Purpose
To provide guidance and to establish procedures for Pest Technicians as they perform an initial or 1x spider service for clients of Good Earth Pest Company.
Safety and Health
Read and understand the current label of each pesticide or material being applied, paying special attention to label restrictions, and required personal protective equipment (PPE).
Materials and Equipment
- Backpack sprayer
- Web mop pole
- Any other material that you may need
Procedure
- Park onsite and confirm the street address to make sure that you are servicing the correct building(s).
- Clock in and review all documents (field sheet, tech notes, and service agreement) from the bid. Also, make sure to review the Location Notes and Order Instructions pertaining to today’s service.
- Greet the client, introduce yourself, and address any concerns/immediate problems that they may have first. Once that is done, continue through the following steps to complete their service.
- Web mop: This is a crucial step in spider control.
Using your web mop pole, circle the whole house brushing off any spider webs and old wasp/hornet nests. Pay special attention to lights, entryways, and high peaks of the eves. Also, make sure you get the backside of the facia where it is hard to see. If the house is especially tall, use the larger extension pole stored on top of your truck. Be sure to take mental note of any areas of particularly high pest activity. You will take this into account when servicing and you may also want to put it in your notes at the end of the service. - Perimeter treatment:
Using your backpack sprayer apply a repellant material around the footprint of the home. This is the foundation and an area extending out from it on the surrounding ground. Consult your label for these parameters. Make sure to include all connected items like posts, fences, and overhead wires. The goal is to complete a perimeter application in which a spider must cross the material to access the structure. - Also, service the exterior areas where spiders may harbor or enter the building, including the eves, behind downspouts, corners, underside of decks, vents, and around windows and lights. This will provide protection from spiders and wasps as well as other seasonal insects. Pay special attention to the areas that had shown particularly high activity when you were web mopping.
- Interior placement of spider traps (optional): For clients who have heavy spider activity inside the building, placing spider adhesive traps is another control measure you can take. Although they are non-toxic, these traps should be placed in areas unreachable by pets or kids. These areas could include in corners, behind or under furniture, along baseboards, just inside doors, along the interior garage wall, inside storage areas, basements, and other places that maybe be a hot spot of spider activity.
- Interior service: Although not typical, sometimes an interior service is part of an initial or 1x service. Please refer to document PS.242 Interior Service – Spiders for specific procedures. If an interior service is performed, the areas treated needs to remain unoccupied for 3-4 hours so that the material can dry.
- Return to your vehicle when done and secure all equipment and make sure it is safe to travel.
- Reconvene with the client and report all your findings, including the measures you took to address them. Also, make sure to set expectations for the improvement in spider activity that they can anticipate. If the client is not home and you need to communicate with them, please call or send them a text. Make sure to leave a door hanger so the client can confirm that you were onsite.
- Enter all required information on the material applied into PestPac Mobile. Also, enter notes on the service provided today as well as any client concerns, observations you made, or necessary environmental changes (see PS.102 Entering material information and notes into PestPac Mobile). You are the first tech to be servicing at this account, be sure that you update the location instructions with any pertinent information that other techs should know. Remember: Clients have access to your notes so they should always be professional and appropriate.
- If it was a particularly pleasant interaction be sure to send a review invite via the Podium app (see PS.150 Sending a review invite using Podium Mobile).
- Check off the account on your service route log.
Created
December 14, 2021
Revised
July 19, 2022
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