[Technically Speaking] Consider the Options, Part I

Pest management professionals have hundreds of tools in their toolbox that can be categorized as cultural, exclusion, mechanical/physiological, biological/genetic and pesticidal. Within each of these categories there are pest-specific options that are based on the biology and habits of the species.

Unfortunately, many of us reach for the most expeditious and least costly option to address a pest problem — a pesticide product. I’m not condemning the practice, but there are many options to consider before leaping headlong into pesticide application.

Several of the influencing factors in this decision making process may include:

• Facility — hospital, school, food service, zoo, residence, etc.
• Environment — interior, exterior, drift, bodies of water, etc.
• Human Factors — children, expressed product sensitivity, sensitive individual registry, etc.
• Non-Target Organisms — pets, wildlife, bees, fish, birds, etc.

Not only do we need to consider these factors but we must also weigh each of the options, the consequences of each option and the desired outcome from the customer’s and our own perspectives. The following are some specific examples of options to consider when providing pest management services.

CULTURAL. Tips for cultural pest management include:

• Removing clutter (harborage) is essential for some of our more common structural pests, e.g., mice, cockroaches and more recently, bed bugs.
• Customer acceptance of this responsibility is imperative and in the case of managed properties (offices, hospitals and apartments), management should step in and impose fines to correct the situation.
• One of the most difficult situations in food-service facilities is to get owners to “pest” clean, i.e., the surfaces look clean but when you look under and behind things it is not “pest” clean. If they won’t clean so the area is free of pests, we have vacuums, steam cleaners and power washers to do the job.
• The janitorial staff’s and homeowner’s concept of drain cleaning is pouring some magical liquid down the drain and letting it sit overnight.

This is fine for maintenance but it doesn’t clean the drain. Solving chronic drain and phorid fly problems involves removing the drain cover, scraping out all the crap and scrubbing the drain with a good bio-cleaner.

EXCLUSION. Tips for pest exclusion include:

• Keep them out — what a great concept! — since the majority of pests come from outside structural walls. Exterior exclusion needs to be thorough and performed with products compatible with the substrate to which they are being applied.
• Interior exclusion ranges from inadequate to overkill. As with exterior exclusion, the seal must be complete and the product compatible with the substrates on which it will be applied. Use the least amount of caulk or sealant to close the opening and smooth the surface so there are no rough edges or gaps. Many times our overzealousness to caulk has created harborage nightmares, particularly under splash backs and other difficult-to-reach harborages that can no longer be inspected, and when necessary, treated. In some cases I have recommended removal of the caulk to eliminate harborage.

MECHANICAL/PHYSIOLOGICAL. Tips for mechanical and physiological control include:

• Mechanical control has more application for rodent control however, there are many arthropod situations that lend themselves to mechanical control, e.g., sensitive accounts with crawling insect problems and for adult fly control. Unfortunately, I have found some pest management companies that use mechanical devices for the exclusive purpose of harvesting pests. In my opinion this squanders invaluable information, e.g., pest identification, habitat determination, points of entry, harborage areas, direction of movement, etc., that could be used to provide long-term solutions to the customer’s pest problem.
• Heat has been used successfully for decades to manage various pest infestations, e.g., cockroaches, stored product pests and, most recently, bed bugs. Heat compared to cold is very effective when performed at relatively low temperatures (125°F) and for relatively short periods of time (30 to 120 minutes). On the down side, heat is not uniform and as the core temperature rises, insects tend to move to cooler areas. Another significant problem can be damage to heat-sensitive materials.
• In the pest management industry steam has been more widely used as a cleaning tool than as a method for insect control; however, a number of companies are effectively using it to kill all life stages of bed bugs on mattresses. I have recently proposed using this on artificial landscapes in zoo exhibits to kill cockroaches where there is concern regarding product use.

BIOLOGICAL/GENETIC. Tips for biological and genetic pest control include:

• This is a category in which some will debate my placement of pheromones, insect growth regulators (IGRs), chitin synthesis inhibitors (CSIs) and repellents. These products are chemical in nature; they are not toxicants and directly affect the biology of target organisms. IGRs and CSIs are under-utilized tools in our industry and while they don’t provide an immediate effect they play an important role in long-term population suppression. The effectiveness of termite baiting systems using CSIs and IGRs is a testament to the value of these products.
• I have maintained over the years that parasites and predators have very few applications in structural pest management. Recently I have reconsidered that statement because of some work I’m doing in a zoo that has a number of tropical habitats that ideally lend themselves to the use of hymenopterous parasites of American cockroach ootheca. An abundance of “prey” and an ideal environment for proliferation should prove to be an effective combination in reducing cockroach populations in situations where product application is limited at best.

CONCLUSION. Consideration of the non-chemical options leads to two lucrative outcomes — we solve the pest problem and profit significantly by doing it. Part II of this article will consider the options involving pesticide use. 

The author is president of Innovative Pest Management, Brookeville, Md. He can be reached at 301/570-3900.