All Articles
10/18/2024
Leveraging the power of innovation By Lisa Eppler, Ph.D., technical services manager, Syngenta Professional Pest Management Innovation isn't just a buzzword at Syngenta—it's ingrained in our culture. By fostering a creative and collaborative environment, Syngenta empowers employees to think outside the box and drive innovation at every level of the organization. With a rich legacy of pioneering solutions to address customer challenges worldwide, Syngenta has been propelled to the forefront of innovation through a dedication to research and developm...
9/25/2024
No matter where deer are found in North America, their winter survival tactics are no more evident than in your gardens and yards right now! Woodland mast crops -- such as acorns, sumac peas, beechnuts and locust pods – are in abundance as the fall season settled in, but those favored deer foods soon be hidden beneath matted leaves and seasonal snowfall. As a result, the deer have added your ornamental shrubs, trees and cold-weather vegetable gardens to their wintertime warmup. Your prized plants represent cold-season cold-cuts that could attract deer from as much as 50 ...
9/25/2024
Masters of Invasion: The Roof Rat Roof rats present a significant challenge, not just because of their elevated habitats, but due to their reluctance to touch the ground, almost as if they’re playing a perpetual game of “the floor is lava.” Addressing this behavior requires placing traps and stations at the heights where these rodents are active, but this is often easier said than done. Here are essential strategies to help manage roof rat infestations using EZ Secured from VM Products®, known for its durable hinge for extended servicing reliability. ...
8/26/2024
1. What is Finale XL T&O herbicide? Finale XL T&O herbicide is the latest non-selective contact herbicide formulation from BASF. It has a much higher active ingredient load then prior formulations, which means use rates are lower. This formulation also has a red pigment, so it’s easy to see in the spray tank. Users of the product can accurately determine how much material is in their sprayer. It’s easy for them to measure out, see and apply this product, and it’s very fast. Under ideal conditions, it works within six to eight hours, so they can s...
8/26/2024
Small fly infestations can cause big frustrations. Especially in commercial accounts, like restaurants, supermarkets, and other food handling facilities, where they can be one of the more challenging pests to control. Not only are they a significant nuisance, but fruit flies, house flies, and other filth or small fly species are also known to contaminate food as well as carry and potentially share disease-causing organisms with humans. Furthermore, if customers see them as a sign of unsanitary conditions, it can harm a business's reputation. Small flies have a quick development time an...
8/2/2024
Bell’s new D3 bait CADET™ All-Weather BLOX™ is now available in California! Made with the sub-acute active ingredient cholecalciferol, CADET combines proven palatability and weatherability to eliminate rodents wherever they are. Each 20g D3 BLOX has multiple edges to appeal to rodents’ desire to gnaw, and each BLOX has a hole in the center so it can be placed on bait securing rods. Because CADET resists mold and moisture, it’s an effective tool for controlling rodent infestations indoors and out, wet or dry. D3 baits like CADET c...
8/1/2024
Understanding Your Targets: Occasional invaders represent a broad category of unwanted pests that sporadically find their way into homes and other structures. Among the most common are spiders, crickets, centipedes, pillbugs, silverfish, and clover mites. Oftentimes, occasional invaders are initially attracted to light sources in homes or head inside to escape harsh weather conditions. Unlike overwintering pests who seek shelter for extended periods of time, occasional invaders more often than not enter spaces unintentionally. Knowing their habits helps in deciding where, when...
6/25/2024
The months of spring into the fall is the time homeowners around the country may have close encounters with a variety of pests that find their porches, decks, yards and other outdoor spaces so enticing. That’s why Pest Management Professionals (PMPs) who service monthly and quarterly accounts need reliable, long-lasting perimeter solutions that can control the wide range of pest species that inhabit these spaces. And let’s not forget an added layer of defense to help protect against the weather! Fendona® CS controlled release insecticide from BASF off...
5/21/2024
In the fight against bed bugs, pest management professionals face a tough adversary. Treating infestations not only demands effort but also quick-acting solutions that can provide lasting results, ensuring callbacks are kept to a minimum. Dusts can often be an overlooked part of a pest management professional’s toolbox, yet they play a key role in winning the battle. So, what makes dust such an important asset? Let’s dig in. Speed Dust itself works by abrading the cuticle that helps a bed bug hold in moisture, effectively causing them to dry out. Dus...
5/1/2024
How to manage mosquitos where PMPs miss them most Mosquitos don’t need much to make a comfortable home. All too often, PMPs face callbacks and customer complaints because they’ve overlooked a single area where mosquitos can happily breed, rest, and feed. Some hotspots are obvious. Others are more hidden. Follow the tips in this guide to check — and treat — the most common spots overlooked by PMPs. Where there’s water, there’s a potential breeding site Water plays a crucial role in mos...
4/1/2024
As pest populations are on the rise, professionals are always looking to stop problems at the source by using effective solutions. One technique often used in these products is the transfer effect, a method that uses the pest’s natural behaviors against it. The transfer effect, or secondary elimination, is used by simply exploiting the interaction the pest will have with others of its own species to amplify the control of the product throughout a population. The setup for this technique typically involves introducing a substance with something such as a bait to pests in an ar...
4/1/2024
By Chris Keefer, Ph.D., technical services manager for Syngenta In some U.S. regions, peridomestic cockroach activity may be quelled by weather at certain times of the year, but German cockroaches tend to be a problem all year. Some key concepts to keep in mind for successfully controlling German cockroaches include conducting thorough inspections, understanding their cryptic behavior and reproductive potential, using an integrated pest management approach and rotating active ingredients with different modes of action. Inspection Identify...
3/1/2024
When an account does not have recent signs of rodent activity, they may think about putting their rodent control service on hold. Customers don’t want to pay a service for something that no longer seems necessary, and having visible rodent control devices out at their business can be perceived negatively by the public. Having rodent control measures in place at accounts in high-traffic areas can be misleading to the average person, as uneducated viewers may assume there is a current rodent problem at hand. Weekly onsite visits where PMPs must manually service each station ar...
3/1/2024
Enhance Your Cockroach Protocol Cockroach infestations are one of the most difficult challenges you can face as a PMP. Their resilience and rapid reproduction can quickly turn a minor issue into a major crisis. A comprehensive cockroach protocol is critical for gaining long-term control over German cockroach populations. Assessment-based Pest Management (APM): A Crucial Approach Utilizing an APM strategy is critical for success. The cornerstone of APM is a thorough inspection and monitoring of the infested area. Categorizing infestations into high-,...
1/22/2024
Advancing German Cockroach Treatments: Rounding Out Rotation Understanding the Challenge German cockroach infestations are a persistent challenge for Pest Management Professionals. German cockroaches mature fast, typically taking around 100 days to complete the entire life cycle. With a short life cycle and high reproductive capacity, they are resilient pests that can adapt quickly, leading to the development of resistance to both the active ingredient and food matrix in baits. Having a rotational plan in place is essential for ...
11/1/2023
How to achieve success against ants By Tim Husen, Ph.D., technical services manager, Syngenta Professional Pest Management Managing structural-infesting nuisance ants is a multi-step process. Ants have complex and diverse nesting biology and foraging behaviors, so identifying the type of ant you are dealing with should always be the first step in any ant service treatment. Pest management professionals (PMPs) must use ID-based management strategies along with what they know about the pests’ habitat to help guide their services. All service treatmen...
10/1/2023
Developing an effective line of animal repellents begins with understanding how animal behavior engages their ecological environment. Over many years, EPIC Repellents has developed proprietary theory that defines animal behavior, points to combinations of all-natural ingredients that deter animals and predicts the impact EPIC repellent formulas have upon the animals, people, and the environments in which they live. Our Method: One and Only One Animal Pest at a Time EPIC’s R&D team zero-bases each new formula rather than imitate competitors’ ingredients...
6/1/2023
After visiting dead animals, feces, raw garbage, dumpsters, grease-traps, sewers, floor drains, biofilms, House flies, aka: “flying infections,” enter sensitive facilities and contaminate foods and surfaces through a combined process of extraoral digestive fluids (cyclical regurgitation), defecation, and groom-shedding of bodily particles. House flies contaminate everything from farm to fork and ultimately foods consumed by customers. As a result, filth flies convert restaurants into “pestaurants.” The risks are more intense in the healthcare envi...
5/1/2023
Ant bait acceptance refers to the ability of an ant colony to accept and consume a bait that contains a toxic substance. Ants have a complex social structure and their diets can vary depending on several factors including ant species, colony location, seasonality, presence of predators or competing ant colonies, and the availability of water sources. The bait contains a small amount of active ingredient that will slowly kill the ants that consume it. One important aspect of bait effectiveness is reliant on bait acceptance. Get to know your colony: One of the most impo...
4/1/2023
Best practices for using dry flowable bait It’s common for pests to hide deep within hard-to-reach spaces that may not be visible, making it challenging for pest management professionals (PMPs) to make applications that last. Dry flowable bait can be a long-lasting, convenient solution to help keep properties free from harmful pests and keep PMPs serving other customers instead of making costly retreatments. Indoor applications Dry flowable bait can enhance indoor integrated pest management (IPM) programs and is a strong addition to proto...
3/1/2023
HOW RODENTS MAKE THEIR MARK Rodents have mastered the art of avoiding humans. During the day, they live behind walls, under floorboards, or in attics. When they do venture out, it is at nighttime, under the guise of darkness. Their inconspicuous behavior makes them difficult to track and catch, but they are traceable. Rodents drop clues - or marks - behind during their nocturnal scavenges. Using these marks can help guide you in your rodent capture. Listed below are five ways rodents leave their mark. Droppings Rodents leave droppings everywhere they tra...
2/1/2023
When it comes to commensal rodents, there little “real world” research. Laboratory research is good, but it doesn’t take into account all the variables present when servicing accounts. New research from Rutgers University focusing on multifamily housing structures shows some exciting data. The researchers looked at multistory multifamily housing structures and discovered that mice are not evenly distributed. They found that an apartment was much more likely to have house mice if there was a shared wall with another apartment that had mice. The mice travel to adjoi...
1/1/2023
Envu is a new vision for a company that will focus on innovation, environmental health and a strong commitment to partnering with pest management professionals. Pronounced “ehn-VIEW,” the name is derived from “environment” and “vision,” which speaks to tightening its focus on environmental science exclusively. “The fact that our new company will be focused solely on environmental science will allow us to solve problems faster, smarter and more efficiently,” said Gilles Galliou, former president of the Environmental Science business at...
11/1/2022
The benefits of adding a dry flowable bait into your IPM plan While dry flowable bait may be underutilized in integrated pest management (IPM) programs, this formulation has several beneficial features that can enhance treatment protocols. It is common for pests to harbor within deep, hard-to-reach voids. These spots are often overrun with pests like cockroaches, are susceptible to continued reinfestation and can be difficult to reach with sprayable liquids and gel baits. Dry flowable bait is designed to drift deep into cracks, crevices and voids when a...
10/1/2022
Whitetails, Blacktails and Mule Deer Wintertime’s Triple-Threat for American Gardeners Condensed from the complete Wintertime's Triple Threat for American Gardeners, compiled by the makers of all-natural Deer Scram – America’s Finest™ granular deer repellent. No matter where deer are found in North America, the survival of white-tailed, black-tailed and mule deer through winter depends a lot upon how well the deer prepares for winter’s “drought” of foods. Their winter survival tactics will soon be ...
