GERMAN ROACH CONTROL

   This article is about GERMAN ROACH control.
It will explain why they are a pest and what
needs to be done for controlling infestations.
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	Roaches are every homeowners nightmare.  
If given the opportunity, German Roaches will 
become a permanent family member!  There are 
different ways of dealing with this pest, but three 
qualities you need are  1) patience, 2) persistence 
and 3) knowledge. 
	 Patience is needed because you cannot spray 
one time and expect to never see another roach.  
Egg cases will hatch and follow-up treatments are 
necessary.  When sightings occur after treatments, 
use these sightings to your advantage.  There must 
be a nest or two you missed so attack that area.  
	Persistence is needed when dealing with 
roaches because of their biology.  Roaches develop 
rapidly and studies confirm they will develop faster 
when their population is under stress.  Many of you 
have experienced a population explosion within two 
to six weeks after a major clean out.  This is nature's 
way of preserving the species.  A treatment schedule 
must be made and then strictly adhered to when you 
decide to clean out a roach infestation.  Think long 
term and schedule treatments for the year.  This 
insures your commitment.  
	Knowledge is another key ingredient when 
combating these creatures.  If you hire a professional, 
ask questions.  Learn what products they are using.  
Make sure to monitor your problem areas.   Ask if 
extra treatments are needed.  If you adopt an in 
house program, keep mental notes of problem areas.
These will prove invaluable for identifying patterns of 
roach problems throughout the year.  
	As I stated above, patience and persistence 
are needed when dealing with roaches.  However, 
these are skills I cannot teach within the confines of 
this article.  Knowledge, though, is something I can 
share.  I have had a good deal of experience 
working in apartment buildings, town houses, 
condominiums, duplexes and homes.  The methods I 
have had success with vary with the conditions I am 
forced to work within.  Let me outline some 
guidelines and options for anyone serious about 
roach control.  
	Every homeowner must make a decision 
regarding pest control.  Your decision will be one of 
three choices.  1)  You may choose to use a pest 
control company full time for all of your pest control 
needs.  2)  You may hire a pest control company for 
spot treatment.  I have seen homeowners hire a 
service to treat certain problem areas and then 
supplement that treatment to help keep costs down.
3)  You may choose to do all your pest control in 
house.  If that is the case, read on.  The rest of this
article is designed for do-it-yourselfers.  You will
now have access to the information required to 
get complete roach control - including the 
professional strength materials needed to do the work!
        If you decide to treat your home in 
conjunction with a service, implement a program 
which will compliment the service.  Work with 
them, not against them.  Some homeowners I have dealt 
with pay a service to handle termite or bee problems 
only.  The homeowner handles the preventive 
spraying.  Pest control companies generally do not 
like this as it cuts into their profits but as a good 
paying customer, you may hire whatever service 
type you want!
     In general, there are two methods of handling
german roach infestations.  These are spraying or
baiting.  First, lets discuss spraying. Traditionally, we
chemically treated as many of the cabinets, wall
voids and appliances that roaches like to hide
in.  This involves a lot of preparation.  You
will need to empty cabinets and make voids
accessible.  Only then can treatment's be complete
and thorough.  Once these areas are prepared,
there are two types of products needed for the
application.  First, treat with a concentrate that
is mixed with water.  This concentrate should
be mixed in a pump sprayer and applied to 
baseboards, behind appliances and around the
infested room being treated with the intention of
creating a barrier that roaches will not be able to
cross.  There are many active ingredients available,
but the one most active on roaches is CYPERMETHRIN.
If the barrier is complete, roaches will not
be able to migrate from one room to another.
Use one of our SPRAYERS to do your treatments. Ours
comes with a set of tips which allow for a fine,
medium or coarse fan spray - perfect for baseboard
treatments. The standard tip is brass and adjustable,
great for foundations and where heavy treatments
are needed. When roach control was first attempted at 
the professional level, the products we used were so 
active that spraying would knock out infestations.  Even
when we only treated baseboards, the volatility 
of the chemicals used were so strong that roaches 
would die which were far removed from treated 
surfaces.  Things are very different today.  The
products manufactured have little if any volatility.
This means they stay where applied. The advantage 
is low odor.  The disadvantage is that the treatments
need to be where the roaches are hiding.  I have
seen roaches thrive less than a foot away from 
a treated surface. Their path of feeding and moving
to and from shelter never crossed the treated 
surfaces.  This enabled them to live virtually on
top of treated areas and yet still survive.   When 
roaches began to build resistance to chemicals and 
manufacturers designed their products with less 
volatility, new packaging and treatment techniques 
became necessary.  These new trends became known
as "crack and crevice".  Basically, c/c means
applying the chemical into the cracks and crevices
suspected of harboring roaches.  There are two
types of products commonly used for this purpose:
dust and aerosol.  I have always been able to 
get control with dust.  In fact, a good pest control
technician should be able to get roach control with
nothing more if he or she knows where to do the
application.  With the use of DRIONE DUST, I have
solved many roach problems.  Apply it in cracks
and crevices, behind cabinets and major appliances,
in wall voids and electric outlets.  This requires a
lot of work and this product can be messy to
work with, but provides the fastest results possible 
when used properly.  Use a HAND DUSTER
for the application.  Since dust can be messy to
work with, aerosol products became popular
throughout the 1980's.  A company called
Whitmire offered the pest control industry products
in a can which were easy to apply, economical
and went a long way.  Although not as popular
as when they first came out, aerosols offer a clean,
ready to use formulation which is effective.  PT-280
uses Orthene as an active ingredient which is still
the least resistant chemical available for roach control.
On a special note, don't think you can substitute Boric
Acid or a can of "Raid" for either of the products
mentioned above.  The professional line of products,
that which I am discussing here, are truly effective
and not commonly available.  Their active ingredients
are effective because insects have not been able
to build resistance.  I have heard all the stories of
super roaches and the fact that "even the bugman"
couldn't get rid of "my" roaches, but what it all boils
down to is the application method and the choice
of product.  If the products used are the ones 
I mention above and the treatment is thorough
and complete, there is no chance of any roach
surviving nor of reinfestation.  The reason why I
can state this without a doubt is because most
insects, certainly roaches, cannot live where
Drione has been applied.  That being said, all
you need to do is apply it wherever roaches
want to be.  This process of eliminating their
nest sights eliminates their population.  The
reason they appear to be "resistant" in most
cases is that they are simply avoiding treated
areas.  This can happen when products are
mixed at higher rates or when applicators fall
victim to treating the same areas over and over
again.  The roaches which survive all these
applications are the ones which are going 
where the applicator has failed to treat.  Today,
these problems have been all but eliminated
with the latest treating methods.  These new
methods are both safer and easier to do.
     Although spraying has long been the main
method to get roach control, baiting has
become a legitimate method as new baits hit 
the market.  These products have been 
tested and proven effective.   Baits have
always been available, but roaches seemed to
be indifferent to them.  Although some roaches
would feed and die, it was not likely that you 
would be able to control infestations with baits
alone.  Now, we have products like MAXFORCE 
and AVERT.  These materials are deadly for roaches.
If you own several properties or apartments
and intend on doing a lot of baiting you 
should consider getting the MAXFORCE BAIT GUN.
It uses the same Maxforce Gel in smaller cartridges
which are loaded in the gun allowing for
precise controlled applications and placements.
They have been formulated with attractants 
which roaches cannot resist.  I have been able to
get complete control in homes, apartments and
townhouses without having to do any spraying.
The advantage of these products is that you 
are able to apply them with a minimum of 
preparation.  If you are careful, you should be
able to apply Maxforce without having to 
remove anything from your cabinets.  Avert
comes in an aerosol can which enables you
to deliver the bait deep in wall voids where 
the roaches are hiding.  The amazing thing
about these products is that roaches love
them to death.  I have video of roaches
crawling out of cabinets and wall voids in an
attempt to get the bait!  So attracted to these
products are roaches that you only have to 
get them close to where the roaches are seen.
They will find it.  The drawbacks to these
products is that they do take a little longer to
work.   It may take several days before
you see dead roaches.  Another disadvantage
is that you must be careful not to spray the
bait placements with traditional materials.
They will contaminate the bait and roaches
will simply ignore it.  In fact, roaches will
ignore bait placements that have been made
over treated surfaces, so make sure to apply
Maxforce or Avert where you are certain
no residual pesticide has been applied.  In 
general, make your placements about 2 - 3
feet apart.  In the average cabinet, you will
need to make 6-8 placements with Maxforce.
Since Maxforce comes out like toothpaste,
it is difficult to penetrate voids with it.  Use
Avert for these hard to penetrate nest sites.
Avert is a different flavor than Maxforce and
when the two are used together, you will get
the quickest results.  I believe this is achieved
because you are offering the insects a variety
of food.  By having two flavors available, the
roaches are more likely to find one of the
products.  Since roaches will change their diet,
having an option ensures they will find one if
they don't like the other.
	Regardless of the treatment method you choose,
another tool which can be a great help when treating
roach infestations is the use of ROACH TRAPS. These
rely on roach pheromones to attract all types of
roaches but they work particularly well for German
and several of the large roach species. Place them
where roaches have been seen. The pheromones will
attract males ready to reproduce, females in search
of nest sights (the odors emitted signal a roach
gathering place or nest) and young roaches which 
are looking for a colony to mix and mingle. The great
advantage of these traps is that they are not
toxic; the pheromones are not detectable by people
and pose no hazard to food, people or pets. The traps
can be placed in pantries, food cabinets, desks,
dressers, closets, countertops or anywhere roach
activity is present. The second advantage for using
these devices is that they are able to let you
know where roach activity is greatest. It is common
to focus on wrong areas when spraying or baiting
and the use of these traps can help identify just
exactly where the roaches are located. By setting
two or three in a room which has roach activity,
you can learn exactly which part of the room is
the "hotspot" which needs extra attention. The only
disadvantage of these traps is that used alone they
will not control most problems. It is easy to be
mislead into believing all the roaches being trapped
will stop the infestation. Since roaches will be
reproducing more rapidly than the traps can catch
them you should not rely on them alone if you want
to get control. Ideally, they should be used as 
another tool to help control this pest; using them
as a solve all will certainly keep numbers down
but not eradicate existing populations. They're kind
of like using the HHZ or BUG VACUUM/ZAPPER; neither
will get control of the situation but all will help
to reduce the annoyance of german roaches. And both
types of Zappers are fun to have around because 
everyone likes the act of killing a roach!
	Whatever form of pest control you choose to 
implement for your home, try to follow these 
guidelines.  Knowledge is essential and with it 
comes an understanding of why roaches are so hard 
to control.  As difficult as it may seem, you can gain 
control with patience and persistence.  Once control 
is acquired, preventive maintenance will stop 
future infestations.  In the United States, we have
the very best the world has to offer for pest control.
Cypermethrin, Drione and Orthene can control
the toughest roach population.  Maxforce and Avert
are simply irresistible and if used together will
eradicate any infestation.  You only need to decide
first if you want to hire someone to do the
work or do it yourself.  If you hire someone,
make sure they use the products mentioned
above.  If you do it yourself, employ these
same products and you will be able to control
the toughest pest problem.

     If you have any questions about german roach 
control or any other pest control questions, please 
give us a call.  If you want to view some of the
products mentioned above, link to our catalog
by clicking on the product name that is in blue
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