Integrated Mosquito Management:
A Recipe for Success
By DR. STAN COPE
 There are approximately 3,000 species of mosquitoes in the world. Most never affect humans, but those that do can cause extreme annoyance and spread multiple pathogens that cause human and animal disease. Their bites can result in secondary infections due to excessive scratching. Also, there are significant differences in their biology that impact our ability to control them. These include flight range, breeding habits, host selection for bloodmeals, egg-laying habits, time of day that they feed, etc.
Integrated Mosquito Management
It is imperative that pest management professionals (PMPs) utilize a program of integrated mosquito management (IMM). Relying on a "spray-and-pray" mentality will result in service failures, callbacks, cancellations and unhappy customers. Let's take a closer look at the major components of a solid IMM program.
- Thorough Inspection. This is the key to success for your mosquito service. It doesn't matter how much you spray, if you don't identify and mitigate conducive conditions and mosquito breeding sites, your customers will still have mosquitoes biting and won't be happy! It helps to use a good checklist as well.
- Source Reduction. Also known as physical control, this can be the most effective part of your service because you are eliminating the mosquitoes in the immature stages. Look for the usual suspects, such as old tires, bird baths, kiddie pools, etc., but don't overlook cryptic (hidden) breeding sites such as tree holes, clogged gutters, in-ground drains, and corrugated plastic water drainage tubes that are holding water.
- Larviciding. Some breeding sites may have to be treated with larvicides to prevent the wrigglers from becoming adults. There are several excellent products, formulations, and active ingredients available, so consult with your technical specialist or distributor.
- Adulticiding. Mosquitoes fly, so it is impossible to eliminate all of them from a customer's property. Adulticiding, usually with a barrier treatment, can provide residual control between your services. Again, there are some great products out there, so consult with your team to ensure proper choice and usage.
- Recordkeeping. This is always important. Accurate records may help with regulatory issues, and may be useful if routes and individual customers have multiple technicians. Maps of properties, especially larger ones, showing mosquito breeding sites and other information are valuable.
- Customer Education. This is an ongoing process for everyone in our industry, but it is particularly important for mosquito work. Most customers don't associate something biting them with wrigglers developing in a bucket in the corner of their yard. Educate them!
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Catchmaster is pleased to offer two revolutionary products for mosquito control that can be game changers for your company!
Ovi-Catch™ Mosquito Trap
The Ovi-Catch™ trap was originally developed during the course of research by the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention. It is an "autocidal gravid ovitrap", or AGO, which means that it attracts, captures and kills female mosquitoes looking for a place to lay their eggs. It is pesticide-free, and mosquitoes are trapped on a specially formulated glue board. Each female mosquito trapped and killed results in up to 1,200 mosquito eggs never hatching.
Ovi-Catch™ helps PMPs evaluate mosquito population levels, identify breeding locations, reduce the annoyance factor and evaluate the overall service. This results in greater revenues and happy customers. The Ovi-Catch™ is especially effective against the mosquitoes that may transmit viruses such as Zika, West Nile, chikungunya, dengue and yellow fever.
Final Feed™ Mosquito Bait
According to the manufacturer, Final Feed™ is the first-ever bait for mosquito control. It is composed of a bait matrix containing juiced dates, sugar and other ingredients. All components are food grade. The active ingredient is microencapsulated garlic. Please note that this is not a repellent, as are other garlic-based products. And, using Final Feed is easy on the eyes and saves time, as the label is only one page.
Understanding a pest's feeding preferences helps control them, and this is especially true of Final Feed™. Mosquitoes require regular feeding on plant sugars for energy and survival. Common sources of these sugars are plant juices, honeydew and floral/extrafloral nectaries. Final Feed™, when applied according to the label, fulfills this sugar need for mosquitoes while delivering a fatal dose. Final Feed™ is classified as a 25b, minimum-risk pesticide by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Additionally, use of Final Feed™ will help combat insecticide resistance in mosquitoes.
Summary
Consider using Final Feed™ and Ovi-Catch™ as part of your IMM program. Both products are field-tested and backed by peer-reviewed science. They are great for sensitive accounts such as daycare centers, medical facilities, schools, nursing homes, apartment complexes, etc. For example, school districts in Anaheim and Los Angeles, Calif., have employed both techniques as part of their IMM programs. The Final Feed™ applications and Ovi-Catch™ traps are vital "leave-behind" products that help mitigate the on-campus mosquitoes, as well as those that may be flying in from adjacent properties.
Stanton E. Cope, Ph.D. is vice president of technical products and services for AP&G (Catchmaster). He is a former president of the American Mosquito Control Association and a retired captain of the U.S. Navy.
PMP's Direct To You provides pest management professionals with educational refreshers on timely and critical topics essential to operational success. This content is not be used as a substitute for obtaining legal advice from an attorney licensed to practice where you live. Look for the content-rich PMP Direct To You archives at mypmp.net/direct-to-you-archive.
This newsletter was produced by North Coast Media's content marketing staff in collaboration with Catchmaster.
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