You will likely need repeated insecticide spraying. This is usually based on the life cycle time from adult through egg laying and on to hatching to mature beetle.
We used this method in the tobacco industry to kill off tobacco beetle. A 6 week cycle. Day1 ...Spot adult. Seal area as much as possible and spray. Keep sealed and top up spraying for 6 weeks as that kills any emerging beetles from eggs through larva stages. Traps checked daily. ( Sticky paper type).
I was our site rep for infestation, liaising with the main person in Ballymena site. If I identified a beetle as tobacco beetle I’d start the process using spray cans until the “pro” from Ballymena came over. With better spray equipment. We were lucky in finding beetles early to catch/kill before they gained a foothold. A cigarette factory in Manchester were unlucky, repeated outbreaks due to the difficulties in containing it.
I had a collection of flies, spiders,insects,lizards ( all dead ) found in bales imported from worldwide growers. One monkey found squashed in a compressed bale from Ecuador. Bale destroyed ( a few £ lost there! ) Not kept in the “collection”. All tobacco had to be frozen at -25C for 48hrs on receipt but some samples/ machinery slipped through, hence the rare outbreaks.
It is possible to fog the garage as that was a large scale method we could use if needed. We never did though. You’d have to seal the garage and find an approved insecticide “bomb”. Regs have changed so chemicals are limited. DDT worldwide ban!
Last edited by sospan; 12/06/23 04:05 PM.
