Archive for May, 2012

Simple Steps to Pest-Proof Your Home – Gwinnett Gazette

Simple Steps to Pest-Proof Your Home
Gwinnett Gazette
There are lots of things you can do that will greatly reduce, if not eliminate, the amount of pests that make themselves at home in your home. Exterior Doors: Check the weather stripping around all of your exterior doors. The easiest way to do this is …

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Pests in the NewsMay 03, 2012

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Insects on menu to feed 9 billion humans – Science Network Western Australia

Insects on menu to feed 9 billion humans
Science Network Western Australia
According to Professor Majer, the development of better techniques to rear safe, palatable insects for human consumption on an industrial scale is one of the challenges facing the market, as well as overcoming human resistance to the unfamiliar food …

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Pests in the NewsMay 03, 2012

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Don’t spread unwanted freshwater pests this hunting season

With duck shooting season starting on Saturday 5 May, Otago Regional Council (ORC) and the Ministry for Primary Industries are reminding Otago hunters to clean their equipment as they move between waterways to avoid the spread of unwanted freshwater pests.

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Pests in the NewsMay 03, 2012

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Scale insects infest 115,000 coconut trees in Batangas, threaten Calabarzon

Coconut pests known as "scale insects" have infested thousands of coconut trees in more than 10 towns and cities in this province, threatening the coco industry here and other provinces in the Calabarzon region.

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Pests in the NewsMay 03, 2012

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May 1, 2012 – Capsules – One and the Same?

QUESTION:

What is the difference between a product that is labeled “capsule suspension” and one that is “micro-encapsulated”? Are they both less repellant than EC’s and WP’s?

ANSWER:

I believe that these two designations refer to essentially the same technology. Microencapsulated is the original way in that these formulations were described, while Capsule Suspension may describe it a little better. In either case the formulation is created by adding chemicals such as amine and isocyanate, as in one of BASF’s products, to a solution of the active ingredient. The chemicals react by forming a solid layer around the micro-droplets of the active ingredient, essentially forming a round ball with the a.i. trapped inside. Then, when that material is applied and it dries the active ingredient is able to slowly make its way out of the capsule and onto the surface or onto an arthropod that the capsule may have adhered to. The walls of the capsule are slightly porous, allowing the a.i. to escape, but in a slow and controlled fashion. 

The formulator may even be able to tweek the capsules in various ways to regulate the speed at which the active ingredient is released, such as modifying the size of the capsule or the thickness of the capsule walls. A very attractive aspect of these formulations is that many of them are water-based as the diluent, eliminating the use of solvents and oil diluents that added to the cost, odor, and toxicity. Within the enclosed capsule the active ingredient is not in contact with the water, preventing hydrolysis and degradation. Once the material is diluted with water for use and applied to a surface, the a.i. still within the capsule also is protected from UV light a pH, again extending the residual effect. A product like Demand CS, for example, will place more than 14,600 microscopic capsules on each square inch of the surface once applied according to the label, offering a tremendous opportunity for insect pests to contact them and have them adhere to their exoskeleton. 
Containing the active ingredient within the capsule does also greatly reduce the repellency of the a.i., as we saw with perhaps the first microencapsulated product to enter our structural market. This was Knox-Out 2FM, containing diazinon, and while diazinon EC and WP formulations tended to be repellant to ants the Knox-Out worked fairly well on them. It was the same old diazinon, but the level of the a.i. on a surface from a microencapsulated formulation was just that much less than from EC and WP applications. 
Another apparent advantage of microencapsulation is the tremendous reduction in relative toxicity to mammals. The LD-50 may be hundreds of times higher for the microencapsulated version than for the EC or WP. The capsules also tend to rest on the surface they are applied to, so for porous surfaces like wood or concrete they may be more effective and available to the pest insect. 

View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.

Pest QuestionsMay 03, 2012

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May 2, 2012 – Documents And Details

QUESTION:

I have a question regarding labels and MSDS revisions and prepared-by dates. I have an account that needs dates of the most current labels and MSDS’s posted in their logbook. Can you please let me know where I can find this information on the label? I have looked at a couple and can’t find dates on the labels.


ANSWER:

This is a very good question Randy, and one that we struggle with constantly as we  strive to maintain the Product Documents resource on PestWeb. I believe it is extremely important for us (Univar) to provide the PMP with the most up-to-date documents available, and we review this database constantly throughout the year. The only method we  currently have is to compare the documents on PestWeb with those on each manufacturer’s website, opening each document to compare the “version” dates, and we update documents regularly. You can be advised by email immediately when any change is made to any product document important to you, by creating your Quick List of products in our Product Documents and then selecting “Add Notification” next to each product. 

What you will also find in this resource on PestWeb is the version date for each document, so you can provide this to the customer when you download the Labels or MSDS’s for them. There is a terrible inconsistency among vendors and their documents. Nearly all MSDS’s will have the version date clearly listed on the MSDS, either near the top or near the bottom of the document. However, and very frustrating, the version dates on Labels are often not so clearly defined. Some vendors put NO version date whatsoever on their labels, and we  have spoken with some of them on this but it has not changed for some, while others agreed with the need for it and now do add the version date. 
Many vendors have a “date code” somewhere on their Labels, and this is often tough to decipher, and I don’t know why they continue to do this. A simple, standard date would say the same thing and be much more recognizable to the industry end users, which is who these labels are intended for. My suggestion to you is to use the date in the MSDS or Label column to the right of the product name for any vendor in our Product Documents database as the most accurate and current version date for that document. Where there simply is no date or date code on a vendor’s label we have put entered it as 1/1/00, and I apologize that this is the best we can do if those vendors will not add the dates.
I will also admit to some odd anomalies now and then. We review most vendors numerous times during the year to look for newer versions than those already on PestWeb. Now and then a “new” version of a Label or MSDS shows up on the manufacturer’s website that has a date already several years in the past, but it definitely only recently was placed there. This is the reason you may get a notification of a document update where the document’s version date is 2 or 3 years old instead of that day’s date. It is an interesting challenge, but we do our best for you. 

View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.

Pest QuestionsMay 02, 2012

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Coconut Leaf Beetle Attacks Aurora

BALER, Aurora — The Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) has launched measures to stop the recurrence of the coconut leaf beetle which has affected almost all 24 villages in Casiguran and several barangays in Maria Aurora towns. Domingo Frugal …

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Pests in the NewsMay 01, 2012

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How to stop aquatic from hitchhiking

Mud, plants and bilge water on boats, motors, ropes, anchors, boots, clothing and fishing tackle can spread rock snot and other invasive species between waterways. Here are some ways to block the spread: â Felt-soled waders and wading shoes …

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Pests in the NewsMay 01, 2012

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Get rid of pillbug

Spring time in the East Bay brings with it one of the favorite pairings of the organic vegetable garden: pak choi and pillbugs.  Favorite, at least, for the pillbugs that love to dine on tender plant tissue like new roots, shoots, and leaves and are …

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Pests in the NewsMay 01, 2012

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Son: Bedbug bites caused rash that stopped flight

The biting that infest hotels appear to be the source of red marks on a Minnesota woman that prompted health officials to quarantine a jet in Chicago for fear they were dealing with something much more serious: monkeypox. On Friday, the woman’s son …

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Pests in the NewsMay 01, 2012

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