Tea ruined by exterminator spray?
Sorry to be gross but the Landlord had an exterminator come into my apartment to spray for roaches. When I got home the smell is a lot stronger than I imagined it would be. They told me to cover up all of my food but now I am wondering if my tea is ruined, especially the puerh which wasn’t sealed up in plastic or tins. Any guesses as to what I should do? :-/
Hmm. My first thought as someone who had to be sprayed a number of times for bedbugs a few years ago is to toss anything that wasn’t secured in a tin or something similar. But that’s purely instinct, not based on fact. Could you talk to the exterminator maybe and find out what was used and where?
Never having had an exterminator, my first instinct would still be to throw away anything not in a tin or covered in thick plastic. Paper won’t be thick enough to protect the tea from harsh chemicals.
Wow that bites. I’m thinking I would probably toss it if it wasn’t in something. That is so much suckage. :(
I wouldn’t use anything only wrapped in paper. Exterminator sprays are intended to penetrate, since the bugs live in the walls.
hi everyone…
thanks I’m leaning towards the same line of thinking myself. Most of the puerh was wrapped in paper. Uniquity I know the spray was used primarily in the kitchen but when I got home my whole apartment stunk of chemicals. sigh
That bites. I’d toss it then. There are enough pesticides in food and tea without adding more. Plus the ones that remain after a spray. I used to get all worked up about it, but now I just hope that I start glowing in the dark or something. Still try not to ingest more than I have to though. :)
Puerhshop uses a pesticide test kit to screen teas. This might give you an idea of exposure levels:
I’ve dealt with exterminators in my previous jobs (mostly roaches/bed bugs) – I would check with the landlord / find the exterminator and ask what chemicals they used.
Some places use more safer chemicals (ie, taking into consideration pets/children licking the floor or being environmentally friendly kinda deals) and depending where they sprayed they cannot use harsh chemical due to lots of human contact.
I would approach it like “I had open food, is it safe for me to consume?”
I didn’t realize how many options there are until we were in need. We have a cat and that affected what they used and how they used it. We all vacated the apartment for the duration of the spray and left it for several hours but were told it was safe within a few hours. So far so good! There was definitely a stink though.
I remember for bed bugs, they could not use the egg killer spray on beds due to contact, which sucked as that was the best spray to be rid of them barring throwing the bed out. They used different sprays in the kitchen and different treatments for roaches, like food grade diatomaceous earth.
I worked in a women’s homeless shelter, so yeah lots of bugs. And the exterminators were surprisingly always handsome young men so we stalked them (without getting too close to chemicals).
But yeah, if the fumes aren’t toxic, then airing the pu cakes might be an option.
They told me to cover up my food before they sprayed… I wasn’t thinking about the tea for some reason.
We actually had bedbugs twice in the same building (thanks landlord!). The first time we got rid of bunch of furniture but we couldn’t afford it the second time so we purchased expensive covers for our bed and pillows and were vigilant. I am extremely reactive and the bugs seemed to be pesticide resistant so we actually won after months of me waking up immediately after being bitten, searching the bed, finding the bug and killing it. Terrible way to win the war, but at least we won. It’s been five years bug free and we live in a freestanding home now but I am still leery of hotels and don’t purchase used furniture. We did actually get sprayed for cockroaches once but they didn’t tell us anything about food. I’m probably dying of exposure.
How much Pu do you have? Is it a lot or just a small amount?
I’d like to send you some of my Pu no-charge. I have a little Misty Peaks loose, August.la White (Midnight in the Garden), some random Verdant Pu, and some Whispering Pines (have to see what I have left). :D
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