You hire them to kill bugs, but some consumers are telling the Better Business Bureau that deceptive and scary sales tactics are what’s bugging them about a local pest control company.
Pests in the NewsSeptember 22, 2011
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Bed Bugs Make Unwelcome Comeback
Patch.com The insects also prefer to feed at night and hide during the daytime. Although bed bugs have been a common nuisance throughout much of human history, Ridge said the widespread use of powerful chemical insecticides such as DDT for pest control … |
Pests in the NewsSeptember 22, 2011
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QUESTION:
A tenant on the 2nd floor of an apartment bldg has what appears to be psocids in their kitchen – on the counter top, floor, under the sink. I treated once with Cy-Kick inside and Temprid on exterior foundation and windows. Ten days later I treated with Temprid inside. A week later they called the manager and still see them. Any suggestions?
ANSWER:
I can’t help but suggest that your first step might be to verify that the Psocids are actually still present in this apartment, and do this visually as well as with the use of glue traps. My cynicism occasionally (often?) rears its ugly head, and it is possible this particular tenant is imagining their presence still, is seeing something else other than psocids, or just likes getting his unit treated as often as possible. It would be worth a personal visit to ensure that the problem still exists, and if it does then an approach other than just applying insecticides is needed. The materials you used would certainly kill psocids if the bug and the active ingredient manage to come together, and in fact either one of them should be sufficient. Since psocids so often are associated with damp conditions a microencapsulated formulation might be more appropriate, but in most kitchens really excessive dampness would be unusual.
Psocids are one of those annoying little bugs that gets INTO things, and in one respect they may be a stored foods pest. Everything you read about them tells us that moisture control is the key. They rarely cause actual damage to food themselves, but their presence in food is a contamination that is undesirable. The primary foods of book lice, which of course are not actually “lice”, is MOLDS, and it doesn’t take much mold to fill up a psocid. Thus, any slight amount of dampness that can initiate the growth of mildew, mold, fungus, or whatever you want to call it, can attract and sustain book lice. These tiny insects also are very mobile, so they wander out fo the infested materials and onto the counters and floors and walls and into other things. The key is to find the infested packaging or any other material and eliminate it first, then you can achieve success with the use of insecticides applied around the general area. Your applications of Cy-Kick and Temprid probably did a fine job of killing the exposed psocids, but it was incapable of getting inside voids or packaging to attack the main problem.
Psocids feed on a great variety of materials too, so your focus in your inspection needs to look beyond just food containers. They are nasty little pests in insect collections, so dead insects in window sills or old insect nests (wasps, bees) could be fed upon. There might be a mildew problem under the kitchen sink or under the refrigerator that provides the perfect conditions to support large numbers of them. In some respects the presence of insects like psocids, fungus gnats, phorid flies, and other moisture lovers tells us of an unsanitary condition that should be found and corrected. The presence of excessive moisture could eventually lead to a decay fungus problem on structural wood.
So, I suggest you return to this apartment to verify the actual presence of these insects and if they are still there in some numbers that you take a flashlight, get the complete cooperation of the tenant, and perform a very detailed inspection of this apartment and all of the cupboards where food items are stored. It could be some very old package of baking mix that is just out of condition now, but finding the source is necessary.
Pest QuestionsSeptember 22, 2011
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QUESTION:
In your opinion what’s the best chemical to combat scorpions?
ANSWER:
Trust me, I will get around to the chemical part of scorpion management eventually, but I still feel the need to discuss the other parts of an overall IPM program for scorpions. Chemicals alone are not likely to give the best results that you and your customer are looking for, and the customer needs to buy into the need for their cooperation in this too. I suspect that too many homeowners still perceive “pesticides” as the magic bullet that can overcome all obstacles such as sanitation, harborage, and exclusion issues that need to be addressed and corrected.
Harborage and sanitation probably are one and the same for scorpions. There are potentially dozens of places in a landscape or yard that could provide harborage for these nocturnal animals, and many of these sites are unnecessary. It could be firewood or lumber piled on the ground that instead should be stacked neatly OFF the soil and away from the structure. It might be other clutter such as old boxes or appliances tossed outside and left there. It might be landscape features such as rocks or boards that could somehow be better situated so scorpions could not get under them during the daytime. It is helpful to the homeowner to do your inspection of their property to point out and put in writing all of these possibilities, and the more they can correct these harborage sites the fewer scorpions can there be on the property and the further from the home they need to hide, reducing the chances they will attempt to enter the structure.
Exclusion is vital, and your inspection also looks for every possible crack, gap, or hole through which scorpions might move to get inside the home. Houses can be pretty porous, and even around my own home, which you might think should be managed perfectly to keep bugs out, there are many great openings to admit bugs. In your area you might also have the “bark” scorpions in the genus Centruroides, which are quite toxic and which can climb trees and walls, so your inspection of the exterior should include a look at trees and shrubs to see if branches touch the structure, and gaps under the eaves at roofline, since the scorpions can easily climb rough stucco walls.
I mention all of this because we should never come to rely completely on pesticides. They just don’t last that long and we should have a good stewardship of their use and the environment by using them only when necessary. If scorpions are living on a property there are reasons they are able to do so. If they are entering the structure there must be openings available to them. Changing both of these conditions can dramatically reduce the need to apply toxins, and keep you from having to constantly apply the material to keep an effective residual in place. In addition, a constant exposure to insecticides is a great way to encourage a buildup of resistance to the active ingredients by the pests.
According to some of our folks in scorpion-infested Arizona the synthetic pyrethroids continue to be excellent for scorpion management, along with the other issues listed above. Microencapsulated formulations such as Demand and other lambda-cyhalothrin products seems to be a popular choice. The microencapsulation helps to protect the active ingredient from the intense heat of the southwest states, and lengthens the time the product is available. The capsules also may more easily adhere to a passing scorpion, giving a better chance to get the a.i. onto and into the bug. If you have access to voids that the scorpions may hide within you could use a residual dust, and this may include dusting into access points around the perimeter of the structure.
Pest QuestionsSeptember 21, 2011
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 New York Daily News |
'Most feared' pest found in shipment at O'Hare
Chicago Tribune Customs officials in Chicago have found what they call one of the "most feared" pests in the world in a shipment of rice that came from India, officials announced today. According to a release from the Chicago office of US Customs and Border Protection … Feared insect pest can't get through customs at O'HareChicago Sun-Times One Of World's 'Most Feared Pests' Keeps Showing Up At CustomsNPR (blog) Feared Beetle Makes Its Way to US in Rice from IndiaFox News Huffington Post –The Inquisitr –NBC Chicago all 76 news articles » |
Pests in the NewsSeptember 20, 2011
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WBNG-TV |
Controlling Rodents and Other Pests in Broome County
WBNG-TV Rats are destructive pests that can spread disease, contaminate food, and destroy property. Those rodents that survived the flood often relocate to new areas in search of food, water, and shelter. As the rodents settle into new areas, they will build … |
Pests in the NewsSeptember 20, 2011
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The Great Insect Fair 2011
Penn State Live Chocolate covered crickets were just one of many offerings at the Insect Deli, part of the Penn State department of entomology's annual Great Insect Fair held on Sept. 17. The Great Insect Fair, held at the Ag Arena on Penn State's University Park … |
Pests in the NewsSeptember 20, 2011
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Winona plans for ash borer invasion
Winona Daily News If the insects reach a critical mass in the park, they could destroy the entire population in as little as two or three years, Samples said. The Minnesota Department of Agriculture has quarantined all ash products in Winona County. … Bracing for the borerLa Crosse Tribune |
Pests in the NewsSeptember 20, 2011
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How insects keep bugging me
Evening Observer It was initiated by noted actress, Isabella Rossellini who uses her vast depth of acting skills to explore the world of insect sex. She adorns herself in the costumes of a various insects and does strange things on camera to depict the insect's mating … |
Pests in the NewsSeptember 20, 2011
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 The Star-Ledger – NJ.com |
Mosquito swarms should be dying down
Jacksonville Daily News Drought conditions had limited the number of mosquitoes in the area this summer, but cyclone-caused flooding in streams and rivers and an increased amount of standing water caused a resurgence of the irritating insects, said Tony Cahoon, … North Jersey plagued by post-Irene mosquitoes drawn to stagnate waterThe Star-Ledger – NJ.com |
Pests in the NewsSeptember 20, 2011
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