 CBC.ca |
Biting Asian ladybugs invade south Ottawa
CBC.ca The insects also do not face much threat in their natural habitats. "Being an introduced species, they tend not to have the same predators," said Dawson," So their numbers tend to explode at certain times of year." The pretty, yellowish-orange bug has … |
Pests in the NewsOctober 16, 2011
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 Kansas.com |
Disease carried by insects is killing deer in Kansas
Kansas City Star AP WICHITA | Deer in some parts of Kansas are dying from a disease spread by tiny insects that proliferated because of an extended drought, state wildlife officials said. The deer are being felled by epizootic hemorrhagic disease, or EHD, … Disease carried by insects is killing deer in KansasKansas.com Disease carried by insects killing deer in KansasKOAM-TV |
Pests in the NewsOctober 16, 2011
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QUESTION:
What is the best plan of action for a large retail store that has a small food service in the front of store with a bad fruit fly problem? In another setting fruit flies are getting bad in a coffee location where some food is served along with a seating area for people to eat and drink coffee. What sources could you suggest that would tend to be sanitation issues.
ANSWER:
Fruit flies, also called vinegar or pomace flies, tend to occur close to where breeding sources are available, although it’s not beyond the realm of possibility that they may be coming in from outdoors. This seems especially to be the case in late summer and early fall when we have those “Indian Summer” days of warmth and moisture. A lot of home gardens and fruit trees are losing their crop to fall to the ground, creating an abundance of opportunities for the flies. But, we should assume that your situations must have some attraction and possibly breeding source available. Anything sugary and fermenting is the draw for vinegar flies, so in food service areas this commonly will be the soda dispensing machines. There may be spills under and around the equipment itself, but it is important to be able to open the machine and take a good inspection inside. Leaking tubes can dribble soda syrup onto the interior, and this can breed a lot of flies.
The adult flies may be attracted to the dispensing nozzles themselves, so cleanliness is important here. Inspect the floor all around the areas where the employees make and serve the food, as spills tend to accumulate and get kicked under the counters where they may not be removed with regular cleaning. The cleaning, even if it is done daily or some other regular interval, may tend not to be very thorough, so debris gets pushed into crevices along walls and under equipment and left there. A crack against the wall with even a slight amount of food debris can breed large numbers of these tiny flies. Look for discarded food containers that are lying unnoticed under counters. If there is a salad bar it needs to be inspected carefully, including underneath where spills may accumulate. Check items like mops to see if they are cleaned and allowed to dry properly, as a wet mop with food debris in it serves as a major attraction and breeding source. Check all drains to be sure they are not filled with organic sludge buildup, as drain flies or the phorid flies that resemble fruit flies breed easily in these areas.
In a facility that serves coffee there could also be some of these other fly resources, such as spilled sugary foods, but so many coffee service facilities serve the wide variety of sugary drinks now too that spills of these materials could attract or sustain fruit flies. It takes a good flashlight and knee pads and patience to make that very detailed inspection in all of the hidden places to find the source of the problem, but this is necessary if eliminating the flies is to be done. One perfect example was a heavy vinegar fly problem that was finally traced to several beer bottles with lime wedges in them that had been kicked under a counter in a bar. Inspect the waste stream in these accounts to ensure that garbage containers are properly maintained – washed daily, plastic bags in place and emptied daily. Inspect the refrigerators to see if there is any buildup of water under them, along with the normal accumulation of debris that seems to end up under large, heavy appliances.
It would be helpful to use some of the fruit fly traps in these accounts. These use only attractants such as vinegar to draw the flies into the trap to drown, but they can help you to pinpoint just where the source may be. UV light traps will capture a lot of the adult flies, but of course do nothing to resolve the source of the problem. Applications of labeled residual insecticides also can kill a lot of resting adult flies, but again do not get to the heart of the problem, which is wherever there is some spill or discarded food that the larvae are breeding in.
Pest QuestionsOctober 16, 2011
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QUESTION:
Regarding Termidor WG, how long does it take for it to bond to the dirt? For example, if you finish a termite job and then it rains heavily for about two or three hours. In this case the house is on level ground and the soil did not wash away.
ANSWER:
The active ingredient in Termidor is fipronil, and fipronil is known to have a very LOW water solubility. This means that the active ingredient itself does not readily dissolve in water and therefore is not carried away by water by itself. This is extremely important with respect to ground water and the ability for a pesticide to leach down through the soil and into the underground aquifer. Chemicals that are HIGH in water solubility can therefore dissolve in water in high concentrations and higher amounts of that chemical can then move with water down through the soil profile and into underground water. Fipronil tends not to do this, and very little of it will be carried in water.
We use water only to dilute the insecticide formulation. The fipronil within your spray solution is not dissolved in the water, but only suspended, and with a WG (water dispersible granule) the particles of the dissolving granules themselves, with the fipronil mixed within that particle, also simply suspend in the water mixture. Once we apply this spray solution to soil the fipronil has a strong affinity for the soil particles, and the molecules of fipronil attach readily and stay put very well. Exactly how long this takes would be very hard to say, but the best practice would be to apply your termiticide spray only when it will be allowed to dry in the soil. The Termidor 80 WG label states that we cannot apply the material “while precipitation is occurring”, but I believe to be on the safer side we also should not apply it when rain is imminent. If you saturate the soil with your spray application and then heavy rains come on top of this it greatly increases the chances that runoff of the soil could occur. This is the real danger of movement of the fipronil.
In your instance you know that the soil did not wash away from the treated areas, so I believe you are fine. If the soil is still very wet from your application there could be fipronil still in suspension in the water, and then heavy water on top of this could move that fipronil further into the soil, but somehow I doubt that ground water contamination is an issue in this case. What you may have happen is that the fipronil concentration in the soil could have been diluted quite a bit by moving further down with the rain, but hopefully it still exists at a concentration effective on the termites that encounter it later.
Pest QuestionsOctober 15, 2011
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 The Gazette: Eastern Iowa Breaking News and Headlines (blog) |
Iowa on watch for foreign insect invaders
The Gazette: Eastern Iowa Breaking News and Headlines (blog) (AP Photo/Michigan State University, File) The Associated Press reported that after 9/11, inspections for foreign insects coming into United States' ports rapidly declined. Iowa is on the lookout for some of those pests that have made it into our … |
Pests in the NewsOctober 14, 2011
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|
Mulches best winter home for beneficial insects
Victoria Times Colonist Dear Helen: What protection should I provide for overwintering beneficial insects? Is it true that hollow-tubed stems are good for sheltering ladybugs? A. Hollow stems are most well known as … |
Pests in the NewsOctober 14, 2011
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RT |
Foreign insects and disease terrorize US post-9/11
RT With officials preoccupied with keeping America free of terrorists, authorities neglected to notice an influx of insects and diseases that were brought into the States, reports The Associated Press. As agents became distracted by deterring terrorist … Foreign insects, diseases invading USMarion Star |
Pests in the NewsOctober 14, 2011
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A Seattle pest control company knows how to make life miserable for pigeons, starlings and sparrows.
Pests in the NewsOctober 14, 2011
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ST. CLAIR TWP. — A pest-control and weed-killing chemical sprayed Tuesday into fields behind Edgewood Middle School is likely what caused the evacuation of the building and several students being taken to the hospital, officials said.Forty-seven kids were affected — 21 were treated, some taken to area hospitals or most were released to parents, said Jeff Galloway, director of Butler County …
Pests in the NewsOctober 14, 2011
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FRESNO, Calif. — Dozens of foreign insects and plant diseases slipped undetected into the United States in the years after 911, when authorities were so focused on preventing another attack that they overlooked a pest explosion that threatened the quality of the nation’s food supply. A…
Pests in the NewsOctober 14, 2011
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