slab homes are likely to have and ongoing supply of new ones entering the home because springtails love living under cement. This means they can come up around water pipes or any electrical conduit that pokes through and from there, be a nuisance inside.
Now in your case, you are pretty sure where they’re active and so you know where to treat. As our SPRINGTAIL ARTICLE explains, the ones you’re seeing are nesting within a few feet so focus your treatments on those areas and you’ll get very positive results immediately.
With that all said, here is a good guideline on what to expect once you begin.
WHAT SHOULD HAPPEN AFTER YOU START TREATING?
Immediate relief. But how long it takes to not see them anymore will be determined by how fast you are at reaching their remote nests with the Power Injector (if it’s needed).
For 50-75% of our customers, they get very positive results by applying the granules and spray outside if their main issue is outside. This means little to no activity after just 1-2 weeks of treating just 1-2.
Spraying MAXXTHOR EC and BOOST on the home siding will take care of most problems after just a few applications. But if you are still seeing them on the home siding or decks after 2 months, you’ll most likely need to power inject.
As for inside the home; using the Power Injector can in theory get rid of every one immediately BUT since it’s more likely they’re just emerging from baseboards and windows, not likely. This is explained in our SPRINGTAIL BUFFER article. But the way it works is super helpful. Basically it will agitate them enough to get them on the move and since where you power inject will be the only way “out”, they’ll be sure to cross over the Bithor and meet their demise.
Maxxthor, on the other hand, is highly repellent and so they might just avoid it and not come out there but in turn, get too deep to reach or worse, create new pathways inside.
So for now, plan on using Bithor a about months so you can figure out where they are most concentrated (based on where you continue to see them). During this time you should be re-injecting. Treating multiple times with Bithor and water should flush most if not all of them out and after 6-8 weeks, hit the saturation point to where they won’t be living close enough to where you’ve been treating to keep coming out anymore.
But if it’s been two months and you’re still having some coming out? Then you may need to move onto Maxxthor and Base Oil. They’ll get you the deepest penetration possible as we explain in our PENATRATION article.
BUT DON’T BE SURPRISED IF YOU SEE A SURGE OF ACTIVITY FOLLOWING YOUR FIRST 1-2 TREATMENTS! This is normal as they will be “feeling” the chemical and trying to get away from it. The good news is that any that are moving will most likely be dying; it just takes 2-3 days for this to happen after the treatment dries and it looses it’s ability to be a CONTACT KILLER.
This all said, its suggested that you plan on treating twice a week for the first 1-2 weeks if you are seeing them come back in a few days (or sooner) because this means you either didn’t spray enough OR you didn’t reach their nests deep enough to take them out completely.
And if you have any of the siding like we detail in our HOME SIDING ARTICLE, we strongly suggest you Power Inject. Anyone using the Power Injector is pretty much eliminating them from their siding with just 1-2 treatments compared to surface spraying 1-2 a week for 1-2 months so there is a huge time savings when using this tool.
HOW TO TREAT HOME SIDING FOR SPRINGTAILS AND OTHER PESTS | BUGSPRAY
And that would be the recommended schedule; treating as soon as they return, no more than twice a week. And this goes for both outside the home and inside.
Now if you’re using the POWER INJECTOR, you will get ahead of them a lot faster because there is a much better chance of you delivering the treatment right into their nests. This is extra true when injecting Maxxthor. Bithor will take twice as long compared to Maxxthor and if you are relying on just FS MP, it may never reach their nests because it has such low pressure. The only chance you have of getting rid of them immediately will be with the Power Injector because you can create a strong mixture and a pressurized tank that’s 5x more penetrating and if needed, you can use BASE OIL to get that extra depth. This will enable you to deliver the mixture directly to their nests and effectively eliminating the population immediately opposed to waiting for surface treatments or ordinary aerosols to reach them.
Now if you are still having issues after 2 months? Send us some details and we’ll further advise because it will mean you are missing a key location OR not delivering it deep enough when power injecting. And since springtails are comfortable nesting most anywhere, we might be able to suggest where you have to treat more extensively by looking some pictures of the problem areas.
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