Unseasonably warm spring weather has already brought ant activity out into the sunshine, and an increase in call outs for their control.
Professional pest managers are increasingly turning to the convenience and ease of use of Outcast Ant bait stations. The technique enables effective one-visit control of ant colonies themselves, and the opportunity to leave with customers to avoid costly call backs.
Syngenta business development manager, Richard Moseley, highlights Outcast Ant, which contains the same active ingredient and formulation as the highly renowned and extremely effective Advion Ant, is approved for both professional and amateur use.
“That means pest controllers can exploit their more valuable skills and expertise to identify and treat ant colonies, but also enables customers to use Outcast Ant to recharge with fresh bait – without a costly and time-consuming call back for controllers,” he said.
A recent poll of professional pest managers at the PPC Live event in Yorkshire revealed over a third of controllers (35%) would use the benefits of Outcast Ant themselves over other control techniques.
Furthermore, while 43% would leave Outcast Ant with customers as part of the job to avoid call backs, a further 22% see it as an opportunity to sell Outcast Ant bait stations on to customers having completed a call out, as an income generating opportunity.
“Outcast Ant bait stations are so convenient and easy to use,” Mr Moseley said. “It’s a huge advantage to have the powerful bio-activation action of Advion Ant in a ready to use pack.”
With the product safely contained within the station, the bait remains fresh and palatable in situ, he points out. The clear containers make it easy to see ant activity consuming the bait, as well as when the stations are empty.
Each bait station is individually labelled with the product name and statutory legal information, making them fully compliant for use in public areas including schools and restaurants, for example.
The bio-activation of indoxacarb, the active ingredient in Advion Ant and Outcast Ant, means that the product only becomes toxic when it is ingested by the target insect pest. The product is particularly effective since foraging ants find it highly palatable to carry the gel formulation back to the nest, where feeding to the queen and nurse ants will achieve complete control.
“Professional pest managers can now use Advion Ant for their initial treatment, confident that any follow up with Outcast Ant can continue the course in high infestation situations,” added Mr Moseley.
Both Advion Ant and Outcast Ant can be used indoors and outdoors around buildings to effectively target control close to colonies.