Dusts: A Critical Role in Cockroach Management

Using and rotating gel baits is a recommended action in fighting cockroach infestations. Utilizing dusts in conjunction with a gel bait rotation program is powerful and critical as dusts are potent, long-lasting and low in toxicity.

 

TEAMWORK. Considering that cockroaches are “built for survival” (Mallis Handbook of Pest Control), a recommended course of action is to conquer an infestation using multiple pest control techniques. “I don’t think I’ve had a roach job where I didn’t use all the tools in the bag,” says Don English, owner, Engineered Pest Solutions in Macon, Ga.

 

Kevin O’Connor, entomologist, Viking Pest Control in Oakdale, N.Y., uses dust “in conjunction” with baits to effectively treat wall voids and harborage areas. Especially commercially, “we would want to eliminate the wall voids as possible areas of harborage, so we’ll dust that anywhere from three months to once a year,” he says.

 

David Crenshaw, president and CEO, Crenshaw Pest Control in New Port Richey, Fla., also utilizes a combination of gel baits and dusts. His technicians are instructed not to use dusts around dishwashers or refrigerators where electric motors will “kick on and kick out the dust” and are better suited for gel baits. Instead, the team uses dust products in “pre-formed cavities and gaps” around cabinets that are “harbored spots for roaches,” he says.

 

“Some sheltering areas might require treatment with a residual dust insecticide prior to sealing,” says the Mallis Handbook of Pest Control. “Often, pest professionals place a dust into the void… dust, and seal the void with caulking, steel wool, or other materials.” 

 

STRENGTH. Jim Moyer, service supervisor, A.C.E., Griffin Pest Solutions in Kalamazoo, Mich., uses dusts as a critical role in reaching harborage points, such as “door casings, window casings, behind light switch covers and pipe chases, and in commercial kitchens behind the metal panels and the stainless steel panels.” He says that “whatever crawls in there is going to die,” as dusts kill on contact, kill multiple types of pests, and last for years.

 

Dusts are “very long-lasting,” says O’Connor, and “it’s not really a chemical kill, it’s a mechanical dehydration kill.” The dust adheres to the cockroach’s body and then causes quick rehydration and sudden death.

 

English cautions that “you do not want to pack [the dust] on too thick; you want a light, light mist of dust.” The finer the level of dust that is applied, the more likely the dust will stick to the cockroach that will then ingest the dust during the grooming process. 

 

Certain dusts also work very well in damp areas. English said, “We love using” dusts designed for use in damp places. “It’s long-lasting and it can get wet. If it gets wet, it doesn’t lose its effectiveness,” he says, since other products that get wet will stop working. “If you look at your arsenal, [dusts are] the longest-lasting defense of any of [the products],” he says. A gel bait will eventually “dry up,” but a dust will “last, last, last.” 

 

SAFETY. “Dust can be an effective, inexpensive and low risk (to animal and human health and the environment),” according to the Mallis Handbook of Pest Control.

 

Some dusts, too, offer very low toxicity levels. As a result, O’Connor uses dusts during regular maintenance. Moyer says that with these dusts, “the toxicity level is almost nothing, so you don’t have to worry about the guy that dusts the pipe chasings,” some of the product falls off of the surface area, and “he doesn’t clean it up.”