Undercover Boss

John Wilson on Undercover Boss airs Friday
night on CBS. Photo: CBS.com

As a former Orkin employee many years ago, what I would have given to have the president of the company to ride around with me for a day.

Wait.  Who am I kidding?  I would have been scared to death.  Anyway, as Pest Management Professional reports, Rollin's President and COO, John Wilson, is doing just that tomorrow night on CBS' reality TV show "Undercover Boss".  Sounds like a winner to me, so I thought I would pass it on.

Advisory committee puts in a full day

State law requires that the Texas Department of Agriculture's Structural Pest Control Service be advised by a special public advisory committee.  Last week the SPCAC met for its quarterly meeting with a full agenda.  Present were Peggy Caruso (Katy ISD) and Johnny Hibbs (Carrollton Farmer's Branch ISD), public members; Dauphin Ewart (Bug Master Pest Control, Austin) representing the pest control industry; Dr. Thandi Ziqubu Page (Texas Department of State Health Services); and me, representing an institute of higher education.  Three other members (two pest control and one public member) were unable to attend, and one position on the committee (a consumer group representative) has been unfilled for three years.

This month's agenda was packed with topics about significant changes in pest control regulation in Texas.  I apologize for the long post today, but it was a long session with a lot of interesting discussion.

Penalty Matrix
As I discussed in my last report, one industry complaint heard around the state, especially during the tenure of the former Structural Pest Control Board, concerned the consistency of penalties for various infractions.  Two different companies with the same infraction might have substantially different fines.  To bring more transparency to the penalty process the SPCS has proposed a new penalty matrix, taking into account comments and recommendations made at our last advisory meeting.

The new version of the penalty matrix consists of a list of all possible infractions, each of which is assigned to one of three tables of penalties. The three penalty tables include: S1 (low hazard potential fines), S2 (moderate hazard potential fines) and S3 (high hazard potential fines).  As you might guess, fines go up from tables S1 to S3.  In the new matrix, a given violation type is merely classified as an S1, S2, or S3 infraction, with final assignment of low, moderate or high hazard to be determined by SPCS staff in consultation with counsel.  This will still allow some flexibility and discretion in assigning fines, but is more transparent than the previous system.  Discussion centered around whether it was better to have a very rigid or flexible system.  The committee preferred keeping some flexibility in the system, with the idea that the new matrix is less subjective and should be more consistent than the current matrix with its wide ranges of penalties.  This particular internal system does not have to be publicly reviewed, but can always be commented on once it is implemented.  A copy of the new penalty matrix should be available upon request to the SPCS.

Testing 
The new system for taking technician and license exams is now up and running. The TDA has contracted with a test service provider, PSI Exams Online, to take over the examination role for structural pesticide applicators.  The new web page describing changes to the process of getting your exam is accessed here.  The new system is not only $11 cheaper, there are more testing centers than before, making it more convenient for most people.  Testing will no longer be offered at TDA offices, only at the PSI test centers.  To find a center near you go to the PSI website. To learn about the whole process, there is a detailed information booklet for test takers.

Changes to TDA Rules
As part of a routine four year review by the legislature, TDA staffers have been reviewing and updating the regulations pertaining to structural pest control. The committee was shown these proposed changes and provided feedback on each of them. Twenty-nine rules were reviewed, with some of them deferred for later action.  Some of the more interesting and important changes and clarification included:

• Rule 7.134. Every other year licensees will be able to get all continuing education credits for the year via online or self study courses. The reason for the every other year limitation is that the TDA wants to continue to encourage face-to-face contact with instructors, and is still concerned about a certain loss of accountability of course attendees who do not physically appear at a CEU course.  This is a change from the current rule which only allows one CEU per year to be obtained using self-study or electronic courses. 
• Rule 7.134. The rules will be clarified to ensure that certificates of completion for CEU courses must be kept for two calendar years after the calendar year in which the CEUs were obtained.  Apparently some folks were discarding their CEU proof of attendance exactly two years after the date of the class, which is earlier than was intended by TDA.
• Rule 7.141. Every licensee and apprentice must carry their license or registration card with them at all times when doing pest control, and must show the card when requested by a customer, a TDA employee, a State Health Services employee, an EPA employee or a state or federal law enforcement officer.
• Rule 7.146 (d. to be deleted) Indoor posting for schools, and other sites that require it, will no longer be required if the only pesticide application to be made to the structure is an outside perimeter treatment. 
• Rule 7.147 clarifies that the applicator or technician does not have to physically hand or deliver the Consumer Information Sheet to a customer, only make it available to them (e.g., via website).  This wording is being changed to reflect changes made to the statute two years ago.
• Rule 7.150 (a)(1)(D). Schools will no longer be required to conduct or produce records of annual facility inspection reports. While everyone agrees that facility inspections are important to do, there was a feeling that the requirement was burdensome on even the most diligent schools. The school members of the committee had no objection to this change.
• Rule 7.150 (b)(2,3) The rules for CEU requirements for school IPM coordinators (SIPMCs) have been developed and, according to TDA staffers, will not go into effect until final posting of the rules. This means that, despite some understanding to the contrary over the past few years, SIPMCs are at this time still  not required to complete any CEUs. So if you're an SIPMC and you've been sweating getting your six CEUs before the end of the year--and wondering what classes you need to get, you can relax--at least for the moment.
  
  This rules clarifies specifically what the new CEU requirements will look like.  While SIPMCs do not have to carry a pesticide applicator's license, they do have to take a 6-hour class to teach them how to be a SIPMC. Four years ago the legislature passed an additional statute that requires all SIPMCs to have continuing education.  The proposed rule says that all IPM coordinators must obtain 6 hours of CEUs every three years, starting whenever the rules become effective (later this year), or at the date of completion of mandatory school IPM coordinator 6-hour training.  One of the six CEUs, according to the rules, must be in laws and regulations specific to school IPM in Texas.  The other five CEUs may be in pest, lawn and ornamental, weed control or general IPM categories, approved for a structural pest control licenses. According to what we were told, 3A (agriculture) credits would not be acceptable for re-certification.  Any SIPMC who does hold a structural non-commercial applicator's license, can also count any structural CEUs for SIPMC re-certification, and vice versa.
• Rule 7.150 (d)(4). This rule now allows use of monitoring devices that do not use pesticides by unlicensed school district personnel for purposes of monitoring.  The committee asked that the rule clearly specify such devices are only to be used for monitoring, and that any applications of monitoring devices be under the supervision of the IPM coordinator. This rule attempts to balance schools' desires to be able to use sticky traps to know what's going on in their buildings with concerns about untrained and unlicensed individuals doing pest control. 
• New Rule 7.151. This new rule is proposed to improve safety of stored pesticides by requiring that all pesticide containers in storage have a physical label and that any containers without a label, and of unknown identity, be disposed of, and not used for pest control.
• Rule 7.176.  A new paragraph to this rule would prohibit pest control companies who provide WDIRs from providing termite estimates or conducting termite service on the same property as covered by the WDIR.  As a result of our discussion SPCS staff agreed to reexamine better ways to deal with concerns about fraudulent WDIR reports.

Lastly, there was some discussion of a House bill, HB3567, that would mandate a change in the composition of this advisory committee.  The bill, sponsored by Rep. Tim Kleinschmidt, would eliminate the Texas A&M (higher ed) representative and the representative of the Department of State Health Services, replacing them with industry representatives.  The existence of the bill in its current form puts at least a couple of us on the committee in limbo between now and the next scheduled meeting in July. If you have thoughts about this bill you can contact Representative Kleinschmidt or the Texas Pest Control Association.

Bed bugs hit Springfield

Thanks to Sherry Glick at the U.S. EPA for a heads up on the latest pop culture nod to the lowly bed bug.  In case you missed it, like I did, the Simpson's episode last night featured bed bugs.  If you didn't respect the bed bug's capacity to wreak havoc before, you will after watching this clip.

And many thanks to FOX network for reminding us all that April 22-28 is Bed Bug Awareness Week.  Personally I was having a hard time thinking of ways to celebrate national bed bug awareness, but now I have something to look forward to.  I will be looking to watch the rest of the "Pest Week Ever" episode on the Internet.

An odd "pest"

Even when not an insect, if an object is small and mysterious, it will often be called a "bug" and end up on the desk of an entomologist.  Such was the case with some specimens I received last week.  They were described by a pest management professional as "tiny bugs" that appeared on the south side of a customer's house every year.  No mulch or trees or shrubs were reported nearby.

I thought at first that these tiny (1.3 mm length) objects might be spores from the artillery fungus, in the genus Sphaerobolus.  Artillery, or shotgun, fungus is a type of primitive plant that grows as a saprophyte on wood mulch.  It has tiny black spores that it can shoot for several yards.  The spores are sticky and adhere to a variety of surfaces, like walls of homes, sometimes leaving a stain when removed.  But, according to the submitter there was no mulch nearby, and according to my plant pathologist friend, Dr. Kevin Ong, the specimen I was looking at under my microscope was not smoothly round as typical for Sphaerobolus.  

These tiny, 1.3 mm, seeds from the Oxalis plant are sometimes
ejected from the plant and stick to man-made surfaces, like
exterior walls, where they may be confused with "bugs".

My sample of 20 or so objects were teardrop-shaped and ridged/segmented.  Under the microscope they looked vaguely insect-like but appeared to lack legs and mouthparts.  Fortunately I network with many experienced entomologists around the country, several of whom kindly informed me that the sample was actually the seed of Oxalis, a common garden weed or plant.

One entomologist who wrote back noted that he once got a series of calls from a commercial greenhouse grower who was doing his best to "kill" these "pests" "crawling" all over his greenhouse, but with little success.  This is another example of why it is so important to identify the pest before reaching for the insecticide sprayer.

As it turns out, Oxalis seeds are pretty cool.  They are borne by the plant in a cylindrical pod.  When mature, or when the rip seed pod is touched, it shoots out the small seeds three to five feet.  The rough coats on the seeds helps them stick to some surfaces (like a hardy-board exterior wall, in this case). For a good video showing how Oxalis seed dispersal works, check this out.  The plants themselves are attractive, if sometimes difficult to eradicate from your yard.  The plant leaves are sour-tasting because of the presence of oxalic acid; but in small quantities are good in salads.

So let's not be quick to blame insects for those strange objects that customers are prone to find around the home.  If you don't know what something is, have it checked out by me (if you're in Texas) or one of the other fine entomologists most states (and many pest control companies) are blessed with.  There are enough real insects in the world to keep all of us entomologists busy full-time.

Good grooming

Thanks to Wizzie Brown for alerting me to the recent, very cool video on cockroaches by NPR's Science Friday.  Like cats that lick their feet and fur, cockroaches continually groom their feet and  antennae.  I've watched cockroaches groom themselves, but never in magnified HD with a lucid narration by North Carolina State University entomologist Coby Schal.  Dr. Schal reports on recent research by his laboratory to answer the question about why cockroaches groom, and he's well worth listening to.

One thing the video does not mention is that we take advantage of this grooming behavior in pest control when we use certain insecticides.  Boric acid is a relatively low risk pesticide that can be used around the home.  Boric acid, it turns out, is ONLY toxic to insects (and coincidentally, people) when it's ingested.  When we apply boric acid as a dust, and a cockroach walks through the dust layer, a small amount of the insecticide is picked up on the roach's feet, body and antennae. It's because of the grooming behavior documented so elegantly in this video, that the cockroach is poisoned by such dusts.  This may also be the case with other insecticides and other insect species, according to the news release by North Carolina State. 

One caveat about using boric acid in the kitchen--don't use too much.  Cockroaches avoid heavy deposits of any dust, including boric acid.  They are not repelled, however, by light dust deposits of boric acid.   So if you use boric acid, take it easy. You should not be able to see more than the slightest dusting of white residue after an effective application of boric acid.   

Mosquito season upon us

Spring rains and warmer weather usually spell mosquitoes.  To prove this to myself, I've been watching my backyard fountain slowly fill with recent rains, leaves and catkins from nearby oak trees. Last week I was rewarded(!?) with my first mosquito wigglers.

Mosquito "wiggler" and "tumbler" are informal terms for the larval and pupal (immature) life stages of a mosquito.  Mosquito wigglers live in water, and as soon as temperatures get warm enough to drive their development, they quickly mature and emerge from pools and containers wherever they may be found. After last summer's record West Nile virus season, any news about mosquitoes is bad news to us in Texas, and especially the Dallas area.  But the species emerging right now are not likely to be the disease-carriers of last summer.

According to Scott Sawlis of the Dallas County Health and Human Services Department, in north Texas we are now more likely to see  Culex restuans, or one of the other early mosquito species that do better in cool weather.  These cool season mosquitoes are not considered important in the spread of West Nile virus or other encephalitis diseases.  Nevertheless, these mosquitoes still bite and are not welcome around your customer's home.

My backyard observation site gave me the chance to photograph and put together a short video about what to look for if you see a suspicious puddle of water around your yard.  Mosquito larvae are not all that easy to see unless you know what you are looking for.  Any water-holding container, regardless of whether you see mosquitoes or not, should be considered a potential breeding site. Early in the season is a good time to scout out these water traps and treat or eliminate them before the REALLY bad mosquitoes show up.

I advised in my last post to take advantage of your residential service calls to check your customer's backyards for mosquito breeding sites. If you do find a suspected breeding hole, advise your customer to drain it, or fill it in with sand, gravel or soil.  This will immediately kill any mosquito larvae breeding there.  If the source is too deep or impossible to drain, mosquito dunks or granules, containing Bacillus thuringiensis or S-methoprene are available through pest control distributors. Ask your distributor, but typically these professional products can last from 30-90 days.

I betting that, at least for some of your customers, a little good will in the form of pointing out a potential mosquito problem is likely to earn some customer-retention brownie points.

New interest in mosquitoes

A simple bucket with leaves and compost becomes a
mosquito breeding site (see inset) after a rain. Photo
by M. Merchant in his own backyard (oops).

After last summer's West Nile virus epidemic in north Texas there is a heightened awareness of mosquitoes and mosquito issues around the state.

Every pest management professional, especially anyone involved with residential pest control, should think of mosquitoes as an opportunity to provide another valuable customer pest control service.

In my experience, few people imagine that they might be the culprit when it comes to breeding  mosquitoes.  Most folks believe that mosquitoes come from someone else's property--especially the creek across the street, or the neighbor's fish pond.

While this might be true, especially in the case of an abandoned pool or marshy area, we are often our own worst enemy. Most creeks, ponds and lakes are not major sources of disease-carrying mosquitoes.  Any body of water with fish, or with running water that is not stagnant, is not likely to be an important breeding site for the worst mosquito species--most of which are "container breeders". Rather, small containers or human structures that collect dust and debris along with water that sits for more than a couple of weeks, are the most likely source for our worst disease transmitting mosquitoes like the urban-dwelling Aedes and Culex species.

A few years ago, Dallas County did an evaluation on the properties of citizens who reported severe  mosquito problems in their backyards.  They found that 25% of citizens who complained about mosquitoes were  breeding mosquitoes in containers found in their own yards.

Green pools are common in neighborhoods with
foreclosed homes, and should be drained or
treated. Photo by M. Merchant

As a PMP you approach every property with trained eyes to see pests and to see conditions that are conducive to pest infestation. This skill can serve you well when inspecting a backyard for mosquitoes, and provide value-added to any pest control visit.  Here are some of the common problem areas to be alert for in residential yards:

• Water- and leaf-filled bird baths.  Bird baths should be emptied or cleaned weekly to minimize risk of mosquito breeding.  
• Gutters that fail to drain properly.  This can be difficult to see, but your extension mirror can help. Check gutters, especially after a rain, to make sure they are draining properly.  Leaves and dirt that build up in gutters provide the organic matter, all they need is water to make a mosquito breeding spot.
• Tires. Rubber automobile tires, it seems, are designed to hold water.  They are one of the worst sources of mosquito breeding in some areas.
• Buckets, plant pots and wheelbarrows without drain holes. These items should be inverted or hung to ensure that water is not held.
• Landscape and gutter drain lines that catch and hold water.  Poor installation of underground drain pipes allow water to stand.  Mosquitoes are adept at finding their way in and out of underground holes that we may not notice.  All underground drain lines should be fitted with a pop-up drain emitter that opens only when water is flowing.
• Water catch basins/septic tanks.  Catch basins in French drains and municipal storm sewers are designed to keep debris from clogging drain pipes.  But these same boxes can catch and hold water for extended times. Flush out catchment basins or apply a larvicide like Bacillus thuringiensis or methoprene.  Poorly closed or maintained septic systems can provide many breeding sites for Culex mosquitoes.
• Uncapped steel fence posts are often overlooked, but may hold water for long times after a heavy rain. Point out fence posts without covers and explain how any container that holds water can breed mosquitoes.
• Plastic or canvas covers on boats or trailers.  Tarps or plastic sheets used to cover vehicles or boats can easily hold water for a week or more.  Boat covers should be pulled taught to force water to drain.
• Rain barrels and cisterns. With most areas in Texas water is increasingly precious. Drought and water restrictions have encouraged many homeowners to install cisterns and rain barrels to capture and store rain water. While most commercial rain storage systems come with drains to keep mosquitoes out, screening on intakes and overflow plumbing can become damaged, and needs regular inspection.  
• Unmaintained swimming pools.  So called, "green pools" are unchlorinated pools that can become breeding sites for large numbers of mosquitoes.  If you notice such a pool and the homeowner is absent or unwilling to respond to complaints, these sites should be reported to the local health department as a public health threat.

Let's all do our part to keep our communities safer and mosquito free. Let your customers know when they have a dangerous situation.  Chances are that they will thank you for it.  For more information on mosquitoes in backyards, see the Mosquito Safari website.  

Legislative Note

Last week the Texas Senate gave thumbs up (28-3 vote) on a measure (SB 186) introduced by Sen. John Carona (R-Dallas) that would give municipal health officials authority to enter empty or abandoned properties to treat mosquito breeding sites that pose a public health nuisance. It can be difficult for health authorities to gain access to such properties without a search warrant.  This bill would allow a "public official, agent or employee charged with the enforcement of... laws" to enter the premises at a reasonable time to inspect or treat the nuisance stagnant water.

David Oefinger, with the Texas Pest Management Association, feels that chance for passage of the bill in the House is pretty good given the lack of opposition in the Senate.