[Problems & Solutions] Can Newer Products Act as Repellents?

Q: There are so many products on the market for pest control. Now the "newer" materials have natural oils and odors. Can these work as repellents, similar to the synthetic pyrethroids?

A: You are opening a large Pandora’s box. In pest management, and now in "green" pest management, we work as operators who are constantly looking for, perhaps, the magic bullet. I maintain we have not found it, nor will we necessarily, although some PMPs say they have found it with some of the newer non-repellent materials.

With the advent of products containing natural oils, we have an interesting question to ask. Do these function as repellents, at least for a while? We have known for many years that plants produce natural materials that deter insects or in some cases, if the insect persists, kills them. As always in nature, insects "learn" which plants these are. (By attrition? By selection? By genetics? We don’t know.) So we have found the time and resources to incorporate these natural materials into pesticide products. No longer do we have to grind up bay leaves or sprinkle rosemary throughout the house to kill fleas or other insects. Now we have "professional" products that allow us to do that and they are labeled to do so — not home remedies off the Internet!

Some products offer residuals, some don’t. How long these residuals last is a constant question, but then again, how do you define "residual?" As I see it there has to be some repellency involved, at least during the first application (although I have to admit I have not seen data on this). We know that data exist for repellency from synthetics but in reality they are also residuals so the "repellency" is a residual.

The more important question here is how do you use them and how do you market them? Can repellents work in a green program? Can they work in a preventive green program? Can I use synthetics in a green program? (Notice I am ignoring the usual "traditional/conventional" program, whatever that may be defined as.)

Again in my mind the decision is yours. I have taken the stance for many years it is not necessarily the active or the product but the selection/application and/or the use pattern of a particular product. Some products/actives will work well and better than others in certain situations. Some may be an obvious choice in order to prevent long-term infestations. And today some may be required in "green" programs. (I recently saw a list of "green" products produced by one of the green certifying programs that did have a couple of synthetic pyrethroids in it. The rest were all natural materials.)

I believe that for the most part pest management professionals using the currently available products are resolving customers’ problems. In some cases we may be lucky, in others there is a well-thought out plan of attack and application. Our customers appear to like our services; as we have been told we just don’t have enough customers!

I also believe the green effort being made now has taken the industry to a new level. Standards and requirements will become more common and they will be written and enacted by us, not the state or federal regulators.

The author is president of George Rambo Consulting Services, Seneca, S.C. Questions can be faxed to him at 864/654-2447 or e-mailed to grambo@giemedia.com.