Bug wars combat invasive pests and plants
Exploratory entomologist Mohsen Ramadan is searching for the antidote to fireweed. The poisonous plant has killed cattle on the Big Island.
Pests in the NewsMarch 13, 2012
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Archive for March, 2012
Mar 13, 2012 – If It Can’t Stand The Heat, Stay Out Of Arizona
QUESTION:
Could you recommend an insecticide that I can mix in a spray tank which will hold up in the intense heat here in Arizona, and which would also be safe to use for the operator and around homes? I have tried many different products and have come up with mixed results. I am primarily targeting scorpions, earwigs, crickets and springtails. I understand that products with a low vapor pressure hold up better in the heat.
ANSWER:
It’s tough to offer choices that may not meet the expectations of the end user. If you are looking for an active ingredient or a formulation that is going to last the entire time between monthly or quarterly services then it is not likely to happen. Heat in particular is going to be the enemy of synthetic molecules, and the active ingredient exposed to the high AZ temperatures is going to break apart much more quickly than the same a.i. used in a cooler area. At a seminar a few years ago one of our respected university research consultants made the statement that to expect ANY pyrethroid active ingredient to hold up more than a couple of weeks is probably unrealistic. We do hear conflicting opinions on this from the manufacturers, who may promise months of residual from their products, but we need to balance that opinion with those from unbiased experts.
I tend to believe that two formulations offer you the longest residual. One of these is granules, which release the active ingredient more slowly and may offer the active ingredient molecules some protection from the environmental conditions. The other formulation is the microencapsulated products, where the active ingredient is essentially contained within the microscopic porous capsules, and released more slowly to the environment or onto the bug. Being within the capsule helps to protect the a.i. from water as well, and you probably do get the extended residual, although now we may be talking about a couple of weeks longer.
Microencapsulated formulations (we’ll abbreviate it CS) offer a number of other benefits that fit nicely into your ideal product. Again, they would be highly unlikely to last from one service to the next, but at least you get a longer residual. The kind of surface you apply insecticides to will also dramatically affect the ability of the product to kill the pests. Porous surfaces like wood or concrete may soak up your spray and keep it from contacting the passing bug. CS products may be more likely to have the capsules resting on the surface where they then latch onto the passing bug and are carried on the bug while the a.i. oozes out and through its exoskeleton. Ideally you apply the product (any product) directly into the harborage sites of the pest, giving you the longest contact time between bug and active ingredient. For fast-moving critters like scorpions you just may not get the contact time needed if all you do is spray around the foundation.
As far as the question of safety to you and your customers, I firmly believe that any of the products currently on the market can be used with no risk to people or pets if they are used according to the label and you wear the appropriate safety equipment. We have moved away from the more toxic organophosphates and to the much less toxic pyrethroids and newer chemical families, and we are using these current products at much lower concentrations than we did the old materials. However, no matter what product you use, including all those natural plant-based products, if you do not follow the label directions and do not wear PPE and over-apply or apply to places not needed – now you create the scenario where problems may occur. I know that is talking around your question, but I believe it is the truth. Back to the microencapsulated products a moment – these formulations generally have a MUCH lower relative toxicity than the same active ingredient in a traditional liquid formulation, so they would again be a good choice in the area of “safety”.
As far as the question on vapor pressure, this is a measure of how rapidly a substance converts to the vapor stage where it can drift away. The vapor pressure of our insecticides is pretty darned low, so volatility and loss to vapors would generally be a non-issue. The products that have a high vapor pressure are the fumigants, including vapona, although it’s vapor pressure is very low for a fumigant, and herbicides like 2,4-D, which definitely vaporize in hot weather and easily drift off-site. However, yes, products with the lowest vapor pressures are least likely to be lost as vapors during hot weather.
All of these factors demonstrate the strong need for IPM for control of invading pests such as the ones you mention. Springtails rely on moisture, so discovering the moisture sources that support them and correcting that contributing condition will greatly reduce your reliance on insecticides. Scorpions, earwigs, and crickets are nocturnal, and hide all day under things on the soil. Removing these harborage opportunities reduces the populations of the bugs on the property, without having to spray in an effort to kill them all. A strong effort at exclusion (and you should charge the customer to provide this service) will keep these bugs out of the home, which is the primary goal, and again reduce the reliance on chemicals to do it all.
Pest QuestionsMarch 13, 2012
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Mar 13, 2012 – Come By And We’ll Keep A Light On For Ya
QUESTION:
I am in East Texas and my customers are complaining of an extremely heavy infestation of mosquito hawks. While I know they are harmless they are driving people crazy and I do not know what to tell them about controlling this nuisance. If we use pyrethroids to spray patio walls, window frames, patios, etc., will it do any good. There are no standing water places in any of the yards that we know of.
ANSWER:
These may be some of the most misunderstood of all insects. Somewhere somehow nearly all school children learned that these large Crane Flies in the family Tipulidae “eat mosquitoes”, and thus their popular names of mosquito hawks and skeeter eaters. The fact is that they do NOT eat mosquitoes or any other insect and most of the adults of the large species do not feed at all, having mouthparts that are not functional. They do, however, fly very well and are attracted to lights at night, often entering homes when the front door is opened and they sneak on in. This is probably the basis of control for these harmless and beneficial creatures – turn off the porch lights during the season when they are out and about, change the lights to yellow bulbs to attract less of them, or be careful to keep doors and windows closed. The occasional crane fly that gets into the house could be removed with a vacuum cleaner.
I know people too who just get the heebie jeebies when they see these flies, which look like enormous mosquitoes. There is just something about bugs with legs that long that scares people, a testament to the rampant ignorance and intolerance so many people have about bugs. But, that is what keeps us in business I suppose. Yes, I believe you could spray over the walls where these insects gather at night by lights and kill many of the ones that rest on that surface. I just think this is an over-use of our toxic materials, and it’s really unnecessary to kill them. Spraying all over patios and decks would probably do a lot less than treating just the areas by lights where the flies will land and stay. Better perhaps would be to do your best to educate your customers not only to tolerate them but to appreciate them for their role in nature. Except for the European Crane Fly, which is in the upper Northwest of the U.S. only and which feeds on turf, the larvae of these insects are important decomposers in Nature. They feed on decaying plant materials and help with the recycling effort to return plant materials to the soil as nutrients.
Preventing these flies may be impossible, other than to eliminate breeding sites on your customers’ properties. The larvae will be found in any moist situation where fallen leaves are available, including wooded areas, banks of waterways, and open fields and pastures. You would have not control over these areas and could not affect the larvae living there, nor should you. If your customers have compost piles or thick layers of mulch in their yards this could be turned or removed to dry out the soil below. Of course, the larvae of the crane flies, often called “leather jackets”, are part of the composting process. Anything they can do on their own property to eliminate piles of decaying material or old, rotting logs will reduce the larvae close to their homes. But, if they have natural areas around them the flies will be present and they will come if the lights are left on for them.
This is generally a seasonal thing, with the adult flies most common in the early spring after the winter rains. I believe Texas has had a lot of rain this season, so this is going to produce a lot more of the conditions these flies need to develop in. Managing exterior lights and keeping doors closed is probably a much more environmentally responsible approach than trying to kill them all with insecticides, so hopefully you can convince many of your customers to go that direction.
Pest QuestionsMarch 13, 2012
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Mar 10, 2012 – It’s All About Perception
QUESTION:
Do homeowners know that most of our chemical products are available for sale on eBay, other online, and perhaps local stores? I think some people assume PMPs use extra strong chemicals that are not available to them, and the line between home improvement store stuff and ‘professional grade’ stuff is created in their minds. Do you think many pest control customers would be interested in doing their own pest control with a bottle of chemical and a little cheap spray tank? I have been thinking about what it is that is generally sold with a pest control service, and I believe the more into pest control I get the more I understand the value of knowing particular things about insect biology/habits, products, and other factors of pest control. How would you propose pitching pest control to someone who found out that the product(s) they thought were restricted to PMP buyers are available at a number of Do It Yourself Pest Control stores? I feel that some of my customers would strongly consider dropping my service as a PMP if they felt they could just buy a bottle of stuff and do it themselves without hiring a pro. I compare it to someone maintaining chemical balance & cleanliness in a swimming pool. Most the chemicals might be easy to get at a local pool store, but for some people it’s simply a luxury to have it taken care of by a hired professional company/firm. Why do you think more people don’t do pest control themselves? I know you have been in the pest control industry for a number of years and probably have been experienced as a technician, along with other areas of the industry such as the Univar Q&A section.
ANSWER:
Thank you for this question Christopher. Have you ever had one of those “Ah HAH!” moments when the little light in your head finally blinked on? Well, your comments just did that to me, and this is an nice addendum to a previous question this week. What is it that sets the licensed, trained professional apart from the DIY homeowner, and that is what we’ll discuss. First, yes, I am acutely aware that anyone can buy anything on the internet these days. The DIY pest control supplies vendors have access to every product, including all of those whose Labels state “for sale to and use by ONLY licensed professionals”, or some wording to that effect. Clearly this is a statement by the manufacturer that they do not want that product sold to untrained individuals who are unlikely to use it responsibly. But, the EPA has chosen not to enforce that wording as legally binding, so these products end up in the hands of homeowners.
I can understand the desire of many people to do it themselves. My wife maintains our pool, and does a perfect job of testing the water and adding chemicals as needed to keep the proper pH and chlorine balance. I myself feel handy enough to do my own plumbing, electrical, and carpentry, and I would not want to see all of those products taken off the homeowner market and sold only to licensed professionals. In the same light many homeowners think they are perfectly suited to buying some pest control juice at the store and killing their own bugs themselves, and here is where my little light of understanding came on. Why is it that a homeowner would call YOU to do the pest control for him or her? One reason likely is that bugs are icky, and many people simply do not want to get anywhere near the bug. This is good news for us, with this lack of tolerance Americans have for creatures with more than 4 legs.
But, the customer of a pest control service who watches the technician do nothing more than dump some chemical in his tank and walk around the house spraying the foundation and eaves just has to have the impression of “well, how tough could that be?” That technician has not established himself as anything more than The Spray Guy, and yet you and I and most people in our industry recognize that there is a LOT more to doing effective, responsible, and safe pest management than just spraying chemicals. It’s the old story of the man who charged $10,000 to repair a large computer system and then did nothing more than kick one corner of the equipment. When asked how he justified charging so much for just kicking it he responded that $5 was for the time it took to kick it and the other $9,995 was for knowing WHERE to kick it.
Yes, I believe that many of your customers will be tempted to try it themselves if they believe that pesticides are the total answer and they don’t have to know anything else. But, if the technician is a true, educated professional he is going to set the expectations for that customer on the first visit and every visit thereafter. Part of the problem also is marketing by retail pesticide sellers, such as the use of “bug bombs” in a home. Advertising tells the homeowner that these aerosols are all they ever need, and we can help educate our customers to better understand why that isn’t so.
How many of your customers are going to attend many hours of Continuing Education training every year, to learn how to identify the bugs, weeds, and rodents and to learn about their biology and habits and little facts of their behavior that are important to managing them properly? None will. You attend these training courses because YOU understand that knowing everything you can about The Common Bed Bug is necessary if you expect to eliminate it from a home. You learn to distinguish the “pest” organisms from those that are beneficial or insignificant, so that you avoid using excessive pesticide in an effort to kill all living creatures on the property. You spend the extra money on safety equipment because you are aware of the nature of the products you use and the need to avoid exposure.
I believe this is your answer. When you first meet the customer spend time talking with him / her about what you plan to accomplish on their property to relieve them of a pest problem that is intolerable to them. You discuss contributing conditions because you know what brings the pest to the property and allows it to get into the home. You discuss the non-chemical options as well as the chemical. You discuss why you plan to use pesticides and why this is okay to do without posing a risk to anyone or anything. You offer the customer choices, such as Green Pest Management or the use of only Natural materials if that is what they want. You make it clear to them that applying pesticides is just one small part of what you do to provide safe and effective pest control. You might even toss in a gentle reminder to them of the hazards of living with those pests – rodents gnawing on electrical wires, mosquitoes spreading West Nile Virus, allergic responses to ladybugs, filth carried by flies and roaches. All of this shows your intimate knowledge of your occupation, and I believe they respond by wanting you to take care of things for them.
Pest QuestionsMarch 12, 2012
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Mar 11, 2012 – Label Confusion
QUESTION:
I recently purchased a quart of Demand CS to do basic household pest control at a few of my accounts. The label does not come right out to say how much I should use for a given situation. It has a rate table with three different application rates. Could you please explain what these three rates mean and when I should use them? Also I heard from a friend in the pest industry that as a “rule of thumb” you use 2 ounces per gallon for initial perimeter sprays and 1 ounce per gallon for maintenance perimeter sprays. Please let me know if this would be a good rule to follow as it seems more than the recommended label application.
Thank you so much!!
ANSWER:
Well, I will agree with you that pesticide labels can, at times, be a little confusing. And, just to keep in mind, all of the product labels of synthetic pyrethroids (like the lambda-cyhalothrin in Demand) will be adding new wording and restrictions on their uses this year, as manufacturers package new batches and ship them to suppliers like Univar. You can use the product according to the label on the container that you purchase, but please read the Label carefully each time you buy more material so you know when the new wording shows up and must be followed.
I have long preached that it is important to read the full label of every product you use, and that means every single word on the label. You may not do this every time you use it, but now and then refresh your understanding of just what THAT label requires. Each product label may be slightly different and require slightly different procedures, and you must follow what that label tells you to do. These differences may be with respect to how the product can be used, how it must be mixed, what PPE you must wear, laundering instructions, etc. For example, on the Demand label it allows you to mix Demand with other insecticides, but you MUST add the Demand last, and if a regulatory inspector were watching you and reading the Label himself he would cite you if you did not follow this procedure.
Many or most insecticide labels offer several use rates, such as the three choices on Demand CS of 0.015%, 0.03%, and 0.06%. If you scroll down the page a little you find some *** that explain these things, and here one asterisk tells us that the lowest concentration would be for “maintenance” uses for roaches, the 0.03% for “cleanout” uses, and the highest rate for “severe” infestations. What it is allowing you to do is to place higher levels of the active ingredient when roach populations are very high, leading perhaps to faster kill of those many roaches. This sort of leaves it up to you to decide which scenario you are facing. There are little numbers following some of the pests in the list, and these numbers are further explained below the rate table. For example, the number “4” following “Mosquitoes” tells you to use the high rate (0.06%) for outdoor use if you hope to leave a residual for barrier treatments for adult mosquitoes.
So, the Demand CS label seems to do a pretty good job of explaining when and why to use any of those listed rates. However, I believe that your friend’s suggestion of a cookie cutter approach to mixing is dangerous, and please do not do what he suggests. Even on the Demand CS label that “2 ounces per gallon” would be nearly 3 TIMES HIGHER than the label allows even at the highest rate of 0.06%. If he is doing that he is badly in violation of the label and would be cited if caught. For maintenance perimeter sprays the Demand CS label offers dilution rates for exterior use, and again they provide various scenarios that you can choose from – if you are using a 1 gallon sprayer it is assumed you might use that 1 gallon over about 1000 square feet of surface, and again the HIGHEST rate allowed is only 0.8 ounces of Demand CS in 1 gallon of water, or nearly 3X less than your friend suggests.
I won’t look at any other product labels because I think this already serves as a good example of why you need to read each label and recognize that every product may need to be mixed in a different manner. Another thing that is important for you to do is to “Calibrate” your application, and this means that you need to know approximately how much surface YOU spray with one gallon of liquid when you apply it in your normal manner. Some technicians might move more slowly and that gallon could only cover 500 square feet of surface, whereas others might move more quickly and cover 2000 square feet. There is nothing wrong with this, except the desire is to place the proper amount of the active ingredient over each square foot, and this will determine how much concentrate to add to your gallon of water.
Take a clean 1 gallon sprayer with the tips and nozzles in good, clean condition and add exactly 1 gallon of water only. Then, mark off an area of maybe 250 square feet on a hard surface like a patio or driveway – 250 square feet would be 10 x 25 feet. At the speed you normally walk and spray you then evenly spray that 250 square feet and then empty your sprayer into a container to measure how much water remains. You then know exactly how much liquid you used to cover 250 square feet of surface. This might be a huge surprise for you. Since a “normal” rate of 1 gallon per 1000 square feet means you would use 1 quart of spray solution over 250 square feet, if you managed to empty your whole gallon on that 250 square feet, or perhaps used only a pint, you now can determine how much YOU would use over 1000 square feet. This is going to keep your applications within the allowable rates on the product label.
Pest QuestionsMarch 11, 2012
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Center for Disease (CDC) Recommends Heat in War on Bed Bugs
Chemical pesticides — historically the first choice in killing bed bugs — are increasingly cited as the cause of illness to occupants/residents and applicators. According to the Sept. 23, 2011 edition of the CDC and Prevention Morbidity …
Pests in the NewsMarch 10, 2012
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Old-fashioned soap sprays effective against and weeds
For centuries, savvy gardeners used soap sprays to combat bugs. Andrew Jackson Downing, a gardening celebrity of the 19th Century, wrote in 1845 that a “wash of soft soap is very good for many purposes … penetrates all the crevices where …
Pests in the NewsMarch 10, 2012
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Bees swarming in Phoenix area early in season – Arizona Republic
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Bees swarming in Phoenix area early in season
Arizona Republic Bees need warmer weather, typically a consistent 70 degrees or higher, to swarm, said Paul O'Neill, owner of Desert Sky Pest Control, based in Glendale. Bees could freeze or starve to death in cold weather, he said. The lack of hard freezes caused more … |
Pests in the NewsMarch 10, 2012
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Conn. lawmakers to speak against pesticide bill – Norwich Bulletin
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Conn. lawmakers to speak against pesticide bill
Norwich Bulletin The legislation aims to replace the current pesticide ban on elementary and middle school fields with Integrated Pest Management. This method includes a four-tiered approach that focuses on identification, monitoring, prevention and control of pest … Eileen FitzGerald: Deja vu: Don't allow pesticides on school groundsDanbury News Times |
Pests in the NewsMarch 10, 2012
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Time for a cat: Rat problem solutions – Red and Black
 Red and Black |
Time for a cat: Rat problem solutions
Red and Black Matt King, operations manager of Arrow Pest Control in Athens, said the rat infestation could be happening due to a combination of factors — construction, available food sources and a mild winter. King said there is no particular reason as to why the … |
Pests in the NewsMarch 10, 2012
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