Get roaches under control

Last week, I ran out of column inches after writing about lawn shrimp. This week, I am going to try to cover the cockroach. The cockroach always wins the most-called-about/asked-about insect award, and is second to the mole in the overall called-about/asked-about pest.

There are many different species of roaches (at least six dozen). I'm going to concentrate on the most common roaches that dwell in the Lowcountry.

To many people, a roach is like a snake: The only good one is a dead one. For controlling roaches, you want to think like a roach, monitor the situation, employ nonchemical strategies and use control products (organic, green, conventional).

The German cockroach is the small roach that likes kitchens and bathrooms. These roaches like to live inside and can be introduced to your house from boxes or containers that are carried into your house. They multiply very quickly once inside.

The American cockroach, aka "water bug," "Palmetto bug" and "South Carolina state bird," is the other main cockroach in the area. They like to live on boats, in sewers and in your house.

The brownbanded cockroach also is common here. These roaches like to live up high on shelves or in cabinets, closets, pantries, desks, bookshelves or other areas away from the kitchen. The brownbanded cockroach can live in drier areas than the German roach and usually will inhabit these areas so it does not have to compete with the German roach.

There are other species of cockroaches in this area, and if you control the above three species, you most likely will control the others as well. First you will want to monitor and identify which species is bothering you. There are glue boards you can put out in areas where you have seen them. You can look for fecal pellets and egg casings -- "Honey, what are you doing?" "I'm looking for roach fecal pellets and egg casings" "No football on today?"

You also can buy aerosol "flushing agents" that you can spray in areas that you suspect activity, and the roaches quickly will come running out of hiding, giving you the opportunity to personally smack them.

If you have roaches, sanitation is important. Keeping dirty dishes, garbage and sources of water to a minimum will help limit the population of roaches. Even clutter in a house harbors roaches. Caulking cracks, weatherproofing windows and doors, sealing pipes and eliminating other entry points also will help with roaches as well as other pests.

For control products, baits inside the house do a good job. These baits exploit all the bad habits of roaches. Baby roaches eat the fecal pellets of adult roaches to develop into adult roaches themselves. Roaches also cannibalize their dead. So if one roach eats the bait, poops, then dies, another roach will eat this poop and eventually die. Another roach will see the dead roach, eat it and die as well. This transfer of active ingredient creates a great "domino effect" that has impressed many people. The specific nature of this application and the low amount of active ingredient used makes this control method a "green" application.

Using growth regulators, either Gentrol or Nylar, also will help break up the roaches' life cycle.

Outside, you will want to do a perimeter treatment. There are several products on the market that will nail these roaches (along with many other pests). Bifen, Viper, Cyonara Lawn and Garden, Tirade, Niban ("green") and EcoPCO WP X ("green") are a small sample of many products that are available. Generally, treating the perimeter involves spraying 3-10 feet out from your house in the mulched areas. Apply plenty of water with the product to carry it down where the pests are hiding. Also spray about 3 feet up the side of your house, around windows, porches, garages, eaves, garbage areas and other areas where pests may be found.

If searching for roach

fecal pellets with a flashlight does not sound like fun to you, remember, there are a bunch of pest management professionals in the area who would love to do this inspection for you.

Bill Lamson-Scribner can be reached during the week at Possum's Landscape and Pest Control Supply, 481 Long Point Road in Mount Pleasant (971-9601), 3325 Business Circle in North Charleston (760-2600), or 606 Dupont Road in Charleston (766-1511). Fax your questions to 406-2700 or e-mail them to your newspaper's editors. You can also call in your questions to the Garden Clinic, noon-1 p.m. Saturdays on WTMA, 1250 AM.