Archive for the ‘Pest Questions’ Category

May 10, 2012 – Shipping Papers

QUESTION:

I was wondering where I can find the most current information regarding shipping paper requirements for pest control technicians. I have tried to navigate through the D.O.T. website and the PHMSA website, but the info I find seems to be for vehicles transporting pallets of product, not just a gallon or two. I am aware of fumigant requirements, but items like gasoline, aerosols, etc. are my gray area. Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated!

ANSWER:

A bit of history here, and I may be slightly off on the dates, but somewhere in the mid-1990’s DOT chose to define all pesticides as “hazardous materials”, and to require pest control companies to place DOT labels on spray tanks for many products and to carry shipping papers for many products. This had to do, in great part, with the quantities of the pesticide active ingredients “on board” a vehicle. At that time many of our most commonly used products were organophosphates like diazinon and chlorpyrifos, and carrying a single pound of active ingredient on the vehicle or in a spray tank triggered the requirement for Shipping Papers. It also triggered the requirement for specific DOT training for each employee who operated a vehicle with this “reportable quantities” (RQ) of the active ingredient on the vehicle. 

Then, just a couple of years after this rather heavy regulation hit our industry the NPMA (National Pest Management Association) worked closely with DOT and managed to come to some compromises that backed us out of most of the DOT responsibilities. Our industry now carries what DOT refers to as “Materials of Trade” products, and you can visit the DOT website on this at https://www.dot.ny.gov/divisions/operating/osss/truck/carrier/materials-of-trade . This placed the quantity of any active ingredient at a very high level before it would trigger a need to placard, train, or carry shipping papers. In addition, the loss of nearly all of the organophosphates removed the most troublesome of the pesticides we carried, and the RQ for groups like the Pyrethroids is about 1000 lbs of the active ingredient, a quantity no pest control vehicle will ever carry. 
I am confident that the gasoline in the vehicle’s tank is not considered part of the MOT transport, but only gasoline carried in separate containers for use for sprayer engines, mowers, etc. For all of the other MOT products you carry the amount you must stay under is a combined 440 lbs of product. NOT included in this weight limit is a spray tank with material mixed with water, up to a 400 gallon tank. Since a single gallon of liquid weighs about 9 lbs you would have to be transporting nearly 50 gallons of pesticides or other MOT’s to reach the limit at which shipping papers might be required. This is highly unlikely for the vast majority of pest control and landscape vehicles, and the reason DOT allowed us to slip off their radar. 
However, basic DOT training is still required so that drivers of vehicles that do carry hazardous materials are aware of what the requirements are, what the products of interest are, and how they must be packaged (gas in an appropriately marked gas container for example, pesticides in appropriate containers that are properly labeled, etc. ) Check out that website link above and if it doesn’t work for you try the search words “D.O.T. Materials of Trade Pesticides” and see if you get the proper hit. 
For fumigants little has changed, as these are in the highest level of hazard and still require shipping papers and placarding. For all other normal uses and transport of minor quantities there should be nothing you need to do out of the ordinary, which is to properly store and label everything on the vehicle and carry it in secure storage that can be locked. You also should carry the Label and MSDS for each product on the vehicle, as these documents contain emergency information in case of a spill or other problem. Gasoline refers only to extra containers and the quantities you carry would be very low. 

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Pest QuestionsMay 10, 2012

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May 7, 2012 – Bee Safe

QUESTION:

I have a potential customer wanting treatment for a broad range of pests. The inevitable wrench, in this case, is that this customer has a beehive from which he likes to collect honey. How do you recommend I go about minimizing my impact on the bees while still maintaining a pest free home and yard? Thanks so much!

ANSWER:

This is an excellent opportunity to employ the full range of IPM steps Tom. We should probably start with the premise that any insecticide is going to be toxic to the bees, and therefore apply insecticides only in ways that ensure the foraging bees will not come into contact with them. Unfortunately this might include avoiding the use of systemic tree care products, as there continues to be some hint that part of the problem with Colony Collapse Disorder may be their exposure to the active ingredient in pollen and nectar of flowers. Until this is (hopefully) disproved once and for all you may want to treat tree and shrub pests in a different manner. In case this is one aspect of your total pest management program you could use insecticides such as Dipel or insecticide soaps for insects such as caterpillars, beetles, aphids and other sucking pests on foliage. You also could offer dormant treatments of trees and shrubs using dormant oils, and this greatly helps reduce the insect populations that will emerge in the spring. 

For all of those crawling pests it should be pretty easy to keep your insecticides in places where the bees are highly unlikely to be, and applying liquid sprays using low pressure and a nozzle large enough to prevent mist would be appropriate. Treatments around the perimeter of the structure, for example, should be a location where no self respecting honeybee would find itself, and there would be no interaction between the bees and the active ingredient. Treatments using granular formulations on the soil would, likewise, put the material where the bees are not going to be foraging. For immediate control of pests on flowers and other landscape plantings you could use the good old “strong jet of water” to dislodge them. 
This also cries out for the non-chemical steps of habitat modification and removal of pest habitat. You can do a careful inspection of the property and write down your findings of all those things you find that could contribute to the presence of crawling pests. This might be thick layers of mulch that could be removed and replaced with gravel or left bare, piles of lawn clippings or other yard debris, any boxes and other unnecessary trash on the soil can be removed, and lumber and firewood could be properly stacked above the soil and away from the structure. Everything you can do to expose and dry out the soil makes the property less attractive to pests, and thus minimizes any need to apply pesticides. 
For flying pests like mosquitoes the emphasis would be on habitat management, eliminating any possible breeding sources for the larvae. This means emptying standing water where possible. For yellowjackets or flies you also could reduce breeding sources on site, directly treat wasp nests, use bait for yellowjackets, and place baited traps around the property that will draw only these pest insects into them. 
This also should be an opportunity to educate this customer. He needs to understand that your goal is NOT to eliminate every last 6-legged critter on the property, and that most of the insects he sees are going to be harmless and beneficial kinds whose presence should be encouraged. He can change outside lights to yellow bulbs to reduce the attraction of nighttime bugs and keep doors and windows closed or screened to minimize incidental entry. The cooperation of the customer is very important in this, so hopefully he is not just dumping this in your lap and telling you he doesn’t want to see a single bug any more. 

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Pest QuestionsMay 09, 2012

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May 8, 2012 – Florida – Where Livin’ Is Easy – For Pests

QUESTION:

What are the big tree frogs in Florida called?

ANSWER:

I suspect you are referring to the introduced pest species called the Cuban Tree Frog – Osteopilus septentrionalis – which is considered to be the largest species of tree frog now living in North America. It can grow as long as nearly 6 inches and will eat just about anything it can shove in its mouth. It has been introduced from its native region in the Caribbean, and now also inhabits many of the Caribbean Islands, Oahu, and Florida and into southern Georgia. It also is commonly sold as a pet in stores, even while being recognized as a serious threat to the natural environment in Florida when it either gets loose or is deliberately released by people who grow tired of owning them. As if the Burmese Python wasn’t bad enough. 

Poor Florida. Your warm, tropical climate is wonderful to live in for people as well as the many exotic invaders that come from tropical parts of the world. Too often these originate as “pets” sold in stores or illegally, and once the cute baby animal grows too large to be cute any longer it is released, which absolutely devastates the native animals that are now either competing with this new invader or simply eaten by it. You have African Giant Toads, Green Iguanas, Burmese Pythons, and Coqui Toads, all of which appear to be there to stay. 
While we may think that any tree frog is a good tree frog, given that it eats lots of bugs, bringing a dominant newcomer into a stable environment can really upset things. These large tree frogs will out-compete other tree frogs for available food. They will eat other species of frogs, baby birds in nests, small snakes, and the threatened species of land snails. It is now illegal to bring these frogs into Hawaii, and doing so will incur a hefty fine and jail time. 

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Pest QuestionsMay 08, 2012

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May 5, 2012 – Just Don’t Have The Legs For It

QUESTION:

Do ticks jump?

ANSWER:

Well, the world of arthropods is so diverse and amazing that it wouldn’t be a surprise to me to find that somewhere tucked away on the island of Madagascar or deep in the rainforests of New Guinea there is some oddball tick that can jump 2 feet into the air. But, here in North America our ticks are pretty much relegated to walking everywhere, and slowly at that. All of our species have relatively short and very thin legs, lacking any muscles needed to allow them to leap off of a surface. 

However, given the success of ticks as a group of animals it is obvious that jumping has not been necessary. They detect their food source by the combination of heat and carbon dioxide as well as movement, and they are very sensitive to vibrations that indicate an animal nearby. Mature ticks climb up onto vegetation to await the passing animal, and once they feel something nearby they raise their front legs into the air in a position referred to as “questing”, ready to latch onto any animal that brushes against them as it moves past. This animal, of course, could also be humans. Ticks also can live for many months without feeding, so patience is another trick in their bag that ensures their survival until food comes along. 
Let’s feel at least somewhat fortunate that all we have to put up with in this country is ticks and our other parasites. In the rain forests of southern Asia there are land leeches that behave much as our ticks do. They live on land and foliage and manage to squirm their way to warm blooded animals that they detect  nearby, and they too are sensitive to vibrations on the ground that signal the approach of prey, at which point they raise up, ready to attach to whatever touches them. They also inch their way along the ground to get to people who are sitting or sleeping on the ground. 

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Pest QuestionsMay 07, 2012

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May 6, 2012 – Choices For Roaches

QUESTION:

I have used Advion, Maxforce, and other gel baits unsuccessfully trying to get rid of German cockroaches in apartment settings. What would you recommend for use in kitchens by specific product name and type? The residents have done a good job of getting rid of trash and cleaning up, but still are disturbed over seeing even one or two of this roach. I am open even to roach bait stations, but need product specifics.

ANSWER:

I may end up disappointing you somewhat by avoiding too many product names. I really do believe that the ones you mention are excellent bait products for the German roach, although it never hurts to offer other choices just to see what these particular roaches will accept. This has been the advice from some of our industry consultants – offer a variety. Since you do not indicate that you have done any other kinds of insecticide applications, this may be one avenue to explore. German cockroaches can still be pretty tenacious insects, and using the various kinds of formulations available can offer the best results. This includes dusts in wall voids and other enclosed voids, such as inorganics like MotherEarth Dust or Drione, or contact synthetics like Tempo, DeltaDust, etc. It also includes the use of liquid or aerosol products within cracks and crevices, and the choices there are too numerous to start naming names, but frankly they all will work. The key is to get the roach and the active ingredient together for a long enough period that the roach can absorb the chemical. 

It sounds like you have done a really good job to this point, if all the tenants are now seeing is the occasional single roach. Expecting 100% eradication of roaches in large apartment complexes can be difficult. There will always be a few tenants that cooperate less in removing all food opportunities for the roaches. Obviously if roaches are still living in the apartments they are finding something to eat, but the amount of food needed to support a cockroach is not very much, so a few spills under the fridge or stove or food left overnight in open garbage containers will be sufficient. It may be education that helps the tenants understand that a single roach is not an infestation. You can make liberal use of insect glue traps to help monitor the apartments and to capture the occasional roach. Place these under kitchen sinks, under the fridge, etc., where the roaches will most likely be wandering. 
You might also consider placing a granular bait such as Maxforce, Avert, Advance, or Intice into wall voids, using one of the small hand puffer dusters for it. Since German roaches love wall voids this is a great place for this bait. If you are looking for another gel bait choice consider Alpine Roach Gel, as there has been excellent feedback on the acceptance. 
With the roaches at this low level of activity now it could be a great time to spend your energy in these apartments doing exclusion work. Every crevice and hole that you manage to close permanently with caulking becomes one less place the roaches can hide, leaving you with less harborage points to be concerned with. 

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Pest QuestionsMay 06, 2012

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May 3, 2012 – A Small Step for Rats

QUESTION:

I have a Food industry customer where I have 100+ bait stations installed outside. We regularly install the station anchored on a concrete block that measures 15″ x 15″ x 2″ and weighs about 30 pounds. My customer is questioning that this type of anchoring system will deter the rodent and push him to go around the concrete block and not enter the station, rather than climb those 2″ from the ground to the station entrance. In tropical setting like we have here in Costa Rica I believe that setting the station this way will prevent humidity, protect the station from being moved, and also helps keep it clean inside. How can I overcome my customer´s objections.


ANSWER:

It can sometimes be difficult to change the mind of someone who strongly believes he is correct, but rest assured that you have a good authority on your side. At a recent National Pest Management Conference Dr. Robert Corrigan spoke on various topics regarding rodent control. He mad specific mention to exactly what you are asking, and his studies showed that rodents – both rats and mice – are not deterred whatsoever by having to step up or even jump up to enter a rodent station. In fact, he has stated that The House Mouse, upon encountering a bait station, will commonly hop up onto the top of the station and urinate on it, thus marking that station with chemical messages present in the urine. For other rodents this urine is like reading someone’s Twitter page – it is packed with personal information about that previous rodent and the population in general. 

So please continue to feel comfortable using the concrete blocks as your securing devices. This helps to keep you legal and in compliance with the product labels that require securing to the surface as one aspect of a tamper-resistant station. If these slight increases in the height of the station were actually a problem for rodents we would not be seeing major manufactures, like Bell and LiphaTech, coming out with stations that include the heavy base or plastic molds just for holding paving blocks under their stations. 
Another comment that Dr. Corrigan made that is of interest, and which may be important for you with this food industry account, concerns the question of whether or not bait stations around a structure are so attractive that they bring rodents to that structure that otherwise might not have been a problem. His studies indicate that this is not the case. The rodents do not detect the bait from very far away, so rats and mice in surrounding areas are only going to find the bait when they get very close to the station anyhow or when they get inside. The rodent also perceives that station as a hiding place – a secure cubbyhole that it can get into for a moment while it is investigating a new surrounding. We realize that rats and mice are subject to being preyed upon by other animals, and they know it. They instinctively forage in fear of being eaten, so any available opening will quickly be investigated. Once inside the station, if bait is found, they also begin to feed. They are opportunistic feeders and must get close to recognize it as food. 

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Pest QuestionsMay 05, 2012

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May 4, 2012 – Nature Insists on Recycling

QUESTION:

I have been getting a lot of clothes moth calls lately. One home has pheromone traps in the closets and attic and the second floor closets captured many moths, but in the attic the traps were full. No clothing, rugs, or material products were stored there. The insulation was the fiber insulation as opposed to blown in. Why would the moths be in an attic? In one trap alone there were more moths than all the traps below combined.
For what possible reason could they be there?


ANSWER:

Since you were using pheromone traps for clothes moths then it’s a good assumption that what you were capturing is, indeed, clothes moths, and large numbers of them indoors definitely tells us there is an indoor source that they are breeding in. Clothes moths (casemaking and webbing) also have a couple of nearby relatives called the Household Casebearer and the Plaster Bagworm, and even though both of these are in different genera than the two common species that we call clothes moths, I suppose it would be possible for them to be drawn to the pheromones as well. Probably not overly likely though. 

The reason I mention these is because the last two species may be more likely to feed on various things such as dead bugs, spider webs, and even fungus. I have seen large infestations of them on the white fungus growth on wood in a wet crawl space. But, let’s assume you have our standard clothes moths, and if it is the Casemaking clothes moth in the numbers you are finding you also ought to be able to see dozens of the little “cases” that the larvae make and drag around with them. 
Clothes moths are recyclers of animal matter, and this includes hair and feathers. With that many adults found in the attic perhaps you have some old dead animals tucked away up there. They could be so old that any odor from them is dissipated and no longer bothering anyone in the house below. It would be important for you to visually inspect the entire attic to determine what is lying around up there that these moths are depositing eggs on. Finding the source and removing it is the ultimate answer for controlling the problem, just as removing infested food resolves stored food pest issues. Until the source is gone you will continue to get adult moths emerging, and waiting for them to complete the work and disappear on their own could take awhile. In the meantime you may have, as you are seeing here, adult moths finding their way down into living areas where they then could find and infest more important materials in the home. 
Don’t overlook old animal nests (birds, rodents) where hair, feathers, and other debris could be left behind. Look for large numbers of wasp nests and other things left behind that might hold insect parts. Look for old stored foods as well, since the clothes moths may also infest old grain products. And, look for fungus growth on the wood, as this also is an alternative food resource for clothes moths. 

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Pest QuestionsMay 04, 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. 

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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. 

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Pest QuestionsMay 02, 2012

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Apr 29, 2012 – Pyrethroids – What Now?

QUESTION:

With the change on pyrethroid labels of not applying any product to drains or sewers, how do you suggest treating grease traps in kitchens to prevent buildup of the large species of roaches like American cockroaches, and to prevent migration from these areas to the floor drains in the kitchen when water levels in the grease traps drop due to low water usage keeping the lines filled? I do school kitchens and can tell when the lines are getting low on water because I will start seeing the large roaches in the floor drains and when I open the grease traps for inspection. There are periods such as winter and summer break where there is no kitchen activity for a month or more. I am almost certain that the migration is coming from the grease trap because I will start seeing their presence in the grease trap down on the city sewer side before seeing them in the school side.

ANSWER:

One important point to make on the Pyrethroid labeling issue is that you can continue to use the pyrethroid products as they are labeled. Once the labels on the packages change to comply with the new restrictions then those new guidelines are what must be followed. However, the new labeling guidelines do NOT require that applications within storm drains or sewers or other kinds of drains be discontinued and removed from the pyrethroid labels. 

What the new EPA requirements state is that IF the product label does not currently allow application INTO “drains or sewers”, but does allow use “around or near floor drains”, then that label must add new wording that specifically prohibits use directly into the floor drains or into any sewer or outside drain where the material could end up in a sewer or storm drain. The effort here is to add a level of protection against off-site movement of the pyrethroids that could allow them to end up in aquatic sites. 
On the other hand, if the product already has directions for use in drains or sewers then here is the exact new wording that will appear on the pyrethroid labels, and it is the last 6 words that are important: “Do not apply directly to sewers or drains, or to any area like a gutter where drainage to sewers, storm drains, water bodies, or aquatic habitat can occur, EXCEPT AS DIRECTED BY THIS LABEL”. With this you will continue to be allowed to treat sewers, storm drains, and directly into floor drains if the Label already has those directions on it. I would assume (that awful word “assume”) that manufacturers would intend to retain existing wording on this use. 
Therefore, a product like DeltaDust, which is labeled for sewers, underground passages, and floor drains should continue to have this application on the label, but will have the additional new wording that emphasizes the need to keep it out of drains that would carry it to nearby aquatic sites. Grease traps are a tough one to deal with, in part because they may often be the neglected unsanitary situation in commercial kitchens. Consider the use of one of the bio-cleaning products that will help to break down and eliminate the grease in the trap. One of these is the Invade BioBullet from Rockwell Labs, which is a solid block that can be placed directly into the trap to help digest the grease for up to a 3-month period. This could be an excellent add-on service you can offer to these kinds of customers. 

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Pest QuestionsMay 01, 2012

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