Tag Archives: commercial pest control

Commercial Services, Insect Control, Pest Control

‘Lady Bug’ Invasions Put NJ & NY Pest Control Pros on Alert

If a lady bug lands on you, it’s supposed to bring good luck. Step on one of the small red-shelled insects with the distinctive black polka dots and get ready for rain. Considered a beneficial insect because of its voracious appetite for crop-harming insects, native lady bugs are the stuff of folk legends — which is the only place you’re likely to find them in New York and New Jersey. Invasive Asian lady bird beetles have effectively overrun habitats once populated by native lady bugs, forcing out the native species.

Like lady bugs, Asian lady beetles are small with hard spotted shells; but they come in a rainbow of red, yellow and orange colors and their spots are more likely to be irregular and sometimes non-existent. In the fall, these insect pests can become a nuisance as they congregate in the thousands on light-colored walls, seeking a way into buildings to spend the cold winter months hiding until spring.

Asian lady beetle invasions can coat walls, decks, trees and plants with piles of insects. Their waste can stain walls and fabrics. To understand the extent of the problem, click here to see CNN film of a lady bug invasion.

The best way to keep these pests out of your commercial building is to have the building exterior treated by a licensed commercial pest control service before beetles start to congregate.

 

Commercial Services

Commercial Pest Control Tips: The Importance of Exclusion

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You’ve heard the phrase, “prevention is better than cure”? The same goes for commercial pest control. If you can keep insects and rodents from entering your properties in the first place, you’ll have an easier time controlling their population. That “keep out” tactic is known as exclusion.

Commercial pest control companies specialize in exclusion, and the best services employ both traditional and new exclusion technology to properties where cleanliness is a vital component: food and restaurant organizations; hotels, motels and cruise ships; and hospitals and nursing homes.

Traditional tactics
Cutting off access to pests is central to exclusion. Look for your commercial pest control provider to identify and address areas on properties like cracks in the foundation and vents, and open drain pipes and garbage shoots – all places where bugs and mice might converge. Often a simple closure to such areas will help ensure exclusion.

New technology
If pests have already gotten interior access, your pest control professional combines exclusion with extermination. The innovative Cryonite® carbon dioxide snow treatment is a non-chemical formula that freezes pests dead on the spot. This nontoxic treatment is an ideal choice for sensitive areas like kitchens and electrical housing. The Cryonite allows immediate use after service, and eliminates all life stages of pests without harmful insecticides.

Exclude pests from your property
Rely on Stern Environmental Group’s commercial pest control to keep tenants comfortable all year round.

Ants, Commercial Services

Pharaoh Ants Spread Disease in Hospitals, Nursing Homes

Most ant species active in New York City and northern New Jersey are classified as nuisance pests. Infestations can upset employees and customers and contaminate food supplies in kitchens and restaurants, but most NJ ants pose no serious threat to human life, with one notable exception. Pharaoh ants carry and spread more than a dozen dangerous bacteria and pathogens, including Staphylococcus, Salmonella, Pseudomonas, Streptococcus and Clostridium.

Pharaoh ant infestations are common in hospitals and nursing homes where they can spread infection between patients. Just 1/16th inch long, these tiny ants are pale yellow to red and translucent, making them extremely difficult to see. In hospital settings pharaoh ants are known to feed on wound dressings and will even crawl in and out of open wounds, spreading infection between patients.

Pharaoh ant colonies expand by budding, allowing infestations to grow exponentially. Multiple colonies with hundreds of queens can number in the hundreds of thousands and consume vast quantities of food. Their large colony size makes pharaoh ants a significant problem if they infest a grocery, school or restaurant. These ants prefer to feed on sweets such as fruit juices, syrups, soft drinks and cakes; but they are omnivores and will also devour greasy and fatty foods, breads and dead insects.

A Pharaoh ant infestation can be dangerous and should be immediately addressed by experienced commercial pest control professionals.

Cockroaches, Commercial Services

How to Prevent Cockroach Infestations

Cockroaches may seem an inevitable past of doing business in New York City or northern New Jersey, but your business reputation may hinge on your ability to control and exterminate these noxious pests. Preventing cockroach infestations of commercial properties requires a multi-pronged approach that includes both cockroach prevention measures and commercial pest control services.

Prevention measures include:

  • Exclusion to prevent cockroaches from entering the building either in boxes, bags or supply containers or from other buildings or outdoors.
  • Sanitation is critical to cockroach control as these insects are attracted by dirt, filth and food scraps.
  • Monitoring for cockroach presence allows commercial pest control services to address possible issues before they become a major problem.

Commercial pest control services may include:

  • Bait traps to attract and kill roaches. Roaches not only die from eating poisoned baits, they carry poison back to their nests.
  • Insect growth regulators prevent immature cockroaches from reproducing when they reach adulthood. Colonies gradually die from attrition.
  • Dusts and poisons adhere to the insect’s legs and outer cuticle and are ingested during normal grooming, killing  cockroaches directly or through dehydration.
  • Cryonite is a revolutionary non-toxic cockroach control method that uses a frozen carbon dioxide mist to instantly kill roaches on contact.

For superior commercial cockroach control, contact the experts at Stern Environmental today.