Please give me your advice on which product to use for millipedes in this situation: Plant beds on both sides of garage door located in south Florida. Millipedes enter underneath closed door and climb interior garage walls. If not vacuumed out, there are 3 dozen in a week. A few climb outside walls. Can a liquid be used to treat both soil (not many square feet) and entrance to garage? What product would you recommend? Or, would granules be better? Thanks, J.T.
The best millipede spray for this situation would be the BIFENTHRIN we have listed in our MILLIPEDE CONTROL article. It’s fast working and does a good job of staying on the ground’s surface so migrating millipedes will pick up the Bifen and die. Common liquid products tend to sink down and into common organic matter found in most any plant bed. But the Bifenthrin will stay up top where it really has a longer lasting time span of activity. However, this alone will not solve the problem.
As our article explains, these millipedes are breeding down in the soil. Plant beds as well as any location with mulch and other natural organic matter are all prime locations for nesting millipedes. Millipedes will readily move down into good nesting soil just deep enough to remain out of sight. From there they’ll “lock onto” anything they can process as food. This could be old plant material, wood chips, other insects or compost. Here they’ll stay throughout the summer during which time they’ll lay eggs and multiply. Young millipedes will feed on this same food supply and develop as rapidly as the food and moisture levels allow. Better quality food combined with good moisture will allow them to grow rapidly and essentially such locations can become “millipede factories”. I suspect this could be your plant beds and maybe even a larger area. Once they get strong enough they’ll migrate away from these nest sites. Millipede will also migrate if forced to do so which can happen during excessive rains or even if the ground in the area is receiving too much water from a private irrigation system. But when they migrate, they can do so in the hundreds or even thousands. And based on what you’re describing, it sounds like they’re in migration mode at the very least.
To get better control of the problem, you’ll need to treat these prime nest locations. For this, the BIFEN GRANULES we have featured in the article are best suited to do the job. But don’t limit your application to just the plant beds. I strongly suspect they are nesting over a much larger area and to get rid of them that much faster it’s important that you treat as much of this area as possible. It could be a yard with just grass and nothing more. You don’t say whats around the plant beds but I wouldn’t be surprised if this is a key area as well so don’t ignore it. Get a good blanket of the granules in place and then spray over the top with the Bifenthrin. And treat once a week during periods when they’re invading; once a month should be a normal time span to wait when they aren’t active.
Lastly, do a good spraying in the garage as well. This will help knock off the millipedes that make their way inside. Since this problem probably took years to develop, it won’t be gone with 1-2 treatments. In all likelihood, you’ll need to treat a few times this year and then again next spring to get rid of them for good. But with the right products applied in the right area, you should be able to knock them out for good – even with the rain and excessive water. Over the next several months you’ll get the Bifen to sink down into the soil and get them where they are nesting in the dirt. This is paramount if you wish to get rid of them once and for all. If you have further questions, give us a call on our toll free 1.800.877.7290.
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