Summer & Fly Control: Commercial & Residential
Bzzzzzzz…
The House Fly
Summer has arrived and with that so have the flies. This can be extremely changeling for hotels, restaurants, food plants, the food sector businesses, food trucks, commercial buildings, rural & urban properties.
Flies in my commercial kitchen, what do I do?
Flies in my restaurant coming in from my outdoor patio, what do I do?
Flies by my outside dumpster getting into my business, what do I do?
I have flies in my house all over my window panes every spring, what do I do?
I can’t find the source of my fruit fly problem, what do I do?
These are common questions we hear from customers around the time of FLY SEASON!
JAPCO Pest Control has the solution!
The target pest is usually the house fly
House flies are the most-common structure infesting fly in North America and are distributed throughout the world. The constant flying and buzzing is a major nuisance, but far from the only problem they cause. In fact, the more you know about them the less forgiving of their presence you will be. House flies literally breed in filth and prefer decaying organic matter containing moisture like manure, containers, grass clippings, and composted fruits and vegetables. If that wasn’t bad enough, house flies are highly mobile and can quickly move from a bacteria infested egg-laying site to the hamburger you’re about to eat.
These pests develop very quickly, especially in warm and humid conditions, and can reach adulthood in a little over a week. Adults typically only live between 2 and 4 weeks, however, 2 weeks of a fly buzzing around the kitchen can seem like an eternity. And just so you don’t think that after a month the flies will be gone, know that there can be 10 to 12 generations a year! All that adds up to a major problem if it isn’t addressed head on from the start.
The Blow Fly
Blow flies serve several useful purposes. In nature, they help to facilitate decomposition, and are often the first to arrive at a crime scene. Blow fly maggots have also been used successfully in medicine to clean out necrotic tissues of patients. Still, most people do not want them around! If you see blow flies in your home, it usually means that there is an animal carcass nearby. Most likely, a mouse or rat or some other type of urban wildlife has died within your structure
The Fruit Fly
Fruit flies look for fermenting grapes, potatoes, onions, bananas, tomatoes, and other fruits and vegetables. Soiled trash compactors, trash chutes, garbage disposal units, compost piles, dirty garbage cans, and bottles and cans being saved for recycling are common breeding sites.
The Cluster Fly
Cluster flies enter structures in the fall with the intention of overwintering in your warm house, preferring attics, structural voids, closets, windowsills, underneath clothes, picture frames, behind curtains, and other areas that are dark and protected. Once they have already penetrated a structure, like they have in your situation, things are quite difficult. Fly control often centers on locating and removing breeding materials, but unfortunately that doesn’t help with cluster flies as eggs are laid in soil and maggots develop inside earthworms!
Control
The two best forms of control for cluster flies are preventative: a thorough sealing of cracks, crevices, and other entry points into the structure, and a treatment of exterior surfaces that catch warmth and likely overwintering sites in the home with insecticides (typically dust formulations). Since those are not feasible options for this winter (though taking care of both by late summer next year could go a long way in reducing or preventing next year’s deluge), you are left without too many options.
Treatments made after the flies have entered the structure can reduce populations but are unlikely to eliminate them. These flies are quite annoying and can be numerous (hundreds to thousands) but they do not cause damage or transmit disease. They will likely stop being active in the coming days and stay that way until spring. When they do become active again they will attempt to flee the structure and probably be sluggish and easy to catch and dispose of in the process.
At JAPCO we have an on-call list of customers that we call to ensure they are serviced at the right time for their cluster fly treatment to be effective. The fall service is critical for success and is temperature dependent. Our customer service representatives are well versed with the know how to know when to schedule this service for you. Call us today and ask to be placed on our Cluster fly on-call list.
Things for Food Service Facilities to look for when having fly problems
Food debris under equipment, in dumbwaiter and elevator pits, and in drains are prime breeding areas. Soiled linens, soured mop heads, beer taps, liquor-storage areas, containers in recycling bins, refrigeration drip pans, and spilled soda syrup are possible locations. Food debris that accumulates under trashcan liners is often overlooked. Food particles in mop water can wash into cracks and crevices to provide larvae developmental sites, as can standing water on kitchen, bar, and bathroom floors.
Inspect locker rooms for food left in lockers by employees. Check food storage areas for overripe fruit. In addition, check food and product waste disposal systems, pallets and trash dumpsters. Small accumulations of food debris on surfaces and in cracks around equipment are common problem areas. Leakage from sink drains and debris clinging under sink edges are potential areas.
Hang up mops and brooms to dry after each use. Have soiled linens removed and cleaned at least twice a week. Move dumpsters and trash containers as far away from entrances as possible. Thoroughly wash containers destined for recycling before placement in a bin and have the bins emptied and cleaned at least twice a week. Discard residential organic waste in tightly sealed plastic bags or compost it. When composting, the waste material should be turned daily or at least every other day the first week to significantly reduce fly breeding. Wash or launder mop heads weekly.
Mechanical/Exclusion: Seal cracks and crevices where food particles can accumulate with an appropriate material. Clean accessible floor drains of organic scum using an electric drill fitted with a 12-inch extender and a 3-inch diameter wire-sanding wheel. This setup is aided by running tap water into the drain during and following the procedure to flush away debris. Install air doors/curtains at exterior entrances.
Place flying insect jar traps (commercially available) baited with fruit juice, vinegar, or beer in strategic locations. Replace window or door screening with a fine mesh to deny small fruit fly entrance since they often can penetrate ordinary screening. While a minimum size of 20 mesh is required to keep out small fruit flies, 32-mesh screening will also keep out most other flies.
The common control method for fly control would be to install insect light traps. They rarely fly above five feet therefore the correct placement of these fly lights is important. Fly lights need to be installed in protected areas and be visible to flies. They should not be installed where it will entice flies from the outside to come in, such as receiving doors or glass entry doors. Fly lights need to be accessible so that can be serviced properly.
Open doors at night can cause fly problems since they are attracted to bright lighting, this just welcomes them indoors. Use carefully placed insect light traps to attract and remove small fruit flies.
To eliminate adults, use a vacuum cleaner as an economical, practical, non-chemical alternative to chemical treatments. It’s not practical under high ceilings but works very well for restaurant staff to perform morning “clean-ups” until the problem is located and eliminated.
To keep small fruit flies from salad bars, use a fan that blows across the salad bar.
Chemical: Adult flies can be killed using aerosol or chemical treatments. Where the label allows, a borate material may be applied in stagnant drains that are difficult to access mechanically, or as a final rinse for tile or cracked floors (e.g. at least once weekly).
Add biocides for drains and as a mopping solution for deteriorating tile floors. Conclusion Long-term control of small fruit flies is only achieved by identifying and eliminating larval development sites. Because good sanitation practices are necessary to control these flies, obtaining customer cooperation is of paramount importance for a successful program.
Products & Equipment
These are some of the products that we carry for fly control. Contact us today for a site visit to determine the best option for your fly control problems.
Discrete Fly Lights- The Gilbert Venus (No one will know)
The Genus Fli Light
The Gilbert 601 T
Gold Stick Fly Trap
Big Bag Fly Trap
Konk Fly Mister Kits
Tip from the JAPCO Man
Use the RESCUE!® Big Bag Fly Trap outdoors to get rid of flies before they become a nuisance inside.
Hang near garbage bins and dumpsters!
Commercial Inquiries
We can customize a service plan to meet your needs. That may be a monthly maintenance program or a bi-monthly service, seasonal service, home protection plans or one site visit.
We can customize a fly control program to meet your needs.
Contact Tina Patton to set up a site visit Today!
Tina Patton
Contracts Manager
tpatton@japco.ca
(877) 755-2726
www.japco.ca
RESTAURANTS you do not want your customers swatting flies as they are dining!!!!
JAPCO’S fly management program offers the solution to all your fly problems.
DISCOVER THE JAPCO DIFFERENCE!