Cannon Pest Control

Jul 16, 2020

Arrow Exterminators Acquires Cannon Pest Control The acquisition establishes a footprint for Arrow in the Auburn-Opelika (Ala.) market. ATLANTA - Atlanta-based Arrow Exterminators  announced the merger and acquisition of Cannon Pest Control, a full-service company focused on servicing termite and pest control customers in Lee County in South Central Alabama. This transaction provides Arrow the opportunity to establish a footprint in East Central Alabama and reach residential and commercial customers with a wide range of services. “We are so pleased to welcome the team members and customers of Cannon Pest Control to the Arrow family,” said Emily Thomas Kendrick, chief executive officer of Arrow Exterminators. “Their commitment to the community and passion for customer service makes Cannon a perfect strategic fit for Arrow. We will maintain the Cannon office in Auburn and operate as Stark Exterminators, giving us 10 service centers throughout the great state of Alabama.” Darryl Cannon, owner of Cannon Pest Control, said, they were “looking for a company that would provide our team members with many growth opportunities and an expanded range of services to offer our customers.” Wendy Cannon added,  "We knew we were with the right company as Arrow is obsessed about how customers and employees are treated. We are proud to join a fellow family-owned and operated company and be a part of the Arrow family,  We wanted to give our employees great opportunities for growth and also be with a company which offers our long-time customers an full line of services.”  Tim Pollard, president and COO of Arrow, said Arrow is proud to have the Cannon team of professionals join the Arrow family. "Alabama is an important market for us as its population continues to grow and is expected to exceed five million residents this year. We continuously look to merge with high quality companies who share our goals, principles and culture and we found the perfect fit with Cannon,” he said. Texas A&M Now Offers Online Courses The university's new online pest control courses, which teach about Texas pests and weeds, are led by AgriLife Extension entomologists. COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Nearly every service professional today must keep up with emerging technology by earning continuing education units, and pest control technicians are no exception, said Mike Merchant, Ph.D., Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service urban entomologist in Dallas. Pest control professionals seeking continuing education units — and anyone else who wants to bulk up their knowledge of Texas pests and weeds — can now do it anytime online. The new online courses in pest and weed control are led by expert AgriLife Extension entomologists. Most are available for less than $50. CLICK HERE to visit the page. “Even pest control is going online in response to COVID-19,” Merchant said. “It’s prompted us to put up these great learning opportunities where they’re broadly accessible.” Merchant suggested starting with IPM for School Gardens, which is a free online course on integrated pest management (IPM). It offers school IPM coordinators and teachers an hour of certificate credit. IPM is the practice of controlling pests with alternatives to pesticide, and with other methods that consider health and the environment. “All of our courses incorporate some measure of IPM teaching,” said Janet Hurley, AgriLife Extension IPM specialist in Dallas. Participants can choose from a course in the basics of managing aquatic vegetation, the basics about ants, aerial pesticide application, residential IPM or a growing selection of more than 20 other courses. A range of CEUs and exam preparation options are available. At the same time, Hurley said, some live workshops will resume in limited capacity to accommodate social distancing. The university will begin with an ant identification workshop, limited to 15 people, on July 16 in Dallas. “Every student will have their own microscope and supplies, and everyone will be at least 6 feet apart,” Merchant said. “And we will offer all the hands-on opportunities that help someone become an ant identification pro.” Meanwhile, AgriLife entomologists are working to make more courses available online soon. A class on bedbugs is in the works, Merchant said. Hurley said, "We will continue to embrace the use of more training technologies and continue face-to-face classes as possible through new developments, but definitely expect to see more online courses in the future.” Whether it is inspecting for ants, identifying them, or choosing the right product, there are many variables that play a role when it comes to successful ant management. PCT talked with a variety of pest management professionals who weighed in on their experience with ant control and discussed the ins and outs of achieving success when managing an ant infestation. Chelle Hartzer, consulting entomologist for 360 Pest and Food Safety Consulting, said that the only way she achieves successful ant management is by using an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approach. Hartzer explained that such an approach includes inspection, identification, treatment and monitoring. “That’s going to be the best way to deal with this and try and find that root cause,” Hartzer said of an IPM approach. “Get to the real root of the problem to solve it instead of potentially just putting a Band-Aid on it. We really want to look at that whole ecosystem of what’s going on.”   Before any treatment strategy can begin, pest professionals must identify the ant involved and find the ant colonies involved. Inspection is key to locating the ant colony; determining how ants might be entering the building; finding out what type of ants you are dealing with; and figuring how to go about treating them. The inspection begins with the type of ant involved and it’s preferred nesting habits. Carpenter ants involving examining moist wood indoors and logs, tree holes and landscaped timbers outdoors. Soil nesting ants such as pavement and fire ants require looking for mounds of displaced soil outside. Argentine ants and odorous house ants nest in soil, under items and in mulch and leaf litter. Also, pull away mulch or vegetation away from founations and sidewalks to look for trails, and check meter boxes and sprinkler heads, and look for ant trails in cracks in sidewalks, bricks or along other structural guidelines. Despite a careful inspection, finding an ant nest may still be difficult. Regardless, according to Kyle Youngstrom of Kansas City-based Joshua’s Pest Control, the key to ant control is always going to be finding and eliminating the colony. Therefore, pest professionals must find a way to get product into the nest. The most effective way to accomplish this, he said, is applying either a non-repellent residual that trailing ants can come in social contact with, or through various liquid, gel or granular baits that the ants can feed on and carry back to the colony to share. When searching for an ant nest or deciding exactly what type of product to use, Jeff Crawford of Ohio-based A-1 Able Pest Doctors, said ant identification is the key. Identification is important for understanding colony behavior and for baiting because different species of ants prefer different types of food (e.g., sweets vs. proteins). Despite the wide variety of species, many ants look nearly identical and may be hard for pest professionals to distinguish in the time they have allotted for a service. Hartzer said looking for behavioral traits can sometimes be an easier way of identifying ants and determining the best product choice. Choosing the correct product is the final aspect of successful ant management, along with continual monitoring. Such products will depend on the type of service - preventive or curative - the type of ant problem, exterior or interior, and the type of ant involved. For a preventive service, pest professionals should focus on creating a strong exterior barrier, typically with the use of liquid repellents, or the pairing of non-repellents and baits. The goal should be to prevent ants from ever entering a structure. Youngstrom also emphasized the effectiveness of using products with a broad-spectrum label, especially with preventive treatments. If ants do find their way into the structure, pest professionals can use bait matrices near entry points or areas where the ants appear to be trailing, along with some well-targeted non-repellents, said Scott Robbins, A.C.E., technical director of Action Pest Control, Evansville, Ind. For curative treatments, many pest professionals utilize products that achieve colony elimination to limit re-services. “It’s the re-services that will kill you, so we need something that’s going to last long after the colony,” Youngstrom sad.