What the H*** is IPM? #1

Disclaimer: This article is a mere opinion from me (Jorge Bedoya), not intended to be followed religiously. I completely accept comments and corrections constructively and invite the readers to create their version of WTH is IPM to learn and grow.

If you are part of the urban pest management industry, I'm sure you've been told to do ''IPM'' by a random person with authority. Yet, most people that I (Jorge Bedoya) have met who claim to do IPM, rarely really do, or at least understand the concept. If that's the case, forget about a regular tech whose two weeks of training covered briefly the regular spraying, changing the glue trap, and putting the bait down techniques.

Only in New York State, there are more than 4.500 technicians/applicators who are licensed for the 7A category, and god knows how many apprentices. During our training, we learned about the pest triangle, some basic life cycles, formulations, pests, labels, etc. No-brainer: memorize, study hard, pass the exam, document, and follow the label. You are now legal, congratulations. Does that mean you know IPM? No.

If that's the case, WTH IS IPM?

Integrated Pest Management is a science-based approach to pest control. By understanding biology, and applying ecology to risk management, we can control populations below their damage capacity. Beautiful definition. Yet, when a technician who does 70% German cockroaches, 25% rodents, and 5% bedbugs tries learning what IPM is, most books and training sessions might teach 80 different species in three different settings (Agricultural, commercial, and residential) in less than 20 hours. Too complicated, and maybe boring, especially if he never encounters 60% of those pests daily.

If the concept is too broad, let's narrow it down. Let's choose a single pest, in a single setting, in a single city, let's say: German cockroach management in multi-family housing in New York City.

Let's break down the words. Integrated - Pest - Management.

INTEGRATED

Sounds like the Avengers isn't it? Integrating what?. Well, pest control is like an American cockroach, it has a high gravity center, and if one of the legs begins tremoring, the whole thing can be upside down. IPM integrates different strategies in the same system to control the same pest issues, such as Cultural, Physical, Mechanical, Biological, and Chemical approaches. Yeah yeah, the same Google definition, give me an example:

Let's say your client is having a chronic roach issue, totally fine in NYC. The Google definition will advise to follow these steps:

• Cultural: Check the incoming deliveries, leave your work clothing in a separate area closed, do not leave clutter, avoid creating the mother of the bags (bags inside bags accumulated), do the dishes regularly, dry the counter, clean the drain filters, dispose of garbage as soon as it's full, do not leave garbage overnight, move once a month the stove and the fridge and clean there, avoid leaks, keep the door closed, dog food in containers and vacuum extensively.
• Physical: People used to believe in spontaneous generation, pests that generated out of nowhere as long as there was food and resources. We realized that is not true. Even if there was food (Like in a food processing plant), pests such as cockroaches need to get introduced, dispersed, and reproduced. You can do the cultural approach to the detail, but NYC apartment walls are hollow, and there is a complete ecosystem. Let's say the apartment next door has cockroaches and you share the same wall, if their sink wall has holes, and your wall has holes, his roaches will be passing to your apartment, then, no matter how much your client cleans, you will be called. Physical actions like foaming and caulking the wall connectors by radiators, pipes, and molding, as well as having a door sweep can prevent cockroaches from other areas establishing in their place. This can be delegated to property management with proper reports.

• Mechanical: Let's say that the preventive measures weren't enough, and your client does have cockroaches. It is recommended that, over chemical application, and taking advantage of the aggregation behavior of the German cockroaches, you can use mechanical approaches such as Vacuuming by the numbers, and installing several traps such as glue traps or pitfall traps with beer, bread, and vaseline. it is said that this approach can reduce significantly the cockroach population, but it requires a lot of time.
• Let's skip Biological for now, Although you can consider BTI as a biological agent.
• Chemical: Our favorite part: the killing. It is said that IPM suggests that, if we were to use chemicals to control a cockroach population, we should aim to minimize our impact on the environment by utilizing the least toxic, most efficient methods while minimizing risks. Approaches such as Gel baits, flushing-contact insecticides, and crack/crevice applications of residual low-toxicity insecticides are recommended.

Based on the most basic definition of IPM by institutions and Google, you should get control, but is this true?

...NO.

Although this is the ideal, it doesn't reflect reality. You can integrate all of the above and still have no control.

The above-mentioned are Part of IPM, yes, but not the whole IPM per se. We discussed the Integrated, but I shall leave with the question for the following post:

What in the world is a Pest?

-Jorge Bedoya, ACE