Filed under: It's What We Do
Lyme disease is currently the world’s fastest growing vector-borne infection spread by ticks. Help increase awareness and encourage preventative measures to protect your customers and their families. Ask your Residex representative how to Get Started in Tick Management.
Residex has developed a one page public awareness piece to help your customers better understand Lyme disease and the importance of reducing exposure to ticks
- What causes Lyme disease and how would I contract it?
- How will I know if a tick bite transmitted Lyme disease?
- What happens if I get Lyme disease?
- What is the most effective preventative control method available today?
Take advantage of savings on Talstar products used to control ticks!
Florida Reporting Termite Swarms are up! Here is a great article to share with your customers:
Weather’s warming, and termites are swarming
April 12, 2011|By Linda Florea, Orlando Sentinel
For three years, Tarre Beach had lived in her 6-year-old Ocoee home with confidence in the termite baits the original owner had placed around the house.
Only she didn’t realize the “traps” needed to be checked at least once a year — until she returned home some weeks ago and found insects in the living room.
“I moved the couch and there were a ton of bugs — I didn’t know they were termites,” she recalled recently. “I sprayed along the window sill and outside — they were dying, and I cleaned them up, but more came out. They filled up about a 6-foot windowsill completely.”
Ideal conditions have triggered an unusual number of early-season termite “swarms” this year in Central Florida after several years of relative peace. Even during an average year, Florida’s climate is an ideal incubator for termites, which is why it’s one of the top U.S. states for infestations.
Roberto Pereira, an associate research scientist at the University of Florida’s Institute for Food and Agricultural Sciences, said this year’s quick post-winter warm-up and heavy March rains are to blame for the surge in swarms. Among those hit: the institute’s building in Gainesville.
“Swarms have to have the right temperature at the right time,” Pereira said. “This year we did have the right combination.”
“In the last few years, there have been a lot less in terms of swarms than normal,” he added, in part because of drought conditions at the time. Pest-control operators complained about the dearth of business during the February and March swarming season for “native” subterranean termites, one of three types active in Central Florida.
But this year, swarm reports for native subterraneans were up about 50 percent, said Brian Keane, branch manager for the Terminex International Co. branch in Orlando.
“This is a real problem, and I think a lot of people take it lightly,” Keane said. “People tend to see a swarm in their house and don’t see the damage and kill the swarm and think they’re safe. Meanwhile, [termite] workers are behind the drywall tearing down their house. They don’t sleep, and they eat around the clock.”
Termite Monitoring could be the key to your success in 2011!
Remember to train your techs on inspecting for termite damage and install those monitors.
Ask your Residex Sales Representative how you can GET STARTED in termite monitoring!
- Kills bed bugs in bedding (mattress, air mattress, box spring, sofa bed, etc…)
- Soft, comfortable and odorless
- Tough and flexible
- Does not rip and tear on installation
- Maintenance-free
- Saves customers from costly mattress and box spring replacement
- No airborne powders and sprays
- Easy, one-person installation
- Tested on field and lab strains
- Only approved product with the potential to stop an infestation before it starts
- Only four SKUs
- Reduced callbacks
Controlling the tick population around a home or recreational area is critical to limiting exposure to Lyme disease. The deer tick, also known as the black-legged tick and principle vector for Lyme disease, is found throughout the Northeast, Southeast, Midwest and some areas of the Southwest.
With the steady increase in reported cases and geographic spread of Lyme disease, it is necessary for homeowners, public health officials, and the pest control industry to learn how to manage or control the tick problem.
A successful approach for controlling deer ticks and reducing the risk of tick bites should employ an array of methods. The following are available practical processes:
Educate homeowners about ways of avoiding tick bites.
- Wearing light colored clothing can help easily identify a dark tick against a light background.
- Remove leaf litter and plant debris around buildings, edges of lawns, playgrounds, and ball fields.
- Compost or bag and remove leaf litter.
- Avoid use of ground cover vegetation in frequently used areas.
- Reduce cover for mice. Prune trees and shrubs. Clean up storage areas.
- Use hardscapes (pavement, stones, etc), mulches, and water-conserving landscape techniques.
- Move swing sets and playground area out and away from the woodland edge.
Habitat Adjustments: The key is to make the landscape less hospitable to tick hosts.
- Cut back vegetation and remove vegetative debris to reduce shade and moisture.
- Keep grass, weeds, and brush mowed short.
- Remove leaf litter and plant debris around buildings, edges of lawns, playgrounds, and ball fields.
- Compost or bag and remove leaf litter.
- Avoid use of ground cover vegetation in frequently used areas.
- Reduce cover for mice. Prune trees and shrubs. Clean up storage areas.
- Use hardscapes (pavement, stones, etc), mulches, and water-conserving landscape techniques.
- Move swing sets and playground area out and away from the woodland edge.
Deer Exposure: Research has shown that enclosing property with a deer fence can effectively reduce deer tick population inside the enclosure. This method, however, is expensive and is not practical in many cases. An alternative solution would be the application of DeerScram Professional – a granular formula deer and rabbit barrier repellent. By reducing the traffic of deer and rabbit onto the property, the possibility of ticks traveling onto the property is also reduced since ticks do not move far on their own and rely on animals for transportation.
Insecticides are the mosteffective way to reduce tick population. One application done early in the season (May or Early June) can significantly reduce numbers of nymphal deer ticks and lower risk for contracting Lyme disease. This early application is important because it knocks down nymphal ticks when they reach their activity peak and should keep numbers down throughout the spring/summer high risk period. Product recommendations for Tick Control: Talstar (Bifenthrin), Demand & Border (Lambda-Cyhalothrin), Suspend (Deltamethrin) & Onslaught (Esfenvalerate). Compare product application rates, coverage, and cost to make the most economical product choice. Note: it is necessary to treat the tick habitat only. Spray groundcover, areas where the lawn meets the woods, stonewalls, and ornamental plantings. Spray several yards into bordering woodlands. Always read the label.
It is important that we are all informed and aware of the potential risks of Lyme disease.
Residex has developed a one page public awareness piece to help your customers answer questions like:
- What causes Lyme disease and how would I contract it?
- How will I know if a tick bite transmitted Lyme disease?
- What happens if I get Lyme disease?
- What is the most effective preventative control method available today?
This piece is available electronically at no charge in an ‘easy to read’ pdf format. It is a great piece to add to statement or invoice stuffers, tradeshow “good will” piece, or a leave behind for homeowners after a service call.
To get your copy contact your Residex Field Representative . . .
Visit us online at www.residex.com.
Filed under: It's What We Do
The Program:
7:30am – 8am Registration and Breakfast
8am – 9am Creating a Complete Bedbug Program – Joseph Latino, Allergy Technologies
- Do you have one now? Is it a Control or Elimination program? Do you have the right technicians doing your bedbug services. These questions will be answered plus you will benefit by receiving a Complete Bedbug Program and Protocols that you can implement in your company.
9am – 10am How do I sell a Bed Bug Job for the Right Price? – Tom Algeo//Residex LLC
- When the phone rings, what do you do next? Do you have a pricing schedule that reflects your bedbug protocols? Do you offer warranties or guarantees? Learn more about pricing, guarantees and bedbug sales opportunities.
10am – 11am Basics in Inspection and Detection – Marty Overline, Aardvark Pest Management
- What tools do you use to inspect your potential customer’s property for bedbugs? What monitoring or detection devices do you use? What do you look for with bedbug signs? Do you have access to a bedbug dog? Learn more and watch a bedbug specialist show you hands-on how to inspect, what to look for and when to use a dog.
11am – 12pm Bedbug Product Introductions
- Manufacturer Representatives showcasing the latest and greatest tools and products for bedbug monitoring, inspection, detection, chemicals and equipment, heat, freezing and steam.
12pm – Lunch
1pm – 2pm Guide to Successful Bedbug Treatments – Marty Overline, Aardvark Pest Mgt
- How do I treat a room for bedbugs? Where do I start? How many follow-up services? Do I use vacuums, steam, cryonite, or heat chambers? These questions will be answered plus a hands-on demonstration on the types of bedbug services.
2pm – 3pm Ancillary Products & Services – Tom Algeo, Residex LLC
- What works? What is new? This will be an introduction and information gathering of all new bedbug products that you have access to now from monitoring and detection devices, bedbug traps, bed protection, residential products, travel products and college products available to sell to your customers.
3pm – 4pm Opportunities in Bedbug Control – Glenn Laycock, Residex LLC
- Where and how do I prospect for bedbug opportunities? Can I partner with heat companies or bedbug dog detection companies? Learn more on who and how to prospect many markets that currently (and in the future) will need bedbug proactive and reactive control measures.
*Credits available for MD, DC, VA, PA and WV
Filed under: It's What We Do
