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Tips and Tricks

Baiting to treat cockroaches

Anna Berry, BCE, says PMPs “can apply our bait and wait for the cockroaches to bring the toxin back to the population.”

Anna Iversen, BCE
Anna Iversen, BCE

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Anna Berry
Anna Berry, technical director at B&G

Baits have revolutionized the way we approach cockroach control. Prior to baiting, we had to locate the harborage of the population to apply our chemical tools. Now, we can apply our bait and wait for the cockroaches to bring the toxin back to the population.

Baits are fairly low risk regarding non-target toxicity, making them a great choice in a variety of settings. But as with all formulations, how we apply them matters. For this reason, bait guns with pre-set quantity settings are a fantastic tool to help ensure bait labels are followed, placements are consistent, and wasted bait application is significantly reduced. Waste adds up quickly, especially when placements are larger than necessary. Larger placements are not only a label violation, but they also don’t necessarily attract more cockroaches.

For example: In a 30-gram syringe of a gel bait, you could apply 120 placements at 0.25 grams per placement. When overapplied at 0.4 grams, you are now reduced to 75 placements. This results in a loss of 45 placements — about one-third of the tube — at no additional efficacy.