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Invasive Forest Insects Cost Taxpayers Billions
Santa Barbara Independent The National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) in Santa Barbara has sponsored a group of scientists to research the impact that invasive forest insects have on taxpayers' wallets — and according to a prepared … |
Pests in the NewsSeptember 27, 2011
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Just when you think you have seen everything in sports, along comes a high school football game that is postponed because of fire ants. No kidding. It happened Friday night at Hunter-Kinard-Tyler High. Survey inside: Good call or bad call?
Pests in the NewsSeptember 27, 2011
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QUESTION:
I know you mentioned Kicker and Exciter for helping with the knockdown phase of treating bed bugs, but what about Exponent. What purpose does this serve and does it help with bed bug treatment as well?
ANSWER:
I like to play it shy and wait for the official information from our excellent researchers at some of our major universities, such as the Univ. of Kentucky, before going too far out on that limb with my own conclusions. But, so many PMP’s are using pyrethrum with their other bed bug treatment products, and telling us that it seems to improve the control effort, that there must be something to it. Just what this is I can only guess at for the moment. Perhaps it is the pyrethrum itself that adds to the overall chemical load on that bed bug to help cause its death. Perhaps it is the immediate effect that pyrethrum has on insects that stuns the insect long enough to keep it in contact with your residual products longer, or to help absorb more of the residual into the system of the bed bug, or to weaken the bed bug initially and allow the other molecules to work better. What is well known is that there is HIGH resistance by bed bugs to many of our commonly used products, so overcoming this resistance somehow is needed.
Way back in the Olden Days of organophosphates and Carbamates we had a product called Ficam, a carbamate with the active ingredient of bendiocarb. Initially the manufacturer touted the fantastic results Ficam would give killing German roaches, but the industry found otherwise, and eventually it was realized that the German Roach could somehow metabolize the bendiocarb molecule and excrete it efficiently enough to survive that exposure to this molecule. So, they came out with Ficam Plus, which added synergized pyrethrum to the bendiocarb, and this worked better. Note the word “synergized”, because there are two primary synergists used in pyrethrum products – piperonyl butoxide and MGK 264. These synergists are there for one reason – to BLOCK the ability of insects to metabolize pyrethrum and survive its effects. Pyrethrum knocks things down quickly, but does not easily kill roaches on its own. Flies yes, roaches no. Exponent is piperonyl butoxide (PBO).
Later we also got aerosols that combined residuals like propoxur (Baygon) with PBO with the realization that the PBO somehow enhanced the effect even of an excellent residual like propoxur. So, maybe it is the PBO in Kicker and Exciter that is doing the additional work when we add these pyrethrum products to our residual materials. Hard to say, but that is why our researchers are madly working on the answers to these concerns in the effort to improve our ability to kill bed bugs with insecticides.
I suspect that Exponent would also have a very positive effect when added properly to your mixture of the residuals that you use. If PBO somehow blocks the resistance to active ingredients of other kinds in other insects maybe it also would help to overcome the resistance bed bugs are showing to so many pyrethroids. Just my unofficial conclusion, and not based on anything I have read to date.
Pest QuestionsSeptember 27, 2011
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QUESTION:
Pack rats are living in a Century Plant. How do I rid rodents that are dwelling in cacti?
ANSWER:
Actually, pack rats commonly choose cactus of various kinds for their living places in regions where these prickly, dangerous plants are available. Living amongst all those spines and needles provides them with excellent protection from their own enemies, and once they create their huge jumble of sticks and other nesting materials they themselves are comfortably protected from the hazards of the cactus itself. Out in a really rural area these native rodents, also called wood rats, could be left alone. But, around homes they can be pretty damaging to many things, including getting into vehicles and chewing on hoses, wires, or cushions. They do like any other rodent does and they GNAW on anything and everything, damaging plants and equipment. Their feces may accumulate and create an unhealthy condition and like all rodents they do carry parasites that could move onto human hosts.
Control cries out for some overall IPM program that changes the environment in that area. The rats have chosen this plant not only for its protection, but also because it is central to their other needs of food and water. Eliminating as much of their food resources as possible will at least help to discourage them, and around a home this may be more possible than in more natural areas. Around a home it might be pet foods, garbage, or fallen fruits or vegetables in the yard. It could be seeds, so eliminating all weed growth is helpful. Removing or draining water sources where possible would help. The rats do have to leave their nest to find food, so they will be exposing themselves on a nightly basis.
The customer has to accept a lot of the work here, but if all you were to do is to physically remove that nest in the plant and even kill the current rodent residing there, the conditions on the property would remain the same, and invite another pack rat in to fill the void just created. This could go on forever, but if you are able to reduce the resources of the rat you help to discourage them for the longer period of time.
You also can work with toxic baits and traps, and of course either of these should be placed within a tamper resistant rodent station to keep them from contact by non-targeted animals. The wood rats can easily be attracted to baits using the same lures you do for domestic rats – peanut butter, nuts, dried fruit, bacon, etc. They generally have no fear of human objects and are happy to enter stations to investigate the odors. These stations can be placed close to the nest area to make it easier for the rats to find them. Since you generally have just a few pack rats on a property trapping would be the preferable method. In addition, with the new labeling on almost all of our rodenticides – for ONLY the House Mouse and Roof and Norway Rats – it is difficult to find baits labeled for other rodents such as the pack rat. And, with this rat’s tendency to carry things back to its nest and store them there you run the risk of having a lot of the bait stored in the nest and not eaten, but now potentially avialable to other non-targeted animals.
I would suggest doing what is possible to alter the environment around this property to discourage the rats, and then trapping to remove the ones residing there.
Pest QuestionsSeptember 26, 2011
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QUESTION:
I have been told that heat treatment for bed bugs is the best way to go. My concern is that while the room is heating up the bed bugs will run deeper into the walls, even into another room to get away from the heat. Some experts are telling me that the bugs are attracted to heat. So, when they are climbing the wall as the room is heating up are they coming to the heat or running from it? I currently use the steam method and your answer will help me determine if I will start using heat.
Thanks
ANSWER:
There appears to be a little confusion in the midst of the folks who are advising you. Definitely one of the stimuli that attracts bed bugs to a food source is the BODY heat of that warm blooded animal, but we are talking about a moderate level of heat, and the bed bug is not forced to live in that 98.6 degree temperature, but only to stand on it for 10 minutes to get a drink. However, heat is the absolute ENEMY of bed bugs, and once the temperature gets above about 103 degrees Fahrenheit they are at risk of dying. According to some university studies 104 degrees of dry heat will kill bed bugs within 24 hours, 113 degrees takes only 1 hour, and a clothes dryer at 175 degrees does them in within 5 minutes. We take advantage of this susceptibility to heat with heat chambers, steam, washer and dryer, and now whole-house heating. In fact, Dr. Mike Potter suggests that a good quality steamer will push 180 degree steam (wet heat) 6 inches into crevices and will kill all bugs and their eggs instantly at that temperature. So, please do not stop using a steamer. It has some excellent uses and advantages.
So, onto whether the bug is coming or going, and I will say that very definitely it is RUNNING FOR ITS LIFE when it begins to detect the environmental temperature around it getting uncomfortable. In fact, once again our university experts have advised us that this can be one drawback to heat. If the bugs have the ability to move quickly (and they do run pretty darned fast) to a cooler place they will do so. Putting things in a black plastic bag and placing it in the sun may not work if the bugs can move to the bottom and under things where the temperature may stay cool enough for their survival. If a single room in a hotel is sealed and heated the bugs within the walls might move further away and begin to infest surrounding units. Heat works beautifully, but only if the bugs are trapped in the space that is being heated to above the lethal temperatures. Any bugs seen running around during the heat-up process are definitely not thinking that food must be nearby. They have been forced out of their hiding places due to this increasing heat and they are only looking for survival now and a cooler place to be.
Is a heat treatment the best way to go? Well, it has advantages and disadvantages, and we discussed some of the “cons” already. Bugs may find a way to survive by moving to a cooler place and in a large structure this could spread the problem. Heating is done using propane tanks for the fuel, and as one recent explosion shows there can be a problem with faulty equipment. There may also be some kinds of equipment or materials in a room or home that are sensitive to heat, and might be damaged if the temperature gets too high.
On the “pro” side, heat is non-toxic. It also is efficient at killing bugs and eggs quickly, so properly done a heat treatment should completely, 100% rid an infested place of the bugs. Items that can be moved out of a home are easily treated in mobile heat chambers, and there are smaller units that can accommodate small items for heating directly when insecticides would not be appropriate. Bottom line though, the bugs are not going on a feeding frenzy during the initial buildup of heat in whole-structure heat treatments. They are recognizing that their survival is at stake and they are trying to escape.
Pest QuestionsSeptember 25, 2011
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QUESTION:
How long will it take for bed bugs to reach maturity? I have a customer who thinks the bed bugs in her home were there before she moved in. She has had her current bed for 15 years, so in your opinion which came first, her or the bed bugs?
ANSWER:
This is an interesting question, but let’s get the basic biology of bed bugs out of the way first. Once deposited on a surface a bed bug egg will hatch within 7-10 days, depending on the temperature. A female bed bug deposits from 5 to 15 eggs each week, again depending on the conditions in the room, and can lay 200 to 500 eggs total over her lifetime of 6-18 months. Typically the new bed bug nymphs will become adult bed bugs in about 2 months, although this again varies from 1 month to 4 months depending on the temperature in their environment. There are 5 nymph stages and then the adult stage, and each nymph feeds at least once on blood and the adult may feed every week for its lifetime, which typically is about 6 months but may extend to well over a year, particularly if blood is not readily available. In a cool environment an adult female bed bug has been shown to be capable of surviving 425 days without finding a second blood meal. We are not going to starve these parasites out of our homes.
Bottom line is that temperature has a huge effect on the lives of bed bugs, and the warmer it is the faster they develop and the sooner they die. If this home is normal and lived in then we could expect freshly deposited bed bug eggs to become mature adult bed bugs in about 45 to 60 days. The female is sexually mature essentially the moment she molts to the adult stage, and will be inseminated as soon as a male discovers this new opportunity.
How does all this help you with your predicament? Part of the problem is the “Placing of the Blame” game. This customer appears determined to blame the previous owners for her current bed bug problem. Somehow I think this would be a serious stretch. If she moved in 15 years ago that puts her moving in date at the year 1996, and frankly, we still found The Common Bed Bug to be almost non-existent in the U.S. in those days. Is it “possible” bed bugs were already there? Well, certainly it’s possible, but it would seem to be highly unlikely, and even more so if she is only now complaining about their presence. I am going to go out on a limb here and guess that she may be renting this home, and therefore would have the actual owner to blame for the problems she now has. After 15 years though it would seem more likely to me that she has recently brought these pests into her home herself.
The subject of her 15 year old bed may not be that important though, with respect to the bugs. They can hide nearly anywhere within an infested room. The bed and all its seams and crevices may be a preferred harborage site for these bugs, but bed framing and nearby dressers, along with carpet edging, electronic devices, and wall voids are quite suitable too. Of course, people who buy used mattresses or get them free at garage sales may be asking for more trouble than the person who buys a bed new, but even an infested bed can be dealt with the eliminate the bugs and prevent them from hiding on the mattress in the future.
Pest QuestionsSeptember 24, 2011
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QUESTION:
How do you deal with the Spiraling Whiteflies that are attacking the Gumbo Limbo trees?
ANSWER:
This is a newcomer to Florida with the impressive name of the Gumbo Limbo Spiraling Whitefly, although an alternate name is the Rugose Spiraling Whitefly, and it attacks far more plants than just gumbo limbo, including oak, palm, olive, and others. The name comes from the distinctive spiraling pattern created as the female whitefly deposits her eggs on the surface of a leaf. Otherwise the story for this new species seems to be fairly similar to many other whiteflies, according to fact sheets and articles from the Univ. of Florida. It creates a lot of honeydew which then leads to the growth of sooty mold, it creates large amounts of white waxy material on the leaves, and while it is feeding on the plants it rarely does much serious damage to larger, healthy trees. The primary concern is an aesthetic one, which does not demean the importance of yet another exotic import.
It was only in 2009 that this whitefly was first discovered in the Miami area of Florida, and yet already specialists have noted at least one parasitic wasp attacking the whitefly. This gives them hope that parasites and predators that specialize in other whiteflies may do a good job on this one. In California the awful Ash Whitefly of the 1990’s was successfully beaten back with an importation of a parasitic wasp, so the tiny parasites sometimes do a very good job.
Insecticides can be very helpful, but the problem with whiteflies is all of that wax, which repels water-based sprays applied to the leaves. The most susceptible stage of the whitefly is the crawler stage, which is the first stage out of those eggs. At this point it is mobile and has not created all of the wax to coat itself, and topically applied products can more easily contact the bug. If you choose to do foliar sprays they should be spaced 7-10 days apart to try to get the crawlers before they move onto their next and more resistent stages. Here you could use any insecticide labeled for whitefly on ornamental plants. One of these could be a low-impact material like a summer horticultural oil or soap. These need to contact the insects directly and leave no residual effect. For all foliar sprays the treatment must concentrate on the LOWER surfaces of the leaves, as this is where the eggs are deposited and the whiteflies spend nearly all of their time.
More effective may be systemic insecticides that actually get INTO the foliage of the plant where the active ingredient can then be sucked up by the feeding whitefly. The systemics also tend to last much longer than foliar applied contact materials as they are protected within the leaf tissue. A product like imidacloprid (e.g. Merit) can be applied to the soil around the tree and taken up by the roots and transported to the foliage. On many plants this provides season-long control of insects such as aphids, and it may do well on whiteflies too. But, this is still early enough in the battle with this pest that the Univ. of Florida has not published any specific findings on what works or does not.
Pest QuestionsSeptember 23, 2011
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Flooding leads to pest problems
YNN As Solomon Syed reports, that's causing big pest problems in many areas. Then come back here and refresh the page. ALBANY, NY — Humans aren't the only ones who had their homes ravaged by recent rain and flooding. Rodents like squirrels, mice and … |
Pests in the NewsSeptember 22, 2011
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Get in quick for free marine pests workshops
Voxy People keen to learn more about some of the worst pests threatening Northland's special marine environment are being urged to register now for one of a series of free workshops around the region. Six workshops will be run jointly by the Northland … |
Pests in the NewsSeptember 22, 2011
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Fall brings yellowjackets on the hunt for food, drink
Northwest Herald Those yellow and black stinging insects are becoming aggressive, buzz-diving your Coke cans and even your beer brats. It's yellowjacket season, and populations of the wasps commonly confused with bees and hornets are at peak. … |
Pests in the NewsSeptember 22, 2011
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