I’ve lost the mixing instructions for the insecticide Dursban.
This is the Quart size bought at the local farm store.
Someone mentioned in a thread early this year that they were taking it off the market and sure enough I can’t find any on store shelves to find the correct mixing instructions.
Does anyone use the chemical and have their label intact? If so would you please post the mixing instructions here. I don’t need the whole warning label since I am used to handling it and insecticides in general.
Dursban kills crickets and several other insects.
It is used to keep crickets out of the house.
I believe it is 1 oz per gallon but I would rather be safe than sorry.
The chemical company that I worked for is no longer in buisness or I would just ask them.
Hmm… I thought the name dursban rung a bell, and indeed, a little googling around the web will yield some interesting information. Dow Corning makes the stuff. It was recently relabeled and is no longer sold for use in home, garden, or lawn care. They say it is legal to use what you already have, but it is not permitted to sell it for that purpose. Here’s the announcement:
http://www.epa.gov/history/topics/legal/03.htm
If I had some dursban, I wouldn’t use it, I’d contact someone that deals in hazardous waste to dispose of it safely.
Dursban is produced in several different formulations for different purposes, so you’re going to have to be a lot more specific than just ‘Dursban’. Is it Dursban PC, Dursban TC, Dursban Ultra, Dursban Pro, Dursban 4, Dursban 50W, Dursban NF etc? I can probably provide the correct dilution rates (at least per Australian applications) if you can give me the product name or at the very least the concentration of active constituent and the formulation. Without that information any dilution instructions are impossible.
Since you’ve lost the mixing instructions I assume you’ve also lost the safety directions. You probably already know this but it’s worth repeating: Be Careful. That stuff’s a pretty nasty nerve poison and probable carcinigen. Wear overalls with full length sleeves, wear a respirator (not a dust mask), wear goggles or a face shield, wear waterproof boots, wear elbow length rubber gloves. Wash all clothing in a separate load after you’ve finished and at the very least wash your face and armns with soap. It’s inconvenient but nerve damage tends to be cumulative and repeated exposure leads to long term health problems.
Although I use the stuff professionally for ground treatments of fleas, ants and termites I can’t understand why anyone would want to use it for private purposes and especially for something like crickets. Just some freindly advice justwannano, use up what you’ve got and go get some permethrin based inscticide. It’s safer and for crickets it works just as well if not better.
And Chas there’s no reason to throw out Dursban. It’s being phased out because the risks inherent in its use don’t justify using it over the generally safer and more environmentally freindly carbamates, pyrethroids and IGRs. It’s not like it’s being recalled because it goes critical and wipes out small city blocks or something.
I never said it would be that dangerous. I just said I personally wouldn’t use it, I’d go for something safer. Just like you said.
Personally, I wouldn’t spray for crickets anyway.
Granular bait works very well, and is easier to use. Probably environmentally safer as well.
I agree with Chas.E on this one. There’s really no good reason to keep the Dursban around, and there are other products that can be used for your purposes. Contact the local office of your state’s Dept. of Environmental Conservation, or whatever they call it, or Cooperative Extension, or even a licensed retailer of pesticides to get a contact to arrange for its removal.
Then go buy a container of granular bait. It’s good stuff.
If you bought it “off the shelf” in the U. S., there is a 97% probability that the mix rate is 1 Tablespoon per gallon of water. Aside from a few fungicides (Bordeaux Mixture, Benomyl, etc.) that needed different mixtures for different applications, nearly everything I ever sold (25 years ago) used that ratio. (Things might have changed, but I would generally expect Ortho, Science, CIBA-GEIGY, and company to make things more uniform as the years go by.)
Yes it was bought off the shelf.
Most pesticides are safe when used in the prescribed manner.
Unfortunately many are banned from use by the public because people think (misnomer) that just a little more product will work better.They don’t follow instructions.
Among my favorite pieces of literature though is the statement on chemical bottles that you should wrap them in newspaper and dispose of in a landfill.
For your piece of mind I will call the local pesticide applicator and try to determine the proper mix ratio even though they were our competitor:-})