Archive for October, 2012

Environmental groups ask for review of pesticide chemicals banned in other … – Calgary Herald

Environmental groups ask for review of pesticide chemicals banned in other
Calgary Herald
The request for a review was filed under section 17 the Pest Control Products Act, which allows any person to request a special review ?of the registration of a pest control product by making a request to the minister? if that product has been banned
Groups ask for review of pesticidesRegina Leader-Post

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DENR warns of infestation by tree pests

Aside from illegal loggers, Philippine forests are crawling with a threat of a different kind.

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Keeping varmints out of your house when fall weather sets in

Real pumpkins, haystacks and other fresh decorations are a big part of Halloween fun, but be careful that outdoor pests aren’t getting a kick out of the decorations, too. Here are some Halloween decor tips from Terminix: 1. Pick a pumpkin from a patch or …

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Website Launched to Battle Bugs, Other Invasive Pests in Arkansas – KARK

Website Launched to Battle Bugs, Other Invasive Pests in Arkansas
KARK
Invasive pests are on the move across the U.S. and in Arkansas. The website introduces Arkansans to some pests that have the potential to invade our forests and threaten our native species, as well as some of the forest invasive pests that are already

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Citrus states battle against greening pests – TheGrower

Citrus states battle against greening pests
TheGrower
Don SchrackMichael Rogers, University of Florida associate professor at the Citrus Research and Education Center, Lake Alfred, talks about Florida's programs to kill Asian citrus psyllids, which can carry citrus greening disease. PORTERVILLE, Calif

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PPMA Responds to New Anti-Pesticide Report – PCT Magazine

PPMA Responds to New Anti-Pesticide Report
PCT Magazine
PPMA Responds to New Anti-Pesticide Report. News Coverage. The Professional Pest Management Alliance has prepared a response to Pesticide Action Network of North America's Report on Effects of Pesticides on Children's Health & Intelligence.

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Pests Invade New England Forests – Harvard Crimson

Pests Invade New England Forests
Harvard Crimson
Invasive pests are proving to be an increasingly damaging problem for New England's natural ecosystems as they continue to evade control efforts, according to a recent talk by Harvard Forest Director David R. Foster and Harvard Forest researcher David A.

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Possible source of Walmart bedbugs determined

A woman who works at a Colorado Springs Walmart where bedbugs were found last weekend believes she knows where they came from. The employee, who requested anonymity, said the pests may have come from her apartment unit.  She lives at the San Miguel East apartments on San Miguel Street near Academy Boulevard, and said she hasn't informed Walmart of the possible connection for fear being fired …

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Oct 12, 2012 – Thousand Leggers

QUESTION:

How do I get rid of millipedes in the home? They seem to be dropping from the attic. And what do I use to treat the inside and outside?

ANSWER:

Tis the time of year when outside critters start looking for cozier places to be for the coming winter, and they respond to conditions such as shorter daylight hours, cooling temperatures, or the initial rains of the season. Millipedes are capable of living for several years, even up to 10 years for some large species, so they need to survive a number of winters. We often see the opposite reaction from them too, when large numbers of millipedes may migrate out of natural habitats as those places dry in the hot summer, forcing the millipedes to look for damper, cooler, greener places to live and feed. Dramatic changes in the weather are often the cause of these kinds of movements toward and into structures. 

Thus, for a real shot at long term control the customer needs to be brought into the program too. They should understand that the reason these millipedes are now inside their home is not to find food resources, because the interior of a structure is not really conducive to their survival, but only to find a place to overwinter or to escape some weather changes outside. And, the reason the millipedes were able to get to the structure in the first place is because they were provided good conditions outside or the past many months, and we will refer to those as “conducive conditions” – those conditions such as the presence of harborage in particular, that allowed the millipedes to survive and multiply on this property. This becomes worse when harborage is provided for them right up against the structure, such as thick grass or groundcover or shrubbery that they hide under. If branches are touching the walls or the roof then it provides an easy pathway for these and many other critters to climb up to entry points above. 
So, we’ll get to the insecticide part of this eventually, but here is an opportunity for you to help the customer for the long term. Advise them on the conditions you find around the exterior that can be eliminated or minimized so that millipedes do not live on the property, and in particular not adjacent to the structure. Plantings should be removed to leave a moat of bare ground 2 feet wide, if possible, or at least soil covered with gravel or rock rather than mulch or bark. Anything piled against the exterior walls should be moved away or at least stacked up off the soil to eliminate the moist, dark environment the millipedes need for hiding during the day. Areas surrounding this property should be examined and managed if possible to remove harborage, since the millipedes on this property originated from areas around it. Anything you can achieve non-chemically like this will help to reduce the population of bugs on the property and thus reduce the pressure for them to enter the structure, and finally to reduce the reliance on toxic materials. 
Exclusion should also be examined, and again this is an OPPORTUNITY to make more money (get paid for your time) while serving the customer better. Look for all unnecessary openings around the exterior and permanently close them with the appropriate material, whether it is wood, door strips, weather stripping, caulking, copper or stainless steel mesh, expanding foam, etc. Every opening you can close eliminate one opportunity for the bugs to get inside easily, and now you can apply your insecticides in a much more directed manner to the remaining points of entry. 
There are so many excellent residual products available now that I suspect the industry is using dozens of them effectively, but most effectively when the steps above are undertaken first. Granular contact products like Talstar or DeltaGard granules can be applied around the perimeter, with a good look at applying them to areas in the landscape where you need to be able to get the product down through cover, such as bark or rock or ground covers. Microencapsulated formulations, and there are many of them now, are good choices for treating around the perimeter of the foundation, as these hold up longer when exposed to the weather and they offer a good chance for adhering to a passing millipede as it crawls to the base of the structure and starts the trek up the wall. It will be a lot easier to kill them on the outside than inside once they make it into the attic or the wall voids. 
On the interior the millipedes that are seen should be vacuumed by the homeowner and not allowed to die and lay on the floors. These arthropods tend to “leak” out some body fluids that may cause staining and spots on the surface. Otherwise they are essentially harmless as long as no one puts one in his mouth. They do use some pretty noxious chemicals for their defense. 

View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.

Oct 13, 2012 – Reporting Pesticide Usage

QUESTION:

When using a concentrate pesticide and I want to convert pounds of product used into the total of active ingredient pounds, what is the formula I should use?

ANSWER:

The percentage of the active ingredient that you see on any pesticide label represents the percentage BY WEIGHT of that active ingredient in that formulation. So, for dry concentrates it’s pretty easy to figure this out. If we pick a few examples of products we can first pick Tempo Ultra WP, which is 10% active ingredient by weight in the package. This means that in a 14.8 ounce jar of the product there will be 1.48 ounces of active ingredient – just divide the total weight by 10. Now, we do get confusion when we try to mix Metric with our normal standards of ounces and pounds, as so many product labels now use metric. The Tempo label is no exception, as it allows you to use either 10 grams or 20 grams of the concentrate powder in 1 gallon of water. Frankly, for purposes of your pesticide use report I think you would be fine just reporting the use in grams, and since for this example in 10 grams of Tempo Ultra WP you have 1 gram of active ingredient you know that mixing that low rate in a 1 gallon tank and applying it means you applied 1 gram of active ingredient. 

If you are determined to keep everything in ounces and pounds you just have to do a little math. Or, just take the easy way out like I do and “Google” it on the internet – just put “1 gram equals ounces” and your answer will pop right up. But, 1 ounce equals 28.35 grams, so if you prefer the old fashioned way you would just divide 1 by 28.35 to come up with 0.035 ounce of active ingredient when you place 1 scoop (10 grams) of the concentrate powder in 1 gallon of water. These kinds of conversion charts and examples of the math can be found on PestWeb as well, in our Pest ID and Weed ID resources. 
For ready to use formulations such as dusts or granules the same principal applies. Thus, in Demand G granules there is 0.045% active ingredient (lambda cyhalothrin), meaning for each 100 pounds of the granules you use you have applied less than 1/50th of a pound of active ingredient. What’s really nice on this particular product’s label is that it already tells you how much a.i. you use! For 2 lbs of product you use 0.04 lbs of active ingredient. If we want to convert that to ounces we just multiply by 16 (1 lb equals 16 ouunces), so 0.04 lbs = 0.64 ounces of a.i., and that may be spread over 1000 square feet according to the label – very little actual active ingredient used. 
For liquid concentrates it gets a little trickier, but the principal is the same. One gallon of liquid (water) weighs 8.34 pounds. So, in a product called Termidor SC we find 9.1% concentrate. Since the total weight of that gallon is about 8.5 pounds we just multiply 8.5 times 0.091 (remember basic math regarding converting a % to a fraction?) and come up with 0.77 lbs of active ingredient. Convert that to ounces of active ingredient as 0.77 X 16 = 12.3 ounces of fipronil in a 1 gallon jug of Termidor. 
For General Pest uses the low rate on the label calls for mixing 0.8 ounces of concentrate in 1 gallon of water. What fraction of 128 ounces (1 gallon) is that 0.8 ounces that you use in 1 gallon? Well, 0.8 divided by 128 = 0.006, and you multiply this times the 12.3 ounces of a.i. in a gallon of concentrate to come up with just 0.07 ounces of active ingredient used in 1 gallon of water. 
I know this can be really confusing because of the VERY low rates of use we now have with our current insecticides. It used to be a lot easier when we used 1% concentrations of chlordane or diazinon, but the math can be simple once you do it a few times. 

View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.

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