Syngenta’s Peter Ambrose-Pearce shares his insights into what makes Demand insecticide a product of choice for spider treatments.
Spiders are nuisance pests and when temperatures drop in autumn, spiders become more active and more noticeable as they move indoors to find shelter from colder weather. Treating spiders with products that rely on contact can be tricky as some spiders (particularly web builders) may travel without making much body contact with a treated surface. Because of the limited contact that webbing spiders have with treated surfaces, applications should be directed primarily at areas where spiders live or rest, rather than areas they transit. These areas can include:
- Corners of windows, closets or rooms where these web- building spiders often exist
- Cornice, floor/wall junctures, vents and sill plate/header areas
- Around garage entries (Roller-doors) and crawlspaces in the sub-floor and roof
- Detached workshops garden or tool sheds and pool pump areas, especially at the ceiling-wall junctures, above the overhead door gaps and windows. In fact any entry points around windows, doors and utility/service penetrations or weep holes for exterior treatments.
- Structural components, (e.g. posts, stumps, piers), flooring, active webs and around harbourage in ceiling voids, taking care not to direct sprays onto stored materials, or consider sealed storage options.
- Garden beds, rock walls, masonry and stone work, sleepers, compost bins and stored items.
Demand with iCAP technology greatly improves the chances of a spider acquiring a lethal dose of the insecticide. The formulation slowly releases microcaps of multiple sizes and can deliver up to 1500 microcaps per square centimeter of a surface, which makes it extremely difficult for a spider to avoid. These polymer microcaps not only protect the active ingredient but also mask the repellency of the synthetic pyrethroid, so the insect is not able to sense the active ingredient until after it has collected a lethal dose. These microcaps can become lodged in a spider’s tarsal claws or the tufts of hair between claws, as well as on other hair follicles on a spider’s legs.
Demand is a versatile liquid residual spray that can be applied to control spiders and a range of other insect pests as a spot spray, crack-and-crevice or perimeter exterior banded application. Demand can be used both indoors and outdoors to provide immediate and longer-term residual control for up to three months in exterior applications, and up to 12 months for interior control.
Demand contains the trusted fourth generation SP (synthetic pyrethroid) lambda-cyhalothrin. All the target pests of Demand require differing concentrations of the active ingredient, so please refer to the label before application for concentrations (e.g. clear-out/initial treatment or maintenance sprays). Consideration should also be given to the differing surface types that are to be treated (e.g. tile, brick, concrete or powder coated steel etc.).
Provide your customers an environment free from crawling and biting insects as well as spiders with the proven efficacy of iCAP Technology and demand Syngenta Demand when you are next ordering from your local pest product distribution outlet.
Peter Ambrose-Pearce, Syngenta Professional Pest Management
