Archive for the ‘Pest Questions’ Category

Jan 1, 2012 – Ozone and Bed Bugs

QUESTION:

Does ozone kill bed bugs, and if so who makes an ozone generator that will do the job?

ANSWER:

At the last NPMA Conference there appeared to be a single vendor showing his ozone generating system for bed bug control, and I spent awhile listening to his talk about how it is used. Interestingly he also sells electric foggers and liquid pyrethrum for treating after the ozone application is completed to, in his words, “kill any bed bugs that are still alive”. This alone gave me less confidence in his approach with ozone. I also do not believe that fogging the air in an infested room is going to have much effect on bed bugs that are secluded within mattresses, furniture, or equipment and walls, so that also seemed to be a sign of uncertainty about his knowledge of bed bugs. 

There were a great many presentations and talks on bed bugs by our respected university researchers, and not a single session even mentioned ozone as a practical approach. However, I did ask one of the most involved researchers directly, while speaking with him, and when I mentioned ozone he just sort of rolled his eyes as a sign that he himself did not have much faith in this method. Perhaps this is because it is a very new idea that simply has not yet been independently tested, and perhaps ozone truly does kill bed bugs effectively, but until our university researchers study and embrace it I tend to be skeptical. 
In a recent post on Bed Bug Central, which offers very up to date information on bed bug control, Cooper Pest Solutions stated that they have found current ozone treatments to be ineffective as a treatment of structures such as homes or apartments. The theory behind the use of ozone is that it seems to effectively kill many other kinds of living things, such as bacteria or even foul odors, and therefore it should also kill any insects. This may eventually turn out to be an effective technique, but for now the people I rely on for good information are not optimistic about the current technology. 

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Pest QuestionsJanuary 01, 2012

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Dec 29, 2011 – Schools and Pesticides

QUESTION:

I was told that there are certain laws to follow when it comes to treating a school that is public or receives govenment assistance or payment. Yet, if it’s Private then just follow the guidelines on the label because it’s different from a public or government assisted school’s laws. Does this make sense? I just turned down a good job that came up because I wasn’t sure if the laws for public versus government assisted schools were different than for private schools. Are they? Thanks for your answer and advice.

ANSWER:

This is a very important question, but a single answer is not going to be appropriate for all states, and it is important for you to investigate the exact regulations in place in your state. You can begin on PestWeb by going into our “Business Tools” tab and selecting “IPM In Schools”. You the can select your state and find links to the specific regulations and forms for your state. Florida, where you are, is very active through the Univ. of Florida in producing many tools and forms on this subject, and they do have regulations pertaining to pesticide use in schools, as does nearly every other state. 

In general the purpose behind regulating / restricting pesticide use in schools is to reduce the exposure young children have to toxic substances. It is believed that their developing brains and other organs are more susceptible to exposure to toxins, and yet this must be balanced with the need to prevent their exposure to public health pests as well. Thus, nearly all states mandate that each school have a written IPM program in place so that a total reliance on pesticides is avoided. I think this is a good idea. Ultimately the states are not going to distinguish between public versus private schools, and in many states already include private schools or private day care facilities in their School Pesticide Use regulations. Obviously if these laws are in place to protect children it should not matter if that child does not attend a public school, but I suspect that initially it is easier to regulate government institutions. If we carry this to the obvious extreme, do these regulations have the right to impose themselves on home-schooled children and the private homes where they are being taught? 
So, I will dance around this issue a little bit but invite you to go to the links provided on PestWeb and dig into your own state’s regulations. This actually is a fabulous opportunity for our industry to step up and show its professionalism. In many cases it removes the ability for the janitorial staff at a school to buy pesticides at the local hardware store and spray them themselves. It invites LICENSED applicators in to help schools handle this delicate situation. Your time is money, and IPM can take more time but in the long run be more effective with minimized use of pesticides, and you have the opportunity to increase revenue at these accounts. 
A direct answer to your question of whether private schools are viewed as outside of regulations pertaining to public schools is that old expression – it all depends – and it depends on your state. For example, in California where very specific laws on school pesticide use are in effect the current law specifically exempts private school facilities, but I have no doubt that this issue is still rolling around in the minds of our politicians. 

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Pest QuestionsDecember 31, 2011

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Dec 30, 2011 – Color Me Green For Good

QUESTION:

Do you know if there is an established or emerging color coding standard in the pest control industry that communicates to the applicator what type of chemical is in the tank? I once worked for a large pest control company in California and about 10 years ago they started slowly changing all their Insecticide/Termiticide rigs over to having a blue hose. I purchased a “Non-repellent” 1 gallon hand pump sprayer by B&G Equipment company which was colored with blue. And there are other examples I have seen relating to non-selective herbicides, pre-emergent herbicides & repellent insecticides.
Thanks for all you do Mr. Pest Control.
I LOVE UNIVAR!

ANSWER:

Well Jacob, it’s likely to look like we’ve planted some fans out there, but thank you very much for the compliment. I have to say that I “love” Univar as well, and that is why I have been with this same company for 35 years. I appreciate the ethics and organization of my employer and the various people I have worked for. 

I am confident that there currently is no industry-wide standard for colors that represent anything with respect to the pesticides. Some manufacturers are getting on the “green” bandwagon by producing equipment or labeling that is predominantly green in color, to emphasize that their product fits well in a green pest management program. This may very well catch on, but at this time is appears to be only a limited and private effort in marketing. The use of certain colors of hoses or tanks or other application equipment also seems to be only a personal choice by any company. Some manufacturers are offering these varieties of colors – black, white, brown, green rodent stations for example, or various colors of Actisol injectors. B&G offers several colors of hoses to distinguish their “acid” sprayer from their standard sprayer from their “non-repellent” sprayer, and the buyer can use them for these various purposes if he pleases. 
So, at this time it appears to be no more than some individual efforts by certain manufacturers or private companies to designate the uses of their equipment when keeping things separated is necessary. The only color-coding I know of that standardizes chemical properties is with respect to codes on placards required on storage facilities where chemicals are kept. Fire departments rely on these colors and letter codes to determine immediately, upon arrival at a facility that may be on fire or have some other emergency, that chemicals are there and that certain safety equipment is needed prior to entry. These codes indicate things such as respiratory hazard, explosion hazard, fire hazard, etc. 

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Pest QuestionsDecember 30, 2011

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Dec 22, 2011 – Mix What You Need

QUESTION:

Some labels warn not to mix more than enough pesticide for a day’s application. I’ve wondered though, how long can a mixture (conc + water) really hold without affecting its strength? For example, if I mixed a tank of Suspend SC on Monday afternoon around 3 pm, and then used it the following morning at 10am, did the chemical break down any considerable amount? I know some labels bear that warning just to discourage making too much mixture (some technicians might mix it and not have any use for it the next day, for example).

ANSWER:

Good question, and you hit on two of the most important reasons for mixing only as much as is needed on a job, so in my rambling style let’s talk about these. The first is the problem with leaving pesticide in the tank after finishing a job. First, that tank, whether it is a hand tank or a power sprayer tank, now becomes a “storage” container when you transport it from one place to another, and since all pesticide storage containers must be labeled with the contents you must place a Service Container Label on that tank. This addresses the concern of knowing what is in that tank if an accident and a spill were to occur.

Second, you do not necessarily know when you leave Job A what your pesticide need will be on Job B, so if you leave some Suspend in the tank and your next job requires (as the BEST product for that pest on that next job) some other kind of insecticide, what are you going to do with that remaining solution of Suspend? You cannot just dump it on the ground or down a sink, and you should not just add that other insecticide into the tank on top of the Suspend, so starting each job with a fresh and emptied tank is very important. In addition, you cannot really accurately know the true volume of the solution left in that tank, so even if you used Suspend on the second job how will you know how much Suspend Concentrate to add to the tank to bring it up to the legal label rate. A third (or are we on our fourth by now?) consideration is that of forgetting what is still left in the tank. “Shoot, did I use Suspend on the last job yesterday or was it Termidor?” Back in the old days of stinky insecticides it was common to do the “sniff test” to determine what was in the tank, but even that was pretty bad and not to be counted on.

As far as how quickly pesticides degrade once mixed in water, this varies considerably. Back in the Olden Days of organophosphates and carbamates the insecticides degraded very quickly, and the diazinon or malathion left over on Friday could be quite badly compromised by Monday morning. Some products, like malathion, could lose half or more of their potency overnight. This was even more of a problem if the water used in that solution had a high pH, as alkalinity just tore up OP’s and Carbamates. The synthetic pyrethroids are much less affected by these environmental conditions of pH, heat, water (hydrolysis), and UV light, but they still are going to degrade faster once mixed with water than they do sitting in their original container. If I were to offer an opinion on that Suspend left overnight I would suggest that it probably has most of its potency still remaining. Exactly how much has disintegrated is hard to say, but using it within the next 24 hours (all those earlier concerns aside) should be okay.

Many of the insecticide concentrates in liquid form today even may use water as the diluent in the concentrate, with the active ingredient stabilized in some manner to withstand the water. This is a wonderful evolution for our products, and eliminates the use of petroleum oils as diluents and harsh solvents like xylene for getting the active ingredient into solution. This is why most of our current products are essentially odorless.

Another consideration to keep in mind is that leaving a concentrate mixed with water for an extended period of time could lead to some physical changes that are a problem. We used to have that with one WP product that would turn the mixture BROWN over a few days in water, and when applied indoors it left a nice brown stain on things. Other products may settle out of suspension badly and be difficult to get back into suspension, leaving you with a solution in that tank that is not evenly dispersed. For some formulations, such as wettable powders or microencapsulated products, the material could form a sludge on the bottom of the tank that takes serious agitation to put back into suspension, leading to problems when you apply it the first time. For example, in a hand sprayer with a thickened goo at the bottom, the first time the sprayer is pressurized and the trigger pulled that goo is pushed up into the syphon tube in the tank, really fouling up the hose and spray valve innerds.

So, plenty of reasons for doing it the right way. Even if it is “likely” that the active ingredient is still near the original concentration in the mixture you do not know this for sure, and would not know how to mix more to return it to the proper level. Otherwise, leaving leftover material is asking for some trouble in the other ways.

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Pest QuestionsDecember 29, 2011

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Dec 23, 2011 – Starting A Family

QUESTION:

At what stage in life can a female bed bug start laying eggs and what size would she be?

ANSWER:

The basic answer is that the female bed bug cannot produce eggs until she has reached the adult stage, and she therefore is a full grown adult bed bug which will not grow any larger. Once insects reach the fertile adult stage, with few exceptions they do not molt any more and their growth is done.

The Common Bed Bug, which is our current nemesis, grows by Simple Metamorphosis. What hatches from the egg is a tiny bed bug that looks much like an adult bed bug, but smaller. Over the next 45 days or so the bed bug nymph will go through 5 instars, or stages, molting its exoskeleton each time to move onto the next and larger instar. The fifth instar nymph then molts and becomes the adult bed bug and no more molting or growth take place, other than the expansion that takes place when the bugs feed or when the female has developing eggs within her. A full grown bed bug typically is round and flattened and about 3/16 inch in diameter. This usually surprises homeowners when they see an example, as they seem to be expecting a much smaller insect.

A female bed bug then mates (in that violent manner) and can begin laying fertile eggs within 4 or 5 days of becoming that adult insect. She may deposit as many as 3 eggs each day, but more likely the average will be 5-7 eggs per week, with a total potential of up to 500 eggs over the next year or so. The eggs are usually deposited one at a time and they are glued to the surface the female chooses. This will usually be in a protected hole or crevice, such as behind the floor coving or along mattress seams, but eggs could be stuck to a wall out in the wide open spaces, and this is one of the greatest challenges we have. It is necessary to ensure that every last egg is killed when we do a bed bug treatment. To leave 2 fertile eggs behind means that potentially that infestation will start all over again once that male and female hatch from their eggs.

This also presents the challenge of finding all of the oviposition sites and dealing with them, and since bed bugs could hide within electronic equipment there easily could be viable eggs inside that computer, TV, or bedside clock as well. Thank goodness for Nuvan strips and heating as effective methods for killing all stages of bed bugs.

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Pest QuestionsDecember 29, 2011

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Dec 24, 2011 – The Scoop On The Poop

QUESTION:

How can I tell the difference between rat droppings & squirrel droppings? Thanks.

ANSWER:

I actually kind of like this topic, and recognize that it is an important one when it comes to determining what animal is living in or around a structure. We can class up the whole topic by referring to it as Scatology – the study of scats, or fecal droppings – and now it has evolved to an actual “scientific” investigation rather than just a fascination with poop. But, distinguishing rat or mouse droppings from bat droppings, or American cockroach droppings, or frog or lizard droppings certainly is important when it comes to dealing with the problem animals that produced those pellets.

One way to make this distinctions is to examine the makeup of that pellet. Carnivores such as bats, lizards, and frogs will have lots of pieces of insect body parts in their scat, and under good magnification you can easily see the bug legs and wing covers. However, rats and squirrels do not make their diet high in insects, so their fecal pellets will be more of a homogenous look that does not offer any good clues. Mouse droppings will often have hairs in them due to the constant grooming habit of mice, and this helps distinguish them from other animals. In general, rat droppings are elongated and cylindrical, and blunt at both ends. One text book I have that actually shows depictions of scats of many animals shows squirrel and chipmunk droppings as frequently having a long, thin “tail” on one end, presumably the end that exited last. In these depictions in this book this tail seems to be a fairly consistent character on the scats of squirrels, so if you have a small number of them you could look for this.

Believe it or not there are actually some websites that offer decent images of the various scats of mammals, and if you put in search words such as “identify squirrel droppings” you can locate these.

Another very important message to keep in mind is that squirrel and rat and mouse droppings are filthy and often filled with pathogens. We do not want to eat them or inhale the dust from them, so when dealing with large numbers of fecal droppings we need to wear disposable gloves and a respirator fitted with a HEPA filter. Removing rodent droppings from a structure following the elimination of the animals is a service we ought to be offering. Leaving those fecal piles behind in a home or restaurant or school is to leave behind a mess that now poses a health threat to the occupants. Removing the mess and sanitizing the surface needs to be done in the proper manner, and CDC and other health agencies can offer guidelines for this. You also can find discussions of this on previous Ask Mr. Pest Control questions in the Archives.

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Pest QuestionsDecember 29, 2011

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Dec 25, 2011 – Merry Christmas Question!

QUESTION:

Our company is in UT where it gets pretty cold in the winter, and most pest control companies shut down in the winter months. We are looking at offering an inside service only for the winter months, where we do a good inside spray, dust in all the outlets on the main floor, and do a thorough inspection of the house for any cracks, holes, or other openings that need to be filled in. So my questions are does this sound like a good idea, and will taking off the outlet covers and trying to get dust in the wall voids do anything or are we just wasting our time?


ANSWER:

I think you have focused on an excellent add-on service that can be done during the winter months. We should probably ask ourselves a few simple questions to determine if this is a legitimate thing to do. One – does it accomplish anything? Two – will customers see the need for it and thus be willing to pay for it? Three – well, I haven’t thought of a third one yet. 

I believe that some of what you propose will accomplish good pest management, and one of these is the dusting of interior wall voids. Perhaps the best dusts to use would be inorganic active ingredients such as diatomaceous earth and silica gel, such as MotherEarth Dust and Drione or Tri-Die. These dusts do kill insects that contact them, they pose extremely low to no hazard to occupants of the homes, and they last essentially forever. Dusting them into wall voids where insects will later wander or nest is an excellent way to kill those insects before they become a bigger problem in the living areas of the homes. Since interior wall voids are probably not going to be filled with insulation you can expect to get that dust throughout the void if you use a power duster that creates air turbulence within the wall during the application. Exterior walls should be insulated, and this poses a bigger problem with injecting dusts and expecting them to go very far, and other options may be better. 
There are some very convenient hand operated power dusters that use a rechargeable battery, and look very much like a cordless drill. These may be good tools for this application. What your customer can expect is to have the wall voids, potentially major highways for many kinds of insects, treated to kill those insects shortly after they enter the voids, and for this to continue to work for many years in the future. Your suggestion that you do a “good inside spray” may not necessarily accomplish anything if there are no pests present, and you might rethink this part. Since the active ingredients that we mix with water to apply will generally last no more than a few weeks, if no bugs are there to kill then you may be doing little more than wasting the insecticide and exposing people to it unnecessarily. 
However, an inspection of the interior will be important in determining whether or not “no” pests are present. During even winter months there are plenty of bugs alive inside. Some of these may be over-wintering house guests, such as cluster flies, ladybugs, ground beetles, stink bugs, and a host of other kinds that find our structures quite suitable as their cozy winter quarters. Locating just where they are hiding and treating that place directly would be very helpful. There also may be carpet beetles infesting food or clothing, stored food pests, silverfish, etc. that remain active inside in the winter, and for some of these you again would need to determine the exact source, deal with the infested material, and perhaps treat locally to pick up stragglers. 
Your final suggestion of doing exclusion work is fabulous, and should be an easy sell to the homeowner. Explaining to them the benefits of keeping pests outside rather than dealing with them once they make it inside should definitely get them on your side and help their decision to pay you to do that exclusion work. Properly done the exclusion materials should be there forever to keep out bats, rats and mice, birds, snakes, and all manner of crawling bugs. This kind of work can be tedious and time consuming, given how porous our homes can be, with plenty of openings around doors and windows, plumbing and electrical access points, around vents and under the eaves, etc. This is an excellent add-on service that will prevent a lot of insecticide spraying in the future. 
There are other great and necessary winter pest control procedures that involve ornamental plants, and if you are set up for power spraying you could consider doing dormant spray applications to many kinds of trees and shrubs. These oils and fungicides kill over-wintering insect eggs, scales, and other stages of the bugs. They help kill fungus spores that cause springtime diseases such as anthracnose, leaf curl, fireblight. If they have dormant fruit trees these are needed applications. You can consider applying systemic insecticides to the soil around trees where aphids and beetles and scales, whiteflies, or other sucking insects are likely to infest those trees in the spring. The products like Merit can be applied in the winter to allow the active ingredient to move up through the tree to be ready to move into the leaves the moment they develop, killing those early insects that attack the first foliage. 
Weed control with pre-emergents may be another add-on service that provides the customer with a better looking lawn or landscape, or prevents the weeds on driveways and other bare-ground areas. These are just some of the many ways to make money and provide the customer with a legitimate service during the traditionally slow months. Thanks for the question. 

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Pest QuestionsDecember 29, 2011

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Dec 26, 2011 – Our Own Personal Reaction

QUESTION:

First I would like to thank you for taking the
time to answer all my questions, and you are very much appreciated.
Is it possible that if a child is bitten by a bed bug he/she could have a fever, etc.? What are
the true symptoms of a bed bug bite?

ANSWER:

Well, it is distinctly my pleasure to be able to offer my insights and suggestions to everyone who sends in questions, so thank you in return. Hopefully this forum will continue to provide some help to people in our professional industries. 

The bites from bed bugs can cause symptoms that run from no symptoms at all to very severe reactions. It all depends on the personal immune system of the person who is fed upon and how violently that person’s system decides to react to the presence of the foreign protein in their body. The protein, of course, is in the saliva of the feeding bed bug, and we may react just as we do to the feeding of fleas, mosquitoes, or ticks. Ticks, in fact, have a venom in their saliva that can cause a very severe “tick paralysis” in people, so who knows what other ingredients may be discovered in the saliva of bed bugs as they are more intensely studied. We might also compare this with the reactions people have to the sting of a bee or wasp, where that single sting could be life-threatening to some people but of little consequence to most others. 
Given this I would say that a fever is a “possible” reaction to a bed bug bite but definitely not a typical reaction. It also is important to note that as much as the topic has been studied there still does not appear to be any potential for The Common Bed Bug to transmit diseases to humans. They certainly are capable of sucking up pathogens from an infected person, but appear to have no mechanism for passing those pathogens along to another person. So, the fever would not be associated with disease transmission. This is an important message to give to customers who are able to read all sorts of nonsense on the internet. When Swine Flu hit the U.S. a couple of years ago the internet blabbered on and on about how blood feeding insects surely could spread the flu, which simply was not true. 
So, the symptoms of bed bug bites. At the bottom of the spectrum would be NO reaction at all. I have a friend who maintains a university colony of bed bugs by allowing them to feed on HIM, and he tells me that thousands of feeding sessions by bed bugs have never caused so much as a little itchy bump. The bite is essentially painless, so victims are not aware of the feeding unless they choose to watch. Most people might exhibit a small red welt that may itch for a few days. For others this welt may be much larger, become inflamed, and itch intensely. Reactions may even become worse over time as people continue to be bitten and their immune system objects more and more. The bite bump could become a blister, and scratching at this could open it, expose tissues underneath, and result in an infection that results in pus, pain, and maybe even that fever. 
It has been reported that some people may develop neurological disorders over time due to bed bug bites, and certainly the result of been fed upon at night in the sanctity of your own bed can lead to nervous behaviors, sleeplessness, agitation, and somewhat poor health due to the stress of anticipating more of the bugs in your bed. For some people this could make them ill and result in that fever again. A child may be less likely to obsess over this than we smart adults, so who knows if the child would develop the stress symptoms. However, there would seem to be other more likely reasons for a child to develop a fever during the winter months, such as the flu or even a cold. We could not rule out a reaction to bed bug bites, but I would avoid deciding these bugs must be present until you actually see the bugs or their direct evidence in that home. 

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Dec 27, 2011 – Keep It or Toss It?

QUESTION:

Thank you for being such a great wealth of knowledge pertaining to pest questions. Here’s another. I was working with Suspend SC and Bifenthrin liquid spray yesterday, mixed with water in a 1 gallon sprayer, and some of the Bifenthrin might have touched part(s) of my leather deck shoe style shoes. The Bifenthrin label advises to discard leather items like shoes, belts, and watches that get Bifenthrin on them, but does this mean the concentrated form, or the mixed spray form? I have read that the average expected time that Bifenthrin is potent enough to provide pest control is about 3 months. After that time period, or maybe even a year, isn’t the amount applied to the leather negligible? Does the label set up this guideline to discourage personal decisions (a little bit of mist on the outside of a watchband vs. a shoe being soaked with liquid spray)?

ANSWER:

I’ll try to keep myself out of trouble here by dancing around my answer a bit, since obviously I am going to have to offer an opinion. First is that wording advising you to remove and destroy all contaminated leather articles. This wording seems only to be on the MSDS for the MasterLine Bifenthrin, and in some discussions in the past with regulatory people in my local area it is felt that the MSDS, in general, refers to contamination from the concentrate product, although this may not always be the opinion of regulators, so please do discuss this with your local regulatory inspectors. The MSDS in general may also refer to handling or exposure during a spill or some other problem with a pesticide, while the Label is the document that gives you the information on handling during normal use. The Label, in this case, does not advise the disposal of contaminated leather articles, and in fact did not seem to address “leather” shoes or other articles at all. 

Now, it is normal for pesticide handling information or guidelines to advise against the wearing of leather shoes, and for exactly the reason you have mentioned. Leather will absorb liquids and these then are extremely hard to get back out of the leather. Since you are not going to throw leather shoes in the washing machine it means that any appreciable amount of pesticide that has soaked into that leather will be there awhile, and potentially this places it in contact with your skin every time you wear that article of clothing. The same goes for leather gloves, and I suppose leather pants if you are so inclined. Where you expect to have normal pesticide exposure to your work clothing it should be clothing that can be laundered at the end of that work day. Some clothing may have mandates regarding the laundering, such as gloves (washing), respirator (cleaning), pants and shirts (coveralls), while other PPE may not be included in these mandates (safety glasses, hat, shoes) leaving it up to the discretion of the applicator to use good common sense and wash these things as needed. 
So, if you do wear leather shoes during your pesticide applications and are doing an operation where shoe contact is expected, such as spraying a lawn, then you should wear rubber boots over the leather shoes. Since most of your applications are not this kind then the only exposure to your shoes should be that trace amount of mist that may land on the shoes during a day’s work, and I believe that this diluted material in that insignificant amount is not a reason to rip off the boots and throw them away. “Some” level of exposure to the active ingredient during a spray operation of diluted material is unavoidable, since your face is still exposed as is some hair. But, you cover up as much as is practical and reasonable for the toxicity level of the materials you are using, and then launder these clothing items as needed if they are “contaminated”. In California, where I am most familiar with regulations, “daily laundering” of work clothing may not even be required when using Category 3 products, such as the MasterLine Bifenthrin with its “CAUTION” signal word. 
I suggest that throwing away contaminated leather articles is most appropriate if they were contaminated with concentrate, and slight contact by the diluted spray or mist would not justify disposal of these. However, you should consider applying some sort of water-proofing material to the outside of the shoes so that you eliminate the potential for materials soaking in. Just how long that active ingredient will last within the leather is probably anyone’s guess, but 3 months may be a bit on the long side of this residual. In your case you also hint that your spray “might have” touched your shoes, and to me this sounds like you didn’t exactly get them soaked, and thus the problem seems not to be such a problem. Keep the shoes, apply water proofing, and avoid contact as much as possible. 

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Pest QuestionsDecember 29, 2011

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Dec 20, 2011 – Water, Water Everywhere

QUESTION:

A restaurant has an issue with flies. They hose down the kitchen floor every night with hot water, leaving standing water every night. They also leave the fountain soda dispenser soaking overnight, and thus more water.

ANSWER:

You don’t indicate what kind of flies you are dealing with here, but we can probably talk about this without knowing the details. However, it is important with respect to controlling the problem whether this is large flies like House or Blow flies or if it is small flies like Phorids, Drain flies, or fungus gnats. Since these different kinds of flies choose differing breeding sites, and the essence of fly management is to find and eliminate the breeding sites, knowing the enemy is important. 

From all the water you describe I’ll assume the problem is going to be small flies. Hosing down the floor with hot water each night probably makes  them feel secure that a good cleaning job has been done, but I am willing to bet that it comes up short of being thorough. Most likely it is the accessible open spaces that get hosed down, perhaps not even really washed so much as sprayed, and this could even lead to debris being shoved under equipment and into gaps in and around the floor. What a wonderful breeding medium this will create for phorids and drain flies. It also is a wonderful breeding environment for bacteria, which thrive in damp locations where any kind of organic matter resides. I have no idea how receptive they may be to your suggestions, but it would pay to get down on hands and knees with a flashlight and carefully inspect all those out-of-sight-out-of-mind places under equipment, and document what kind of buildup of organic crud is there. Put your findings in writing as a Sanitation Inspection that points out likely breeding sources for small flies, and work with the customer on an action plan for resolving the issue. 
If the customer chooses to leave this entirely in your hands then wonderful, a new source of revenue for you. There are several excellent products at your fingertips for dealing with exactly this kind of unsanitary situation, such as Invade BioCleaner from Rockwell Labs. This product combines microbes with citrus oil and other cleaners and is labeled for application to surfaces where there is any buildup of organic material. The product eats away that buildup, including within crevices of floors or equipment that you treat. You also should carefully open and inspect all floor and sink drains, and if these have (and probably do) a buildup of scum they too can be treated with one of the many drain cleaners. Inspect the grease trap to be certain it is being properly maintained and emptied, and consider dropping one of the Invade BioBullets into this chamber. The standing water is less the issue than the fact that it encourages the growth of organic matter in wet settings, and this in turn breeds flies, and you can be paid for this add-on service. 
As far as the fountain dispenser, I’m not picturing this very well. Do they remove the spigots or just put a bucket of water up under each of them? Either way it probably isn’t being done in a manner that a health agency would approve of, so you might find out how this should be done and work with the customer to do it in that manner. Hot wash and allowed to dry overnight would seem to be a better procedure than just letting them sit in water. 

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Pest QuestionsDecember 29, 2011

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