Comparative effectiveness of an integrated pest management system and an insecticidal perimeter spray for control of smokybrown cockroaches (Dictyoptera: Blattidae).

Two treatments were compared for effectiveness in reducing abundance of smokybrown cockroaches, Periplaneta fuliginosa (Serville), around houses; an integrated pest management strategy consisting of sanitation, landscape management, and reduced insecticide usage, and a perimeter insecticide treatment applied according to label directions. Regression of means through time indicated that the integrated pest management treatment lasted approximately 60 d, whereas the perimeter treatment lasted only 30 d. The greater duration of control in the integrated pest management treatment was likely the result of decreased abundance of cockroaches outside the spray zone. In the perimeter treatment, cockroach abundance was unaffected outside the spray zone with no reduction in adult abundance in the spray zone except in the week following treatment application. The difference between the integrated pest management and perimeter treatments suggests that reinvasion of cockroaches from peripheral habitats decreases the duration of cockroach suppression. Abundance of 1st instars and small and medium nymphs was reduced for the duration of the experiment by both methods. Sampling procedures did not influence cockroach abundance. Reduction in abundance of cockroaches outside of houses reduced abundance of cockroaches inside houses.