1. When is best time to cork hole after treatment of nest? The video on website says after a few minutes; another place on your website says wait 2 days.
2. Any danger if I inhale DEMISE DUST while treating? Should I wear a mask?
Sorry for the confusion but here’s a brief explanation.
Lets say you treat the holes early evening just as it’s getting dark. After dusting with DEMISE, you hear a lot of buzzing and during the next few minutes see 2-3 bees fall out of the hole you dusted and die. At that point you could seal up the holes with one of our CORKS.
But lets say you dust holes in the middle of the day and don’t hear or see anything during or for 5 minutes after the treatment. For these holes, you’d want to leave the hole open for 1-2 days. This will insure anything using it will enter and die.
As for protection; any time you use a dust it’s generally recommended that you wear a DUST MASK if working in a confined area. With carpenter bees, you’re mostly outside but if you’re in a compromised position, using a dust mask or respirator will make it easier to go about the treatment without being distracted in case you do breath some.
Now if you did breathe some, expect to cough like one would expect to happen if they were to breath a lot of dust. But only if you were using the product for many years during which time you were also breathing it over and over would it pose a hazard. So the occasional times you might be using and breathing a little won’t be a problem but should be avoided if possible. And the dust mask will do the job for sure but if you only have a respirator, it will work fine too.
Here are direct links to the information and products listed above:
Demise: https://bugspray.com/catalog/insecticide/dust/drione-demise-dust-6-oz
Corks: https://bugspray.com/equipment/equipment-plugs/cork-12
Dust Mask: https://www.bugspraycart.com/equipment/safety/dust-mask-50pk
Give us a call if you still have questions.
Technical Support
1-800-877-7290
Chad says
Either one is correct. Generally I like to do the treatment in the early morning or late evening when the workers are still in the nest. This way I kill a majority of the active bees almost immediately. You will see many of them falling out over the next 20-30 minutes. A quick survey of the yard will show many dead. I typically start treating the holes working my way around the house, and when I get back to the beginning I start sealing the holes. Waiting a day or two is useful when treating in the middle of the day since many of the workers are not present at the time of treatment.