Tag Archives: cockroach

Your First Line of Defense: Walls, Windows, Roofs, and Eaves

“It is December, and nobody asked if I was ready.” – Sarah Kay

Exclusion takes constant vigilance. Evidence of mice can be found outside this well sealed door.

Winter has officially set in with temperatures in the single or even negative digits. It might seem a bit late for pest-proofing, but some pests are still on the move. Cold-blooded insects such as boxelder bugs, brown marmorated stink bugs, and multicolored asian lady beetles are tucked away for the winter. Preventing warm-blooded pests that are still out in the cold from entering is good IPM. Acting now can also prevent early spring infestations from mammals and birds attempting to nest in your building.

Even in harsh winter conditions, rats must forage for food. These trails highlight that rodents will follow safe/known paths. Notice the large area of undisturbed snow in comparison to the few sets of tracks.

Even in harsh winter conditions, rats must forage for food. These trails highlight that rodents will follow known paths. Notice the large area of undisturbed snow in comparison to the few sets of tracks.

A light snow cover that lasts for a few days can help your inspection efforts by showing evidence of mammals attempting to enter the building. If you find tracks and droppings, carefully inspect those areas to identify why animal signs are concentrated in that area. Chew marks can show where mammals are attempting to break through into the building.

You can also take advantage of the bare tree limbs to inspect higher parts of the building such as rooflines for signs of possible access.

If you find any issues, take steps to exclude pests.

Rodents can chew through thin-bristle brush door sweeps, allowing pest entry.

Replace door sweeps that are no longer filling the gap
Seal openings with exclusion products such as sheet metal, hardware cloth, rustproof “steel wool” replacement products, and flexible sealants
Keep foundation perimeter free of debris
Keep gable, soffit, roof, and other vents in good repair and made with animal-resistant materials and design
Prune tree branches to be no closer than ten feet from a building

For more information on excluding pests, visit Best Management Practices for School IPM: Indoor BMPs: Structural: Walls, Windows, Roofs, Eaves and Beasts Begone! A Practitioner’s Guide to IPM in Buildings.

Online School IPM Resources to assist IPM Professionals with their Programs

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Thank you to Janet Hurley, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, for her dedicated effort to progress school IPM and for allowing us to use her post.

In 2014, a number of collaborating institutions led by Dawn Gouge, University of Arizona and Janet Hurley , Texas A&M AgriLife Extension received two separate grants from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to provide online resources on integrated pest management (IPM) for school personnel. The Stop School Pests team used their grant to focus on education and training for personnel, while Hurley and collaborating scientists created a one-stop online “big box store” of IPM resources, including documents, training, pest ID pamphlets, state legislation and more.

The training website, Stop School Pests, resulted from a collaboration of 42 people from federal and state agencies, universities, school districts, tribes, advocacy organizations and industry. Together they proposed to build a resource that would increase IPM adoption in K-12 schools and reduce the risks from pests and repeated pesticide use.

Stop School Pests provides modifiable PowerPoint presentations for in-class teaching and self-guided online courses. Lessons are specific to different roles within a school, so that facility staff will have access to materials specific to them.

While some groups, such as facility managers and maintenance personnel, were eager to delve into the materials, others such as nurses and teachers initially did not think the subject matter pertained to them. However, several who participated in some of the in-class lessons said that they did not realize how much they did not know about pest management and were glad that they took the lessons.

“I have been a school nurse for 25 years, and I cannot believe I learned so much helpful information in just one hour,” said Mary Griffin, a nurse in Arizona, after attending a training session piloting the Stop School Pests School Nurse Module.

A softball coach said that she did not realize that spraying pesticides without a license was illegal in her state until she went through the training.

For personnel who need specific information or don’t know where to turn once a pest problem starts, the iSchoolPestManager website provides over 1,000 resources, including the educational materials from the Stop School Pests project.

The iSchoolPestManager site was built as a searchable online mine of school IPM resources from every state. Staff from Texas A&M AgriLife spent several months collecting materials; then volunteers from throughout the country, even one from Israel, painstakingly combed through them to eradicate duplicates, outdated materials or references to materials that no longer existed. The initial 1,315 resources were pared down to 1,045 entries. Staff at the Pesticide Information Center in Oregon helped design and build the website. The website currently has 1,065 documents to assist everyone with adopting, maintaining, and sustaining their IPM program.

Search for all sorts of documents by going to the show me everything tab.

The site is formatted for a standalone computer, with a separate link that will bring up special formatting for a smart phone or tablet. Resources are divided into four areas: geographically specific, professional trainings and other materials, insect-specific information, and groups of documents such as fact sheets, regulations, checklists and more.

Rather than duplicate information already provided at other websites, Hurley decided to link to them. For instance, self-paced instruction under “Training Modules” links to pages hosted by eXtension. Some of the PowerPoint presentations are located at Bugwood. Some of the educational links go to videos at university websites.

While the amount of information in iSchoolPestManager might seem overwhelming at first, users looking for specific information will be able to use the headings and sections to locate what they need more easily.

Additional information

Stop School Pests Training Modules ready for immediate use! http://articles.extension.org/pages/73468/self-paced-learning-page-for-urban-ipm
Stop School Pests site (stopschoolpests.org) http://cals.arizona.edu/apmc/StopSchoolPests.html
iSchoolPestManager site: http://ischoolpestmanager.org

Pesticide Misapplications? The Costs Are High

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A chemical smell wafting through an upstate middle-school classroom last fall ended up sending six students to the hospital. What happened?

A member of the custodial staff sprayed wasp killer by a fresh-air intake. Some of that spray ended up in a second floor classroom. Fourteen students and two staff members felt ill, according to a newspaper account; in fact, the school was evacuated for more than a half hour.

Need help identifying a pest and what to do about it? What’s Bugging You? has the information you need.

The school was fined $5,500 for violating three pesticide regulations. But incidents like this are preventable by practicing integrated pest management.

The NYS IPM Program offers resources such as this video about stinging insects and IPM strategies that reduce the risk of stings.

Many state regulations pertain to pesticide use in and around schools. You can find a synopsis here. But first and foremost — anyone who applies pesticides on school property must meet pesticide application certification requirements. (The same applies to child care centers, office buildings, or any other commercial or public property.) If the certified applicator is a school employee, then the school itself must be registered and appropriately insured.

Neither the school’s pesticide-application notification requirements nor the Child Safe Playing Fields Act were violated, since each provides exemptions for the use of small containers of aerosol products in an imminent threat from stinging and biting insects. Regardless, a certified pesticide applicator must apply them, and, if applied by a school staffer, the school must be registered.

School staffers can obtain and maintain commercial pesticide licenses after getting the right education credits and passing their exams. You can find information about pesticide certification on the Pesticide Safety Education Program website, including information about upcoming classes.

Organizations such as BOCES and CASDA often ask NYS IPMers to present at their conferences, such as this upcoming workshop on ticks and tick-borne diseases.

Consider: without the basic knowledge inherent in getting a license, how can you be sure that staff are aware of the laws that keep incidents such as this from occurring? Who will be qualified to choose a pest management contractor when the need to protect students from the threat of pests — whether increased risk of asthma from mice or cockroaches, rashes from poison ivy, or anaphylactic shock from a wasp sting — relies on an expert’s help? And how will school personnel know what steps they can take to not only deal with existing (and potentially costly) pest issues, but also prevent new ones from taking place?

Answer: Be sure your maintenance staff gets the education needed to stay up to date with the latest pest management information.

The New York State Integrated Pest Management Program has resources to help schools with their pest issues. Visit the NYS IPM Program’s school webpage. Learn about specific pests, including stinging insects. Sign up for our blog, The ABCs of School and Childcare Pest Management. Send staff to classes offered by our experts.

We are here to help address your pest management needs.

“How to’s”… more School BMP tools for Indoor Pests

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Our Best Management Practices for School website holds a lot of practical help for anyone who wants to increase their knowledge of IPM. This post focuses on Indoor IPM and includes the links to:

An Ounce of Prevention: IPM for Schools and Childcare. A resource for staff and parents, because everyone has a role in pest reduction.

Air Quality and IPM– Asthma Concerns from EPA Asthma is the most chronic illness affecting children.

Asthma and Cleaning Products: What workers need to know Cleaning products can cause breathing problems in custodians and other staff, as well as students.

BMPS for Indoor Non-Food Areas Here’s a checklist for yearly, quarterly, monthly, weekly and daily practices to reduce the chance of pests in areas such as boiler rooms, locker rooms, gymnasiums.

BMPs for Kitchens, Cafeterias and Storage Areas A checklist for custodians, administrators and food service staff. Number 1 on the list: An IPM policy is in place that gives specific plans of action to both deal with pests, and to improve pest management

Cockroach Identification It does make a difference, you know…

Introduction to IPM for School Faculty. Here’s an easy way to spread the word!

General_Poster_Faculty_IPM

University of California IPM: Green cleaning, sanitizing and disinfecting, A Curriculum for Early Care and Education

IPM Poster for Custodians

Bed Bugs in Schools – Prevention

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Exclusion and sanitation are key factors in structural IPM. Because schools and child care facilities rarely provide the favored overnight buffet found in homes and hotels, bed bugs found in schools and daycare facilities (as well as libraries, restaurants, theaters and public transportation) generally don’t create the same long term infestations. They will, however, be doing their best to find a blood meal, feed, and be on their way in less than fifteen minutes.

No one can prevent a bedbug incident, but the risk of infestation can be reduced if you and your staff learn to be proactive.

Exclusion?

Bed bugs travel via clothing, coats, backpacks, purses, book bags, instrument or document cases, etc. Obviously, checking everyone as they come in the door, and their belongings is unrealistic. Bed bugs don’t hop or fly, so they rely on speedy locomotion and you.

bed bugs on a suitcase. Image from Bedbugcentral http://www.bedbugcentral.com/

Take note: Exclusion still plays a part in bed bug control, and we’ll discuss this in a future post. And never adopt or accept second-hand furniture without a thorough examination.

Sanitation?

Cleanliness has nothing to do with the presence of bedbugs, but clutter is any pest’s best friend. Clutter provides habitat and makes inspection (scouting) difficult. Large, long term infestations may occur where cleaning and sanitation has lapsed.

Where do they hide?

Insects the size of poppy seeds or apple seeds can find shelter anywhere. They prefer to be close to their food source (why not?) so look in the folds, seams and hidey places in and around upholstered fabric. Use a putty knife, playing card or plastic card along the edges of carpeting, along wall molding and trims, and behind wall art. Visually inspect behind electrical wall plates. (At home, electronics such as bedside clock radios can harbor bed bugs). Any resting place for humans can become bed bug habitat.

If your school has had bed bug incidents, you should be inspecting on a regular basis.

Examine pillows, cushions, seams and all parts of upholstered furniture, including under and inside the frames. Do this in teacher lounges, libraries, auditoriums and any classroom or office with upholstered furniture or a resting area.

Know what you are looking for. Study the photo resources we’ve provided and other online information

Look for active bedbugs, cast skins and tell-tale reddish-brown-to-black spots of excrement.

Reduce clutter. This may be the most difficult step in a classroom. Keeping classroom paraphernalia in totes and keeping them mobile makes inspection and cleaning easier, and reduces bed bug travel opportunities. This is also an excellent way to reduce the chance of ants, cockroaches or mice.

Train your staff on how to reduce the chance of infestation. Also, discuss bedbug prevention openly with staff and students to reduce shaming and ridicule. Do not panic if a bed bug is found. If it’s an isolated case, there is no way to know where that insect came from.

Have a policy in place and know how to capture, keep, and identify a bed bug.

More on Inspection:

Take along a flashlight, putty knife, playing card or plastic card, a screwdriver, wide clear tape, magnifying glass, small zippered bags or tightly-closing plastic containers, facial tissue, tweezers. Have large garbage bags on hand, and remember to fill out an inspection form.

NYSIPM – steps in inspection and collection

BedBug TV: How to inspect a couch

A detailed Bed bug resource from Toronto aimed at public housing