Qestion: Is 20 days enough to get rid of any lingering chems...are there any lingering chems ?
answer: Dichlorvos has been found to dissipate rapidly from treated leaf surfaces, with a half-life of 4.6 to 6.8 hours, presumably due principally to volatilisation and hydrolysis. (Source: "DICHLORVOS FINAL REVIEW REPORT AND REGULATORY DECISION", Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority, ISBN: 978-0-9870591-2-3)
Question:I've read all the warnings...but I'm desperate.
Answer: OMG, judging by the previous responses total lack of knowledge, you MUST be desperate. I'm sorry, but all you got before was confusion over concepts with no meaning, ie. speculating on the "harshness" of a chemical, speculating on what may or may not linger with no scientific basis AT ALL. You needed help and I believe you were dis-serviced by the community until my post.
Dicholrvos has been in use since 1955, I think, in greenhouses, tobacco storage, food storage, restaurants, butchers, etc. If you read the literature, which is so voluminous from all these years of use, you can see that the equivalent of using a no pest strip has been going for decades upon decades. There is no need for anyone to come up with their "feelings" or "opinions" when there are mounds of facts that MEAN SOMETHING and can HELP PEOPLE like you, ogre.
This newest study is HUGE. It is 97 pages of the most exhaustive scientific (horticultural, veterinary, toxicological) information ever written on dichlorvos. The awesome Australians wrote this in March 2011. Maybe we can all read it tonight and forever not worry about spending assloads of money and time buying and tracking down products like AVID, GNATROL, Azamax, etc.
Here is a link:
http://www.apvma.gov.au/products/review/docs/dichlorvos_final_2011.pdf
Good luck killing the bugs. You can do it! Just remember to turn off your carbon scrubber. I find that my pest strip will not work AT ALL when scrubbing my indoor room.
Tommy
