Getting the Most from Green Products

Stephen Wheeler of PestPro in Cookeville, Tenn., loves the idea of natural pest management. “It would be so much better for everyone — especially the technicians who are exposed to so many products on a daily basis — if we all moved to green products and services,” he said. “Unfortunately, there are still some issues with longer-term efficacy. If I could get better residual effects at a comparable cost, I’d use green products exclusively.”

As it is, Wheeler’s go-to for interior services is a green aerosol. For exteriors and indoor spot treatments, his technicians use conventional pesticides. The mix provides good efficacy and staves off callbacks, he shared.

Other PMPs report similar hybrid solutions. “It’s not so much which products you use, but how you use them,” said Jake Wasson of STORYSOLD: Pest Control. His approach to pest management since establishing his own company in 2019 is far different from that of the companies he worked for previously.

“I focus on a thorough inspection — finding colonies while they’re out foraging and treating the trails with sugar and granular baits. I explain to customers that there’s nothing more bio-friendly than a classic sugar-boric acid mix,” he said.

Chris Thornton of Earth Right Exterminating uses green products as much as possible. He explained that his team approaches infestations three ways: (1) using a HEPA vacuum to knock down the population and then applying an organic spray, (2) following up a conventional product application with an organic product to minimize customer exposure as well as pest resistance and (3) setting up a four-season approach that rotates organic and conventional products to get year-round control.

SPOTS FOR NATURAL PRODUCTS. How PMPs use green products varies by the type of account and type of infestation they encounter. The 2024 PCT study revealed that PMPs across the country, with the exception of those in the South, are most likely to use green products outdoors, although indoor use and indoor/outdoor use can be common, too. Far and away the accounts most often treated with natural products are residences (71 percent), followed by schools and day care centers (44 percent), health care facilities (31 percent), commercial office buildings (29 percent) and food handling facilities (28 percent).

WHICH PESTS RESPOND BEST? Spiders pushed cockroaches out of the No. 2 ranking in the top three pests most commonly controlled by green products in a 2024 to 2023 comparison, and occasional invaders were named among the top three in every single region. Ants remained a favorite target in all but the Northeast, where mosquitoes took the No. 1 spot.

“We’ve found green products to be better at running insects off than killing them,” said Toby Crowe of Compass Pest Management. “For exterior treatments, they can be effective at keeping spiders, ants, ladybugs or stink bugs away, but it’s hard to lean toward green products for cockroaches that have infested a home.”

Thornton adds fleas to the list of indoor pests that may not respond well to natural products, but Wheeler says they are great for spiders inside windowsills. “The residual is much better there because the surface is protected from UV rays.”