Archive for the ‘Pest Questions’ Category

Jan 31, 2012 – Roaches At Sea

QUESTION:

I have some questions about German cockroaches and flies. I service oil platforms once each month for 3-4 days at each site, and an inspection has discovered a lot of roaches and a very low level of sanitation. Due to the kind of site there are very strict rules and procedures in place that we have to adhere to, including treating only at night. We currently are using residual sprays, gel bait, and glue traps, but we get complaints from the workers there that the chemical is not effective because they are not seeing dead roaches, and they ask us to change chemicals. They also wonder about the use of the traps, since they are non-toxic. What kind of roach attractant could be used on the traps to enhance their effect?

ANSWER:

Hopefully you are not forced to allow these workers on these platforms tell you how to do cockroach control, because you are the one who has the training and knowledge of the insects and the products needed to handle the problem. Also, since you have noted poor sanitation you have the people who work there making life more difficult for you. Perhaps they believe that pesticides are miracle products that can overcome filth, and this simply is not the case. It may be helpful for you to do a very thorough Inspection, write down all of your findings on a Sanitation Inspection Report, and consult with the supervisor of this platform to determine how to correct these “contributing conditions”. If you cannot get cooperation from the client to do their part then you will have a very difficult time eliminating the pests. 

This really would be no different than trying to eliminate roaches from a restaurant or apartment where food scraps and other resources for the roaches are all over the floor and under the equipment. Perhaps I shouldn’t expect a rough and tumble oil rig to look as pristine as a well kept restaurant, but there is no reason the workers there need to accept that cleanliness is impossible. If you are forced to spray insecticides onto filth you may as well save the time. 
Since you are present on each rig for several days maybe this is your opportunity to focus on exclusion instead of constant reapplication of chemicals. I assume the roaches are found primarily in the dining area, but maybe in the living quarters as well, and you should be allowed access to ALL areas to inspect and determine what is attracting and supporting the roaches where they are found. In employees’ rooms there could be food exposed or spilled, and these are such easy fixes to clean up foods on the floor and store snacks in sealed plastic containers. In the dining area begin an effort to fill in every possible crack, crevice, and hole permanently, using a caulking or some other appropriate material for this. German roaches are not going to change 350 million years of adaptation and instinct and start hanging out in the open. They must get into hiding all during the daylight hours, and every hiding place you take away from them means less roaches and less other places for you to treat. 
Focus your sprays of residual products directly into crevices where the roaches may hide. This puts them into contact for the longest period of time with your active ingredient, and hopefully the crevices are cleaner than the floors and walls. Continue to use gel baits, placing them as well only into crevices where the German roach prefers to feed. Change baits now and then or use alternate baits to ensure they remain attractive. Continue to use glue traps as a monitoring device, not a “control” device. Glue traps can tell you if you still have roaches, where they may be coming from, and are a measure of the success of your work, but alone they do not control a roach problem. 
The fact that dead roaches are not lying around for the workers to see is not necessarily a sign that the roaches are not dying. They do not flip up in the air and die the moment they touch insecticide. Instead, the active ingredient works on them slowly, and they could well be dying in voids or their other hiding places. It sounds like it is time to make some changes in your approach here, and begin with the new inspection and written report. Then make a plea with the supervision of the rigs to get cooperation in cleaning up whatever is currently supporting the roach populations. And, focus on exclusion by slowly but surely sealing as many openings to roach harborage as you can. 

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Pest QuestionsJanuary 31, 2012

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Jan 28, 2012 – Share A Drink With A Fly

QUESTION:

If an outdoor bar has an issue with flies is it a good idea to have garbage bins inside the bars?



ANSWER:

Since you are in the Caribbean I can see that outdoor bars and eating are going to be common. And, of course, flies will be attracted to odors coming from these settings. The issue comes down to this in an effort to prevent fly problems. Either you make the area unavailable to the flies, which in an outdoor bar is probably impossible, or you remove the attraction, which might be something to work on. A problem is human nature, and bars can be pretty busy places where the folks who work behind that counter need to move quickly and have no obstacles to what has to be done, meaning trash cans are most likely going to be left open on top so empty bottles and other junk can be tossed right in. Changing this is probably impossible. It would be helpful if those garbage bins had tight-fitting lids on them and plastic bags inside that were disposed of each time the bin got full, but again that human nature thing. 

I don’t know how big these bins are that you are dealing with, but if they are really designed to be the outdoor bins then that is where they should be – outside and away from the areas of food service and human activity. Smaller bins on the inside may need to be emptied more often than a big one that holds a whole evening’s garbage, but that convenience needs to be balanced with the possibility that flies are going to end up in someone’s drink or all over their food simply because they are present in larger numbers due to the attraction of the garbage. Convenience should not supersede health. Ideally I suppose all garbage receptacles should be away from the service areas, but this is not really practical for the people who work there and need to toss waste materials into something quickly so they can move on with the next thing to do. 
Work with this customer to evaluate their waste stream, and see if they currently are practicing good sanitation with the garbage receptacles. They should probably have plastic bags in them that can then be sealed when taken to a larger dumpster outside somewhere, and definitely washed to remove residues of sweet liquids that invariably land on the outside and surrounding area. The garbage bins probably are not the only reason that flies are in this area, but if they are part of the problem then correcting it as much as possible at least reduces the fly population. The use of a few UV light traps placed where they will be seen quickly by approaching flies could help a bit too, along with fly baits applied to exterior areas where there also are flies and other attractions. 

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Pest QuestionsJanuary 30, 2012

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Jan 29, 2012 – Prices and Flexibility

QUESTION:

I want to have a set price for carpenter ant work and sell them over the phone to potential customers. I am just wondering if it is necessary to do an inspection first. I am afraid if I sell them over the phone I might be in violation of some state law. Can you find out?

ANSWER:

I’ll answer this on several levels, and the first is whether or not you are allowed to quote prices over the phone. My answer, as always, comes from experience with this in California, but I suspect most states would be fairly similar in their interpretation of the law. You definitely can quote a price over the phone if it comes from a standard company price list for the work. BUT, and I capitalize that for a reason, quoting a firm price over the phone is going to lead to trouble for you at times. First, you really cannot take a homeowner’s word for it regarding what pest they have. They may call you up and tell you they have carpenter ants when really they have subterranean termites, and now they want to hold your feet to the fire for that price you quoted to take care of their pest problem. It is definitely good policy always to have someone go to the site and verify the pest that is present there with that inspection. 

This also can get you into trouble when you quote a price but do not know the actual extent of the problem. What the person on the phone tells you is just some standard size house could turn out to be 6000 square feet, with carpenter ants billowing out of cracks in every room. Not every job for a particular pest is going to require the same amount of work to manage the problem. Yes, definitely inspect first, verify the pest and the level of the problem, and then you can give a better estimate of the time you will need to resolve it. 
But, you can have a price list for your work that is, perhaps, a minimum charge, and given on the condition that it is subject to an inspector visiting the property to provide the final quote. You might say that our minimum charge for carpenter ant work will be $200, based on your history with carpenter ants that it normally takes about 2 hours of technician time to do the work on an average property. If you leave it at this all the customer hears over the phone is “it will be $200″, and there is no room to increase it if the work ends up requiring 6 hours and 2 return visits. 
This issue has come up, as I say, in California, where a license is required to do “pest control”, and pest control is defined as, among other things, identifying pests and quoting prices for the work. The regulatory agency was asked if office personnel could offer prices over the phone, and their answer was essentially what I suggested above – quote from a price list as a basic price schedule, but subject to the final quote by the technician who visits the property. The same answer was given for door to door sales people who were selling pest control service but were not licensed. They could do so as long as they did not identify specific pests on the property or do anything other than quote a standard but flexible price. 
As always, because regulations vary so much from state to state, it is important to check with your local regulatory agency to get their opinion on this. 

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Pest QuestionsJanuary 29, 2012

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Jan 26, 2012 – Keeping Bait Tasty

QUESTION:

Does tracking powder placed in a rodent bait station affect the rodent’s attraction to the Contrac Blox bait? Is there any rodent bait that is effective against slugs and snails to keep them from eating the bait? These slugs and snails are having a field day on my rodent bait placements.

ANSWER:

Slugs and Snails just love rodent baits, and particularly formulations like pellets or meal, which they can feed on easily. One suggestion would be to only use paraffin baits, which you may already be doing since you specify Contrac Blox as one bait in use. The anticoagulants and other active ingredients in rodent baits will not affect slugs or snails, so no options there I’m afraid. What you could do would be to use a slug and snail bait on the outside around the stations to attract the slugs and snails to that bait first, and hopefully to kill them before they go to the rodent station. A liquid snail bait like Deadline might be a good option, as this can be dribbled on the soil as directed by the Label and it will not pose any temptation to rodents but will be highly effective against the snails or slugs that feed on it. If these stations are on bare soil then a meal bait for the slugs and snails may be a good option as well, particularly if you can use it around harborage sites where these mollusks are hiding, killing them as they come out at night and long before they get to the rodent stations. 

Another possibility would be to place copper strips at the entrances to the rodent stations, as copper, for some reason, appears to cause some electric sensation as the mollusks slime onto it, deterring them from going further. You should be able to find copper in either screens or rolls of foil. 
As far as tracking powders, no, using the powders within a rodent station should not affect the attraction to the bait. I assume you are talking about toxic tracking powder to kill them as opposed to a non-toxic powder used for monitoring. These powders work best on mice, which constantly stop to lick their feet and groom themselves, ingesting the powder from their feet. Even zinc phosphide tracking powder, with its potential repellent taste, does not seem to stop mice from ingesting it during grooming. Anticoagulant powders would be tasteless to the rodents and not cause them to feel ill for several days. 

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Pest QuestionsJanuary 28, 2012

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Jan 27, 2012 – Record Keeping

QUESTION:

Are records required to be kept for all applications of pesticide, no matter the pest? How long must records be kept?

ANSWER:

This is one of those things where I take the easy route and suggest that you MUST talk with your local regulatory agency to be certain of the laws in your state. This requirement likely differs from state to state, so what is required here in California may be different from what you are to follow in your state. 

However, whether or not it is required I suggest that you definitely DO keep records of every drop of pesticide you apply, with basic details on the site of the application. Somewhere along the line someone is going to involve you in a legal issue where you will need to be able to bring forth that information, and if it is readily available it could save you from some serious problems. For example, 2 or 3 or 4 years from now someone could claim they have health issues due to an application you do today, and if you have no records of what was applied to that property, if you applied anything at all, then their accusation cannot be disproved. 
I remember an incident way back in the 1980’s when chlordane was about to be eliminated from our uses. A major TV “investigative” journalist did a terribly lopsided report on the horrors of chlordane in homes, leading the EPA (based on that inaccurate TV show) to ban chlordane. One of my customers said he had a homeowner call him a few days later complaining of serious illness due to the chlordane he had applied as a termiticide 2 days earlier. He told me that he was never so happy to be 4 days behind in his work as he was at that moment – he hadn’t even done the job yet, but this customer was already getting sick, apparently in anticipation of being exposed. Because he kept careful records of his use of pesticides he easily could have proven that he had not treated this property for termites yet. 
I suspect most states do require that you keep careful records of what you apply, the sites to which you applied the products, the pests you treated for, and the amounts used. In California this information is then reported monthly to each country in which a company is registered to do business. For School Pesticide Use there also are specific requirements for record keeping and these records of pesticides used on a school property must be maintained by the school. I believe the records must be kept for at least 2 years, but frankly I would keep them for far longer than that, and with electronic files it would cost nothing to maintain them form 20 years or more. Similarly any training records you have for employees should be maintained for the entire duration of their employment, and they should receive annual training as required on the various aspects of safety and proper pesticide use. 

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Pest QuestionsJanuary 27, 2012

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Jan 24, 2012 – Beetles Above Us

QUESTION:

What would be the best product to use on powder post beetles that are in the living area on the ceiling? The ceiling is tongue and groove boards that look like they were sealed years ago.

ANSWER:

Well, this presents a problem, but start by making certain there is an active infestation. I don’t want to be picky, but the True Powderpost Beetles in the genus Lyctus feed only on hardwoods, and a tongue and groove ceiling, it would seem, would more likely be pine of some kind. This doesn’t mean you could not possibly have an ongoing beetle problem in the wood, but a more likely culprit might be Lead Cable Borer. Other WDO beetles could be ambrosia or deathwatch, but these beetles much prefer wood with a high moisture content, and unless there is a moisture problem in that ceiling it should not be either of those. If there are exit holes how big are they? Perhaps this could be some non-reinfesting beetle that would not need to be treated. 

Just out of curiosity, what is the evidence you are seeing that indicates an insect infestation there? Carpenter ants are one insect that just loves tongue and groove ceilings, as they have all those narrow channels already provided for their travel. If something is falling from the ceiling to tell you it is bugs, examine it closely using magnification. If it is beetles it would be very fine fecal material – powdery for Powderpost and gritty for deathwatch. Lead cable borers do not have fecal material falling from their exit holes, as all of their fecal matter is stringy and shoved into the feeding channels behind the larvae. Carpenter ants expel tiny pieces of wood chips and other junk they don’t want in their galleries, so it would be fine sawdust with possibly some insect parts included. 
Now to get down to your actual question, but hopefully the first two paragraphs were useful, and mistaken identity of beetles in wood is pretty common. One problem is that the ceiling does likely have a finish on it, and this can limit what you can apply. One of the few products that actually can penetrate into the wood itself to kill beetle larvae living within is Bora-Care, formulated with solvents that move the active ingredient into the wood. But, it cannot be used over finishes on wood, but on bare wood only. All other surface treatments for beetles in wood are essentially that – surface treatments, and they do not penetrate the wood and the beetle larvae will continue to feed inside. What you may achieve would be to kill adult beetles as they exit if the residual is still on the wood, but this is iffy. 
There also are many products labeled for injection into the wood for WDO beetles, but I have some concerns that this might not work. The products, to my knowledge, do not travel in the wood beyond the point where they are injected, so beetles feeding nearby would not be affected. They would be killed if they managed to eat into the treated wood, but now we are talking about poor odds. However, this may be your only option if it turns out to be an ongoing infestation of beetles capable of reinfesting that wood. Of course, there also is complete structural fumigation as well as remove and replace the wood, but I would verify exactly what pest is present before going to those expensive options. 
If it turns out to be carpenter ants you have plenty of good choices, including many aerosols that can be injected into the galleries the ants are using for travel or making themselves. These can be injected by drilling very small holes in inconspicuous places until you feel the drill bit enter a hollow space, suggesting that ants could be using that for a nest or for travel. Even puffing a little residual dust into those galleries would be effective. 

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Pest QuestionsJanuary 26, 2012

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Jan 25, 2012 – One Tiger’s Trash Is Another Dog’s Treasure

QUESTION:

We volunteer at a tiger farm. They have a pit with the excess food from the tiger, which flies obviously love. The dogs go into the pit for treats so we would like ideas on how to treat the pit safely without hurting the dogs. Thank you so much.

ANSWER:

This definitely qualifies as a new one for me, so thank you. I am forming a picture in my mind of this situation that may or may not be an accurate one, but either way I think a non-pesticide approach to this problem will be the much better long term solution. If you focus on trying to kill the flies with pesticides it is going to be a very constant need to re-apply your products, and you don’t want this. And, anything you apply to the meat in that pit that will kill the flies is going to have some level of toxicity to other animals that eat it too. 

So, my first question is whose dogs are these, and why do they have access to this pit on a tiger farm? It would seem to me that the best solution here would be to prevent any other animals from going into this pit for leftover meat, by fencing it off. Making spoiled meat that might be filled with maggots available to other animals is probably not a good idea. That would go for other wildlife as well, and keeping them out is a long term suggestion for keeping them from consuming things that may hurt them. 
The second suggestion is that anything tossed into this pit probably should immediately be covered with something to prevent flies, and other animals, from getting to it. If this practice continues the management of this place is essentially putting out the Welcome sign for flies, and then making it your job to deal with the problem after the fact. In fly management we should always address the SOURCE, meaning where the flies are originating, rather than trying to manage adult flies after they emerge. If there is a source like this constantly available for flies to access it just compounds the problem, and whether or not you manage to kill a lot of the flies a lot of them are also going to make it through to the adult stage and become a major nuisance around this compound. Could a layer of dirt go over any meat tossed into this pit? Could a large tarp be placed to cover the pit between those moments when more garbage is tossed in? Somehow just leaving an open pit with garbage, including meat, in it seems unnecessary to me, and hopefully you and the customer can come to some agreement and they will be willing to change the way they do things to eliminate the flies non-chemically. 
The use of fly baits around this area could be helpful, but with lots of wonderful garbage in the pit there is going to be a lot of competition for the bait products to try to attract the flies. UV light traps would be ineffective outdoors like this. Spraying residual pesticides over the garbage would not only last too short a time but also pose a hazard to other animals that eat the garbage. Fogging would kill flies but last only an hour or so. Hopefully you can work to find a way both to prevent the dogs from getting into this unsanitary situation as well as cover the garbage to discourage or prevent the flies from getting to it. I don’t think insecticides are the answer here. 

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Pest QuestionsJanuary 25, 2012

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Jan 22, 2012 – Rodenticide Labels And The Law

QUESTION:

Concerning the labels for rodent baits, there is a statement that says you must maintain a steady supply of bait for 10 days. In the realm of service, what does this mean?

ANSWER:

This is a very good and a very timely question Bill, and we should discuss some Label statements beyond just the one you mention. What we now find on labels for rodenticides that are labeled for our structural rats and mice is some very consistent wording from product to product. This is due in big part to the recent RMD – Rodenticide Mitigation Decision – from EPA that required manufacturers to put some specific wording on their labels. You can find all the details on this on PestWeb under “Industry / PestWeb Features”, and it is well worth making yourself familiar with these changes in how rodenticides may now be used. 

Given that it is the Law that if the Label tells you to do something it must be done. There is some leeway allowed for judgment calls in some cases, and often pesticide labels will purposely be vague or very general to allow this judgment, but let’s look at some mandatory statements on rodent bait labels now. First, regarding safety equipment, they state that while handling the bait or dead rodents you are required to wear “waterproof gloves”, and that BEFORE removing the gloves they are to be washed. How many folks do that? Then, as soon as is practical you also must wash your hands. Labels also state that you must remove all dead animals, and this may be very difficult to do when the rat or mouse dies in a location where you cannot retrieve it or may not even know where it is. But, at the least you need to perform an inspection of the area to make certain no dead rodents are lying where they are exposed to other animals that may then eat them. 
Rodenticides labeled for use on Norway or Roof Rats and for House Mice now state that they are for use ONLY for those 3 species of rodents, and now cannot be placed further than 50 feet from a structure and for outside use must be placed either within burrows or within a tamper resistant station. Generally you also find instructions telling you to remove any uneaten bait once rodent activity ceases or your service at that account ends. This tells us that there is no such thing as a one-service rodent baiting program. At the least a second trip must be made to remove leftover bait, and this time needs to be built into the cost for that service. 
With respect to your actual question about how long to leave the bait, in the past I would have said this was a “guideline”, but with stricter interpretation of rodent bait labels could it be mandatory? Well, most states allow us to follow EPA’s guidelines under FIFRA that went into effect way back in the 1980’s, where you could use LESS pesticide than the label suggested and at a lower frequency than stated on the Label. In other words, if the Label said “retreat in 2 weeks” you could wait for 3 or 4 weeks and still be legal. Perhaps this statement on the rodenticide label could be taken in this manner, making it okay to remove the pesticide sooner than required by the Label. This would be something that you should discuss with your own local regulatory inspectors, as they will be the ones to say yes or no to this interpretation. 
To me it would only logical in the spirit of using less pesticide and reducing non-target animals to it less to be allowed to remove the bait as soon as you believe it has done what was intended – elimination of the rodents. But, I only take orders too, so getting the opinion of your regulatory folks is always a good idea. I am sure that much of this instruction on the labels is there because of the nature of anticoagulant baits. They are chronic toxins that may need to be ingested over a period of time to take effect. For mice it states to leave the bait for 15 days since they are nibblers. However, we also note an “out” in these statements where they do say to leave the bait for that period of time “or until signs of activity cease”, so you would still be well within the label to remove it at any point prior to that 10 or 15 days. 

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Pest QuestionsJanuary 24, 2012

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Jan 23, 2012 – Using Premise Granules

QUESTION:

I am confused about the proper use of Premise Granules. Is its intended application for a 2-yr perimeter treatment in the same 6″ band that I would otherwise apply Termidor (in trench, of course)? Or can I just put it into my Scott’s spreader and broadcast it where wood piles, etc. could see potential termite activity? And, how long do I need to water it into the soil to be an effective application? Just not sure if I am using this the right way.

ANSWER:

I agree with you that it takes a little concentration to be certain of how the product can be applied. First is that it essentially is telling us that the use of the granular formulation, which is for subterranean termites only, is only intended to be a stop-gap use to kill termites that may immediately be “threatening” a structure, and that a proper treatment with a liquid-applied termiticide would be the proper followup. We see this with the statement that it “can be made in advance of the date when final treatment of the structure with a conventional soil-applied termiticide” is done. Where you determine that termites are present around a structure and pose an immediate threat to the structure you can use the granules for a rapid form of protection. This can be done in two ways. 

One is to apply the granules around the perimeter of the foundation by digging a trench 6 inches wide and 6 inches deep and incorporating the granules in the soil as you replace the soil in that trench. This is just one way of getting the active ingredient into the soil where the termites may contact it. The other method, and this confused me too, would be to spread the granules on TOP of the soil using an appropriate spreader. In this case it allows you to apply the granules from 3-10 feet out from the structure foundation and then water the soil enough to get the granules dissolved and soaked into the soil. Generally, for granular applications of most kinds of pesticides, a recommendation is to apply about 1/2 inch of water over the soil, ensuring that there is no runoff and the soil is not already saturated or frozen, so that it will accept this additional water. 
In your question you seem to suggest that you would be using it as a “2-year perimeter treatment”, unless I am reading that wrong. But, the label for Premise Granules states pretty emphatically several times that it is NOT intended to provide long term protection of a structure, is not intended to replace standard soil treatment with liquid termiticide, and is only going to help eliminate termites present at the time of application. As far as where you are allowed to apply the granules, such as wood piles, no,  the label does not seem to allow this. It gives instruction that the application is for use around “constructions”, and not for wood piles or other assorted wood areas. It does state it is for use around “landscape timbers and similar non-structural wood to soil contacts”, but trying to include wood piles into this might be a stretch. 

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Pest QuestionsJanuary 23, 2012

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Jan 20, 2012 – Pests On Ficus

QUESTION:

I’ve been treating a 12 ft ficus around a condo association with Dominion and Orthene and treated them 3 times more, once a month, with permethrin. Yet they still seem to be coming
back. Is there a better chemical or process that will work.


ANSWER:

Hi Jerry. You do not indicate in your question what pest you are treating for, but perhaps it is ficus whitefly or some other current damaging pest on these trees. The Ficus Whitefly seems to be the most important at this time, and i will refer you to an excellent Fact Sheet on this pest by the University of Florida, which discusses in detail the biology and control of this pest. You can find it at this link – http://trec.ifas.ufl.edu/mannion/pdfs/Ficus%20Whitefly%20(Feb2010)%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf

Imidacloprid is in Merit insecticide, and this may be as good a product as any. It is a systemic that gets inside the leaves, and when applied to the soil around the trees it will move up into the foliage and last  for possibly 5 or 6 months, killing the insects as they suck the plant fluids. The difficulty with spraying contact insecticides on the foliage is the wax that covers the larval stages of the whitefly. This wax tends to repel water based products so that the insect is not properly contacted. 
This fact sheet from UFL also highlights the predators and parasites that currently are known to feed on the Ficus Whitefly, and encourages us NOT to spray if good numbers of these beneficial insects are present. In California we had a serious problem years ago with the Ash Whitefly, and the introduction of a tiny parasitic wasp was highly successful in beating the whitefly to tolerable levels. It was working so well that pest control people and homeowners were asked to please not spray the trees so that the wasps could do their work instead. One advantage of the soil application of the systemic insecticides is that it does not contact the beneficial insects, and in theory is only available to the pest insects that are feeding on the plant. 

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Pest QuestionsJanuary 22, 2012

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