Re: a little sanity in a gallon sprayer

[Guest guest]

I forgot to mention something that is EXTREMELY important when you are using a 1 or 2-gallon sprayer:

WEAR EYE PROTECTION AND A FACEMASK OVER YOUR NOSE AND MOUTH

Why? You wouldn't ask this if you'd ever had a pressurized sprayer blow the hose off and the pressurized mixture all over your face like happened to me a week ago when I did (late) my Christmas spraying. Thank God I was wearing both of the above protective devices. There are many times I have not done so. Now I know how very lucky I was all those times...wow.

From: katiejill109 <kajay109@...>bird mites Sent: Sat, January 16, 2010 4:23:08 AMSubject: a little sanity in a gallon sprayer

Remember that the Seabuckthorn will stain. Also, I would take it internally for greater benefit. Cedar is not good for our lungs. The scent comes from resins. If we can smell the cedar, then the resins are entering our nasal passages and our lungs. The damage is cumulative. Resins don't go away.The best thing I do for my environment I can do when my family is gone, and they generally DO NOT SMELL IT when they get home. If they do, I just tell them casually that I cleaned the shower. If they are skeptical, I just point to the Lime-Away bottle, then I change the subject. Manipulative? YOU BET!!!WHAT DO I DO?I have a community of critters living in my body, and are constantly shedding, especially now that I am learning more and more here each day to make them want to leave. However, those in the environment still continue to develop and to attack me, who is still, apparently, their preferred meal source. As

long as I keep this spray in my environment, my major battle is within my body, and I am able to focus my cleaning on the places where I sit, stand, and sleep, particularly about a foot around where I am in each of these locations. Because I only shed where I am, and as long as I keep vacuuming and cleaning right where I am, I don't have to fight the environment like many of my friends here and in the other groups. STRATEGYI recommend spraying at least every 6 months (the borates gradually wear out of the wear surfaces), but you can spray it as often as monthly if needed. My schedule is the 4th of July and Christmas.RECIPE1. NYLAR (this is my favorite, old reliable insect growth regulator, which means that any critters conceived and born of egg-laying insects or mites will not develop an egg tooth and thus will not be able to live past the egg stage; of course lice and some mites are born as nymphs, which suck blood

from birth, so this ingredient will not affect them.); 2. BORIC ACID pre-dissolved in hot water then mixed with the other ingredients in your sprayer work 3 ways: Absorbed into soft surfaces i.e. carpets, draperies, porous woods, upholstery, mattresses, they a. DRY aka "dessicate" soft-bodied LARVAEb. SHRED soft-bodied LARVAE due to its sharp crystalline edges, like razors to the larvae or newly molted exoskeleton critters. c. SHORT OUT even those that neither lay eggs or have soft-bodied larvae.3. KNOCKDOWN - Pest controllers use permetroids or pyrethroids; I prefer using a soap scum remover made for the tub and shower called Lime-Away; you could also use any strong orange-based cleaner. If you prefer, go with a pyrethroid, but ask for a low-scent one at the DIY pest control store.RESULTS?The Nylar works on the next generation of egg-laying critters, but the Dustmite takes about 8-12 weeks for you

to see a difference as it will not affect any living critters past the larval stage. It will start killing the larvae immediately, though, and those will not make it to adulthood. As those that are past the larval stage at spraying time mature and die (much faster once I started using dehumidifiers) , the population in your environment grows smaller and smaller.WHAT TO DOBefore you start, get everything ready for your escape so you are ready to dash out the door. 1. EDGES, FURNITURE. I start by spraying the edges of each room and any place I don't want the critters to run (I start with my shoes because I don't want them escaping onto ME, lol!), bed, furniture, windows, doors. 2. GENERAL, TOP DOWN. Then I stand on one side of the room and zigzag the spray from side to side starting with the center of the ceiling, and I work down. You need not saturate your ceiling and walls, but be sure to spray completely around your

vents and where your ceiling fan is attached to the ceiling. The key is to make sure that wherever the critters move, they are going to run into this stuff. 3. ONE ROOM AT A TIME. Do a room at the time, in each case beginning with refreshing the spray on your shoes (I wear Walmart rubber boots as house slippers, lol! pretty sexy, huh?) then again spraying everywhere that you DON'T want the critters to go, then the general surfaces (top down).4. DUCTS. If you have central heat and air, turn on the fan so it will remain on even when your heat or air are not running. You want this stuff in your ventilation ducts. 5. LEAVE. Leave for a while. Let the stuff soak into the soft surfaces undisturbed, remove yourself as a potential escape route. Get home long enough before others to air out the house if you think you need to. Remember to keep the Lime-Away bottle--you won't use the whole thing anyway. I only add about 4 oz to a gallon

sprayer--to show family members should they notice a smell. This makes it not about the bugs that can so aggravate our family members at times.CONCLUSIONOnce I stumbled onto this mixture and strategy, similar to the IPM (integrated pest management) method used by pest controllers, except with the addition of the boric acid and the substitution of a citrus cleaning product in place of a pesticide as a knockdown, my insane life became far less so.Love,