Sep 9, 2011 – Spot Fumigation?
QUESTION:
A hotel has a German cockroach problem in one of their restaurants and the customer would like to fumigate this restaurant. The hotel has guests occupying one side of the property and no guests on the other side. Do you think it is a smart idea to fumigate the restaurant even though the hotel has some amount of guest and staff on property?
ANSWER:
Without knowing exactly how this restaurant is situated with respect to the rest of the hotel makes it difficult to know whether fumigation is feasible or not. By "fumigation" I assume you are referring to actually tenting or otherwise sealing this restaurant so that a fumigant can be injected that penetrates throughout the restaurant. Sometimes people outside our industry refer to ANY use of insecticides as "fumigating", which the use of directed contact insecticides is not. If this restaurant is completely separate from all of the other hotel buildings then fumigation could be done legally and without risk to guests there, although I would be certain that many guests would be very nervous about being around a tented structure that they knew was under fumigation. If this restaurant is within or attached to the hotel buildings then fumigation sounds like a very unlikely choice while the hotel still is conducting business.
Either way fumigation is generally unnecessary for cockroach control, although not completely out of the question. A very serious roach problem can be resolved instantly with the use of a fumigant, but this still brings up some questions, particularly the fact that eliminating every cockroach does not change the conditions that created the problem in the first place. The customer could be lured into the false sense of security that getting rid of the roaches somehow keeps them away for the future, but he would still need to correct the structural and sanitation problems that began the roach invasion initially. Your role here should begin with a very thorough inspection of the restaurant, inside and outside, to determine exactly what contributing conditions exist, and all of your findings must be presented to the customer in WRITING on an inspection report form. This makes it easier to refer back to your findings to check on the progress, and easier to assign tasks to specific people for correcting the problems.
The roaches exist in this restaurant because they have found a route of entry, and this needs to be determined and closed off. For German roaches it usually will be importation in infested packaging, and how this occurs must be determined. If the restaurant is connected to the other hotel buildings then the roaches also could have migrated into these other areas, and that should be inspected for. The roaches lived and thrived in this restaurant because there are sanitation issues providing them with food and water, and these can be identified and corrective actions implemented. They thrive because they find abundant harborage, and your inspection identifies where these are and how they can be eliminated. IPM is extremely important in cockroach control, and the customer needs (gently) to understand that insecticides do not resolve these peripheral issues. If nothing changes then nothing changes, and even if you kill all the roaches you will have them back if the contributing conditions continue to exist there.
Your inspection will also determine the true extent of the roach problem there, and whether or not "standard" insecticide applications would be adequate to eliminate the roaches so that fumigation can be avoided. You can integrate the use of vacuums, perhaps steam, caulking to close access to harborage, glue traps to monitor the problem, baits and directed treatments into cracks, crevices, and voids.
View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.
A hotel has a German cockroach problem in one of their restaurants and the customer would like to fumigate this restaurant. The hotel has guests occupying one side of the property and no guests on the other side. Do you think it is a smart idea to fumigate the restaurant even though the hotel has some amount of guest and staff on property?
ANSWER:
Without knowing exactly how this restaurant is situated with respect to the rest of the hotel makes it difficult to know whether fumigation is feasible or not. By "fumigation" I assume you are referring to actually tenting or otherwise sealing this restaurant so that a fumigant can be injected that penetrates throughout the restaurant. Sometimes people outside our industry refer to ANY use of insecticides as "fumigating", which the use of directed contact insecticides is not. If this restaurant is completely separate from all of the other hotel buildings then fumigation could be done legally and without risk to guests there, although I would be certain that many guests would be very nervous about being around a tented structure that they knew was under fumigation. If this restaurant is within or attached to the hotel buildings then fumigation sounds like a very unlikely choice while the hotel still is conducting business.
Either way fumigation is generally unnecessary for cockroach control, although not completely out of the question. A very serious roach problem can be resolved instantly with the use of a fumigant, but this still brings up some questions, particularly the fact that eliminating every cockroach does not change the conditions that created the problem in the first place. The customer could be lured into the false sense of security that getting rid of the roaches somehow keeps them away for the future, but he would still need to correct the structural and sanitation problems that began the roach invasion initially. Your role here should begin with a very thorough inspection of the restaurant, inside and outside, to determine exactly what contributing conditions exist, and all of your findings must be presented to the customer in WRITING on an inspection report form. This makes it easier to refer back to your findings to check on the progress, and easier to assign tasks to specific people for correcting the problems.
The roaches exist in this restaurant because they have found a route of entry, and this needs to be determined and closed off. For German roaches it usually will be importation in infested packaging, and how this occurs must be determined. If the restaurant is connected to the other hotel buildings then the roaches also could have migrated into these other areas, and that should be inspected for. The roaches lived and thrived in this restaurant because there are sanitation issues providing them with food and water, and these can be identified and corrective actions implemented. They thrive because they find abundant harborage, and your inspection identifies where these are and how they can be eliminated. IPM is extremely important in cockroach control, and the customer needs (gently) to understand that insecticides do not resolve these peripheral issues. If nothing changes then nothing changes, and even if you kill all the roaches you will have them back if the contributing conditions continue to exist there.
Your inspection will also determine the true extent of the roach problem there, and whether or not "standard" insecticide applications would be adequate to eliminate the roaches so that fumigation can be avoided. You can integrate the use of vacuums, perhaps steam, caulking to close access to harborage, glue traps to monitor the problem, baits and directed treatments into cracks, crevices, and voids.
View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.
