Evaluation of repellency of proprietary trail pheromone product to the Argentine ant (Linepithema humile)

In field trials, we evaluated three proprietary trail pheromone product (Suterra LLC, Bend, OR) treatments. We sought to determine the effect the pheromone product would have on Argentine ant foraging behavior and trail integrity on the walls of 16 residential buildings. The treatments consisted of three rates (0.002, 0.005, and 0.02%) of microencapsulated Argentine ant trailing pheromone and a 0.02% control of blank microcaps containing dodecenol. All treatments were diluted in water and applied to the walls using a standard pressure sprayer. Prior to treatment, a visual inspection was performed on each building wherein an ant intensity score was assigned to each of the buildings. The scores range from 0 to 3; where after 0 is no visible ant foraging activity and 3 is high ant foraging activity. The pre- and post-treatment readings and scores provided the basis of evaluation of treatment efficacy.