Troubleshoot With Me (AKA: Lots of puzzle pieces)

One of the reasons I have the best job is that I get to troubleshoot. I get to try to put puzzles together, often without all the pieces. I tend to have a “standard” set of questions I start with to pry out additional information, and then I let my brain start working through the problem. I know that when a question gets to me, it’s likely the client has already tried all the “basic” IPM steps so it’s always exciting to start thinking about how to get creative with pest control.

I thought it would be fun to share a recent one with you. All details have been obscured to protect the guilty!

The basic details on this one were “cockroaches in a commercial kitchen”. Not a lot to start with, but I’ve done more with less. What really caught my eye on this one was that they were treating every week. Big red flag for me. If they need to treat weekly, AND the problem isn’t getting any better…. there’s going to be a bunch to unpack.

My second dig into this turned up they were German cockroaches, they do have some spots worse than others in the kitchen, and they are using mostly liquid products. I did ask about monitoring devices but I didn’t get much information back on that. I also got another piece of the puzzle – they treat whether they see roaches or not. From that, there are likely resistance issues, particularly since these are German cockroaches and they develop resistance quickly.

While I still don’t have all the pieces of this puzzle I would like, I’ve started a picture in my head and I’ve got some ideas. What are your thoughts so far?

Ultimately, the customer wants to get rid of the issue and while it would be great to say “improve your sanitation” and “monitor more” to gather data, let’s be real: we definitely need some treatment help immediately. I definitely still recommend sanitation, exclusion, monitoring, and other non-treatment options, but we’ve got to get this under control as quickly as possible.

So…

• Add bait. Lots of bait. Bait the shit out of it. (Remember to ALWAYS read and follow the label!) The liquid treatments are obviously not working (because there are still roaches), and they are only going to get the few exposed individuals that are out and not touch all the ones hiding. Baits allow the cockroaches to do the work for us. They eat it, they go back to their hiding spots, and share the bait with all their little cockroach friends. Where people go wrong with baits is not using enough. Like ants and termites, less than 20% of the “colony” is out foraging. Enough bait needs to be used to get back to that 80%.

• Use more bait. Bait the shit out of it. There’s no reason not to use more than one type of bait. especially since we are pretty sure resistance is an issue. It also addresses any aversion issues: where the cockroaches just don’t like the taste of the bait any more and avoid it. By using multiple baits, the cockroaches have options and have more opportunity to eat the bait.

• Add and IGR. Insect growth regulators work very well on cockroaches. Just like bait though, the IGR has to get to the roaches. This is where monitoring comes in. If you know the hot spots where the roaches are maybe clustered, you make sure those areas get targeted.

  

• I’m not against using liquids with German cockroaches. It’s great to get the cracks and crevices, especially on the floor level when the cockroaches are coming out to forage. However, we know this is a commercial kitchen. That means the floor should get washed down frequently. If the floor gets washed, what happens to the pesticide? Foggings are also problematic because there is generally no residual, and, as already mentioned, will only get the few exposed individuals. And foggings are a lot of work to prep for and are often not prepped correctly. Both sprays and foggings will knock down some cockroaches so if the situation is severe, why not use them too.

Now, this problem didn’t start last night, so we know it’s not going to be solved in one night. Monitors will show where these ideas have been successful, where continued treatments are needed, and to show the customer improvements. There may need to be changes to this program as it continues and new creative ideas that have to be thought up.

If we keep doing it the same way we’ve always done it (one of my most hated phrases!), we are going to get exactly the same results. Currently, the results show that the cockroach problem isn’t getting any better. I’m always thrilled when people reach out to me to help troubleshoot because it means they know they need some assistance and they know they need to do things differently. If you want help troubleshooting tricky situations, contact me. My customers get the best troubleshooting solutions!

And in case you need some help, here's a handy flow chart:

decision tree.pdf

Download PDF • 114KB