Commercial Success: It’s Simple

Simple is good. Especially when it comes to pest solutions that can help make your life easier.

Being able to move between residential and commercial accounts, even food-handling accounts, with products labeled for all of them is a big part of this, especially with commercial work becoming a bigger piece of most businesses. From 2000 to 2015, commercial service revenue had a compound annual growth rate of 5.8 percent, reported Specialty Consultants in a recent issue of PCT.

“We are always looking for things that will make it easier or more efficient for our technicians,” said Judy Black, vice president of technical services for Rentokil Steritech. “It just makes it an easier decision for technicians when they don’t have to consider the fact that a product might not have a food label. It simplifies the life of the technician and that is one of our top goals.”

“These broad-spectrum products with food-handling labels help PMPs choose products that work across more types of applications,” said Steve Dorer, market manager for Professional Pest Management (PPM) at Syngenta in North America.

The oxadiazine advantage. Arilon belongs to the new oxadiazine class of chemistry and is the only sprayable product of its kind on the market.

“Arilon is neither pyrethroid nor neonicotinoid and its active ingredient, indoxacarb, has to be bio-activated or metabolized to have a damaging effect on the insect,” said Chris Keefer, technical service manager for PPM at Syngenta in North America. “This makes it ideal for sensitive accounts.”

Black likes that it is environmentally friendly. “We see this as very beneficial for our colleagues, for our clients and for our clients’ guests,” she said. And with field tests proving the insecticide’s effectiveness, she had no concerns about rolling it out through the company, mainly to control German cockroaches in commercial kitchens.

The non-repellent product also is pretty flexible in the frequency of treatment, said Black. Though Arilon is effective up to 60 days as a crack-and-crevice treatment, “you can come back a week later” with another application to get a handle on heavy infestations if needed, explained Dorer.

Even better, PMPs can treat food-handling accounts without having to shut down production. “This is a unique label feature that not only benefits PMPs’ scheduling, but also doesn’t force clients to incur the high costs of down time,” explained Gregg Wisniewski, insecticide brand manager for PPM at Syngenta in North America.

Outdoors, Arilon gives PMPs another edge. Unlike pyrethroid and neonicotinoid products, it can be applied in a flexible 10-foot perimeter band around commercial and residential structures to control more than 20 different pests. (California approved an expanded label in early 2016.)

Chuck Houston, district manager of Reliable Pest Solutions in Hannibal, Missouri, used it to successfully eliminate “tens of millions of ants” at a new health care facility built atop an abandoned lumberyard. “Ants were just coming from all over the place,” recalled Houston, who followed one trail across the parking lot to another building. He was “ready to throw in the towel” until trying Arilon. “It’s very effective,” he said.

The life cycle buster. Archer, which recently was approved for use in commercial kitchens, grocery stores and other food-handling establishments, is a pivotal tool in the fight against social insects such as German cockroaches, which are often found in these accounts.

According to the Mallis Handbook of Pest Control, the German cockroach produces more eggs per case and its young grow faster than any other pest cockroach species.

Archer prevents these and other prolific pests from developing into egg-laying adults. When the IGR is tank-mixed with Arilon, PMPs get a longer residual and two lines of control: interrupting the pest’s life cycle eliminates future generations and a quick knockdown eradicates the adult population.

Clemson University, Bugwood.org

“Even if a female cockroach doesn’t receive a lethal dose of insecticide, she can still come in contact with that IGR, which will sterilize her so she is not reproductively viable,” Keefer explained. “If she is already carrying an egg case, the IGR will prevent those individuals from developing and becoming mature reproductive adults,” he said. The IGR’s active ingredient pyriproxyfen mimics an insect juvenile hormone.

It’s good to have options. Together, Archer and Arilon deliver a one-two punch to pests ranging from ants to flies to pantry pests at residential and sensitive commercial accounts. And they work differently, which helps PMPs manage resistance. “It’s good to have different modes of action on a rotation schedule and it’s nice to be able to have a set of tools that can handle any situation,” said Wisniewski.

“By rotating products, PMPs are good stewards of the tools we have, which helps ensure the sustainability of our pest control options in the long run,” added Dorer.

Syngenta remains committed to developing novel active ingredients and formulations and providing advanced field and marketing support to help PMPs grow healthy, sustainable businesses and solve challenging pest problems. “Support like that means the world to us,” said Houston.

For more information about Archer and Arilon, visit www.SyngentaPMP.com or contact your local Syngenta territory manager.

©2016 Syngenta. Important: Always read and follow label instructions. Some products may not be registered for sale or use in all states or counties and/or may have state-specific use requirements. Please check with your local extension service to ensure registration and proper use. Archer®, Arilon®, For Life Uninterrupted™ and the Syngenta logo are trademarks of a Syngenta Group Company. Syngenta Customer Center: 1-866-SYNGENT(A) (796-4368).