[Technically Speaking] PCT Ant Management Summit In Review

If you missed the PCT Ant Management Summit held in Atlanta March 10-12, you missed a great opportunity to hear one of the world’s greatest naturalists, E.O. Wilson, and about some of the emerging research and pest management strategies for the most significant pest in our industry.

PROGRESSIVE ANT MANAGEMENT. The conference kicked off with an outstanding presentation by Rick Cooper, Cooper Pest Control, on Progressive Ant Management. Cooper pointed out the transformation of our industry regarding ants:

• "Old Days" — Exterminators paid little attention to identification and used direct treatment with contact pesticides.

• Professional Pest Management — Pest management professionals focus on identification and inspection; develop control strategies based on biology and behavior, and use targeted vs. broadcast treatments.

Why have ants become such a dominant pest?

• Development of farmlands and woodlands.

• Less chemical pressure in the environment.

• Loss of effective products.

• Increased use of pyrethroids.

• Emergence of "tramp ant" species that are more difficult to control.

• Less tolerant society.

Cooper summarized E.O. Wilson’s presentation on the Sociobiology of Ants:

• Ants are the most dominant organisms in the world.

• Ants are among the most socially advanced organisms in the world.

• Ants employ the most complex chemical communication of any animal.

• Ants have an extraordinary geographic range.

FEEDING PREFERENCES. Dan Suiter, University of Georgia, discussed in excellent detail, How Feeding Preferences Impact Your Control Options. He attributed successful ant baiting and management to two essential behaviors: encountering the bait and collecting the bait. Failures result from the following:

Encountering the bait:

• Too few placements (not enough bait was applied).

• Bait was scattered instead of piled (carpenter ants).

• Bait was applied at improper time (too hot, too wet).

• Non-targets dominate bait.

• Not appreciating biological differences among pest ant species.

Collecting the bait

• Spoilage (age, active ingredient concentration, or use in high humidity areas).

• Contamination (cologne, soap, smoking, odor absorption, insecticides).

• Behavioral avoidance from previous sub-lethal exposure to bait (colony specific).

• They don’t like the bait and will never collect it (rare).

• They don’t like the bait at the time offered because of dietary needs (satiation and/or seasonal requirements).

Suiter makes a case for offering a variety of baits, because ants prefer to feed on what they have not been feeding on, i.e., ants fed protein prefer carbohydrates and vice versa. He also made a strong case for using toxicant bait in combination with an insect growth regulator (IGR) or chitin synthesis inhibitor (CSI). The toxicant begins to crash the population (workers) and the IGR and CSI prevent colony rebound by affecting developing brood.

He made another important point: If you are treating ants with the intent of killing them rather than repelling them, the active ingredient (A.I.) should be non-repellent, but more importantly slow acting.

UNDERSTANDING ANT BEHAVIOR. The University of California-Riverside’s John Klotz gave a presentation on Understanding Ant Behavior: Nesting and Foraging and focused on an exotic species (Argentine ant) and several native species (odorous house ant, carpenter ants and fire ants). He stressed the importance of baiting as the ideal control measure for ants.

He characterized baits into two classes: oil soluble baits (e.g., IGRs and metabolic inhibitors) and the aqueous baits with sucrose (e.g., boric acid). The most important aspects to consider using aqueous baits are the optimal concentration of the active ingredient, i.e., too much (the foragers never make it back) and too little (it takes forever to effect control). Other factors impacting this issue are the size of the bait station and evaporative loss, i.e., the A.I. can become too concentrated over time.

OTHER ANT TOPICS. Teaching Proper Ant Identification for Field Personnel was one of the topics presented by Stoy Hedges, Terminix International. His presentation underscored the need for this type of training for all pest management professionals. There is no doubt that the industry has the equipment and materials to effectively manage ant problems, the missing link is the technician’s ability to properly identify ants. Hedges provided a template for the development of company training programs and provided resources for materials needed to develop it.

He followed his identification presentation with a discussion that focused on Patrolling the Perimeter: Keeping Ants Out of the House. He pointed out that other than Pharaoh ants, every other ant species makes its living outdoors and invades the indoor environment from the exterior. Because most ant infestations involve some type of exterior component, it behooves technicians to focus most of their time on the exterior of the structure when dealing with ant problems. The exterior of the structure offers ant colonies ideal microenvironments, i.e., moisture, shelter/harborage and food. Manipulating these microenvironments, making them less conducive to ant survival, is one of the most effective and long-lasting pest management strategies.

ANTS AS HEALTH THREATS. Most of us do not typically think of ants as posing significant health threats and creating potential liability — that is unless you live in fire ant country. Jerome Goddard, Mississippi Department of Health, brought this message resoundingly home in his discussion of fire ants in health-care facilities.

He focused on four areas of concern for pest management services regarding fire ants in health-care facilities:

• Fire ants are not only a nuisance, but are also significant public health pests.

• There have been numerous lawsuits in the past five years due to fire ant sting attacks on patients in health-care facilities.

• Pest control operators must be diligent to keep fire ants away from patients in such facilities, using outdoor and indoor control measures.

• Health-care facilities in conjunction with PCOs may choose to develop contingency plans or "fire ant policies" (he provided examples of both).

CONCLUSION. As you can see from this overview, we have a great number of people working for all of us in our industry. They have given us the research, the tools and the materials to solve the most difficult ant problems for our customers; however, pest management successes and failures lie in our hands.

The author is technical director of American Pest Management, Takoma Park, Md. He can be reached at 301/891-2600 or via e-mail at rkramer@pctonline.com.