[Cockroach Control] Controlling Cockroaches in Food-Service Accounts

Here’s some news: the German cockroach is alive and well as a major pest in food service accounts, apartments and other facilities. Despite our best efforts over the past 15 years with all the wonderful bait products, this cockroach has done what it does best — adapt and move on. As Dr. Austin Frishman has often said, “My money’s on the cockroach.”

Twenty years ago, the German cockroach (GR) was “numero uno” among structural pests. Gel baits helped knock it off the top of the list, but lately, this pest has been giving pest professionals fits in successfully controlling it, especially in restaurants and other food-service environments. The term “gel aversion” is now common vernacular in the industry. It appears the GR has a discerning palette and it doesn’t like one or more of the ingredients found not just in one, but in most gel bait products.

Interestingly though, these same gel-averse strains still will consume solid baits found in stations or in Avert Dry Flowable Cockroach Bait. Manufacturers have scrambled to adjust their gel bait formulas, trying to make them as attractive as possible to the different strains of gel-averse cockroaches. Advance Cockroach Gel Bait, Advion Cockroach Gel Bait and  Maxforce FC Magnum Roach Killer Bait Gel are but a few of the new or reformulated baits now available. But the manufacturers shouldn’t stop now. The next round of reformulated gels should already be on the drawing table because, if the GR has been consistent with anything, it is its ability to adapt.

Remember just 10 to 15 years ago when insecticide rotation was all the rage in order to deal with GR resistance? Isn’t the gel-averse issue just an extension of the same old problem? Have we really forgotten the golden rule that no one single technique/strategy/product will control the GR for any length of time? Have some (many) of our professionals changed out the compressed air sprayer for the bait gun as their go-to safety blanket? This article will discuss 10 tips to consider to have consistent success against the GR because one needs to have layers of safety blankets where this key pest is concerned.

1. INSPECT AND INVESTIGATE
In order to eliminate a German cockroach infestation, one needs to treat all the active harborages. In order to be sure that all the active harborages are found, all the potential harborages need to be investigated. One needs to know where to treat before deciding what to use and making applications.

Failing to uncover all the active harborages is the step that most often leads to continued infestations. Experience certainly improves a professional’s roach hunting skills, but focusing on the following helps narrow the search: moisture, natural surfaces and food in the vicinity.

An inspector first sees something that grabs his attention as a site that is more likely to harbor cockroaches. Once recognized, the site needs to be investigated, meaning it needs to be disassembled, opened and dug into to discover if cockroaches are present, how many there are, and exactly where they’re located.

Here’s an example: a service professional was having difficulty solving a problem in a hotel kitchen. The cook kept reporting seeing cockroaches on one particular table. Despite repeated inspections, the professional couldn’t find cockroaches. Another professional was called in and quickly found the source. The first professional failed to recognize an orange juicer machine on the table as a likely cockroach source so he didn’t investigate it. Upon opening the access panel, more than 10 cockroaches were discovered inside, plus the machine was in bad need of cleaning. This infestation persisted because the professional failed to investigate all the likely potential harborages.

In another situation, a chronic cockroach problem in a country club locker room was ultimately traced into the false ceiling and a wall where a leaky drain line was located. What prompted uncovering this source? Simply recognizing that a closet door and an access panel in the wall were two sites that needed further investigation. Cockroach feces around a drain line in the closet led to more cockroaches in the ceiling and the ultimate source of the infestation in the wall (behind the access panel).

When I walk into a commercial kitchen, I look for sources of moisture, especially if wood or cardboard is nearby. German cockroaches love natural surfaces such as these. I also carefully look in and under every piece of kitchen equipment, beginning with those near where the customer reports seeing pests. I also rely on an inspection mirror because my big head doesn’t fit everywhere a cockroach can go.

The bottom line is that you can treat all you want, but if the treatments are not made into every site that cockroaches are actually living then the infestation persists. What saves you time is being able to discern the likely potential harborages that require further investigation. Even then, sometimes it requires a considerable number of man-hours being expended before an infestation can be controlled and eliminated.

2. USE MULTIPLE TECHNIQUES OR STRATEGIES
It seems pretty obvious to me that no single GR is resistant to every technique or product we now have available at our disposal. To rely almost exclusively on treatment of surfaces or baits or aerosols is a recipe for ultimate customer dissatisfaction with your service. Even in the heyday of insecticide rotation regimens, we still had desiccants, vacuums, various bait formulations and IGRs. We still have all those options now, so why stick to just one?

By utilizing all the tools in your box and then applying those appropriately to the situation at hand, you will realize great success against the German cockroach in any home or facility. It is having the knowledge and experience to use them judiciously that can make you both effective and productive.

3. USE A VACUUM
Since the early 1990s, professionals have proven the value of using a vacuum in GR control. Physical removal of as many cockroaches as possible gets one to zero cockroaches more quickly than if a vacuum was not used. Unconvinced? In the mid-90s, I supervised the control of GRs in a nocturnal animal house in a zoo. Using hair dryers to flush the insects, a team employed vacuums to remove as many cockroaches as possible. Gel baits were used in cracks where these could safely be used. This process was repeated twice more that first month. At the beginning, the population was estimated to be in excess of 20,000. Five weeks after the first service, I could find only 15 cockroaches during a detailed follow-up inspection.

Think of it this way. You’re in a commercial kitchen and you pull out a drawer. Behind the drawer are about 100 cockroaches roaming along the edge of the back of the cabinet. If you treated these with a nonresidual aerosol or treated the cracks with a residual aerosol or dust, what happens? The insects scatter and you are left to wonder, did I contact every one of them with a lethal dose? Am I absolutely positive that all of them will die? Or maybe you prefer to apply a gel bait along the area. Wow! The cockroaches begin feeding immediately. But are you positive that all of the insects in that pocket will eat enough bait to die? But — if I use a vacuum to suck every one of the cockroaches off that surface when I take out the drawer, I walk out of the kitchen knowing that those particular GRs are not possibly going to cause me any future issues. Which is the best scenario for success?

It is true, however, that one is unlikely to vacuum up every single cockroach in a facility. In fact, one can waste time trying to accomplish just that goal. Vacuuming is but one technique, though highly valuable, that we should use. Following the vacuuming with residual or bait treatments to those active harborages guarantees greater effectiveness of your overall GR service. Vacuums also give you an option in sensitive situations such as the previously described zoo.

Remember when we used to tell customers that they should expect to see more cockroach activity for a week or two after our services? In this case you’ll need to warn customers that because you use a vacuum, they are not likely to see many dead cockroaches the next day following your service. This is a big advantage for them because their customers are less likely to see cockroaches following the service, too.

4. TREAT CRACKS AND VOIDS, NOT SURFACES
Consult any textbook regarding the German cockroach and it will tell you that GRs spend 70-plus percent of their time hiding or resting in cracks and voids. Recent research has demonstrated that GRs spend as little time as they have to at night searching for food, water and the opposite sex. Given that fact, where do you think most all of your treatments need to be directed — maybe cracks and voids?

If you’re a service professional who primarily uses formulations (e.g., water-based) designed best to treat surfaces then you are likely not having much success in controlling the German cockroach. Dusts, gel baits, flowable baits and aerosols are designed for cracks and voids and are the best choices in German cockroach management. Which of these you use depends on the situation and circumstance, but if I place the appropriate treatment directly into or onto the insect, it stands to reason, I am likely to have better success. Over my 25-plus years in this business, I’ve helped solve numerous “difficult” cockroach problems that were simply the fault of not applying where the cockroach lives. In most cases, surfaces were targeted and many active harborages were overlooked.

Properly employed, using the strategy of treating cracks and voids as opposed to surfaces can result in reduced use of materials. At one company I worked for, during an initial service at an infested restaurant a branch manager noticed that I used only a flashlight, a screwdriver and a hand duster as my primary approach in my assigned area of the kitchen. He came up to me after the service and said, “Hey, I watched you and you hardly applied anything. I’m going to check your area again in a few weeks.” Guess what? He didn’t find any further activity because I (1) recognized likely harborages, (2) investigated each, and (3) applied dust into the sites where it would do the most good — the cracks and voids where the cockroaches lived. It’s not hard, folks — it just takes a bit of time, knowledge and persistence.

5. WALL VOIDS ARE CRITICAL
I don’t know how many times in my career I’ve helped solve a chronic GR infestation simply by drilling and treating the appropriate wall voids. In my experience, wall voids are the No. 1 areas left untreated that lead to continued cockroach infestations.

Do all the wall voids in a structure need to be treated? No, because GRs don’t find all walls agreeable to their desires. It is the voids where plumbing exists or which back up to stove lines or the dishwasher that provide the necessary humidity or heat they need. In commercial kitchens, as a general rule, treatment using residual dust in wall voids containing plumbing is recommended. If the GR population is really large, you may want to expand that to include most wall voids that back up to any kitchen equipment. It doesn’t take much dust to effectively treat a wall void, but access to a cordless duster, (such as the Exacticide Duster, www.technicide.com) may be helpful in pushing small amounts of dust deeper into the voids.

Even in homes and apartments, wall void treatments can be helpful when large GR infestations exist. I have seen cases where the infestation was only completely eradicated when the wall voids behind all the cabinets and bathroom vanities were drilled and treated with dust. As with any technique, one needs to decide how extensively it might be employed according to the situation at hand.

6. COCKROACHES ADAPT TO INEFFECTIVE TREATMENT EFFORTS
When poor or inadequate treatment strategies or techniques are used, German cockroaches go to sites that are hard to see and hard to treat. Service professionals can have a tendency to inspect those areas that are easy to see and reach. For example, if one gets down on his knees to look under an oven, he may see and treat only those cockroaches on the rear legs and wall. Any surviving cockroaches move to the front legs which are more difficult to inspect and treat. Or the cockroaches move into the false ceiling where conditions are less than ideal but where treatments are not present.

Our visible world is three-dimensional — meaning that professionals need to think that way with German cockroaches. The GR typically travels 12 feet or less from its harborage in search of resources. That 12 feet could be anywhere within 360 degrees around that spot where the customer saw it. Typically it will be close, but I have found the source of a chronic infestation to be the electrical junction box going through to the floor below, to a grease trap under a commercial kitchen and in the conduits on top of a walk-in cooler. When cockroaches aren’t found in the obvious places, it’s time to put on the thinking cap and look at the less likely sites. That includes above and below.

7. TALK TO THE EMPLOYEES
As a service professional, you might spend, at best, an hour or so at any one home or facility doing routine services. You have to use your powers of observation and your collective experience to deduce where cockroaches might be hiding. However, your customers — and their employees — spend 30 to 40 or more hours in the kitchen each week. They are bound to notice a lot more than you do. Are you talking to them? If not, you’re missing out on an excellent shortcut to finding active harborages.

It is so easy to ask a cook or other worker if they’ve seen bugs and if so, where? I used to perform quality control inspections for one company I worked for and I found that the people who worked there helped me find the problem areas quicker than I could have. In one case, a worker pointed me to a knife holder on the wall and to a set of speakers. I had to take the knives from the holder and pop off the plastic top to uncover the 50 cockroaches living inside it. Would I have thought to inspect a knife holder that closely otherwise? Maybe not. I also found a few cockroaches nestled down into cracks on the back of the speaker.

Also, if you can’t find the cockroaches the customer reports are being seen, you may need to ask, “Is there anything that’s here when you see them that isn’t here now?” This question is important for those situations where cockroaches are not usually a problem such as a meeting room, an office or a storeroom. In one case in Texas, the source of the GRs was the ring around the top of a soap drum. The drum, along with many other items, had been removed from the storeroom just before the service. So it is no wonder the service professional had trouble finding cockroaches in the storeroom!

In another case in a banquet room of a country club, guests would see cockroaches during banquets on the food tables. The service professional could never find any cockroaches in the banquet room the next day after the customer called. Ultimately, I was called in and I asked how the tables were set up during the banquet — they were bare during the day. In addition to the skirts and tablecloths, the club set large mirrors on the tables onto which the food was set. These mirrors were stored in the kitchen and each had dozens of GRs living in the crack along the edge on the back. Vacuuming and filling the cracks with sealant solved this problem, but the lesson was that the GRs were being carried in from another area. The key to solving the mystery was simple questioning of the customer.

8. BAITS ARE EXCELLENT TOOLS BUT ARE NOT THE 'MAGIC BULLET'
German cockroach baits today are outstanding tools but I have been in too many kitchens where you can find both old and new dots of baits all over the kitchen, yet cockroaches are found in numerous sites. In these cases, one often finds that the gel bait is the only treatment being applied. The evidence that the bait is not working is easily seen by the customer.

It is true that the introduction of gel cockroach baits changed our industry and that these were a key factor in the GR becoming a less noxious pest. Going back to Tip No. 2, no matter how good any one technique or product seems to be, it is only an illusion when the GR is involved. Your best success will be achieved when you integrate the use of baits with other techniques including vacuuming, wall void treatments, and IGRs. Using the best treatment or nonchemical technique to address each site where activity is found gets the best results. No one technique or formulation is right for every situation.

Here are a few things to consider to get the best results using baits:

• Non-containerized cockroach baits are labeled for application into cracks and voids, and application onto exposed surfaces should be avoided.
• Use small spots of bait placed into or as close to active harborages as possible. Gel baits should not be used like a “caulk” to fill a crack. This is wasteful and in reality little of it will be eaten by cockroaches.
• Research has indicated that placing baits into cracks that have GR feces is more likely to be consumed.
• Avoid placing new bait right next to old placements. Research has shown that GRs prefer fresh baits away from older baits.
• More bait placements seem to work better than fewer placements.

9. GOOD SANITATION HELPS BUT POOR SANITATION IS NOT AN EXCUSE
Sanitation does play a role in cockroach management. Poor sanitation facilitates large populations, and greases, oils and other debris degrade insecticides and compete for a cockroach’s attention. Good sanitation makes it harder for a cockroach to find food, water and shelter and this causes a cockroach to become more active, increasing its chances of encountering a bait or treatment.

Having said that, poor sanitation should not be an excuse in failing to effectively control a GR infestation. I have seen some cases where the sanitation was somewhat questionable, but the solution was more the fact that accessible active harborages were being overlooked or not treated (e.g. wall voids, electric conduits or false ceilings). Where poor sanitation exists, it takes a lot more time, effort and treatment to get results. Follow-up visits are necessary, too, so those accounts lacking good sanitation should be priced higher and more time should be scheduled for each visit.

10. IT'S NOT HOW MANY YOU KILL, IT'S HOW MANY YOU LEAVE
At the end of the day, it is how many cockroaches that are left behind that counts. Ninety-eight percent control in a facility with 10,000 GRs still leaves 200 behind, which is more than enough to perpetuate the infestation. The customer doesn’t care that you killed 9,800; if they still see one cockroach, they get upset. A service professional needs to make the best use of his time by focusing efforts using the nine tips described above. Scheduling a 7- or 14-day follow-up visit may be necessary to make sure you got them all. Even the most experienced professional can overlook a harborage, so following up is a good operational practice.

The author is a board certified entomologist, professional sanitarian and director of technical services at Terminix International, Memphis, Tenn.

Tips for Baiting Residential Accounts
Bayer Environmental Science is offering a series of “Backed by Bayer Baiting Tips” to help pest management professionals control cockroaches in residential accounts. “When a heavy infestation exists within the home, one of the most effective means for controlling even the most finicky cockroaches is a combination approach of bait gel, such as Maxforce FC Magnum, and strategically placed cockroach bait stations,” says Gordon Morrison, Maxforce Insecticides market manager. “Pest management professionals should also take the time to educate their customers about the importance of IPM techniques, such as exclusion and sanitation, which will help maximize treatment efforts and prevent future infestations.” When tackling a roach infestation inside and around a customer’s home, pest management professionals should consider the following treatment strategies:

Kitchen:
Place Bait Stations:

• Between the refrigerator and nearby appliances, such as the dishwasher.
• Underneath the sink alongside the pipe collar, where the drainpipe enters the wall.
• Flush against an upper, inside corner of a cupboard.
• Behind small kitchen appliances such as microwaves, toasters, blenders and coffee makers.
• Underneath the dishwasher and/or oven.

Apply Bait Gel:

• Along the interior of the door frame of drawers.
• Underneath cupboards where the frame meets the wall.
• Underneath the counter where the sink is located.
• Along the inside rear corner of the fume hood.

Bathroom:
Place Bait Stations:

• On the upper rear corner of the toilet tank.
• Flush against an upper corner of a lower cabinet.
• Underneath the sink, alongside the pipe collar where the drainpipe enters the wall.

Apply Bait Gel:

• Behind the pipe collar of the shower.
• Inside the interior vents of the medicine cabinet.
• Behind the inlet of the toilet pipe collar.
• On an upward angle into the overflow drain of the sink.
• To places where condensation can build up, such as the top of door frames, the top of the medicine cabinet and alongside decorations.

Additional Indoor Locations:
Place Bait Stations:

• Flush against an upper corner of closets, as well as the interior of the drawer frame on dressers.
• Behind appliances, such as a television, stereo, computer, fish tank and light fixtures.
• Underneath furniture where crumbs can accumulate.
• Underneath the hot water heater and/or adjacent to the washing machine.
• Flush to both sides of the door frame to the garage, where roaches could enter the residence.

Apply Bait Gel:

• Around all exposed interior pipe channels, such as the hot water heater inlet.

Outdoors:
Place Maxforce FC Large Roach Bait Stations:

• Inside garages or sheds.
• On patios or screened in porches.

Apply Bait Gel:

• Between air vent holes to attic or soffit vents.
• Under siding and molding.
• Around exterior pipes or where utility lines enter the wall. Also apply gel bait in brick weep holes, in window cracks and crevices, and around decks and stairs.

Source: Bayer Environmental Science