Therapy should not be imagined of an optional house advancement support, it need to have to be compulsory. Possessing a controltechnician out at your residence regularly (preferably when just about every two months) will make a wonderful variation on …
Pests in the NewsNovember 16, 2011
No Comment
The agency has kicked off similar public awareness campaigns during the past two years, saying efforts started as a response to the threat of wood-boring that have defoliated forests and can travel inside firewood. Department spokeswoman …
Pests in the NewsNovember 16, 2011
No Comment
|
Dust mites don't bite, but do have an appetite
San Francisco Chronicle These numbers are not going to get any lower until we realize that the pesticides are far more dangerous than the pests and that there are effective and safe alternatives. Richard Fagerlund promotes the least toxic methods of pest control. … |
Pests in the NewsNovember 16, 2011
No Comment
|
EPA Releases Pyrethroid Risk Assessment, Ignores Numerous Health Effects
eNews Park Forest Pesticide products containing synthetic pyrethroids are often described by pest control operators and community mosquito management bureaus as “safe as chrysanthemum flowers.” While pyrethroids are a synthetic version of an extract from the … |
Pests in the NewsNovember 16, 2011
No Comment
 FOX 9 News |
A new invasive threat: the brown marmorated stink bug
Jordan Independent This is the first time the pest has been found in Hennepin County. An employee of a local pest control company found the bug at a Plymouth business last week during a routine service stop. The pest control company reported the find to the University of … Foul-smelling stink bugs invade Hennepin CountyMinneapolis Star Tribune Invasive Stink Bug Stink Bug Found in Hennepin CountyFOX 9 News |
Pests in the NewsNovember 16, 2011
No Comment
QUESTION:
Can subterranean termites nest above ground?
ANSWER:
Subterranean Termites very definitely can nest above ground, and this pertains to some of the native species in North America as well as tropical species such as the Formosan Termite. I have visited rain forests in South America many times and always will watch for the aerial nests of termites found well up on the sides of tree trunks. Sometimes these nests may be several feet wide, composed of a combination of soil they brought up, wood material they chewed off the tree, and either their saliva or their liquid fecal material. When you spot one of these obvious nests in the tree you will always find the mud tubes on the outside of that tree trunk, connecting the nest to the soil below. My feeling was that the aerial nest may be occupied during rainy season when the soil gets saturated, and the ground nests occupied during dry season when moisture in the tree is not adequate.
These aerial nests are extremely fragile and easily torn apart, compared with the “carton” nests of the Formosan Termites that also are often found above ground. This material somehow turns to a consistency almost as hard as the wood it was made from, which is probably a good thing considering the wall that is filled with the carton may not have much wood left in it to hold up the rest of the house. Formosans also nest above ground routinely, often with aerial nests in trees but also just with colonies located high up in high-rise buildings. As long as they can find a food and a water source they do not need to go back to the soil.
With native Eastern and Western subterranean termites in the U.S. there occasionally are incidents where the termites were living and surviving in a structure without any known access back to the soil. It is most likely that they began from the soil colony but were separated and isolated, perhaps by a chemical treatment of the soil below them, and were unable to make their way back down. But, if they find themselves near a leaking toilet or shower pan they now have the moisture and food that keeps them going. I once asked a termite expert how long subterranean termites could live in a structure without returning to the soil, and the answer was simply “as long as they have moisture”.
That above-group “colony” of surviving termites may not manage to be as robust and thriving as they would if they were making the round trip to and from the soil, but they can carry on, and since some of those termites could become secondary reproductives there could be production of eggs and growth of the colony as well.
Pest QuestionsNovember 16, 2011
No Comment
QUESTION:
I have a VERY sensitive account that has a problem with roaches and has had this problem for many many years. It is a medical research facility that raises animals and so there are lots of conducive conditions that have made it very difficult to eliminate the problem. We are presently using pyrethroids (bifenthrin) as well as Gentrol. We have wanted to use Transport but the management at the facility does not believe that pyrethroids are the answer and feels that acetamiprid is too new of a product with too little research to be able to be approved by the management for use. We have used baits in the past but with the animal food and feces that are in the building the baits did very little good. There are many rooms that we are not allowed to go into because animals occupy these rooms making a complete treatment even more difficult. Recently we met with some of the main people and they want us to use “stronger” products as they don’t believe that pyrethroids are the answer. What suggestions do you have in regards to products that may have a greater efficacy against the German roach that are not pyrethroids? What about nicotinoids or OP’s? Thanks.
ANSWER:
Wow. I wonder what I am going to come up with that is useful to you. A few observations first on your comments, and the first is with respect to their impressions about pyrethroid insecticides. I suspect they are aware that some scattered populations of German roaches have shown “resistance’ to pyrethroids, but resistance does not mean immunity. It means only that it takes more of the active ingredient to kill the roaches, and this is accomplished either by increasing the concentration they are exposed to but leaving the contact time the same, or staying with the same concentration but finding a way to increase the length of time the roaches are in contact with it. More on that later I think. But, pyrethroids definitely are capable of killing German roaches, and suggesting that a “stronger” toxin is needed is silly.
How we define “strong” or “powerful” is misunderstood, and over the 3+ decades I have been in this industry we have witnessed a marvelous evolution in what we use, from the Category 2 (moderately toxic) organophosphates and chlorinated hydrocarbons to the Category 3 and 4 (slightly toxic) pyrethroids and newer chemical families. The pyrethroids are not stronger toxins, but instead they are effective on insects at much lower concentrations of the active ingredient. Our industry manufacturers learn more and more about how to attack insects effectively while using less toxic substances and less of them. So much for that soap box.
Since this facility has apparently continued to have this roach problem for many years, it sounds like it is time to change the game plan. As someone once said, “the definition of insanity is continuing to do the same thing while expecting a different result”, and clearly insecticides have not been the complete answer here. (I really like that adage). Frankly, I’m surprised they allow you to use what you have so far, as research facilities sometimes are very nervous about exposing test animals to any kind of contaminant or toxin in any manner, for fear it might alter some test results later. But, don’t tell them that. It also may be necessary for this customer to accept that NO place in the facility can be off limits to you. If they have roaches you need to be able to inspect and deal with every place where the roaches may be living, or the problem is going to continue.
We accept that old adage that roaches require 3 things for their survival – food, water, harborage. It sounds like food and water are going to be difficult to control, so how about spending your time eliminating their harborage? The German roach is not likely to change 350 million years of behavior by suddenly deciding it does not need to get into dark crevices and voids. Every access point that you close to them means that much less harborage they have available, and this stresses the heck out of a cockroach. Instead of injecting insecticide into that crevice on the next visit can you instead inject caulking, and eliminate that crevice forever as a roach harborage point? I know this sounds pretty simplistic on my part, but ultimately perhaps it will be the answer, and the years of injecting insecticides have not worked, so time to change the game plan. Filling every possible crack, crevice, and hole will sound like an impossible task, but if it’s taken one wall at a time you will suddenly realize it is getting accomplished.
There must be plenty of hollow voids for the roaches to hide in as well, and perhaps these can be injected with an inorganic dust (diatomaceous earth, silica gel dust) to provide long lasting kill of any roaches that find their way in. These also are essentially non-toxic to any test animals there. Hopefully the insecticides you currently use are not being applied as the good old “base board” spray, but instead you are carefully injecting the sprays directly into the crevices and voids where the roaches hide. Treating bands that the roach runs across just do not get the contact time needed to get a lethal dose of the active ingredient into the roach, but placing the material where the roach sits on it all day long gives you a better chance. This also keeps the insecticide away from any human or animal contact and allows it to last longer. I also hope that fogging is not part of the repertoire, as this is ineffective for German roach control.
I know that changing the way your customer behaves is very hard to do, but they are going to have to buy into this process too, and stop thinking that insecticides are the total answer. We’ve never really had the magic wand that so many customers think we have in the tool box. By the way, the OP’s (organophosphates) were taken from us 10 years ago, so this is not an option. Neonicotinoids include products like Optigard, Transport, and Arena, and these are certainly excellent materials for German roaches, so if changing the insecticide makes the customer happy then give it a try, assuming the product you choose is properly labeled. Plenty of other non-pyrethroids also exist now, such as Phantom, Advion, Alpine, and the various imidacloprid products. It has always been good policy to “rotate” your product use from one chemical family to another to avoid the chances of resistance developing.
But, I would love to see an increased emphasis on non-chemical approaches here, and an elimination of every possible access to harborage that you can accomplish. Long term this may be the best answer.
Pest QuestionsNovember 15, 2011
No Comment
I saved the bug in a plastic bag and brought it to the management office. The managers said they would have a company look at it soon. My roommate and I then received an instructional packet from a -removal company with a …
Pests in the NewsNovember 14, 2011
No Comment
“Bedbugs” seems like a humorous nickname – but not when they infest your home and creep onto you every night for a “blood meal.” The parasites were thought to have been eradicated by DDT after World War II but were only 99 percent gone, and the …
Pests in the NewsNovember 14, 2011
No Comment
Freshman Kristin Brice had just finished her pasta dish in the dining hall on Saturday when she heard a frightened shriek from a huddled group of diners across the cafeteria. “Mouse!” She ran over and saw the gray tiny rodent scuttle away …
Pests in the NewsNovember 14, 2011
No Comment
