Oct 18, 2011 – Flies – Food And Drink
QUESTION:
I need fly lights for a subway that is connected to a liquor store. It’s all open to go into either one and there are two entrances, one for the subway and one for the store. Do I need a fly light over each door opening and one inside the subway? If so what kind of fly lights should I use?
ANSWER:
One of the failings with fly control is the use of too FEW control devices, and the problem with flies is that they can continue to be annoying until they finally “see” the control device and stumble into it. So, this brings up a couple of thoughts. The first is that the expectations of the customer need to be realistic, and if they believe that you will eliminate all of the pesky flies by installing a fly trap they will be sadly disappointed, and upset with you for failing to meet their expectations. It would be appropriate to perform a careful inspection of this facility to determine what kinds of flies these are and how they are getting in. This inspection may also reveal some possible breeding sites that could be eliminated or food attractions that do not need to be there, and cleaning these up (the Sanitation part of IPM for flies) may help to reduce the problem. By identifying the flies you get the best idea of possible breeding sources. For example, if these are blow flies then perhaps there are some animal carcasses tucked away nearby after rodent control baiting, or really filthy garbage cans or dumpsters that can be properly maintained. Similarly you might get hints on breeding sources if they are phorid flies, drain flies, or fruit flies.
Another problem here is that I am not completely certain of what you mean by “subway”, but since you are in California I am going to go with the likelihood that you mean a Subway sandwich shop rather than an underground train station. With that in mind you need to install enough fly traps of the proper size and kind to fit the needs of this area. The traps need to be placed in the most effective locations to attract and capture flies as quickly as possible. House flies tend to fly in a zone between 1 and 6 feet off the floor, and placing traps in this zone gives the highest likelihood the flies will see the traps quickly. Placing the traps up near the ceiling and behind a plant (you know, so customers don’t see them and think there is a fly problem) also hides the traps from the flies. It is important that the flies see the UV light as quickly as possible. Fortunately Univar carries a really wide variety of UV light traps, many of which are quite aesthetic, and look more like decorative lighting than a bug control device.
UV light does not shine around corners, so you need to install enough traps to make them visible to flies in any of the infested rooms. Depending on the size of the trap you may need to install more than one in a large room, as the UV attraction diminishes with distance, and even though you and I may be able to see the light from 35 feet away, the attraction to the fly will be much less as the distance increases. UV light is not a vacuum cleaner, and flies that enter a facility will not instantly veer off to investigate the light. Instead, they enter at that low height off the floor and begin flying here and there to find the source of food odors. Installing a UV trap right at the entrance so that flies can see it when they come in would be a good first defense. If the entrances to these two shops go to the outdoors then it is more difficult to prevent them from getting to the shops themselves. This is the value of inspecting the exterior as well to see what sanitation issues might exist that are attracting flies to the area.
There are fly “zappers” and UV fly “traps”, and the traps are more appropriate for indoor use. They capture and contain the flies on the glue pads and they do so silently, so no one hears popping and sizzling sounds as flies hit an electric grid. Fly traps also can be placed anywhere with respect to food, but placing them right on a food counter may actually bring flies to that point, so offset a bit is better. I would suggest at least the two traps, one near the entry door and another near the food preparation areas. But, if there is a separate kitchen where these first two lights would not be visible then a third or fourth trap may be needed. The UV bulbs are good for about 1 year of constant use, at which point the UV emission decreases enough that they should be repalced. Univar can help you with the recycling of these tubes.
Again, there are so many different choices with UV light traps, and we carry traps from a dozen different vendors, that I hate to recommend any one kind. On PestWeb you can go into the Product Catalog and under Equipment / Insect Traps / Light Traps view a list of all the traps we carry. On EZ-Order you can view images of each kind and make a selection based on the appearance and size. You also can discuss the choices with your Customer Service Rep in the local Univar office.
Pest QuestionsOctober 20, 2011
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