Pest Management Professional, July 2016

Chalk Talk Continued on Page 68 By Dr Austin M FrishMAn BCE EMEritus Contributor 66 July 2016 Pest Management Professional mypmp net Photo istock com saulherrera W e teach and preach pest elimination as our goal We must seek out the source to achieve this I often tell pest management professionals PMPs to start with four questions 1What is it 2Why is it here 3How do you eliminate it as soon as possible 4What do you need to do to prevent it from reoccurring There are some situations where the first two questions are the easy part but the last two can be far more difficult to resolve The reasons may vary but if the cost and inconvenience of complete eradication are too high a number it becomes impossible I have fought ongoing American cockroach Periplaneta americana populations in large apartment and office buildings as well as hotels and pharmaceutical plants In some situations the cockroaches had been there at least 50 years before I became involved And they will be there for the next 100 years or as long as the structure stands WhAt liEs BEnEAth Picture a large hospital more than 50 years old Nearly every night for more than a year 25 to 50 American cockroaches were observed in the kitchen on the ground floor None were seen during the day Normal pest management procedures such as weekly service were not working An inspection revealed a large crawlspace area expanding over the majority of the building The area requiring treatment could be accessed by dropping down through a trap door to the basement directly below the kitchen The infestation that was encountered was beyond whats normally expected At least 100000 American cockroaches were visible on vertical pillars and the horizontal surface of the floor The floor itself was not visible but covered with raw sewage more than a foot deep When some of this crust was touched and lifted thousands of different sized nymphs scattered Wherever the break in the sewer line was it wasnt visible A baiting technique can help you control thousands of cockroaches but it doesnt put a noticeable dent in the nymphs harboring in the crusted sewage One might also find dead rats that have been chewed upon by the cockroaches The situation was reported to the appropriate hospital personnel but no action was taken to correct it From their point of view its cheaper and less complicated to simply have you or perhaps a different PMP more willing to compromise continue to treat the area nEithEr snoW nor lAnDFills One snowy day in Waltham Mass I was conducting a training session about how to bait for rodents on landfills There was already at least 4 in of snow on the ground and more on the way To keep dogs and other non target pests from reaching the bait we were pulling the snow off the landfill and attempting to place the rodent bait into voids on the landfill In those days tamper resistant stations were not even a consideration As we pulled the snow away adult American cockroaches began to emerge and scatter This kept occurring in different locations along the surface of the landfill You could feel relatively warmer temperatures emitting from the cockroach harborage The snow and cold were doing very little to curtail this thriving cockroach population In the warmer months a portion of these cockroaches primarily adults would migrate into nearby neighborhoods and an ongoing replenishing population would spring from the landfill Years later I was able to relate this situation to an American cockroach problem in public housing in Some american cockroach infestations will likely continue on in perpetuity