Gain The Outside Edge

The pest control industry is changing and that change is gathering momentum. Much of the change is consumer-driven in terms of what consumers expect and want from their pest control service providers. Enterprising pest control companies are finding ways to meet these demands and create new service programs and strategies for pest management in the 21st Century.

Foremost among the concerns of consumers is the application of pesticides within their living environments. Fifteen years ago, homeowners often were concerned when their home did not have an odor following a pest control service; now they are concerned about any odor they notice. Pesticides continue to receive bad press, thus fueling such concerns. Therefore, pest management services are orienting toward more baiting, crack and void treatments, non-chemical strategies, and exterior services.

The mainstay of most pest control companies is the offering of regular, preventive pest control services in residences. When one decides to analyze such services, it is clear that much of the interior applications of pest control materials may not be necessary. After all, where will the greatest threat of new pest activity come from? Only four types of pests require that people carry them inside in order to infest a home: 1) German cockroaches, 2) fleas (on pets), 3) pharaoh ants, and 4) stored product pests. All of the dozens of other pests that might infest the home do so from the exterior.

Exterior-only service makes considerable sense for both technical and operational reasons. This is especially true if the interior of the home and contributing conditions have been completely addressed on the initial service. The problem with exterior service as it now stands is having the ability to accurately monitor the ever-changing environment outside a home. This article will address some of the issues of exterior monitoring and offer some ideas to improve results.

WHY MONITOR OUTSIDE? The most important reason to monitor exterior areas is to save time in identifying the type of pests that are present, as well as where the pests are likely to be harboring. At the very least, the interval between services will be monthly and, in many cases, every other month or quarterly. Exterior monitoring also helps pest management professionals keep track of the areas where pests are active.

As it currently stands, most exterior services involve applying a broadcast perimeter treatment to the foundation and ground away from the foundation. Recent research strongly suggests that such treatments negatively impact non-target arthropod populations rather than pests. In fact, pest populations actually increase following such treatments. In addition, the use of pyrethroid insecticides in such applications actually creates service callbacks for many types of ants, including Argentine and crazy ants. The repellent nature of these materials “cuts off” parts of ant colonies inside and causes them to forage more actively indoors. In most cases, in this author’s opinion, such treatments provide little real benefit in relation to the amount of resources committed to providing the application.

There is also research currently underway that is examining ways to monitor for pests outside of structures. For example, the U.S.D.A.’s Agricultural Research Service in Gainesville, Fla., under the direction of Dr. Richard J. Brenner, is now experimenting with exterior monitoring systems that make pest control service proactive and preventive rather than reactive. The experiments utilize non-toxic baits and sophisticated mapping devices, such as global positioning systems, to learn which pests are a problem around structures, and where they are most likely to be found.

For those companies that have already adopted the exterior approach to looking for and treating active pest harborages, the key factor is spending the time it takes to inspect for the active harborages. This factor is where effective exterior monitoring systems would be of great benefit.

EXTERIOR MONITORING STRATEGIES. Glue Traps: Currently, one can find but one monitoring device specifically designed for exterior use. Woodstream Corporation has introduced a plastic station (M 332 Indoor and Outdoor Roach and Insect Station) to house its large Victor Roach Pheromone Trap for use outside and in wet conditions.

Although it is designed for cockroaches, when placed outside, the station will also capture other pests that crawl inside.

B&G Equipment Company’s new Perimeter Patrol System exterior bait station is a step in the right direction, but it is not designed for monitoring. The company, however, is examining the possibility of adding a monitoring trap to the station.

The best commercial option available today is a sticky trap or glue trap, but these have real problems when used outdoors. The cardboard backing used on sticky traps and many glue traps rapidly deteriorates when wet.

Placing them in protected stations, as is done with the Woodstream station mentioned previously, is helpful, but dirt and debris collects on the glue, rendering it ineffective in capturing insects. The Stick-All Mouse and Insect Trap manufactured by Kness Manufacturing Co. works fairly well outdoors in protecting the glue trap from debris. The author has tested this trap around his own home and found that within two weeks, the glue trap does get wet and covered considerably with debris, even when placed against the foundation. Still, the traps captured two mice, so the benefits can outweigh the minuses. The author has also tried other interior sticky/glue traps outside and found none were suitable outdoors for any length of time.

Can/Jar Traps: In structural pest control research, can traps and jar traps are commonly used to sample peridomestic cockroach populations. These traps take pint- or quart-sized mason jars or paint cans baited with beer-soaked bread, distiller’s grain, bananas or other food to attract and capture cockroaches. The inside top edge of the can or jar is coated with a wide, thin layer of petroleum jelly that prevents captured pests from crawling out. Paint cans are preferable because they do not break. New, clean paint cans are available in any large hardware outlet like Home Depot or Builder’s Square.

In most cases, masking tape is added to the outside of the can or jar to aid the insects in crawling up the outside to gain access into the trap. Dark-colored men’s socks pulled up over the outside of mason jars work extremely well, according to Dr. Ted Granovsky, and permit a wide range of insects and spiders to crawl into the trap.

The biggest problem with these traps is raccoons or opossums tipping the traps over to consume the bait and captured cockroaches. This is less likely to happen with distiller’s grain, but the product may be difficult to find in many areas of the country. Additionally, these types of traps often do not attract and/or capture a wide range of pests that may be found outside, especially ants.

Pitfall Traps: A pitfall trap has long been used in many forms of entomology and small animal research to capture animals that crawl. Any container from a large, plastic cup to a 1- to 5-gallon plastic bucket can be sunk into the ground up to its lip. Insects, spiders and other arthropods crawling along blunder into and fall inside the trap where they cannot crawl out. For this reason, such traps are commonly called blunder traps.

Pitfall traps are an ideal way to monitor exterior crawling insects because they will capture the widest range of pests and will hold them for long periods of time until the traps can be checked. It is important that the bottom of the trap contain a small hole for water drainage and that the hole beneath the trap be deep enough to hold considerable water from drainage. If possible, placing some type of cover over the top of the trap protects it from rain.

Covers may also be more attractive to pests as a potential harborage, thus increasing the effectiveness of the trap.

Checking pitfall traps is easier if an inner cup is used inside the outer cup. The inner cup can easily be taken out to empty trapped pests and water and debris if necessary.

Hopefully, one or more manufacturers will soon develop and sell pitfall traps for the structural pest control industry. As exterior-only services continue to gain greater acceptance and approval from the public, pest management professionals will need such a monitoring tool that is also designed for professional use.

PLACEMENT OF MONITORING DEVICES. As with any pest management strategy, placement is critical to success. Where to place monitors depends much on the target pest. If one wants to keep track of spiders and other crawling arthropods around a structure, placement of pitfall traps next to the foundation is certainly helpful. But if the home has recurring smokybrown cockroach problems, the attachment of can traps to the base, trunk or limbs of trees, or next to likely harborages (e.g. firewood) is the best current method. Sticky traps can be used in protected locations on the ground such as under carports or large roof overhangs. No hard and fast rules have been developed for exterior monitoring.

The situation and target pests will drive the design of each exterior monitoring program.

Ants are by far the most difficult pests to monitor outside, but they are also the most important. The ideal situation is one in which ants are recruited to the station well enough to establish heavy, easily followed trunk trails back to the colony location. B&G’s new exterior bait station mentioned previously may work in this regard in many situations but not others. The likely answer to this need is the liquid ant bait and delivery system being researched by Dr. John Klotz at the University of California-Riverside.

Liquid sucrose baits make considerable sense for many types of ants. Most pest ants depend on the sweet honeydew produced by aphids, mealybugs, and scales for a large part of their diets during the summer. Worker ants use such foods as their primary energy source, so they forage and recruit heavily to liquid resources. Dr. Klotz’s research has demonstrated this with the Argentine ant. In fact, exterior liquid bait stations actually have reduced interior foraging by supplying the ant colonies with large, preferred resource sites outdoors.

Unfortunately, a suitable commercial liquid ant bait may be years from the market. The delivery system for such baits needs to minimize evaporation while still allowing ants to enter for feeding. Evaporation, causing the need for weekly refilling, has been a consistent issue during the research process.

It is possible, though, for an enterprising pest control company to develop a system to place sucrose-water (25%) in stations outside that can be used to establish monitoring for ants. A problem with spoilage is likely to occur, so experimentation with preservatives may be needed. The point with such efforts is that ants are a real problem and monitoring can help pinpoint colony locations. Sucrose-water stations may also cause ants to stay outside. Important: It is not advisable for any company to add any insecticide to sucrose-water to create their own bait. No current insecticide label permits such use.

MONITORING FOR MICE OUTDOORS. Fortunately, a number of traps are available that can be used outside to trap mice. The Stick-All mentioned previously does work, but the glue trap can become covered by debris. The Kwik Katch wind-up mouse trap, from Gremar Company, is made of plastic and will hold up well outdoors. The Victor Mini-Cat and Tin Cat from Woodstream can also be used outdoors.

Non-toxic Census blocks from Zeneca Professional Products can be used in tamper-resistant bait stations outside to monitor for rodent activity, usually in commercial stations. Contact a Zeneca representative for more specific instructions for using this product.

CONCLUSIONS. Strategies for exterior monitoring are in an infancy stage of development and will progress according to the ingenuity and resourcefulness of pest management professionals around the country.

Monitoring devices serve as “sentinel” devices that show a professional what type and where pests are active. A visual inspection is still required to pinpoint the source of the pests that are captured.

Appropriate treatments can them be rendered to eliminate those sources. Vigilance to all areas of the property are necessary to minimize the threat of invasion by outdoor pests.

Stoy Hedges, a frequent contributor to PCT, is director of technical and training services for Terminix International, Memphis, Tenn.

TIPS FOR CONTROLLING OCCASIONAL INVADERS

By Paul Bello

A great majority of the pests encountered within the home live and breed outside the structure. The most commonly encountered occasional invaders include lady beetles, ground beetles, root weevils, centipedes, crickets, millipedes, moths, scorpions, sowbugs, pillbugs, silverfish and springtails. Many of these pest species may be successfully eliminated from an account utilizing sound control techniques, including thorough inspections and appropriate applications.

All perimeter applications are not equal. PCOs need to consider numerous factors, such as the target pest, target site, product/formulation selection and application equipment and methodology.

Outside of positive identification of the pest in question and specific biology or behavior points, one could argue that the target pest is not as important a consideration in perimeter applications as the other factors listed. This may be because nearly all the popular products used for such applications are labeled for these pests or application sites. Knowledge of pest behavior and its effect on applications is more important. For example, a light fan spray application around windows and exterior light fixtures may be good for spiders and other pests attracted to light, but may not be appropriate for controlling millipedes.

The structural characteristics of the account are another important consideration when developing a management program. Nearly all structure exteriors provide a variety of porous surfaces. As such, emulsifiable concentrate (EC) solutions, which may be absorbed by porous surfaces, are not a good choice for perimeter applications. Wettable powders and encapsulated products are more physically available to pests on surfaces than ECs.

Thick-mulched surfaces of garden beds and dense turf are tough areas to penetrate with an application. Granular products tend to be dispersed too sparsely and may not adequately penetrate these surfaces by resting visibly on the top. Solutions of wettable powders or encapsulated formulations stand a better chance of penetrating these dense surfaces if applied using adequate volume of solution.

Pest control professionals are best served by understanding the volume their application rigs deliver through calibration and application trials and use this knowledge to assure adequate applications are made.

Understanding the limitations of the equipment is also important. When using low volume equipment, such as a handheld or backpack sprayer, optimal results may be achieved by targeting critical areas and potential pest entry points, rather than attempting to perform a perimeter application. Larger rigs, such as gas- or electric-powered rigs, should be calibrated for gallons per minute and gallons applied per 1,000 square feet, so PCOs are better able to follow label recommendations.