A Broad-spectrum Legacy

Is it possible for a single treatment to control a broad range of pests for up to 90 days, and provide residual control to make pest management professionals (PMPs) feel confident that their quarterly pest control services will last? For more than 20 years, Demand^® CS insecticide has been an industry standard known for its long residual control and efficacy on a wide range of pests, both indoors and outdoors. For business owners like Dayton Hylton, president of Dayton’s Pest Control in Knoxville, Tenn., Demand CS has contributed to significant business growth over the years.

Hylton started using Demand CS in 1997. “We were already doing quarterly pest control services for customers, so Demand CS would actually last 90 days,” he says. About 10 years ago, his company moved to providing perimeter treatments. “Demand CS worked really well,” he says. “On the first visit, we’d apply it inside and outside, and then only outside every quarter thereafter. It is our primary insecticide, and we also use it for seasonal work to control fall invaders like multicolored Asian lady beetles, boxelder bugs, brown marmorated stink bugs and even kudzu bugs.”

Why does it work?

Hylton says, “It stays where we spray it, and it holds up no matter what the weather is. Once it dries on the surface it’s there, unlike emulsifiable concentrates that can get absorbed into concrete and other siding materials like block or brick foundations. The Demand CS microcaps stay on the surface.”

The iCAP^™ technology is what makes Demand CS different from other fast-acting insecticides. Microcaps are not uniform — they vary in size with small, medium and large capsules that release at different times. “Those smaller microcaps burst first and give you that quick-acting immediate control of insects,” says Pat Willenbrock, head of marketing for Professional Pest Management (PPM) at Syngenta, North America. “The larger microcaps take longer to activate and help ensure residual control so PMPs get that 90 days. This is important in the pest management industry because the most common service contract is set up for quarterly services.”

What’s equally important for PMPs is broad-spectrum control. “A PMP can have one product on their truck that can do just about anything they need in a sprayable formula,” Willenbrock points out. “That in itself is very valuable.”

RESIDUAL CONTROL. Demand CS is a legacy product in the pest control industry, with a 20-year history as a top-selling insecticide, says ElRay Roper, senior technical representative for PPM at Syngenta, North America. “It was designed in the 1990s to work in tough environments — everything from greasy kitchens to hot outdoor environments,” says Roper, who began working with the product when it was first developed. The water-based product is low-odor and convenient to apply, he says.

Grzegorz Buczkowski, Ph.D., Purdue University, has worked with Demand CS for more than a decade in lab and field studies. What’s innovative about the product is its microcap technology that includes a dual-walled construction. “There is an inner layer of the capsule that regulates the release of the active ingredient over time, and the outer layer protects it from environmental factors such as UV light,” he says.

Dr. Buczkowski says the fast-acting capsules show immediate results. “You’ll see symptomatic insects very quickly,” he says. “The larger, slower-release capsules give the active ingredient a longer life to treat pests over time.”

The microcaps in Demand CS vary from other microcap-based products on the market, Roper points out. “A lot of microcap formulations are generally fast-releasing, single-walled capsules. Demand CS is designed for extended release with the goal of getting up to 90 days of control, and that has to do with both the way capsules are made [dual-walled] and their different sizes.”

For pest management professionals, this translates to a product where “you don’t have to go back often.” Roper explains how Demand CS is used for malaria bed net treatments abroad. Bed nets are dipped in the solution and hung to dry. “Those nets get washed,” Roper says. “In our tests, you can wash them up to 20 times before you see a significant decline in mosquito control, so the product sticks really well. Once you get it on and it dries on a surface, it will stay where it is put.”

Roper notes how Demand CS also “sits up well” on porous surfaces, as Hylton found when using the treatment for his customers. “PMPs don’t have to worry about the type of surface they are treating — the product will stay on safe and secure,” Roper says.

Another benefit of the product is how it can also easily be picked up by insects. “That helps with efficacy and control,” Dr. Buczkowski says. The product easily attaches to pests’ waxy cuticles as they travel along treated surfaces.

LIFE UNINTERRUPTED. Hylton considers how Demand CS has contributed to the growth and sustainability of his business of 33 years. In the last decade, his company has grown six fold. Part of that is because of the efficiency and customer volume gained with a quarterly perimeter pest control protocol using Demand CS. “We build routes with anywhere from 250 to 300 customers per month, per technician,” he says. “Each technician has a full route of about 750 to 900 customers. And, they are able to service that many customers and we have few callbacks.”

Dayton’s Pest Control, a family-owned business, employs about 35 people, and 22 of those are technicians. His company advertises extensively on radio throughout the year. “We compete with the very top companies in our market,” he says.

Providing tools for pest management professionals to grow their businesses and create healthier communities is the ultimate goal, Willenbrock says.

“For Life Uninterrupted,” the Syngenta PPM motto, means committing to innovation and research that will result in products and best practices that improve people’s daily lives.

“For the PMP, a life uninterrupted means not having callbacks and using a product that will last up to 90 days,” Willenbrock says. “A life uninterrupted means using a product that does what it says it’s going to do.”

Learn more at www.SyngentaPMP.com/DemandCS.

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