It’s A Sure Thing

For years, pest management professionals (PMPs) have counted on Advion® brand insecticides to control ants and cockroaches.

“I think they’re excellent products,” says Billy Blasingame, owner of Blasingame Pest Management in Locust Grove, Georgia, who relies exclusively on Advion gel baits to eliminate these pests. “We tried them when they came out and we’ve been using them ever since because they’ve not let us down, ever,” he says.

Now, two additions to the brand family are giving PMPs even more control options. Advion WDG insecticide is a non-repellent spray ideal for commercial food-handling establishments, and Advion Insect granular bait features a bait matrix proven to be highly attractive to target pests.

“We’ve got a range of products that operate under the same chemistry and under the same quality standards of the original Advion Cockroach gel bait,” explains Eric Paysen, technical services manager for Professional Pest Management (PPM) at Syngenta, North America. “PMPs can trust the Advion brand name.”

The Advantage of the MetaActive^™ Effect

Advion insecticides are powered by a proprietary MetaActive effect in which the active ingredient indoxacarb becomes lethal to the target insect only after being activated by enzymes located inside the target insect’s digestive system.

These unique metabolic enzymes exist only in insects, so the insecticide poses minimal risk to non-target organisms that accidentally consume or are exposed to it. 

“Insects are one of the only groups of animals that have the enzymes that break down indoxacarb into those toxic metabolites,” explains Chris Keefer, technical services manager for PPM at Syngenta, North America.

Once bio-activated, indoxacarb attacks the insect’s nervous system, but not immediately. “They have enough time to get back to their cracks and crevices,” says Nicky Gallagher, technical services manager for PPM at Syngenta, North America. As such, ants and cockroaches pass along the MetaActive effect through social grooming, feeding and by consuming their dead and dying nestmates.

“The active ingredient indoxacarb has a great transfer effect,” says Tom Potter, general manager of ABC Termite & Pest Control, a Lincoln, Nebraska-based company founded by PMP Nick Helzer in 1991. His team began using Advion WDG in the spring season as a preventive control for odorous house ants (OHA) and carpenter ants.

“It’s been proven to work. We’re having good success with it,” says Potter. In addition, the PestPartners^SM 365 Program from Syngenta (see page 11) makes it affordable and “the label is easy to get along with,” he says.

PMPs have more flexibility applying Advion insecticides because they’re not pyrethroids or neonicotinoids and the various formulations provide options. “They’re an excellent fit for sites that might be under more regulatory pressure,” points out Gallagher.

Advion insecticides are ideal for use at sensitive accounts like zoos, daycares, schools and hospitals. They do not leave a residue or odor, and customers like this, adds Potter.

And because of the unique mode of action, Advion insecticides are excellent choices when rotating products, which is key to reducing bait aversion and resistance.

Granular Bait Surprise

The most recent addition to the brand family is Advion Insect granular bait, which can be applied outdoors and to interior cracks, crevices and voids, and in areas such as attics and crawlspaces.

Advion Insect granular bait controls pests like cockroaches, crickets, silverfish and ants, including large-colony ants like Argentine ants, tawny crazy ants and OHA that typically feed on liquid honeydew. Conventional wisdom says these ants are most attracted to liquid or gel baits, but recent field trials proved otherwise.

“I didn’t expect granular bait to work so well against OHA,” says Dr. Grzegorz Buczkowski, entomology professor at Purdue University, who studied the effect of Advion Insect granular bait on OHA last July. OHA are tough to control because they have hundreds of queens, many nests and thousands of workers. “They’re the number one callback ant among PMPs,” he says.

Using Advion Insect granular bait, Buczkowski achieved complete mortality of OHA at the five sites he tested. The test sites remained ant-free for 14 weeks, when the study ended.

“I was really, really surprised by how fast and how effective this bait was,” says Buczkowski. In subsequent field trials, he got complete mortality of OHA in one to two days.

“Advion Insect granular bait is the first and, so far, the only granular bait that gives good control of OHA. I don’t think there’s any other granular bait on the market that can match what Advion Insect granular bait can do. It’s super attractive. Ants love it,” he says.

Buczkowski believes the bait is attractive to all sweet- and protein-feeding ants, as he also effectively controlled carpenter ants in the field and Pharaoh ants in the lab with Advion Insect granular bait.

The bait is best used as part of a multi-layered, integrated pest management approach for large- colony ants. Gallagher suggests applying it to structure perimeters and yard hot spots, such as landscaping beds and along fence lines, to prevent colonies on neighboring properties from moving in. “Putting a granular bait out on top of the other formulations that you have could dramatically reduce your callbacks,” she says.

Keefer agrees. “The more active ingredients and the more formulations you get into your protocol for these ants, the more successful you’re going to be,” he says.

Trusted Support

Potter says the support he receives from Syngenta is invaluable. “They have a lot of resources and they do really well on answering the questions and concerns that we have,” he says.

Syngenta is also committed to developing new Advion formulations and new products for the pest management industry. It spends $1.5 billion annually on research and development to ensure its products deliver on their promise.

“A PMP can confidently go out and apply the Advion family of products and know they’re going to be successful,” says Keefer.

Learn more about the products and preferred use patterns for specific pests on the new Advion brand webpage from Syngenta at SyngentaPMP.com/Advion