Spray can pesticides - Shelf life?

According to OSU: Shelf life. One should use fresh products whenever possible. Shelf life of insecticide products is influenced by the formulation, the container type, storage conditions (temperature and humidity) and time. As a general rule, an unopened container stored at moderate temperature will remain effective for 2 to 5 years after purchase. Over time, under poor storage conditions, the formulation and/or active ingredient can deteriorate. The formulation can separate or solidify, rendering the material unsuitable for use. The only way to know for sure if the active ingredient of a stored product is still effective is to mix and treat a pest population in a limited area and monitor the results.

Those knock-down sprays are essentially just overpriced mineral spirits in a spray can, and should last forever.

Missed the insecticide in the ingredients list, did you?

No. The insecticide is just a slow residual in infinitesimal dilution, and is in there for marketing purposes and to make you feel like you got something to justify the price.

The knock-down comes from the mineral spirits alone. I keep a Sure-Shot sprayer of just that around, and it knocks 'em down just as well as the "wasp killer". Kerosene, petroleum naphtha, or WD-40 works, too.

I live in Florida, so economical insect control is important. The po' folk used to keep a rope soaked with kerosene across the door seal, to keep out the critters.

I always spray some in the eyes of the neighbor's kids as a benchmark. If they roll around on the ground screaming for less than 20 minutes, it's probably no good.

Your parents really should stop sexually abusing you.

Yeah, they should. Until they do, I'll always have chuckleheads like you to help ease the pain.

My pleasure.

It's not very effective because pyrethin is not very effective. Try something else.

Hell, *water* will knock them down. The insecticide makes sure they *stay* down.

Filling a gap with a physical barrier keeps out insects. What a surprise.

In article , snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com says... :) Does anyone know what the shelf life of a spray can of ant and roach killer :) would be? Pyrethin based. I bought a can last summer and it doesn't seem to :) be very effective. Would I be better off buying non-pyrethin based products :) if I want to carry over from year to year. The same goes for wasp sprays. :) You certainly don't want to use a can thats not going to kill anything. :) I just sprayed a pyrethrin aerosal that has to be close to 7 years old on a wasp nest and it worked as supposed to. Pyrethrin is only a contact kill.

Yawn. Try to understand what the words mean.

Take your own advice. Start by looking up "infinitesimal" in the dictionary.

People that yawn a lot are not getting enough oxygen.

rusty redcloud

Worked eh? Maybe they were old wasps.

replying to Lar, John Tucker wrote: Please help......I just accidently sprayed my 9 year old son with Raid Ant Killer. He is having convulsions on the floor and bleeding from his ears. Does anyone have a suggestion about what I should do ???

Shoot him and put him out of his misery.