By: Shane McCoy A discerning eye for signs of something out of place. The instincts to anticipate where a problem is likely to take place and when. The expertise to solve the problem and prevent it from happening again. What sounds like the description for a character in a spy thriller is actually a list [...]
By: Jay Everitt, A.C.E. There are few pests we deal with that are as annoying for our customers as spring pests. Two of the most common are ants and mosquitoes. While these problems do make the phones ring, we have to respond in a way that builds trust with our customers, or we risk losing [...]
By Madison Grimm Integrated pest management (IPM) is the industry best practice-driven approach that exhausts all non-chemical methods of control prior to considering the use of chemical pest management materials. The practice of IPM is rooted in inspection, the key to identifying the source of an issue, which may be corrected with exclusion and other [...]
By: Bennett Jordan, Ph.D., BCE, PCQI, and Madison Grimm “Murder hornets,” more commonly known as Asian giant hornets (Vespa mandarinia), have been generating lots of buzz (pardon the pun) on social media and in the news, following a reported finding of two hornets in Washington State. With countless pieces of information circulating through these channels, it [...]
By: Madison Grimm Springtime often means increased pressure from pest birds. The best defense is prevention, through consistent maintenance of your facility. Birds are in search of food, shelter and a place to breed, and if your business provides even one of those three things, they may stick around and cause problems for your operations. [...]
By: Caroline Kirby Preparing a training program can be daunting. Luckily, there are countless resources out there to help you organize your thoughts. On my first day as training coordinator, I was handed two books to read and study. These books were “Telling Ain’t Training” by Harold D. Stolovitch and Erica J. Keeps, and “Preparing [...]
By: Madison Grimm Pest management has long been characterized as a male-dominant field, yet we continue to see more women take on field-based and office roles in the industry. To close out Women’s History Month, women at Copesan discuss their experiences, what they enjoy about working in pest management and their advice for industry newcomers. [...]
Pictured (above, left) left to right: Kim Kelley-Tunis, Terminix Commercial; Melisa Manns, Terminix Commercial; Justin McCauley, McCauley Services; Dominique Stumpf, National Pest Management Association; Scott Steckel, Plunkett’s Pest Control; Aric Schroeder, Copesan/Terminix Commercial; Alfie Treleven, Sprague Pest Solutions; Dennis Jenkins, ABC Home & Commercial Services – DFW; Tim Pollard, Arrow Exterminators; Dave Ramsey, [...]
By: Madison Grimm Exclusion is not a new concept within pest management. However, as the industry keeps evolving in favor of reduced-risk pesticides and non-chemical pest control strategies, the practice of exclusion continues to gain traction. At Copesan, we strive to be an industry leader in understanding and embracing the principles of integrated pest management, [...]
By: Mark VanderWerp, B.C.E. I recently put together a presentation about spiders for a training conference. Not being an arachnologist, I did a fair amount of research for this and realized I had a number of beliefs that weren’t quite accurate about spiders! Guess what? I know I’m not the only one! Spiders are a [...]
