An effective monitoring program will help reduce pesticide use through early intervention and more precise insecticide applications, and achieve rapid cockroach elimination. This presentation will provide an overview of various cockroach monitoring methods. The most accurate monitoring method is by placing sticky traps in critical areas with return visits to inspect trap captures. Trap design such as surface around the glue area, shape (flat versus folded) can influence the effectiveness of the trap and age structure of the trapped cockroaches. Adding food-based attractants can help to significantly increase sticky trap captures, but highly effective and economical cockroach lures are lacking. Visual inspection with the aid of a flashlight and inspection mirror can help reveal the exact harborages. It is a less desired method for evaluating treatment program efficacy due to the lack of consistency and the long time required. However, it is valuable when applying insecticides to control cockroaches or conducting environmental modification to eliminate the cockroach harborages. Applying a flushing agent (pyrethrin) during visual inspection may reveal more cockroaches, but it causes cockroaches to disperse and may affect the performance of cockroach baits. Resident (client) interview data is often unreliable and should not be used as evidence of cockroach elimination after treatment.
