How to Improve Pest Control in the Perimeter

Editor's note: In the March issue, the cover story, The Lawn Goodbye, reported on anti-lawn sentiment and No Mow initiatives taking root. Plus how this movement might affect pest control and lawn care operations going forward. In this online extra, learn how to better improve perimeter treatment for insect hot spots and overgrown vegetation. 

To keep insects out of structures, most pest management companies target the exterior perimeter. But achieving control in this zone is often easier said than done.

Overgrown vegetation, flowering plants that attract pollinators, high temperatures and rain are just some of factors that complicate perimeter treatments. As well, tight service schedules put added pressure on service technicians to meet revenue goals, sometimes prompting them to take short cuts that result in callbacks.

“You’ve got to make sure that we‘re giving them enough time and that we’re giving them the right tools and the right education to do the service,” said Matt Remmen, who recently helped a pest control company reduce its exterior perimeter callback rate by more than 40 percent.

Remmen is a board certified entomologist (B.C.E) and technical market development manager at Envu, a new company built on the Bayer legacy. He previously worked for regional pest control companies where he developed pest management strategies.

Time is a pest management professional’s (PMP) most precious resource, reminds Remmen. You don’t want to waste it doing reservices.

“Your time could be better spent getting another job or your time could be better spent watching your kid’s baseball game,” he said

He shared five ways to improve pest control in the perimeter:

1. Know where insects hang out.

   Typically, perimeter insects have a preferred habitat.
   

   “If you can find any place that holds moisture or prevents a lot of air movement, it’s a great place to live. Those small insects generally are cryptic. They don’t want to be found by other bugs or be very obvious because if they are, they’ll get eaten,” explains Remmen.
   

   Such places will vary by region and pest, but generally they are in the shade, such as under shrubs, decks, awnings and overhanging eaves.
   

2. Know how insects find their way indoors.

   Insects follow edges, cracks, crevices, wires, pipes and branches to an entry point. Entry points may be obvious, like a door with a degraded seal, or a gap around an air conditioner or utility pipe penetration. Entry points also may be hard to find, such as cracked caulk around a window or a cracked pipe in the slab.
   

   Inform customers where repairs and landscape changes are needed to keep insects out and be prepared to take on these projects for them. Many pest control companies have found that exclusion or pest proofing sets their service apart from competitors and significantly improves treatment results. It also can be a lucrative add-on service.
   

3. Be more curious during inspections.

   Inspections are key to successful perimeter treatment and being curious is essential to performing a good inspection, says Remmen.
   

   Always be asking questions. For instance, from which direction is the prevailing wind? Did you look at the windows facing that direction for gaps? Did you look inside the garbage cans stored under those windows for developing fly maggots?
   

   Ask yourself, “What is under the door mat? Under the mulch near the front door?”
   

   “If you’re not pulling back that mulch, how do you know what’s underneath there?” asked Remmen, who urged technicians to look at high-pressure pest areas “with a higher level of curiosity.”
   

   Technology can help. Remmen recently worked with a PMP who used a selfie stick to take video with his smart phone of a home’s roofline and the bottom edge of the siding on the foundation. He then reviewed the video to learn how ants were entering the structure. Such video can be showed to the customer to identify areas for pest proofing and as evidence of pest activity.
   

   This level of inspection probably isn’t necessary for every inch of an account perimeter during each service visit but “if you’re not doing it in those high-pressure areas, are you really surprised when you get a callback?” asked Remmen.
   

4. Get better at calibration.

   To learn why service is failing, examine the service, not just the service ticket. That means you need to observe technicians in the field because sometimes there’s a disconnect between what technicians think they’re doing and what they’re actually doing, said Remmen.
   

   For example, technicians may not be applying enough finished product to the perimeter. “Sometimes the amount of water seems to be insufficient to cover those areas,” Remmen explained. An area might require 3 gallons of water, but perhaps only ¾ gallon is used. Using less water makes it impossible to get the product to all the places it needs to be to work effectively.
   

   The concentration of active ingredient also may need to be adjusted depending on the pest pressure. A higher concentration, for instance, may be needed during peak summer months when perimeter insect pressure is highest.
   

   These changes can have an immediate impact on callback rates. In fact, this is how Remmen helped reduce the pest control company’s residential callbacks by more than 40 percent. “When we adjusted the rates of concentration and actually the amount of total liquid they were using at those sites, (callbacks) dropped dramatically,” he said.
   

   Train technicians to properly calibrate equipment, as application rates vary by device and even by the equipment’s age.
   

   As well, they need to learn to regulate their walking speed. “People tend to walk a lot faster in the morning than they do in the afternoon,” said Remmen. If you’re calibrating for 3.5 MPH and you’re walking 5 MPH, that’s too fast to provide adequate coverage, while at 2 MPH, you’re walking too slow and potentially applying more product than necessary.
   

5. Use a formulation that stands up to substrates.

The exterior perimeter is full of complex, three-dimensional substrates. This includes mulch, concrete block and pebble stone.

“They look very flat to us because we’re standing five or six feet in the air, looking down. When you get up close, it’s a whole different world. If you grab a piece of mulch and put it under your microscope, you kind of wonder how we do such a good job in pest control,” said Remmen.

Some formulations perform better on complex substrates. “The newer formulations are generally going to be better,” said Remmen. They contain more advanced technology, often can be used at lower rates, and have less potential to move off target.

One example is Envu’s Barricor SP insecticide, which features solid particles impregnated with deltamethrin crystals. The particles ‘stand up’ on complex surfaces compared to formulations that fall into cracks or get absorbed by porous surfaces.

You want a product that remains bioavailable, meaning peridomestic roaches, ants, crickets and other perimeter pests are more likely to encounter a lethal dose of the active ingredient as they crawl about seeking entry to the home, explained Remmen.

Barricor SP won’t harm landscaping plants and is cost-competitive with economy pyrethroids. It can be used inside, outside, at food handling accounts, and with most application equipment. It does not carry a signal word, so no special PPE is required.

All of this makes perimeter treatment simpler and lets technicians focus on doing the “blocking and tackling of pest control,” such as conducting better inspections, properly applying product, and building customer relationships, said Remmen.

“I know that if I can give them back a little extra bit of time, they can use that time in a different way to make their business more efficient,” he said.

The author is a regular contributor to PCT.