All posts in “pest management”

University of AZ – grant for $250,000 – Part 3

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cooperative-extension

 

I have been doing IPM since purchasing ProBest Pest Management in 2005 and this event sparked a thought concerning the old ways of pest control. How many remember when the Bug Guy aka Pest Management Professional sprayed inside baseboards, remember the buildup of wettable powder pesticide. I always thought this wasn’t good, pets and babies play on carpets and floors. The brochure of events brought this home with the following:

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is a sensible, environmentally-friendly, and effective way to solve pest problems. Pests are managed by the most economical means and always with the least possible risk to people, property, and the environment.

Why IPM?

  • Common sense – uses simple methods to keep the school clean and maintained to prevent pests. Understand the pests and make them unwelcome.
  • More effective – uses multiple methods focusing on remedying the reasons why pests are there in the first place. Provides long-term solutions to many pest problems.
  • Lowers risk – reduces potential exposure to pests and pesticides.
  • Cost effective – pesticides are used only when needed. Many IPM tactics have long-term benefits.

University of AZ – grant for $250,000 – Part 2

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whatisipm

 How to do IPM?

  • Identify pests: not all creatures are pests. Proper identification helps you decide what to do about them.
  • Keep records: records give information about past pest problems, so you know when and where to look for them and what to do.
  • Keep pest away: maintain cleanness and deny food, water and shelter.
  • Non-chemical methods: managed pests by setting barriers, trapping, physical removal (by hand, vacuuming) or changing physical conditions (e.g. moisture, aeration) to make an area unfavorable for pests.
  • Use pesticides as the last resort: use least hazardous pesticides or application methods (self-contained baits, gels used as crack-and-crevice treatments, and exempt from U.S. EPA registration-25B). Use only if pests continue to be present and other methods are insufficient to manage the infestation. Regularly scheduled pesticide sprays are usually not necessary.

University of AZ – grant for $250,000 – Part 1

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whatisipm

 

I recently attended the EPA Big Check event at the Metro Tech High School in Phoenix to witness the grant of $250,000 to the University of Arizona. I recently home sealing “IPM – the way of the future, why don’t schools get this?“and again want to emphasize the benefits of IPM: This facility works this program to its fullest potential – Integrated pest management works inside & outside school buildings.

  • IPM reduces pest problems – this was very evident at Metro Tech as they support this to the highest degree.
  • IPM encourages the use of safer pesticides when needed.
  • IPM enhances the campus landscape and reduces plant and tree losses.
  • IPM creates a healthier campus for improved academic achievement & reduced absenteeism.
  • IPM can reduce athletic field injuries & pest-related asthma symptoms.
  • IPM is cost-effective.

This information was published as a program handout to the attendee’s and I thought would be valuable in spreading the news of IPM

Why do they allow import of old used tires?

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How often do you think a new bug makes it to our shores? Have you ever thought how did that bug make it into the USA? Sometimes we make it easy for the bug to travel, like when you move from one state on the east coast to the west and you bring boxes which were in storage. We brought Mongoose to Hawaii for the rats and that didn’t work, nobody thought about the rat being nocturnal and the Mongoose is out during the day. Asian Tiger Mosquitoes (carries viruses like Dengue & West Nile) were accidentally introduced in tires brought in from China in 1985, the Black rat probably hitched a ride on early European ships, Asian Longhorned Beetle native to Asia and the Cotton Whitefly came from India.

Photo provided by PPMA

Photo provided by PPMA

Thanks to all our Border Agents tasked with checking and rechecking all those shipments.

Mounds, mounds and more mounds – Pocket Gophers do their damage to yards.

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ProBest Pest Management offers one tested and proven method to remove gophers from your yard with our baiting option. Our service generally consists of 2 to 3 visits based on the size of your yard and number of mound activity.

 

Pocket Gophers are best known for their ability to destroy our lawns and gardens. A gophers diet consists of mainly underground roots. Pocket Gopher control isn’t easy but we have spent years deciding on the best and most advantageous treatments and have decided on our use of the Elston treatment device.We have perfected the gopher eradication method. We have found that a targeted attack with baits  is the most effective way of eliminating gophers on your property.

 

Our initial baiting gopher control service will generally consist of 2 visits approximately 1-2 weeks apart with free follow-ups for an additional 30 days if needed. We use a grain bait called Kaput-d.  Our preferred bait of choice is a grain injected directly into the tunnel system of the gopher. After years of testing we have determined that this grain bait works the best, assuring we have the most effective materials available. We don’t use the cheap stuff, we use a tried and true procedure with an excellent grain bait! The key to effective gopher control is in the experience, anyone can inject bait into a hole but we know what we are doing and have years of proven control. Our technicians are experienced and know gopher patterns, tendencies, preferences and more!

House rodents in the toilet a myth?

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House Rodents – Rats and Mice?

House rodents are an issue. How are they getting in? During my my almost 25 years of servicing homes, I have only on one occasion found 1 rat in a toilet. But a guy in England has invented a flapper device to help keep them out. “MultiFlap helps special needs teacher left terrified by rat in her toilet”

To be honest I’m not exactly sure how it got there, 2nd story shared bathroom. That would have been one big climb, to get to a toilet 20 feet up but I suppose anything is possible. Here is the link to that device http://www.multiflap.com  – I think this one is to fit US toilets is MultiFlap 2 (MF-2) and nobody needs to be half asleep and find something in the toilet in the dark. What a way to be jolted from asleep to fully awake in a matter of seconds.

house rodents

House Rodents Rats Photo provided by Univar

The biggest issue with me is that once in and you have a issue with urine and feces being left everywhere. Rats and mice continue to urinate while running and often the first signs of rodents are their feces. It’s bad enough with flies and that whole regurgitation thing, but rodents will walk over and then walk over your stuff. So whatever they just walked over is going to pass to your food.  Often times it isn’t the bug/pest that is the cause but what they do may cause the trigger to a bigger issue. Rats can carry diseases on their fur/hair and transmit that to us, so side on the side of caution. Always the safe bet, keep the pests out. They have a place and that is outside.

Door sweeps and guards.

Keep window screens in place.

Fix any holes.

If you can’t fix an issue call ProBest Pest Management and we can evaluate and come up with a plan. 602-249-7378

How important is a clean house or restauarant to keeping out the pests?

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After much research here it is – it appears this quote may have come from Rabbi Ben Yair (Hebrew Proverb) (2nd Century) and appears this way in text  –

The doctrines of religion are resolved into carefulness; carefulness into vigorousness; vigorousness  into absemiousness into cleaniness ; cleaniness into godliness. (spellcheck went crazy over these words….)

So not from the Bible or your Mother, but I’m going to say it should be right up as if it came from either. I’m not saying that if your home is perfectly clean you will never seen bugs. Ants can trail in looking for food and move right on along unless they encounter something.  Moisture is probably another much bigger factor, cockroaches can go months without food but seldom a week without water. A speck of food could be a whole meal for a roach. I think the bigger issue – harborage areas for them to hide in. The more cracks and crevices = more availability to hide and stay hidden.

The BIG picture the cleaner the home or restaurant the less chances of hidden pests.

24_German Cockroach on Sink

Photo by PPMA

 

“The doctrines of religion are resolved into carefulness; carefulness into vigorousness; vigorousness into abstemiousness into cleanliness; cleanliness into godliness.” As you can see, in the quote, ‘cleanliness’ is literally next to ‘godliness.‘ – See more at: http://donnaperuginichildrensauthor.com/2011/03/03/where-did-the-saying-cleanliness-is-next-to-godliness-come-from/#sthash.TK7ImvmE.dpuf

Bugs are bugs, right?

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Untitled

Arizona Vegetable IPM Update “Aphid Identification, lettuce dieback, wheat herbicide sensitivity“. By John Palumbo, UA Research Scientist and Extension Specialist. (Western Farm Press) He’s got a point and in the business of bugs a very important point –

This is where the accuracy part comes in. Just because you can find a few winged aphids on produce crops does not mean these species are important to leafy vegetable and cole crops.

Most people call and say I got bugs, and when we ask questions they are hesitant to answer. There is a big difference between American Roaches and German Roaches and really, really important in the treating scheme of things. Yes you can kills bugs with any pesticide generally but you may not solve the problem or you may make it worse. I’ve seen floors covered with Diatomaceous Earth (DE) and still have bed bugs and I’ve seen people use can sprays to kill ants and still have ants. So here are my keys for pest control and they are fairly simple:

  1. Identify the bug
  2. Understand their biology
  3. Use Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
  4. Use the right pesticide if necessary

The Puzzle of Pest Management.

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I love those shows on TV about crime, I always try to solve it before the end. Probably why I enjoy Pest Management – “the attention is in the detail”, right?

How did those termites gain access into the ceiling?

There is a mouse in the house and how did it get in?

There are moths flying in the pantry, did we bring them home?

Did we pick up our fruit or did we encourage rodents into our yard?

So become a detective and stop those pests from getting into your home, home-sealing is a must plus it will help save money on heating/cooling. Put the puzzle together and solve the buggy issues.

Photo by PPMA

Photo by PPMA

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