Monday, August 26, 2013

The Story of Biscuit Beetle and other larder pests – Biology and Behaviour, Implications for Control

Dermestid beetle
There are several insect pests that are commonly found in home larders feeding on spilled foods or infesting foods inside the packaging. It is usually the larvae of the beetles and weevils that are found in dried foods such as flour, biscuits, cereals, rice and spices. But the adults will be seen collecting on the shelves and in the kitchen.

The control of these pests is generally the same, whichever species you have infesting your larder.

Identification
  • Species – Biscuit beetle, larder beetle, spider beetles, fur beetle, weevils, and more
  • Eat many dried products found in kitchen larders, and other materials made from animal and plants
  • Biscuit beetle and others bore holes into products and packaging similar to borer holes in timber
  • Biscuit beetle look very like borer beetles – related
  • Larvae do most damage in dried products
Breeding
  • Female beetles lay eggs on product or packaging
  • Eggs hatch as larvae that burrow into product
  • After weeks-months larvae pupate and adult beetle bores its way out
  • More activity in summer months
Infested foodstuffs should be disposed of. Dried foods should be kept in sealed containers – glass jars, Tupperware, tins etc. Clean up spilled foods.
Cupboards can be sprayed with NO Bugs Super when empty. Leave to dry completely before putting foodstuffs back.
 
Feeding habits
  • Biscuit beetle eat starchy food – biscuits, grain, flour, pasta, cereals etc.
  • Fur beetle – leather, fur
  • Weevils – biscuits, grain, flour, pasta, cereals etc.
  • Spider beetles – biscuits, grain, flour, pasta, cereals etc.
Spread
  • Do not usually survive outdoors
  • Transported in foods or on packaging as beetles, larvae or eggs.
NO Bugs Super fly/spider treatment may help but prevention is best done by checking for any affected product before putting in pantry and storing in jars/Tupperware/tins etc.
Other pantry pests include pantry moth and booklice (see specific learning notes for these).
 
What do you call a gingerbread man with one leg?
Limp biscuit.

Friday, August 23, 2013

My Pest Control Thought for the Day

In the course of my job I do a lot of research, and this involves using the internet to investigate pest control around the world; new products, new research findings, new researchers, and what the customers on the internet around the world think about pest control.

At times I become frustrated by the negative things I read about pest control, often written by well meaning people. Pest control, particularly using pesticides, is viewed by some as an attack on the planet and the natural world of the planet.

I have a very different view on pest control to those people. But my aim is the same as of those critics; I want to protect the nature of planet Earth.

I am not involved greatly in agricultural pest control, most of my involvement is in the pests of the home and garden; rats in the roof space, aphids on the roses, that sort of thing. And the protection of New Zealand’s biosecurity and biodiversity, i.e. controlling pests that threaten both the economy of the country by reducing agricultural efficiency and controlling pests that would, given the chance, overcome and replace New Zealand’s natural flora and fauna.

Although not involved much in agricultural pest control I have some understanding of it and will include it in my discussion.

I view pest control as redressing an imbalance. 

Us, we humans, you and I. We, by our explosive recent success in colonising and inhabiting the planet Earth have upset the previous balance of nature. We aren’t the first species to do so and we may not be the last (optimistic view point). But our sudden (in evolutionary terms) proliferation has put strain on the other animals and the plants that inhabit this planet. Many, too many, have already succumbed and gone extinct, never to be seen again. I fear many more will disappear in the next century.

No one else can blame us. We are the only species here able to understand what we are doing. So we must blame ourselves if we cannot control the destiny of our planet’s life and, in turn, our own future.

Why do we have to control pests? What are pests? Pests are organisms in the ‘wrong’ place or doing us harm. When I say doing us harm I include organisms that do harm to us indirectly by threatening some other part of the environment; the environment that we live in and supports us.

If humans, you and I, did not exist on planet Earth, there would continue the struggle for survival between the other organisms. The balance of nature is not fixed, it naturally ebbs and flows around a sustainable mid-point. But our shear numbers, and our need to feed these numbers, and our industries, cause much larger fluctuations away from that mid-point, and an ‘imbalance’ among the other species. As we grow in numbers many of them decline. The only species that benefit from our population boom are those that can take advantage of the environments that we create through our agriculture, industry, lifestyle etc. In taking advantage, they become pests.

New Zealand RobinNot controlling these pests would only tip the balance further from the mid-point. Consider what would happen if we did not control possums and rats in New Zealand. There would be much greater damage to native forests, there would more pressure on native birds and our agriculture would be less efficient due to the possums transmission of disease to cattle and deer. Those that decry the use of the toxin 1080 (sodium floroacetate) for control of possums, rats and other pests in New Zealand have not really considered the consequences of not controlling these pests because they have not seen what damage they could do; because the control has been carried out. I suspect these very same people would be the ones most vociferously calling for something to be done to save the forests if possum control was not carried out.

I hear the cry from many in the anti-1080 lobby saying they do not say that possum and rat control should not be carried out, but that aerially applied 1080 should not be used to do it; it should be trapping and hand laying using ‘safer’ toxins. I fear they have either not carried out any such work themselves and experienced the difficulties, and have not done the math on the cost or the time and manpower required to carry out control equivalent to that using aerial 1080. They also apply data from many years ago to their arguments that 1080 is harmful to birds and other species in the environment. The management of 1080 operations has become much more sophisticated than it once was and it is clear that the risks to non-target animals, and the environment in general, is vastly outweighed by the benefits from possum and rat reduction.

Why do I think pest control, including the use of ‘nasty’ chemicals in agriculture, biosecurity, biodiversity, even home and garden, is redressing the imbalance caused by our proliferation?

Because what we call a pest is only a pest due to our need to sustain our burgeoning population. This has meant the need to alter the environment in our favour. A weevil is not a pest until our need to feed millions causes us to grow monocultures of the crops that the weevil eats. Providing it with its favoured food in vast quantities removes food availability as a limiting factor in its population and it reproduces out of control. Or it would be out of control if we did not intervene to redress the balance with pest control.

If we do not take steps to understand the imbalance we cause, and take steps to redress the balance as far as we can, we will tip the balance too far, and risk destroying much of life on Earth, including………or most certainly the human species; maybe not you and I, but our offspring.

Pest control is not the only thing that we need to do to keep the environment in a position close enough to that ‘sustainable balance of nature mid-point’. We must also look to limit our population and our need to manipulate the environment to benefit ourselves at the detriment of other species or we risk moving so far from the mid-point that our balance is lost and we fall.

So, pest control is about redressing the imbalance in the populations of Earth’s living organisms largely caused by our need to feed ourselves. But it is not a solution on its own.

I should declare that I am an advocate for Kiwicare* products in New Zealand. Not because I work for them, but I work for them because I am an advocate. This Blog is mine and not Kiwicare’s.

* Kiwicare Corporation Ltd. manufactures and distributes a range of pest control products in New Zealand and elsewhere.


Why do Scuba divers always fall backwards off their boats?
Because if they fell forward, they’d still be in the boat.

Saturday, August 17, 2013

Argentine Ants Spring Offensive

It is nearly officially spring and if the mild weather across New Zealand continues it will be ‘bological’ spring even sooner.

Argentine ants are fast becoming the ant of most nuisance for New Zealand home owners. This ant species is amongst the most invasive pests on the planet and it is now present in most parts of the North Island and the upper South Island and Christchurch.

The nests of Argentine Ants are less elaborate than some species but they can accommodate very large numbers. They are sensitive to variations in their environment and consequently colonies move nest site frequently, most often in spring (and autumn). They move home to a more suitable site for the coming warmer (cooler autumn) weather.  They endeavor to find site with favorable sites for temperature and humidity.

Now is a good time to prepare your spring offensive against these nomadic ants. Don’t let them find suitable nest sites close to or in your home. 

I have previously described how to control Argentine Ants. At this time of the year you should concentrate on the protection of your property by:
You will then enjoy a spring with fewer intrusions of this annoying pest ant.

What do you call an uneducated ant? A Truant.

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

The Story of Bed Bugs – Biology and Behaviour, Implications for Control


Breeding
  • Females can lay 200 eggs a year
  • Eggs hatch as nymph (tiny versions of adults) just visible to naked eye
  • 5 nymph stages (instars)
  • Need blood feed to move to next stage (instar)
  • Adults – size of apple pip
  • Only adults are sexually mature
  • Cycle as short as 5-6 weeks
Bed bugs can breed quickly. One pregnant adult can become thousands of biting nymphs and adults in a few months.
Early control, when numbers are low, is easiest. Development through many nymphal stages gives opportunity to break life cycle – Insect Growth Regulator (IGR) such as pyriproxyfen stops nymphs being able to moult and grown new chitin skin.

Hiding places
  • Flat body shape to fit in narrow spaces.
  • Cracks, crevices, seams, voids, skirting, under carpet edges, electric sockets, furniture, curtains, ………..
  • …..and, of course the bed.
  • High and low.
  • Usually within 5 metres of bed.
  • Adjacent rooms.
  • Smell when heavy infestation.
Hard to find. Need to be VERY thorough. Treat all possible hiding places, not just where insects are found. Spray with long lasting spray containing insecticide to kill adults and nymphs and IGR to break life cycle. Fumigator to get to places that are hard to find/treat.

Feeding habits and bites
  • Blood suckers – hypodermic proboscis
  • Feed on people and pets
  • Feed at night (usually ~2am)
  • Inject proteins – anaesthetic and anti-coagulant- don’t feel bite and to stop blood blocking proboscis
  • These proteins cause allergic reactions in some people (not all) causing red itchy swelling.
  • Bites are often made in a straight line as bug walks across skin.
  • Ankles, wrists, torso, legs and arms are most common bite sites.
  • Fill up like balloon with blood – flat translucent to round and dark red
  • Small drop of blood on end of proboscis leaves +like mark on bed linen.
  • Excreta like tick made with black Biro.
  • One feed can be enough to keep bug alive for months
  • No evidence of causing disease but very unpleasant
  • Not all bites or skin reactions are caused by bed bugs or other biting insects. Other environmental factors can cause similar reactions. Even thinking about fleas and bed bugs tends to cause psychological feeling of itchiness, scratching and skin reactions.
Treatment must be long lasting and continue past last sighting. No bites (reactions) may not mean no bed bugs.
Bed bug infestations can only be confirmed by finding bed bugs.

Spread
  • Bed bugs do not fly
  • Bed bugs will not crawl far from the bed of their host
  • May choose luggage, boxes, furniture etc. as hiding places and are carried with these items from place to place.
  • Increased world travel has made them more common again
  • Numbers dropped dramatically when powerful insecticides used (e.g. DDT). Now the powerful insecticides are banned so numbers have grown.
Travel and moving hose are common ways for bed bugs to spread. Treat luggage before travel. Check accommodation for evidence of bed bugs before staying.
Kiwicare products work but more effort is required than when using the like of DDT.

Species
  • Just one that causes problems for people. – Cimex lectularius
  • Other species specific to other animals e.g. bat bed bugs
Safe products
  • US EPA approve product ingredients for use in bedrooms
  • Include permethin and pyriproxyfen in NO Bed Bugs and cyphenothin in NO Bugs Borafume.
Kiwicare NO Bed Bugs Box is safe to use in bedrooms. Can be used on beds but recommend only underside and seams of mattresses. Do not use on bed linen.
Bed linen and clothes can be put in hot wash, tumble dried on high heat or placed in freezer (24hrs) to kill bugs and eggs.

Have you heard about the lady pregnant bed bug? She gave birth in the spring.

Saturday, August 10, 2013

The Story of Ants – Biology and Behaviour, Implications for Control

I have recently been giving some talks on pests and diseases in the home and garden and how to solve problems.

I thought it might be useful to publish some of the notes from these talks. This first one is about ants. I have summarised the biology and behavior of ants and what the implications of these are on how to control infestations.





Nuptials
  • Flying ants (not all species) are ants mating
  • Queens and males mate in flight
  • After mating males die and queens fly to seek nest (not usually more than 100m from original nest)
  • Queen looses wings
  • Starts colony
Flying ants annoy people as there can be many thousands. Treatment is not usually effective and most of the ants will die within a day or two.

To prevent infestation it may be advisable to treat possible nest sites in area with spray (NO Bugs Super, NO Ants) and use granules (Ant Sand and Lawngard Prills).


Nest Site

  • Dry – rain could drown nest
  • Warm – insects are more active when warm
  • Sunny – radiant heat can make ground and ants warm even on days with cool air temp – micro-climate
  • Sandy soil – easy to dig out nest chambers, well draining
  • E.g. under concrete path, under rock etc.
  • Sometimes nest in building, but if so, it probably be in exterior wall or eaves on sunny side
Deny ants nest sites: Repair cracks in concrete, paths, walls, etc. Apply Ant Sand to cracks and edges of paths. Apply Lawngard Prills to soil areas (particularly flowerbeds and lawns close to house) water in.

Stop ants getting in; spray base of walls, doorways, windows and around vents, where pipes/cables etc. run through walls.


Building Colony

  • Queen lays eggs which hatch as sister workers (no males)
  • In early stages queen will forage for food
  • Then workers take over gathering food and queen just lays eggs
  • Workers tend eggs and maintain nest
  • Colony grows where there is food, nest site, warmth, low competition
Early control, when numbers are low, is easiest.

Budding

  • New queen/s produced in nest
  • New queen and a few workers start new nest
  • New nest genetically similar or the same as old nest – co-operation – same colony – super colony
  • NZ imported species spread from one or few original colonies – all genetically similar and will co-operate – may be one huge colony (super colony)
Important not to disturb nest (particularly one with multiple queens) as disturbance causes queens and workers to bud; heading off in different directions to set up new nests; he result being spread of the problem. I.e. do not spray nest site before baiting for ~2 weeks first. When spraying or using granules at nest site treat around nest entrance/s not in nest entrances.

It is likely that other nests are in the vicinity. Controlling/killing one nest is rarely enough to get rid of them permanently. Ants are likely to spread in again from a neighbouring nest/colony.


Multi-queen colonies/nests

  • Some species will have more than 1 queen in a nest (e.g. Argentine Ants, Darwin Ants)
  • Faster growth of numbers
  • Easily spread
  • Argentine ant queens forage
  • Very easily spread on cars, plant pots
  • 1 queen and 20 workers enough to found new nest/colony
If you have ants (particularly Argentine ants) spray plant pots, boxes, car undersides etc. before moving to other properties.

Numbers – Nest and colony

  • Thousands, tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands in single nest
  • Super colony – many millions?
  • ~5-10% foraging workers – so what are seen is small part of colony
Killing all the workers (foragers) that are seen in a garden or house will not kill the colony. Nest can reproduce and replace 5-10% in a few days. Baits are most effective as the poison is taken back to the nest to kill at/in the nest. Use sprays and granules as barriers to nuisance trails.

Feeding

  • Protein – insects, seeds…..
  • Needed for colony growth and producing larvae
  • Some species target other insects and invertebrates that compete with them for food; removing competition (Argentine ants when moving into new area, biodiversity threat)
Kiwicare Gel Bait contains liver protein.
  • Carbohydrate – sugars, plant material (fungal breakdown)…. 
  • Energy; needed when ants/nest very active
Gel and liquid baits contain sugars.
  • Farming
  • Some ants feed on honeydew (sugary fluid) excreted by sap sucking insects such as aphids, scale insects, mealy bugs.
  • Ants protect sap suckers from attack by predators in a mutualistic (benefits both) relationship
Control aphids, scale, mealy bugs on garden plants with Super Spectrum, Carbaryl etc. so that ants cannot feed from them.

  • Very little fats or oils – ‘healthy lifestyle?’
  • Scouts sent out from nest to search for food – pheromones in nest ‘tell’ scout what sort of food the nest needs; protein or carbohydrate
  • Find food and lay pheromone/chemical trail back to nest
  • Tells (by pheromone and behaviour) foraging workers to follow trail to food
  • Foraging workers follow trail like ‘robots’ and may walk past and ignore other food
  • Each time a forager returns with food it also adds to chemical trail, encouraging more workers to follow it to food
  • As food runs out trail diminishes and fewer workers follow it until it stops
  • Ants live in a ‘chemical world’ and can be attracted to or repelled by some chemicals including cleaners, insecticides etc.
Baits must be placed on clean places with no deterrent chemicals. Do not spray areas around baits. Use sprays as barriers.

Baits may be ignored for days when ants are feeding somewhere else or the colony needs a different food type. Do not move baits, even if they are not being fed on. But replace bait as it is eaten and if it gets dried hard.

  • Collected food fed to other workers, queens and larvae in nest that do not go foraging
  • Direct feeding – food carried by foragers and passed straight on to others
  • Regurgitation – food ingested and regurgitated to others
  • Anal secretion – food digested and honeydew like secretion for rear fed to others
  • Sterile eggs – food digested and sterile egg produced which is fed to others e.g. White Footed ant
  • Farming – food (plant and insects) infected with fungus – ants feed on fungus
For some ants (e.g. white footed ant) bait toxins are not easily passed on to others in a colony as the ant has ingested the poison and died, or the toxin is filtered out of production of anal secretion or sterile eggs.


Species

  • Almost all species that are pests have come in from overseas (invasive).
Argentine ants – world’s worst invasive.
  • No smell when squashed
  • Trails like motorway; several ants wide
  • Small (2-3mm) brown to black (like Darwin and White footed)
  • Super colonies
Darwin ants
  • Smell when squashed
  • Trails single file
  • Small (2-3mm) brown to black (like Argentine and White footed)
  • Super colonies
White footed ants
  • Smell when squashed
  • Small (2-3mm) brown to black (like Darwin and Argentine) 
  • with lens it is possible to see pale ends of legs (feet)
  • Super colonies
Black house ants
  • Small (2-3mm) black
  • North island
  • Native garden ant
  • Larger (3-5mm) than above
  • Black
  • Smaller numbers in nests
Biosecurity Risk Ants – Not yet established in NZ



Identification of ant species can be important in knowing how to treat most effectively.


Colony Death


  • No queens – in super colony species a queen can be recruited from another nest
  • No food
  • Nest drowned out
  • Cold
A combination of control methods is almost always required to get rid of an ant infestation. Pro-active control each year is the best method.

Ants outside in the garden are rarely a problem, only when they trail indoors do they become a pest. Therefore, treat to keep ants outside and prevent their entry.


What is the world’s largest ant? The Eleph ant.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Sprays for Ants


There is some confusion about using sprays as part of an ant control programme. It is interesting to note that in almost all testing of spray insecticides against ants, measurement of success is through reduction of ant numbers and eradication of nests; repellency is regarded as a negative attribute.
Ant sprays should kill ants that contact treated surfaces, but killing foraging workers benefits colony eradication little, baits are more effective. There is greater advantage and satisfaction for a user in sprays being repellent and forming a barrier to ants; keeping ants out of buildings. Ants usually only become a pest when they enter buildings or areas where they are a nuisance.
However, if sprays are to be used to eradicate ants and kill off nests then they need to be non-repellent so that ants walk across treated surfaces. If repellent type sprays are used in or around nests it may serve to disturb the ants and cause budding of the nests and spread of the ant problem. Budding is where the queens and workers in a nest head off in different directions to set up new nests. This a particular risk when dealing with Argentine ants and darwin Ants.
Therefore, there is need for two forms of spray: one repellent, and one non-repellent.
The same holds true for granular, slow release insecticides. There is a dichotomy between eradication and control, killing and repellency.
For most home owners trying to stop ants being a pest, the repellent form of insecticide is more effective. Products such as NO Bugs Super (deltamethrin) or NO Ants (permethrin) from Kiwicare are good barrier sprays and can be used around building to stop ants moving in in search of food.
Kiwicare’s NO Ants Ant Sand (bifentrin) on the other hand is non repellent and can be used in and around nests to kill the nest without disturbing the ant nests or causing budding and spread of the colony.
If one continually cuts corners one ends up with a smoother running wheel.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Weedy Spring


Humans may not have enjoyed the wet weather experienced through winter and early spring, but weeds have. It means soil moisture levels are high, and this, along with spring warmth, encourages seeds to germinate and plants to grow rapidly. Weeds are weedy because they are fast growing and most capable of taking advantage of such opportunities.
Weeds come in many forms; a definition of a weed is a plant growing in the ‘wrong’ place. Think of grass in your drive versus grass in your lawn.
Weeds also tend to be plants that can grow and spread faster than those desirable plants around them. Yet another definition would be invasive weeds; those plants that have been brought into New Zealand and given the opportunity to grow and spread in the absence of the herbivorous mammals and insects that would normally eat them or competitor plants (see the Weedbuster website for more info on these).
In the garden, weeds are those plants that grow in the lawn, disrupting the even look of the carpet of grass, uninvited seedlings that pop up in flowerbeds and grow rapidly spreading and strangling the desirable plants, or those plants that grow in cracks in driveways and paths, looking unsightly and damaging the paths or drives with their roots.
The weather forecasters at NIWA and MetService are predicting normal, or above normal rainfall and temperatures for New Zealand over the next quarter. This means that weeds will continue to cause problems in the rapid growing conditions and home owners will spend more of their time trying to keep the weeds in their garden under control. New herbicides are available to assist in their battle. The recent launch of Kiwicare’s Weed Weapon will be of significant benefit. It combines the effectiveness and safety of glyphosate with a new active ingredient that makes it work much more quickly and it will kill some weeds that glyphosate alone will not. Old technology glyphosate could take up to two weeks to begin knock down of weeds, but Weed Weapon with Xpi technology can show effects within a day or two. Indeed the ready to use version will show affects within a few hours.
A weed is a plant that has mastered every survival skill except for learning how to grow in rows.