Bees in construction crane in Galleria area
Houston Chronicle (blog)
Pest control experts get rid of bees in a construction site after a worker was stung Wednesday. Eric Brannam, a Gotcha Pest Control Technician, carries several thousands of bees removed from a high rise under construction along 5300 block of Brownway …
Thousands of bees found on high-rise craneKPRC Houston
Galleria-area abuzz over emergency bee removal, 20 floors up, at construction siteYour Houston News
Bees invade building under construction near Galleriaabc13.com

all 4 news articles »

In the case of flies, of course, we provide food resources that include not only our own foods (things put out for picnics for example) but breeding resources such as pet droppings and piles of yard debris. A restaurant omits odors that are highly attractive to house flies, as does a dairy full of cattle and the resulting mountains of manure. While the house fly is “capable” of traveling that 20 miles, the study went on to say that nearly 90% of the flies will not travel more than 2 miles, and this will be most often when they detect serious sanitation problems. One study showed that up to about 80% of flies stay within 1 mile of their origin, another 8-10% might go that 2 miles, and the last few might end up much further away. These studies were done by marking flies and then releasing them, and then capturing them again to determine the distances flown. 

Another study used the good old House Fly once again to test how long it can continue to fly before total exhaustion brings it down, and the number 4.5 hours was used several times. The house fly, it seems, utilizes an energy chemical in its body called trehalose, and during flight this compound may be a kind of sugar molecule. Flies that were forced to fly until total exhaustion was accomplished were then fed a soup of sugars, including trehalose, and they were able to resume flight immediately. Flies flown to exhaustion and then fed sugars withOUT trehalose were unable to resume flight, so the trehalose compound is a critical component for their flight longevity. This sugar is a natural substance that is found in plants and many animals, so the flies apparently find a way to secure it when needed. 

Bedbug complaints made at 34 of 64 NKY hotels
Cincinnati.com
When the health department responded to the lone complaint at one hotel, the room in question had been inspected by a pest control company and was scheduled to be shut down for a month. Complaints at other hotels required multiple follow-up visits …

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Improved almond spraying reduces pesticide movement
Western Farm Press
Improving the accuracy and efficacy of spray applications for pest control results not only in better control and more returns to growers, but it can also reduce the environmental impact of almond farming by minimizing off-site movement of pesticides …

Pest & Disease Management – Moles
Horticulture Week
Moles will also feed on soil-dwelling pests such as cockchafer larvae, but not plant roots. They have poor eyesight and use touch, hearing and smell to detect prey and sense danger. They dig two types of tunnel, both of which are 4-5cm in diameter.

A House Paint Reduces Bug-Borne Diseases
Bloomberg
“It's not just the insects that are the problem,” she says. “It's the poverty.” The minute amounts of pesticides released from the paint aren't harmful to people but are devastating to insects, according to independent tests by scientists.

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Insect collection open to the public for International Museum Day
East Valley Tribune
They're on display by the hundreds of thousands in the Frank F. Hasbrouck Insect Collection at Arizona State University, a little-known amassment of as many as 700000 preserved insects that's hosting an open house Friday. “We have a large collection of …

If the female roach dies while carrying the capsule that 24 hour period appears to be critical, so yes, the eggs may still be alive but they need to be fully developed and ready to hatch almost immediately. There have even been laboratory observations where the female was still carrying the egg capsule while the young roaches were forcing their way out of it, and even observations that the female helped her offspring to escape the capsule. Whether she was actually helping them or just tired of carrying them around and anxious to get rid of the little buggers is hard to say. The female carries that capsule around for a couple of weeks, and often will stay in seclusion during that time, so she can be pretty hungry once this period is over with and anxious to get out and find food. 

The other common species of roaches (American, Oriental, Brown Banded) create the capsule and once it is fully formed the female drops it and then either glues it to a surface or covers it with debris. The egg capsule walls of these species are much thicker and better able to retain the moisture. 

Over the decades I have been in the industry I have heard of attempts to create various kinds of hormones or other chemicals that would somehow interrupt the proper development of the eggs of the German roach. Perhaps there could be a way to reduce the number of viable eggs and nymphs within a capsule so that those that survive could not open it to escape. Perhaps there could be a way to cause the female to drop the capsule prematurely. Our IGRs do have some effect on this development, so the use of an IGR for roach management can be beneficial. 

The same advice could really be given for either a vacuum bag or a canister style – dump the contents into a plastic bag, seal it, and dispose of it. Even with the bags I believe our industry advice has always been to place that vacuum bag in a sealed plastic bag to prevent any fleas from escaping and to contain any eggs so they head to the dump for sure. With the canisters you also could dump the contents easily into a plastic bag and seal it for disposal. These do a pretty good job of emptying completely, but to be absolutely certain all flea eggs have been removed you could suggest that the emptied canister then be washed with a disinfectant solution. This probably is really good advice anyhow, as it helps to sanitize that canister and eliminate odors that could build up. 

On this subject, just to extend this response a bit, vacuuming is one of the most important steps the customer can (and must) do to prepare for your arrival and to do daily for a week or two after your first visit. Vacuuming the carpets can be the “stimulus” needed to get many of the fleas out of their pupa stage and to the adult stage that you then can more easily kill with your contact insecticide. Otherwise, many of the flea pupa may continue to stay in that stage for weeks longer and then appear as new adults when someone steps on them, the dog rolls on them, or any other activity contacts them. By that time your residual treatment probably is no longer effective and you will be blamed for not doing a good job. 

The diligent customer will also be directed to remove EVERYTHING from all floors – in closets, behind drapes, under and behind furniture, under the beds, etc. This exposes all of that floor surface so they can vacuum it more thoroughly as well as make those surfaces available for your treatment. It also causes the customer to remove all children’s toys and shoes and other items so they can be protected from your treatment. Pulling sofas and chairs away from walls to vacuum helps them discover long lost toys, scattered popcorn, and other odds and ends that needed to be cleaned up anyhow. Even hard floor surfaces should be thoroughly vacuumed around the edges where pet hair could accumulate and provide a living place for flea larvae.

Vacuuming is NOT going to remove any substantial amount of your insecticides, particularly if you have used a liquid concentrate or aerosol. A wettable powder may be inclined to have those particles resting on the top of the carpet fibers, but liquids move down the fibers and bind to them. This is an important step, and should be done thoroughly prior to the arrival of the technician and repeatedly afterward. 

Rodent Control after a Flood Event
WBGH
Due to the regulations surrounding the use of rodenticides, property owners interested in using them should contact a local certified pest control company. For questions concerning the use of rat poisons, please contact the local Department of …

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What pests can we expect now?
Syracuse Journal-Democrat
There are horticultural soaps, oils or miticides that can be used to control this pest. Another insect people are concerned about is bagworms. While I have not seen any bagworms yet, it is important to keep a watch for this pest.

California pest protection to suffer with budget deficit
The Packer
A $16 billion state budget shortfall in California will lead to cutbacks in border pest protection activities. Dave Puglia, Sacramento-based senior vice president for Irvine, Calif.-based Western Growers. said California Department of Food and …

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Two Pests Threaten San Gabriel Valley Residents, One Leads to Citrus Quarantine
Mid Valley News
However, given its small size the pest can often be hard to spot visually. More telling, according to Brown, is that the Asian tiger mosquito is an “aggressive day-time biter” unlike our native mosquito population. If residents visually spot the …

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Roach In McDonald's Hash Browns: Man Finds Deep-Fried Bug In Breakfast …
Huffington Post
After ordering a McDonald's hash brown and eating most of it, the user was startled to find what appeared to be a deep-fried insect stuck to the bottom half. The text accompanying the image — which is pretty gross, by the way — reads "I was eating a …

The Rice Weevil is nearly always going to infest whole grains of some kind – corn, wheat, rice, beans, and other whole, unbroken grains and seeds. It could be bird seed in a home or pet store. It could even be hard dry pet foods, as these hard chunks simulate the hard seeds that the rice weevil female looks for to deposit her eggs. It is highly unlikely that they will infest processed foods, ground meals, and other grain-based products that have gone through some processing. In a home it is possible for wild animals to have brought seeds and grains and other materials into the home, and the beetles could have found these stashed away in a wall or the attic. Decorative items are even subject to infestation, such as dry flower arrangements that have stalks of wheat or other decorative seeds in them. It was a fad a few decades ago to have shadow boxes on the wall, with numerous compartments that held colorful seeds, popcorn, grains of wheat or rice, and these were often infested. It is, after all, the “job” of these weevils to seek out old, dry grains and infest them. 

So, I would avoid any pesticide applications until after you have made a thorough inspection, discovered the infested materials, disposed of them, and thoroughly vacuumed the general area to remove as many wandering adult beetles as you can. The larvae live wholly within the food product. As far as non-chemical steps to manage these weevils, it begins with making the susceptible foods unavailable and using product quickly, rather than leaving bags of rice or dry beans stuck away in the back of a storage area. This is simply called “good stock rotation”, whether it is a home, restaurant, or commercial warehouse. For small quantities the food products could be placed within sealed, hard containers to prevent the adult beetles from getting to the food. 

There also are pheromone traps for these weevils, and since the Rice Weevil can fly the hanging traps can be useful. The related Granary Weevil cannot fly, so floor traps are more appropriate for it. These may best be used in commercial warehouses as your “early warning” monitor to detect when beetles first enter the warehouse, or perhaps when infested product gets brought into the warehouse. In a home or smaller account the traps could help you to find what is infested, by narrowing the search when you find many of the beetles in traps in certain areas of the structure. 

Fight back against invaders
Poughkeepsie Journal
Associated Press file Craig Thomas of Craig Thomas Pest Control in Hyde Park said in the Hudson Valley ants are the No. 1 household pest, particularly carpenter ants. / Karl Rabe/Journal file Now that the weather is getting warmer, can the influx of …

Common lawn insect pests
The Northwest Florida Daily News
Part grass at the margin of the yellowed areas and closely examine the soil surface for tiny insects. Immature chinch bugs are pink to bright red and are about the size of a pinhead. Adults are black with white wings and about one-fifth inch long.

Other considerations come into play, such as the possible presence of a high water table, a treatment to soil that may be lower than the nearby water site, etc. Since you desperately want to keep any termiticide out of surface as well as ground waters you might consider treating in the manner the label states when treating with a well or cistern under a structure, and that is with the treated backfill method. You remove soil, place it on a plastic tarp, treat the soil with the appropriate volume of the termiticide and ensure it is evenly mixed in the soil, and once it is absorbed properly in that soil you replace the treated soil into the trench it came from. Once termiticides are absorbed into soil particles, and particularly when they are dry, they bind (adsorb) tightly to the soil and will not move. Our termiticides in general have a very low water solubility, meaning they do not dissolve in water at any appreciable level and therefore will not be carried through the soil with subsequent rainfall. 

If you are foaming directly into a tree, where hollow areas exist, then it would be advisable to use a very “dry” foam that will prevent it from running. This will allow the foam to fill the cavity and then dissipate as the bubbles break, leaving the active ingredient only on the surfaces you treated instead of flowing downhill and into the soil below. However, you still would need to adhere to that 25 feet distance from nearby aquatic sites as stated on the Dragnet label. 

Other considerations to look for when treating outdoors would be soil type and degree of the slope. If you have a steep slope it would encourage runoff rather quickly. If you have a very porous soil, such as a sandy texture, this could allow liquid applications to move much deeper, since there is less actual clay or organic matter for the active ingredient to adhere to. If you have a soil that is already saturated, perhaps by recent heavy rains, then you would want to avoid getting termiticide onto it as the liquid you apply may not soak in and could more easily run off the area. 

Bedbug evidence – but no actual bedbugs – found at Hamilton Central Library
Hamilton Spectator
A recent bedbug inspection at Central Library found “many” spots potentially inhabited by the pests, but officials insist not one was found. Special sniffer dogs brought in for an inspection March 25 showed an “alertness” indicating the possibility of …

Mosqito count expected to spike
WCBD
(more) After a rainy weekend and much needed rain last week, pest control crews expect a spike in the number of bugs looking to make you their meal. Already the Department of Health reported this year's warm temperatures mean bugs will be worse than …

Homebuyers urged to tackle termites
Sky News Australia
The timber pests are often completely concealed by the linings and claddings of buildings, meaning they go undetected when a house is being bought. NSW Fair Trading Minister Anthony Roberts on Monday launched a new pest inspections code of practice, …

and more »

If the homeowner simply objects to the presence of mud nests on the walls of their house these nests can by physically removed and disposed of, and no chemical applications are warranted. If the homeowner is afraid of solitary wasps that are entering holes in the ground they can avoid the area for a week or so and the female wasp will be finished, or cover that soil or keep it dry to discourage the wasps from digging. Educating homeowners may help many of them to understand and appreciate the benefits they derive from the work of most wasps. 

For paper / umbrella wasps, which create the hanging nest that is exposed on the bottom, an effective treatment is simply the use of one of the jet sprays that can treat that nest directly from 10+ feet away, instantly killing any wasps on it and many of the exposed larvae as well. This is best done at dusk when the adult wasps should all be back on the nest, but it still is advisable to wear protective clothing to prevent any angered wasp from getting down the back of your shirt. After spraying and immobilizing the adult wasps the nest can be removed and disposed of. The most common player in this group now will be the European Paper Wasp, which has taken over the country and in some places displaced native species by out-competing them for food resources. This species commonly builds its nests within small cavities – hollow pipe fencing, bird houses, porch lights, under tile roofing, and within small cavities under the eaves. For these you may need to expose the nest if possible and then spray, or use a dust within the cavity to kill the adult wasps. 

Yellowjackets are the biggest problem, due to their aggressive behavior when you disturb their nest area, the size of their colonies that can reach 20,000 or more workers (all with stingers and an attitude), and the enclosed paper nest that often is hidden within structural voids or in holes in the ground. If you can directly access the nest itself you can treat into it with a pressurized duster, but absolutely be wearing protective clothing (a.k.a. bee suit, bee gloves, bee hood, etc.) to avoid being stung. Some PMP’s take a twisted wire and poke it into the paper nest and twirl it around vigorously to break up the layers inside the nest. This helps expose more of the interior for the dusting operation. You may only be able to find the entry point in a structure and have no access to the nest itself, which poses a dilemma. For this you may dust into the entry opening and hope the workers passing through there carry the dust into the nest. 

Interesting is that Termidor SC is labeled for wasps and yellowjackets, and labeled for exactly this kind of treatment – directly into the entry points or voids being used by these insects. This may provide you with the same “transfer effect” that seems to be so effective for ants and termites, as passing worker wasps carry the active ingredient into the colony. I was once told by a yellowjacket and wasp expert that you might achieve some level of “prevention” of paper wasps by treating the surfaces under eaves with permethrin, treating only those surfaces that have a history of these paper nests on them. Be careful to adhere to the label uses on the containers that you buy, since pyrethroid labels will all be changing and become more restrictive for exterior applications. 

Early spring has termites on the move
The Tennessean
Earl Lipscomb of Franklin Pest Control says it is imperative that homeowners keep their homes protected year round by a professional pest control service. “Some things to watch for in your home are shelter tubes — they're made of mud,” he said.

PPMA Retains a Medical Spokesperson.
PCT Magazine
Dr. Jorge Parada, a leading infectious disease specialist will offer health perspectives about the dangers of pests. FAIRFAX, Va. — The Professional Pest Management Alliance announces that it has chosen Dr. Jorge Parada, medical director of the Loyola …

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According to the product information for Bio-Mop Plus you should get some immediate cleaning from solvents in the formulation, as well as long-term cleaning due to the action of the bacteria. When you apply it to a floor surface it then flows into floor drains, and now works to eat away the buildup of organic sludge in that setting, discouraging the presence and breeding of drain flies and phorid flies. It would be of some importance to keep in mind that this product is not specifically registered by EPA as a pesticide, and therefore the Label cannot make claims to assist with fly management. It only can claim to remove organic materials and provide cleaning. 

Depending on what your fly problem is at this restaurant this kind of application may or may not be helpful. If it is small flies that could be breeding in the organic materials then certainly it will give immediate results. If the problem is, as is so common, houseflies drawn to that outdoor eating area, then cleaning the floors may not be as much help as you would like. Definitely dirty floors are going to contribute to the overall attraction of flies, but houseflies are breeding in very different areas and will come to food service establishments because of the odors of food or garbage. You might do well to evaluate the overall setting for any and all sanitation issues. This includes the waste stream inside and outside the restaurant. Is garbage inside disposed of properly and removed from the inside on a daily basis. Are the garbage receptacles inside kept clean? Is the dumpster area outside clean (this would be another good area to spray with Bio-Mop Plus) and the receptacles clean and with tight fitting lids in place?

The use of baits outdoors would be excellent, including spray on / paint on baits on exterior walls using products like Maxforce Spot-on. Trying to keep the numbers of houseflies down to a tolerable level requires the use of as many tools as possible, so you could also install fly traps around the dumpsters, window glue traps inside, UV light traps inside and possibly under cover for the outdoor patio if it is darkened enough. Each tool on its own is unlikely to control the problem sufficiently, but putting them all together, with each one capturing or killing more flies, the overall result gets to a decent level. The customer still needs to understand, though, that he cannot expect flies outdoors to get to zero. You cannot control the presence of flies around the exterior environment, and more are always going to fly to this place to investigate the great odors they detect. 

The symptoms initially are very similar to the flu – fever, headache, nausea, fatigue – but as it progresses the lungs fill with fluids and it now becomes life threatening. The progression of the disease can be very rapid, and news reports of people with the disease suggested that death occurred within just a few days after the first symptoms were felt. Without question medical care needs to be sought if a person believes he was exposed to dust that may be infected with the virus, due to activity in and around deer mice. This also emphasizes the importance of removing rodent fecal matter from structures in the PROPER manner, and sanitizing the surfaces where the feces or urine may have been deposited. This is an opportunity for pest management professionals, but you need to be very clear on the proper method and the personal protective equipment that must be worn. 

The disease occurs more commonly in some states than others. Washington State, for example, states that 1 to 5 cases per year are confirmed. An Ohio Department of Health fact sheet on Hantavirus, updated in 2011, states that there have been “no confirmed cases in Ohio”. 

Of more concern might be the use of really cold water, particularly when using soluble packets. These soft outer packets are designed to dissolve in the water, and a soluble packet is considered a closed mixing system that is really a benefit for us. By taking a pre-measured packet out of the box and just placing it directly into the water we don’t worry about measuring the dose and the box it came in is not considered to be contaminated, giving us ease of disposal. But, really cold water that you might get during the winter could cause that packet to dissolve very slowly, and this not only causes you a delay when waiting to use the mixed material, but if it has not dissolved completely the goo could get into the syphon tube in a hand sprayer or congested in the pump of a power sprayer and cause problems. Even wettable powders may not homogenize in the water as easily with cold water, and in the winter when using outside faucets you need to be aware of this and increase the mixing before using the products. 

Warm weather leads to cockroach infestation
KOB.com
He called a local pest control company and had his home sprayed last Saturday. He said after the spraying, his driveway and sidewalks were littered with dead and dying cockroaches. That is when the leaf blower got some action.

Pesticides Article Rejected; Citizens United On Hold
Patch.com
But others argued that the town's integrated pest management plan already adequately limited the use of synthetic pesticides and herbicides. “The fact is that right now in the town of Needham we pretty much have an organic system anyway,” said Stephen …

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Ticked about Ticks…
Patch.com
But, the good thing is, there are ways to control this pest. Now I am not an entomologist, but because I am your Horticulturist, I can tell you a few things about some pests like ticks- and how to get rid of them.. First let me say that anytime you …

Crews are battling a new termite species in South Florida this week
ABC Action News
A dangerous new pest is eating its way through Florida homes. Pest control experts and entomologists are battling the Carribean-native Nasutitermes corniger termite in South Florida this week, hoping to eradicate it before it takes hold in the state.

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Pest control to end Hampstead Heath's rat plague
Evening Standard
Runner Steve Brown is among those refused to use the heath until the pest controllers trap the rats. Mr Brown, 36, who works in human resources, said: “One night I saw 12 of them. You don't expect to have to jump over them and dodge rats as you go for …

Use of guns against pests a phone call away
CBC.ca
The Town of Stratford, PEI has made it easier for farmers to use guns and noisemakers against pests such as crows in their fields. Some restrictions for noise will be considered in the battle against farm pests, says Stratford Mayor David Dunphy.

Potato pest found in more eastern Idaho fields
Wisconsin Rapids Tribune
Tina Gresham with the USDA in Idaho Falls, said though pale cyst nematode infestations continue to be discovered in eastern Idaho, efforts to fight the pest appear to be helping. "There's a possibility that there could be more (infested) fields," she …

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Then, just a couple of years after this rather heavy regulation hit our industry the NPMA (National Pest Management Association) worked closely with DOT and managed to come to some compromises that backed us out of most of the DOT responsibilities. Our industry now carries what DOT refers to as “Materials of Trade” products, and you can visit the DOT website on this at https://www.dot.ny.gov/divisions/operating/osss/truck/carrier/materials-of-trade . This placed the quantity of any active ingredient at a very high level before it would trigger a need to placard, train, or carry shipping papers. In addition, the loss of nearly all of the organophosphates removed the most troublesome of the pesticides we carried, and the RQ for groups like the Pyrethroids is about 1000 lbs of the active ingredient, a quantity no pest control vehicle will ever carry. 

I am confident that the gasoline in the vehicle’s tank is not considered part of the MOT transport, but only gasoline carried in separate containers for use for sprayer engines, mowers, etc. For all of the other MOT products you carry the amount you must stay under is a combined 440 lbs of product. NOT included in this weight limit is a spray tank with material mixed with water, up to a 400 gallon tank. Since a single gallon of liquid weighs about 9 lbs you would have to be transporting nearly 50 gallons of pesticides or other MOT’s to reach the limit at which shipping papers might be required. This is highly unlikely for the vast majority of pest control and landscape vehicles, and the reason DOT allowed us to slip off their radar. 

However, basic DOT training is still required so that drivers of vehicles that do carry hazardous materials are aware of what the requirements are, what the products of interest are, and how they must be packaged (gas in an appropriately marked gas container for example, pesticides in appropriate containers that are properly labeled, etc. ) Check out that website link above and if it doesn’t work for you try the search words “D.O.T. Materials of Trade Pesticides” and see if you get the proper hit. 

For fumigants little has changed, as these are in the highest level of hazard and still require shipping papers and placarding. For all other normal uses and transport of minor quantities there should be nothing you need to do out of the ordinary, which is to properly store and label everything on the vehicle and carry it in secure storage that can be locked. You also should carry the Label and MSDS for each product on the vehicle, as these documents contain emergency information in case of a spill or other problem. Gasoline refers only to extra containers and the quantities you carry would be very low. 

For all of those crawling pests it should be pretty easy to keep your insecticides in places where the bees are highly unlikely to be, and applying liquid sprays using low pressure and a nozzle large enough to prevent mist would be appropriate. Treatments around the perimeter of the structure, for example, should be a location where no self respecting honeybee would find itself, and there would be no interaction between the bees and the active ingredient. Treatments using granular formulations on the soil would, likewise, put the material where the bees are not going to be foraging. For immediate control of pests on flowers and other landscape plantings you could use the good old “strong jet of water” to dislodge them. 

This also cries out for the non-chemical steps of habitat modification and removal of pest habitat. You can do a careful inspection of the property and write down your findings of all those things you find that could contribute to the presence of crawling pests. This might be thick layers of mulch that could be removed and replaced with gravel or left bare, piles of lawn clippings or other yard debris, any boxes and other unnecessary trash on the soil can be removed, and lumber and firewood could be properly stacked above the soil and away from the structure. Everything you can do to expose and dry out the soil makes the property less attractive to pests, and thus minimizes any need to apply pesticides. 

For flying pests like mosquitoes the emphasis would be on habitat management, eliminating any possible breeding sources for the larvae. This means emptying standing water where possible. For yellowjackets or flies you also could reduce breeding sources on site, directly treat wasp nests, use bait for yellowjackets, and place baited traps around the property that will draw only these pest insects into them. 

This also should be an opportunity to educate this customer. He needs to understand that your goal is NOT to eliminate every last 6-legged critter on the property, and that most of the insects he sees are going to be harmless and beneficial kinds whose presence should be encouraged. He can change outside lights to yellow bulbs to reduce the attraction of nighttime bugs and keep doors and windows closed or screened to minimize incidental entry. The cooperation of the customer is very important in this, so hopefully he is not just dumping this in your lap and telling you he doesn’t want to see a single bug any more. 

Canada Should Employ 'Pigeon Birth Control,' Says Expert
The Epoch Times
A wildlife centre director says controlling reproduction is a more humane and more effective way of reducing pigeon populations than current forms of pest control. (Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/Getty Images) The best way to manage pigeon problems in Canada is …

Learn to manage fruit tree pests
Mukilteo Beacon
The Snohomish County Fruit Society is holding a meeting from 7-9 pm on Thursday, May 10, at the Snohomish Library for a presentation on “Managing Pests in Fruit Trees” with Ingela Wanerstrand. Learn how to prevent and manage common fruit tree pests and …

New pests threatening Ohio's hemlock trees
WKSU News
He's worried the pest may spread throughout Ohio and wipe out all the hemlocks. "From an aesthetic standpoint, you would be losing a species that has withstood generations, millenia, here in Ohio." To try to slow the spread of the pest, …

and more »

So that's why they were so bad-tempered: Fleas were an INCH-long when …
Daily Mail
'These were insects much larger than modern fleas and from the size of their proboscis we can tell they would have been mean,' said George Poinar, Jr., a professor emeritus of zoology at Oregon State University, who wrote a commentary on this find in …
Giant fleas had bite like a needleStuff.co.nz
The Dinosaurs' Nemeses: Giant, Jurassic FleasNPR
Giant Flea-Like Pests Put the Bite on DinosaursScientific American

all 36 news articles »

Poor Florida. Your warm, tropical climate is wonderful to live in for people as well as the many exotic invaders that come from tropical parts of the world. Too often these originate as “pets” sold in stores or illegally, and once the cute baby animal grows too large to be cute any longer it is released, which absolutely devastates the native animals that are now either competing with this new invader or simply eaten by it. You have African Giant Toads, Green Iguanas, Burmese Pythons, and Coqui Toads, all of which appear to be there to stay. 

While we may think that any tree frog is a good tree frog, given that it eats lots of bugs, bringing a dominant newcomer into a stable environment can really upset things. These large tree frogs will out-compete other tree frogs for available food. They will eat other species of frogs, baby birds in nests, small snakes, and the threatened species of land snails. It is now illegal to bring these frogs into Hawaii, and doing so will incur a hefty fine and jail time. 

However, given the success of ticks as a group of animals it is obvious that jumping has not been necessary. They detect their food source by the combination of heat and carbon dioxide as well as movement, and they are very sensitive to vibrations that indicate an animal nearby. Mature ticks climb up onto vegetation to await the passing animal, and once they feel something nearby they raise their front legs into the air in a position referred to as “questing”, ready to latch onto any animal that brushes against them as it moves past. This animal, of course, could also be humans. Ticks also can live for many months without feeding, so patience is another trick in their bag that ensures their survival until food comes along. 

Let’s feel at least somewhat fortunate that all we have to put up with in this country is ticks and our other parasites. In the rain forests of southern Asia there are land leeches that behave much as our ticks do. They live on land and foliage and manage to squirm their way to warm blooded animals that they detect  nearby, and they too are sensitive to vibrations on the ground that signal the approach of prey, at which point they raise up, ready to attach to whatever touches them. They also inch their way along the ground to get to people who are sitting or sleeping on the ground. 

It sounds like you have done a really good job to this point, if all the tenants are now seeing is the occasional single roach. Expecting 100% eradication of roaches in large apartment complexes can be difficult. There will always be a few tenants that cooperate less in removing all food opportunities for the roaches. Obviously if roaches are still living in the apartments they are finding something to eat, but the amount of food needed to support a cockroach is not very much, so a few spills under the fridge or stove or food left overnight in open garbage containers will be sufficient. It may be education that helps the tenants understand that a single roach is not an infestation. You can make liberal use of insect glue traps to help monitor the apartments and to capture the occasional roach. Place these under kitchen sinks, under the fridge, etc., where the roaches will most likely be wandering. 

You might also consider placing a granular bait such as Maxforce, Avert, Advance, or Intice into wall voids, using one of the small hand puffer dusters for it. Since German roaches love wall voids this is a great place for this bait. If you are looking for another gel bait choice consider Alpine Roach Gel, as there has been excellent feedback on the acceptance. 

With the roaches at this low level of activity now it could be a great time to spend your energy in these apartments doing exclusion work. Every crevice and hole that you manage to close permanently with caulking becomes one less place the roaches can hide, leaving you with less harborage points to be concerned with. 

After mild winters in many areas, mosquitoes returning in force
MiamiHerald.com
Pest control companies, including Orkinand Northwest Exterminating, have already seen their call volume in places like Atlanta go up as much as 40 percent this April compared to last year. For Northwest, this year marked the first time it sprayed for …

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Controlling flies on pastured cattle
CattleNetwork.com
The horn fly, Haematobia irritans (L.) is one on the most important blood feeding pests of pastured cattle in the United States. Losses in the United States have been estimated at about $800 million annually. When horn fly numbers are high, …

So please continue to feel comfortable using the concrete blocks as your securing devices. This helps to keep you legal and in compliance with the product labels that require securing to the surface as one aspect of a tamper-resistant station. If these slight increases in the height of the station were actually a problem for rodents we would not be seeing major manufactures, like Bell and LiphaTech, coming out with stations that include the heavy base or plastic molds just for holding paving blocks under their stations. 

Another comment that Dr. Corrigan made that is of interest, and which may be important for you with this food industry account, concerns the question of whether or not bait stations around a structure are so attractive that they bring rodents to that structure that otherwise might not have been a problem. His studies indicate that this is not the case. The rodents do not detect the bait from very far away, so rats and mice in surrounding areas are only going to find the bait when they get very close to the station anyhow or when they get inside. The rodent also perceives that station as a hiding place – a secure cubbyhole that it can get into for a moment while it is investigating a new surrounding. We realize that rats and mice are subject to being preyed upon by other animals, and they know it. They instinctively forage in fear of being eaten, so any available opening will quickly be investigated. Once inside the station, if bait is found, they also begin to feed. They are opportunistic feeders and must get close to recognize it as food. 

NB's largest bat population wiped out, scientists say
CBC.ca
Researchers say the decimation of North American bats, who act as a natural pest control, could be costly to the food industry.Researchers say the decimation of North American bats, who act as a natural pest control, could be costly to the food …

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Pest & Disease Management – Beech bark disease
Horticulture Week
Even when this does not directly kill the tree, it can make it susceptible to attack by a wide range of secondary pests and pathogens. This is likely to render specimens unsafe in public places, even before they are killed by the initial beech bark …

Maine to hang purple traps to find invasive insect
Wausau Daily Herald
The Maine Forest Service said Thursday it is hanging more than 900 of the boxes across the state to trap emerald ash borers, invasive insects from Asia that can devastate local tree populations. The bugs are attracted to the color and scent of the trap …

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The reason I mention these is because the last two species may be more likely to feed on various things such as dead bugs, spider webs, and even fungus. I have seen large infestations of them on the white fungus growth on wood in a wet crawl space. But, let’s assume you have our standard clothes moths, and if it is the Casemaking clothes moth in the numbers you are finding you also ought to be able to see dozens of the little “cases” that the larvae make and drag around with them. 

Clothes moths are recyclers of animal matter, and this includes hair and feathers. With that many adults found in the attic perhaps you have some old dead animals tucked away up there. They could be so old that any odor from them is dissipated and no longer bothering anyone in the house below. It would be important for you to visually inspect the entire attic to determine what is lying around up there that these moths are depositing eggs on. Finding the source and removing it is the ultimate answer for controlling the problem, just as removing infested food resolves stored food pest issues. Until the source is gone you will continue to get adult moths emerging, and waiting for them to complete the work and disappear on their own could take awhile. In the meantime you may have, as you are seeing here, adult moths finding their way down into living areas where they then could find and infest more important materials in the home. 

Don’t overlook old animal nests (birds, rodents) where hair, feathers, and other debris could be left behind. Look for large numbers of wasp nests and other things left behind that might hold insect parts. Look for old stored foods as well, since the clothes moths may also infest old grain products. And, look for fungus growth on the wood, as this also is an alternative food resource for clothes moths. 

Simple Steps to Pest-Proof Your Home
Gwinnett Gazette
There are lots of things you can do that will greatly reduce, if not eliminate, the amount of pests that make themselves at home in your home. Exterior Doors: Check the weather stripping around all of your exterior doors. The easiest way to do this is …

Insects on menu to feed 9 billion humans
Science Network Western Australia
According to Professor Majer, the development of better techniques to rear safe, palatable insects for human consumption on an industrial scale is one of the challenges facing the market, as well as overcoming human resistance to the unfamiliar food …

The formulator may even be able to tweek the capsules in various ways to regulate the speed at which the active ingredient is released, such as modifying the size of the capsule or the thickness of the capsule walls. A very attractive aspect of these formulations is that many of them are water-based as the diluent, eliminating the use of solvents and oil diluents that added to the cost, odor, and toxicity. Within the enclosed capsule the active ingredient is not in contact with the water, preventing hydrolysis and degradation. Once the material is diluted with water for use and applied to a surface, the a.i. still within the capsule also is protected from UV light a pH, again extending the residual effect. A product like Demand CS, for example, will place more than 14,600 microscopic capsules on each square inch of the surface once applied according to the label, offering a tremendous opportunity for insect pests to contact them and have them adhere to their exoskeleton. 

Containing the active ingredient within the capsule does also greatly reduce the repellency of the a.i., as we saw with perhaps the first microencapsulated product to enter our structural market. This was Knox-Out 2FM, containing diazinon, and while diazinon EC and WP formulations tended to be repellant to ants the Knox-Out worked fairly well on them. It was the same old diazinon, but the level of the a.i. on a surface from a microencapsulated formulation was just that much less than from EC and WP applications. 

Another apparent advantage of microencapsulation is the tremendous reduction in relative toxicity to mammals. The LD-50 may be hundreds of times higher for the microencapsulated version than for the EC or WP. The capsules also tend to rest on the surface they are applied to, so for porous surfaces like wood or concrete they may be more effective and available to the pest insect. 

What you will also find in this resource on PestWeb is the version date for each document, so you can provide this to the customer when you download the Labels or MSDS’s for them. There is a terrible inconsistency among vendors and their documents. Nearly all MSDS’s will have the version date clearly listed on the MSDS, either near the top or near the bottom of the document. However, and very frustrating, the version dates on Labels are often not so clearly defined. Some vendors put NO version date whatsoever on their labels, and we  have spoken with some of them on this but it has not changed for some, while others agreed with the need for it and now do add the version date. 

Many vendors have a “date code” somewhere on their Labels, and this is often tough to decipher, and I don’t know why they continue to do this. A simple, standard date would say the same thing and be much more recognizable to the industry end users, which is who these labels are intended for. My suggestion to you is to use the date in the MSDS or Label column to the right of the product name for any vendor in our Product Documents database as the most accurate and current version date for that document. Where there simply is no date or date code on a vendor’s label we have put entered it as 1/1/00, and I apologize that this is the best we can do if those vendors will not add the dates.

I will also admit to some odd anomalies now and then. We review most vendors numerous times during the year to look for newer versions than those already on PestWeb. Now and then a “new” version of a Label or MSDS shows up on the manufacturer’s website that has a date already several years in the past, but it definitely only recently was placed there. This is the reason you may get a notification of a document update where the document’s version date is 2 or 3 years old instead of that day’s date. It is an interesting challenge, but we do our best for you. 

Bedbugs are on the rise in ND
Bismarck Tribune
AP | Posted: Sunday, April 29, 2012 12:10 am | (0) Comments Plunkett's Pest Control owner Stacy O'Reilly said the company is getting more calls all over the state. O'Reilly said it isn'ta big-city issue or a small-town issue.
Exterminators say bedbugs on the rise in NDNECN
Out-of-state exterminators go after Minot's bedbugsMinot Daily News

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What the new EPA requirements state is that IF the product label does not currently allow application INTO “drains or sewers”, but does allow use “around or near floor drains”, then that label must add new wording that specifically prohibits use directly into the floor drains or into any sewer or outside drain where the material could end up in a sewer or storm drain. The effort here is to add a level of protection against off-site movement of the pyrethroids that could allow them to end up in aquatic sites. 

On the other hand, if the product already has directions for use in drains or sewers then here is the exact new wording that will appear on the pyrethroid labels, and it is the last 6 words that are important: “Do not apply directly to sewers or drains, or to any area like a gutter where drainage to sewers, storm drains, water bodies, or aquatic habitat can occur, EXCEPT AS DIRECTED BY THIS LABEL”. With this you will continue to be allowed to treat sewers, storm drains, and directly into floor drains if the Label already has those directions on it. I would assume (that awful word “assume”) that manufacturers would intend to retain existing wording on this use. 

Therefore, a product like DeltaDust, which is labeled for sewers, underground passages, and floor drains should continue to have this application on the label, but will have the additional new wording that emphasizes the need to keep it out of drains that would carry it to nearby aquatic sites. Grease traps are a tough one to deal with, in part because they may often be the neglected unsanitary situation in commercial kitchens. Consider the use of one of the bio-cleaning products that will help to break down and eliminate the grease in the trap. One of these is the Invade BioBullet from Rockwell Labs, which is a solid block that can be placed directly into the trap to help digest the grease for up to a 3-month period. This could be an excellent add-on service you can offer to these kinds of customers. 

Pest, disease seminar in Munda
Solomon Star
More than 20 members of Kastom Gaden Association (KGA) in Munda, Western Province, will engage in a three day pest & disease seminar starting tomorrow. Mary Timothy KGA program support officer said the aim of the training is to give participants …

Pests appearing due to mild winter
UPI.com
DALLAS, April 29 (UPI) — In the past 12 months, 84 percent of America's homeowners experienced a pest problem — nearly half were invaded by ants, a US survey indicated. The survey, for HomeTeam Pest Defense, of 1319 US adults also found in the past …
Pest Problems Bug Homeowners EarlyHousing Predictor
Home owner tips: Developing a personal pest control and prevention planNewsolio (blog)

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Some of these may be obvious and important, such as gaps around pipes or cables that move through exterior walls. Filling these is easy and addresses what may be a large gap on a side wall. Gaps around doors and windows also could be filled in, and all of this also leads to better containment of heat or cooling to maintain the indoor temperature where wanted. There may be some very difficult ant pests, such as the white footed ant, where insecticides are not going to be the total answer, and sealing outside openings helps a great deal. This might include running a line of caulk along the underside of siding to close off those major gaps – once sealed properly the ants have to look somewhere else for entry. 

Trying to seal up gaps on the interior is going to be less likely to succeed, as there are just so many potential places ants could move into the home from wall voids or under floors or down from attics. But, the combination of cleanup and sanitation outdoors to remove ant harborage, keeping shrubs and trees from touching the structure and creating ant highways, moisture management outdoors, removal of food resources indoors, exclusion to eliminate entry points, and the use of contact insecticides and baits gives the best chance to win the battle.