[Technically Speaking] PestWorld 2007 — My Highlights

While the attendance at PestWorld 2007 was reportedly the best ever, it never ceases to amaze me how many pest management professionals don’t find time or the resources to make it to the show at least occasionally. This is one of the best things NPMA has to offer our industry. For me, the most important benefits of attendance are seeing new products in the exhibit hall (it’s open four days), attend technical and/or business sessions and share ideas with fellow PCOs. So for those of you who did not attend, hopefully you will find my highlights useful.

PRODUCTS. Here are eight products that caught my eye on the exhibit floor:

Tramex Moisture Encounter Plus has been upgraded: the scale was expanded to 5 to 30 percent wood moisture content, a hold function allows you to freeze the reading when the meter face is not in a location you can read, the high moisture warning tone can be switched off and it has an automatic power cutoff.

Xcluder is a new line of indoor and outdoor exclusion materials. The product line includes doorsweeps, anti-burrow geotextiles and indoor and outdoor exclusion material. The indoor and outdoor exclusion material consists of a combination of stainless steel fibers and fabric fibers that make a permanent fill material that won’t shrink, stain, pull out or corrode. I found it to be more form fitting than Stuff-It.

Plastdiversity is a new company from Portugal with a new line of plastic products that includes rodent trap and bait stations, mouse live traps, insect glue stations, mole traps, fly catcher and a pest control suitcase.

FBS-1 Fly Bait Station is a novel fly bait station that can be mounted on a wall, chain-link fence or other vertical surfaces. The bait station contains two removable trays that can be used for granular and/or liquid fly baits. The trays are designed for easy removal and cleaning. The station can only be opened using a specially designed key.

Flypod is a new desktop fly killer. This light trap is less than 12 inches tall and has a unique cone-shaped body. The pheromone-impregnated glueboard is easily removed through a slot at the rear of the trap.

2% Propoxur Bait is back by popular demand. Probably one of the most effective baits for cockroaches and crickets is now available from Whitmire Micro-Gen. Read the label carefully; there are some unique restrictions on the use of this product in food-handling establishments.

Provoke Professional Rat Attractant is orange-brown in color and not dark brown in contrast to its mouse counterpart. It flows easily even on cool days. I recently had my first opportunity to use it and results are pending.

DDVP (Vapona) is one of the few remaining organophosphate insecticides that remains available to our industry. Resin strips containing various amounts of active ingredient (80/65/16/10.5/5.25 grams) remain available for residential and commercial uses (check labels for specific applications). Most notable change is an aerosol can (less than 0.5 percent) for residential use and a total release aerosol (more than 0.5 percent) for commercial use. These products reportedly will be available in the near future — they may be a new tool for bed bugs.

TECHNICAL PRESENTATIONS. Some thought-provoking presentations included:

Dr. Phil Koehler et al., University of Florida. Studies comparing generic lambda cyhalothrin with Demand CS indicated that some generics produced 0 percent mortality in German cockroaches. Studies looking at aged gel bait deposits indicated that Maxforce Select and Advion remained very effective after three months. Cockroaches exposed to Avert Dry Flowable, Advion and Maxforce FC Select baits exhibited no aversion and all products produced high mortality. German cockroaches like new foods in the environment so it is best to rotate baits to minimize resistance and maintain novelty and to remove old baits and place new bait in different locations.

Dr. Mike Potter et al., University of Kentucky. University of Kentucky researchers studied three resistant strains of bed bugs to determine the effectiveness of Suspend and Kicker. Direct sprays of these combined products provided 90 to100 percent mortality; residual applications of this combination provided 28 to 65 percent mortality. Residual applications of Phantom provided 95 to 100 percent mortality in the two resistant strains in seven to 15 days. There is hope for residual treatments of bed bugs. Another study indicated that Bedlam provided 77 percent mortality of bed bug eggs and overall mortality of 92 percent. Sterifab produced very low egg mortality. Bed bugs didn’t avoid treated harborages with feces whereas treated harborages without feces were avoided. The furthest distance bed bugs oriented to a heat source was 30 cm — there is still a lot to learn about the host-seeking abilities.

Bayer Environmental Science. Bayer is currently working on a termite pheromone (Penta-termanone) that is a cuticular hydrocarbon blend. Reportedly, plans are to deploy the product as a standalone or a blend with a non-repellent termiticide. The product causes termites to aggregate in a specific area providing greater initial and secondary kill. Reportedly, the product causes a significant increase in activity, e.g., recruitment, foraging and consumption.

FINAL THOUGHTS. This is just a brief overview of the products I saw and the presentations I heard — there was much more to see and hear. I would encourage every pest management professional to periodically attend NPMA’s PestWorld. Next year the convention will be in Washington, D.C., at the new Gaylord facility. If you can’t afford the whole show, day passes are available. Hope to see you there!

The author is president of Innovative Pest Management, Brookeville, Md.