ROACHES ... How to get rid of em'

[woodbowl]

Roaches .............discusting little critters! Almost impossible to get rid of. I've  tried everything that I know of to do away with them. Boric acid, roach motels, bug spray, tennis shoe from 20 feet! Down here in the south there big and nasty. No matter what you do they seem to come right back. Does anyone know a good way to take care of these fellows? Other than calling Orkin.

[Fla._Deadheader]

We used Boric Acid at the camp. Has to be FRESH.

[Radar67]

Hey woodbowl,
    The first thing to do is eliminate any moisture. They are drawn to it. I have also used a chemical spray with permethrine in it. They use to use it in chicken houses to control bugs. It is a little hard to find, but your co-op usually carries it. The smell is not bad either.

Stew

[woodbowl]

    The first thing to do is eliminate any moisture. They are drawn to it.

Uhh ............ I can throw a rock out the back door and hit the pond. :

[Radar67]

Uhh ............ I can throw a rock out the back door and hit the pond. :

I meant in or around the foundation of your house.  :D :D :D :D :D :D Now if you want to fill that pond in...... ;D

[Fla._Deadheader]

Them little buggers like to hang out in the overflow holes on sinks and tubs. Also, in the Disposal side of the kitchen sink.

[CHARLIE]

I'm having to go back to when I lived in Florida and that was before 1972.

After I got married, we paid Nozzle Nolen (competitor to Orkin) to come around and spray once and month and that seemed to control them.  If they could not get into the house because no one was home, they would spray around the outside of the house.

There are some pesticides on the market now that might do the same thing as a Pest Control Company would do.  I think one of them is called "Home Defense" and comes in a gallon container with a sprayer and hose.  I think it is residual and you could spray your own baseboards once a month.  Even spray around the house.  Roaches get into the walls and can come out the electrical outlets or other small openings like where pipes pass into the wall.  So remove stuff from the cabinets under the sinks and spray good in there.  Spray around the outlets too.

Always check grocery bags when you come back from the grocery store. They like to ride inside in those. You don't need the grocery store's roaches.  Just keep all food sealed and put away and counters and tables wiped down good before going to bed.

That's about all I know about getting rid of roaches other than tenting your house.

When I was growing up, our house was the old wooden "Florida" house.  We had those big house spiders inside. We weren't allowed to kill them 'cause they ate the roaches. ;D

[LeeB]

I never had roaches in my house till my dad passed away and i brought home a cabinet from his home. tried for almost two years to get rid of the filthy little buggers. Orkin didn,t help much. just slowed em down for a couple of weeks. finaly got local joe exterminator in and he put out some kind of poison with a penut butter base ( a poison on it's own if you ask me) that wiped htem out. none in ovre 10 years

[ScottAR]

Stubborn little buggers ain't they...

Best easy to get spray I've found so far is Bengal roach and ant spray...   Comes in a great big orange can with one of those straw squirty things too.   Wear a mask as it's rank.  Squirt it everywhere that little straw will go...  in all the plumbing holes in the cabinets, behind the fridge,... everywhere. 
Then leave the house for awhile...

Follow up with the roach baits...  Might put some of those fumigator things in between these attacks...   

Coordinated attack will bring your enemies to their knees!!!......  er... ah... yeah...

Combination, combination, combination...

[Rockn H]

I've had two pest companies tell me not to ever use Bengal.  What ever type of poison they use is good, but because of the way it works, if you ever get another infestation it is twice as hard to get rid of and supposedly bengal won't work very well the second time.   When we first got our trailer I sprayed for spiders.  I wanted to be sure so I got a contractor and when he saw some dead bugs he wanted to know what I had used because if it was Bengal he would have had to use a different-stronger chemical.  When we moved it to our land we had it sprayed again and same question from a different contractor.

[beenthere]

..... it works, if you ever get another infestation it is twice as hard to get rid of and supposedly bengal won't work very well the second time. .......

Hard to imagine that any type of resistance can be built up that fast in a population of bugs. We sometimes hear of resistances to 'treatments' built up over several generations, but in one or less, seems a bit too quick. 
But then, I don't know. That sort of info should be buried on the web somewhere, with some explanation why and what is happening. By chance do you remember the pest companies?

[woodbowl]

finaly got local joe exterminator in and he put out some kind of poison with a peanut butter base ( a poison on it's own if you ask me) that wiped them out. none in over 10 years

LeeB, I've got a thing about not poisining myself and my family. I want to take a guess at what the peanut butter conbo is. Was it like a paste? I know someone who does the same thing. He mixes up flour, bacon grease, sugar and boric acid. I can't ever seem to get it to work. Maybe the perportions are all wrong. Deadheader, you say the boric acid's got to be fresh? Seems like it aught to keep forever in the container.

[OneWithWood]

We have a couple wolf spiders that are like members of the family, Boris and Natasha.  As long as they stay in the basement we don't bother them.  They eat a lot of critters from crickets to roaches.
I never tell our visitors who sleep in the basement about them.  What they don't know won't bother them  ;)

[beenthere]

Furby didn't know 

Or he did, and wouldn't stay  :


;D

[Modat22]

Long ago, I lived in an apartment that had roaches so bad, you could hear them at night.

I tried several things, most made me sick, then I got this powder called roach proof which is boric acid and some other poisen in it. I drilled 1/4 inch holes in the drywall on 16 inch centers and dumped the powder in each of them. After about 40 days the roaches where gone.

Look for Roach Proof powder.

[OneWithWood]

Beenthere,
I did offer him a bed for the night (without mentioning Boris and Natasha) but he wanted to get back on the road.  I remember way back when, when I was his age, roadtime was the best time.
He most likely would have made friends with Boris and Natasha.

When we built the house I sprinkled Roach Proof between the studs before we insulatied and sheathed the walls.  It was many years before we saw our first roach.

[woodbowl]

I tried several things, most made me sick, then I got this powder called roach proof which is boric acid and some other poisen in it.

Look for Roach Proof powder.

Paul Harvey sold us on a can of "Roach Prufe" about 15 years years ago. I couldn't tell that it did anything. We still have half a can. Can't figure why it works for some and not for others.

[rebocardo]

First thing is to spray expanding foam around all pipes in the bathroom, kitchen, and dryer/washer room. Then seal electrical outlets (can use caulk), then seal around HVAC vents in the walls and floors. Then roach motels stand a chance. Seal the bottom of exterior doors well.

[DanG]

Best thing I've found is Combat paste.  I don't like to use poisons either, but you can put this stuff in places that it will never come into contact with your family. I put some behind the sink(under the countertop), behind the stove and 'fridge, behind the washing machine, etc.

The cockroaches we have here are bold and brazen.  They will just stand there at the door, waiting for someone to open it!

Where I have a real problem is in the barn where I feed the dogs.  I don't know what to do about them without poisoning the dogs. ???

[CHARLIE]

DanG, maybe you could take the dogs and other animals...and their food...out of the barn and set off several of those fumigation bombs you can buy at the store.  Then set out some of those COMBAT brand roach motels. They are supposed to have poisoned bait inside that the roaches take back to their colony and share.  Set them up and away from the animals. 

You might also consider getting a dogfood dispenser that dispenses the right amount of food for the dogs, so they'll eat it all up and not leave any around for the roaches.  Just a thought.

[DanG]

And a fine thought it is, Charlie.  However, I can't imagine the blood-letting that would ensue if I put a dispenser out for those 8 mongrels.

The problem is actually in an open shed on the side of the barn.  There is also a stack of firewood, a small stack of lumber, and our recycling bin...all great places to be, if you're a roach.

Maybe I'll build my own "roach motel" and put a whole tube of Combat paste in it.  Just gotta fix it where the dogs can't get to it.

[pigman]

First thing is to spray expanding foam around all pipes in the bathroom, kitchen, and dryer/washer room. Then seal electrical outlets (can use caulk), then seal around HVAC vents in the walls and floors. Then roach motels stand a chance. Seal the bottom of exterior doors well.

rebocardo, will that get rid of the roaches or just keep them warm while they are in the house. ;D

[woodbowl]

Best thing I've found is Combat paste. 

DanG ............ what are the ingredients in the combat paste? If it's boric acid, I can believe in it because I know it works. Getting them to eat it is the thing. A good flavor that all roaches like seems to be key. I understand that they lick their legs to clean up and injest it that way also. .............. Nice to know that roaches clean up, huh? Imagine a roach that just won't clean hisself!  : :

[ARKANSAWYER]

  I know how to get rid of roaches and keep them away.  It is proven to work as I worked in Conway AR for a rental company who spent $4, grand a year on bug spray for the 200 plus rental units.  (Most were very low rent)  Roaches were very bad in some.   If I could get the people to stay clean I could get rid of them.   I never told the company what I was doing as the tight wad would not pay me extra for my doings.  So when I left so did my organic non poision roach control.   Being a life long Southerner (ain't GOD good!) I can say I have not had to live with roaches.   OOPs customer I have to go.

[Tom]

The one thing to recognize about roach control is that their main aim in life is food.  Their second is hiding.   To get rid of a Roach infestation, one must start with the food.  Cleanliness is paramount but sealing leftovers and stored foods in a container that can't be broached, follows closely behind.

The Cleanliness part doesn't mean that you are a slob.  It just means that a roach can find a small piece of food you dropped, that was too small to notice, and he'll live off of it for days or weeks.  Don't leave dirty dishes in the sink.  Clean the floor, especially around baseboards.  Take everything out of cabinets and get rid of paper, paste, boxes, bags, etc.  Do you eat cereal for breakfast?  That box won't stop a roach even if you diligently close it. Boxes of food, like cereal, that aren't eaten in  short order, are roach bait.  

Paper containers brought home from the grocery store may, and probably do, contain roach eggs (ootheca).  The bean sized egg case that most folks are familiar with, is called an Ootheca.  It is just what the roach carries the eggs in.  There are actually 50 or 60 eggs inside of it.  

There is a common sized roach of about an inch or inch and a half that are lumped into "flying" roaches.  Other roaches can fly but these are such common roaches that they get lumped into one description.

The American Cockroach is the leader of the flying roaches.  Mistaken as being the same animal is the Brown Banded and Smoky Brown.

The German Cockroach is the little devil that comes into the house form the grocery store and takes over.  It is very prolific and the Ootheca is carried by the female until almost hatch time.  This makes it difficult to get rid of it with the trash or cleaning.  The German Cockroach is about 1/2 inch long.

The Oriental Cockroach is that great big wingless version.  He is known as a palmetto bug or wingless roach.  They aren't difficult to control indoors because they are mostly an outdoors insect.  They really like the damp places, so if you have them, look for things that would be damp like a mop or leaky pipe.   They are usually found out of doors in humus, under rotting logs, doorsteps welcome mats, etc.  They are probably the scariest because of their size,

Chemicals are about the only good way to control roaches.  Malathion, and like insecticides that will leave a residue, are necessary.   Aerosol is a fair way of application but they really need to be applied to surfaces to the point of runoff so that the crystallized chemical will adhere as the carrier dries.   Whether spraying or painting the application, be careful of eating utensils and children's toys.  Empty china cabinets and paint the interior.  Let it dry before returning the china.  Spray baseboards and under sinks where the pipes enter the walls.

Outside, spray foundations, pilings, piers, a/c ductwork, or any place that will allow entry.

Don't bring home corrugated boxes from the grocery and leave them in the house.  Those little grooves in the corrugations are ideal places for roaches to have deposited that Ootheca.

Be suspicious of any box or container that has come from a warehouse environment.  Even toys are stored next to food there.


One of the best write-ups of many good ones I've found on Google is this one from Texas A&M.
http://insects.tamu.edu/extension/bulletins/b-1458.html

A good write-up on the German cockroach is this one from IFAS (University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Science)'
http://creatures.ifas.ufl.edu/urban/roaches/german.htm

While not usually as bad a problem, you can read up on the Oriental Cockroach on this fact sheet supplied by Ohio State University.
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2097.html

[Modat22]

I guess you could just start feeding them  and selling them as a tasty treat. That woman in the tomb raider movies eats giant roaches as a low carb snack.

[Tom]

Actually, if you weren't concerned about what they had been walking over or had some way of making sure that the micro-organisms and toxicities were eliminated, toasted cockroach would probably be fairly nutritive.

I just never have been that hungry.  :D

[Texas Ranger]

Has any one mentioned pointy toe shows yet, you know to get into the corners? :P

[Tom]

The one thing that Texas Cowboys and New York Hoods have in common.  :D :D

[Gary_C]

Thats what cowboy boots were made for. Killing cockroaches in the corners.

Say DanG
My father in law always used to say "a rich man has one dog and a poor man has two." I dont know what he would say about EIGHT.  

[Modat22]

Has any one mentioned pointy toe shows yet, you know to get into the corners? :P

Thats how the first line dance was created.

[Radar67]

  I know how to get rid of roaches and keep them away.  It is proven to work as I worked in Conway AR for a rental company who spent $4, grand a year on bug spray for the 200 plus rental units.  (Most were very low rent)  Roaches were very bad in some.   If I could get the people to stay clean I could get rid of them.   I never told the company what I was doing as the tight wad would not pay me extra for my doings.  So when I left so did my organic non poision roach control.   Being a life long Southerner (ain't GOD good!) I can say I have not had to live with roaches.   OOPs customer I have to go.

So, are you going to keep the secret, or spill it?  ;D

[woodbowl]

Yea Arky, we're waiting for your customer to leave.

[ARKANSAWYER]

  Sorry!,  I sold 500 bdft so I stayed to saw out 800 more for stock.

   Hint,  They are green.     ;D   (no, not my tooth)

ARKANSAWYER

[pigman]

Hint, They are green. ;D (no, not my tooth)

ARKANSAWYER

Do they make green g r i t s. :

[woodbowl]

   Hint,  They are green.     

Green ..........hummm ...................... Arky, you got green chickens?

[ARKANSAWYER]

NOPE!   grits is only green if you put them hot peppers in there.

NOPE!  most chickens is red around here and wife won't let them in the house any more since one messed on the table. :

  Hint:  theys ripe this time of year.

[pigman]

Hedge apple. :P

[ARKANSAWYER]

  To the Pigman goes the prize!
 
I learnt this many years ago and it has proven true many times.   After all have you ever seen a cockroach in a hedge apple tree?   ???  Get a few apples and slice them up and put them under counters and behind places that are dark like hot water heater and around and under the house.   They do not smell and will turn brown in a few weeks.   All I know if you keep the place clean and put these oranges everywhere you can the roaches will move out.    Try it.  It is cheap, easy and you do not have to worry about pets.
  We need to get a prize for the tip of the week.   ;D

[CHARLIE]

Ha! :D  I was told that hedge apples will keep spiders out of the room they are put in.  So....I bought 4 or 5 of them and put them around in my shop.  A while later, I threw them all away when I discovered cobwebs attached to them. :

[pigman]

    We need to get a prize for the tip of the week.   ;D

I will give you a prize of a dozen hedge apples if you pay for the shipping. ;)

[DanG]

I know about road apples and such, but what the heck is a hedge apple? ??? :P

[woodbowl]

 All I know if you keep the place clean and put these oranges everywhere you can the roaches will move out.

What's a hedge apple?  Is it an apple or an orange?  It sounds sorta' like a hog orange. Some people call them hog sloughs. Is it the same as trifolia?

[Texas Ranger]

Osage orange, bow de arc

[Furby]

[Fla._Deadheader]

DanG, ya don't get out much, Son  : : ;D ;D

  It's about the size of a grapefruit, and if ya ever take one on the ole gourd, you won't forget it. They are almost hard. Will break a windshield if one drops while yer drivin by, under overhanging limbs, along the Hwy. Tough to dig yer finger nails into.

  That's the fruit from them Osage's Kirk Allen keeps scorin.

[ARKANSAWYER]

  They work.  Don't know why they work but we have no roaches.

  We used to play ball with them when we was kids.  'Course we was poor and had little else to play with and had already worn out all the rocks close by.  Four dry cow pies, an old fence post and a hedge apple the game was on.  When we wore one out we could just fetch another and go again.  They will also go through the window of a house.

[Furby]

Anyone wanna tell me the best way to sprout one?

[pigman]

They seem to be spread around here by animals. They eat them and spread the little seeds like the birds doo.  Then on second thought maybe you should not eat them; just bury them in the ground. I really don't know how they spread, but my neighbor has a bunch and I keep getting sprots that are hard to cut with a bushhog. :(

[Tom_Averwater]

To sprout osage  you got to mash em and take the seeds out . I can't remember if they need to be dried or not before planting. Dad sprouted a bunch of them one year . I got the job of planting the sprouts.

[Furby]

Ah, that's what I was wondering.............. what's inside.
Cool, I'll dig some seeds out and then dry some and not others. ;)
Thanks!

[rebocardo]

One thing my boss did in his rental houses was caulk the baseboards and toe boards so there were no gaps along the floor. This makes the house tighter and gives the roaches no place to hide or get into the house from inside the walls. We do the same to the windows, especially under the sill around the mouldings. Along with what I mentioned before. Another way they get in is through the lights from the attic.

[Tom]

I consider the walls and Attic as being inside of the house.   My war would take place outside with defensive measures inside.   

Perhaps designating Roaches as a delicacy would be a means of control.

We could have Roach-overs and Roach de vours, Roach chips, Roach energy snacks, Super bowl Roach parties,  Roaches and dip, Roach spread, Roach Pate', and even decorate birthday cakes with the little boogers. :D

[beenthere]

Roache' w/ greeits

[Modat22]

I do highly recommend cicadia, roasted with butter, tossed with pasta and creme.

tastes like shrimp alfredo

[pigman]

Modat, the only problem with cicadia is we only get to eat them every 17 years, or is there a way to preserve them for later use. :P

[rebocardo]

> I consider the walls and Attic as being inside of the house.

True, maybe I should say inside the living spaces.  I have watched the flying roaches come right up to the wall at night, land on the bricks or windows, and crawl right up into the attic. Being that most houses in GA have at least a 1/4 gap for venting between the roof and facia boards it is almost impossible to keep them out of the attic. Espeecially since a roach does not need much space to squeeze through.

[luvmexfood]

Ortho Home Defense. Think that's the name. Best home spray you can get.

[Papa1stuff]

Or you can take two pieces of 2x4,place roach on one hit it with other ,works every time ;D

[pineywoods]

Best thing I have found is called a sticky trap. Works for any bugs and mice. Flat sheet of thick plastic coated with some of the stickiest goo you ever saw. Anything that touches it is trapped. Place one or 2 on the floor along a wall where critters might run. No chemicals, no smell, and they keep on working. When the trap gets loaded with victims, just burn trap and all..

[sandhills]

Pineywoods we use them for snakes in our basement, it's amazing how sticky them things are.  I caught about a 14" garter snake on one, it moved it a little but not much, the more they wiggle the more stuck they get.  They also catch every other little creeper around and as you said easy clean up.  I think the snakes get in under the siding and my wife is absolutely horrified by them, good thing we don't have the mean ones around here  ;). 

[John123john]

Or maybe raid spray? Who knows?

[thecfarm]

Just asking,do you live in an apartment? Reason I ask,some guy at work was fighting them. Just could not get rid of them. Finally he asked the guy next door about them,oh we got them,but not doing nothing to get rid of them.   

[Raider Bill]

I live on the gulf coast of Florida. We got roaches, big roaches, small roaches, American, German, palmetto you name it we got them.
This is what I use in my rentals. Works great and is residual. I spray room perimeters, kitchen bottoms and the baths.
Actually watched a palmetto bug walk across the cynoff line about a week after I sprayed. Soon as he got across he flipped over on his back and started the roach death dance. ;D ;D

Cynoff EC

[starmac]

DanG mentioned roaches that would wait at the door for you to let them, heck I have seen roaches down south that would open the door themselves, or use their gun or knife and force you to open it for them.  We called them palmetto bugs or tree roaches, my wife was always deathly afraid of them.

I have always heard the hedge, we called them horse apples worked. I have heard of old timers putting them under the house and never having roach problems, but no first hand experience. 
When we lived in an apartment right after getting married for 6 months, we could have it exterminated, and it would be roach free for a week or two till one of the neighbors had theirs exterminated, I think they just went next door instead of dieing.

[Raider Bill]

I live on the gulf coast of Florida. We got roaches, big roaches, small roaches, American, German, palmetto you name it we got them.
This is what I use in my rentals. Works great and is residual. I spray room perimeters, kitchen bottoms and the baths.
Actually watched a palmetto bug walk across the cynoff line about a week after I sprayed. Soon as he got across he flipped over on his back and started the roach death dance. ;D ;D

Robot Check

What's a Robot Check?

[caveman]

I use a pyrethrum based product made by Zep and sold at The Home Depot.  It does a good job.  I spray the house every year or so.  You may need to use it more frequently until you get your roach infestation under control.  

[coxy]

ya i remember the first time in FL them dang things would carry a fully loaded 10wheeler away there so big couldn't wait to get back to the frozen north  :D

[ScottAR]

First, Know that I am not judging you with this statement. 

Roaches live on scraps, crumbs, grease, trash, nearly anything.  So get rid of any "food."   Clean every nook and cranny that can be cleaned. Behind the fridge, under the range, Change trash bags often and so on.  Now you are ready to treat.

Cynoff works good.  I also use Talstar.   These are good knockdown to get most of the crawlers.

Then bait.   I've tried several pro type baits over the years and all seem to work well.  Google "DIY pest control" for online pesticide supply.  You can get pro level stuff.  Bait any place where you find scat. Behind the fridge, backs of cabinets, under the toekick,  on the back edge of the kitchen drawers. any area that seems like a good place to hide.   Kid and pet access is a consideration.

The female roach can have up to 5 sets of eggs on one breeding.  So it's not a quick fix even with the pro products.  This will be a few week process.