Archive for May, 2012

Tree Insect Bugging the Tri-State – Tristatehomepage.com

Tree Insect Bugging the Tri-State
Tristatehomepage.com
Horticulturalists say they have received many calls about the messes the insects make. That is because when the bug attaches itself to a tree, it begins sucking juices out of the tree. "Because all that juice that it's sucking out comes raining down as …

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Pests in the NewsMay 27, 2012

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May 25, 2012 – Mice In The Food Source

QUESTION:

We have a tomato greenhouse account where the major pest is mice. Recently they also started growing spices and herbs. The basil is very popular and the mice population has exploded. We had control with bait stations in the four corners and at a work station. Now the desision has been made to place bait stations on the exterior of the greenhouse. My question is how do I determine how many bait stations I need? Is there a formula?

ANSWER:

No, there really is no formula for how many stations or traps to place, nor for how far apart they should be. Dr. Corrigan made this point at an NPMA conference recently, challenging the ages-old formula that we should place mouse stations 10 feet apart and rat stations 20 feet apart, which was sort of the industry standard for them for many years. This was based on the presumption that mice were real homebodies and might not venture further than 10 feet from their harborage, and rats no more than 20 feet. The reality is that both of these resourceful animals will travel as far as necessary to go from available harborage to available food, so you need to carefully evaluate these two circumstances and place your stations and/or traps based on what you find. You also need to think “vertically” as well as horizontally, as both rats and mice are excellent climbers, and the harborage could be overhead with the food directly below. 

In the case of exterior baiting you may not have a reason to place many stations along lengthy sections of the exterior walls if there is no reason. There may be no entry points for long distances, and your preferred station placements may be near entrances that you are unable to permanently seal. You want them where you have the best likelihood that the wandering rodents are going to stumble upon them, at which point they are likely to enter the station, perceiving it as a momentary secure place as they wander around exposed to dangers. Once inside they will find food available and hopefully accept it at that time. 
Interesting that you were achieving good control in the past with placements at only those 4 locations. Perhaps this tells you something about the dynamics of this problem. Perhaps the interior harborages were centered near those places, and this may still be the situation if nothing else has changed. Perhaps it was at the corners where the most convenient entrances were for the mice, or that immediately outside those points there was some harborage resource that was feeding the mice to the greenhouse. It might be of value to take a careful look around the exterior to see what can be changed to upset the routines that these rodents have gotten into. The further you can push them away from the greenhouse the more likely you will get them into stations you place on the exterior, causing them to have to travel further to get to the food resource and in that process to be more exposed to predators and other hazards. 
Another suggestion made by an industry consultant years ago is NOT to skimp on stations. Use lots of them initially until you determine how large the population is and where you are getting the best results. You can always remove stations that show zero activity, but leave those that are clearly being visited by the mice. Use a combination of snap traps, multiple-catch traps, and even glue traps within stations designed for them. And, do take a good look at ways to exclude the mice from the structure as well as eliminate contributing conditions outside. 

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Pest QuestionsMay 27, 2012

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May 26, 2012 – Sprayer Pressure Is Important

QUESTION:

Kind of an odd question – approximately how many full pumps are required on a nicely maintained B&G 1 gallon stainless steel sprayer? The label on Masterline Bifenthrin 7.9 states it should be used indoors at or under 25 p.s.i., and I kind of feel like buying and using a pressure gauge for such a basic task is unreasonable.
I have been under the impression that, in general, a surface area sprayed with a finer mist would allow the area to be more evenly treated, whether it’s carpet, tile, or something else. I know there are some cases where some of the spray actually bounces off (as I’ve learned in reading about flea broadcast sprays), but do you know why the 25 psi thing was mentioned? Also, would you recommend a very high (but reasonable and safe) pressure be used on outside band sprays?
Another question about application rates on granular products. If a label states 8 oz per 100 sq feet, is the easiest way to apply it to measure 8 oz of the product, place it in a little shaker, and try to place that pre-measured amount reasonably evenly throughout the 100 sq feet?

ANSWER:

These are REALLY important questions, so I’ll go on for awhile. First on the sprayer, and the nozzle tips on hand sprayers may be one of the most overlooked items in our tool box. They get clogged and worn as time goes on and eventually the spray volume and pattern that you THINK are coming out of them no longer are. I once had a technician complaining that the flea product he used was no good and was simply not controlling fleas. So, I watched him apply it one time and realized that instead of the even fan pattern he “thought” was being applied to the carpet, his clogged and worn spray tip was putting out two widely spaced pin streams. Probably 95% of the carpet wasn’t even being treated because he failed to check his equipment and to test it now and then to be certain it was in good working condition. 

Spray tips are designed to put out the proper GPM and spray pattern when the pressure in the tank is a specific PSI. When the pressure is not the ideal pressure for that sprayer and its parts you may be fracturing the droplets into too fine a mist or allowing it to dribble out and miss the proper pattern for that application. B&G Equipment Co. has an excellent article on this topic on their website, and I think I’d call it “must” reading for everyone. We can’t use spray tips as hammers or pry bars and expect them to perform properly forever. On this article they state that the B&G sprayer and 4-way tip work best at about 20 psi, but human nature is to want to have to pump that darned tank up as few times as possible during a job. And, we get some feeling of satisfaction hearing the spray pounding onto the surface. So, our tendency is to pump it initially until we absolutely cannot get another pump done, and then to spray until the liquid is barely coming out any more. The reality is that we probably start at 100 psi and go until it’s below 10 psi. 
This is the advantage that a pressure gauge provides – knowing exactly what the pressure in the tank is so you can keep it within the range that allows the equipment to perform as it is designed to, as well as to keep you within the legal requirements on many product Labels. B&G and others have tried over the decades to develop an effective and reasonably priced “electric” pump hand sprayer that maintains the tank pressure at the optimal level. Their Portable Aerosol System does this today, but only for void injection or crack and crevice applications. 
A surface application, for fleas for example, is done best when all of the spray droplets land on the surface you are aiming at. When fine droplets (“mist”) are created it is likely they will float off to someplace else, perhaps even onto surfaces that should not be treated. When the pressure is optimal and the spray tip is in perfect condition that “fan” pattern should be ejecting equal amounts of liquid from one side of that fan to the other, and you would not want stray droplets going to other places. Keeping the pressure where it is supposed to be helps to eliminate that “bouncing” effect, also known as “off site” application. For exterior uses the same rules really do apply. Pumping up the sprayer to an unreasonably high pressure only defeats the work of the spray nozzle, although it does give us the satisfaction of less pumping and faster wetting of the surface. Here is where it may be more appropriate to switch to one of the backpack sprayers instead of a small hand tank. 
For granular applications, just as with liquids and with fogging, it is critical to know exactly how much material you are applying to any given surface area or volume. I’m willing to bet that 95% of technicians in our industry do not calibrate their granular applications. If you don’t really know how much you are applying over that surface you easily could be under or over dosing, one that leads to ineffective control and one that leads to a fine for misuse. Perhaps the best way to calibrate is to accept that YOU turn the handle on the spreader at a rate “normal” for you and that you walk at a speed normal for you. So, mark off a 1000 square foot area, place a measured amount of granules in your spreader, and then treat that 1000 square feet in the normal manner for you. Then measure the weight of the material still in the spreader and the difference is the amount that YOU apply over 1000 square feet of surface. This also relies on using a consistent opening on that spreader if you have one that is adjustable. 
I know this is always going to be somewhat of an estimate, as we really don’t expect anyone to use a measuring tape to mark off 1000 square foot plots around the yard, but you should get a feel for what that area looks like so your application is reasonably within the Label allowances. Using your suggestion would work too, but instead of trying to make that 8 ounces evenly cover that 100 feet, and in so doing perhaps try to change your own normal application style, just find out how much you do use over 100 square feet and then you will know for other uses how much to put in the spreader. 

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Pest QuestionsMay 26, 2012

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Hearts Management Receives Recognition as One of San Diego County’s Healthiest Companies

Hearts Management, Southern California’s only EcoWise Certified company and leader in organic methods is proud to have been selected as a finalist for the 3rd Annual Healthiest Companies Awards through the San Diego Business Journal.

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Pests in the NewsMay 25, 2012

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Vacation Season Begins High Risk Period For Spread Of Emerald Ash Borer

“When people take firewood with them on their camping and hiking vacations, they can unknowingly transport these or other damaging . It might seem harmless to pack a few pieces of seasoned firewood along with your gear, but it’s not.

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Pests in the NewsMay 25, 2012

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Treasure Coast mosquito control districts start spraying this week to keep at bay

Mosquito control workers on the Treasure Coast are fighting this year’s first broods of salt marsh mosquitoes by flooding marshes along the Indian River Lagoon to spoil breeding conditions for the biting and spraying places where they have …

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Pests in the NewsMay 25, 2012

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Insect swarms near streetlights contain more predators and scavengers

A study by the University of Exeter has found that street lighting has transformed communities of , and affected the balance of different species living together in urban environments. A team of researchers, led by Tom Davies of the Environment and …

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Pests in the NewsMay 25, 2012

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Ticks and Fleas Pose a Threat to Family Pets – MarketWatch (press release)

Ticks and Fleas Pose a Threat to Family Pets
MarketWatch (press release)
The National Pest Management Association (NPMA) reminds pet owners to take precautions to protect their pets from pests when outside this season. "The NPMA predicted an especially heavy tick season, making it all the more important that pet owners …

and more »

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Pests in the NewsMay 25, 2012

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FOX19.com-Cincinnati News, Weather & SportsS. Bend to remove 100 ash trees … – FOX19

FOX19.com-Cincinnati News, Weather & SportsS. Bend to remove 100 ash trees …
FOX19
An apartment fire in North College Hill broke out around 1:20 Wednesday morning, injuring two people. Police and firefighters quickly arrived on scene, followed by an ambulance. Witnesses saw a girlFull Story > A Reds pitcher was arrested in Grove City …

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Pests in the NewsMay 25, 2012

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May 23, 2012 – False Or Wind – What Kind of Scorpion

QUESTION:

I had a women contact my office the other day stating that she had pseudo-scorpions in her closet. My office is in Northern Ohio (Toledo). Is this possible and what would the treatment be?

ANSWER:

There could be a case of mistaken identity here. Where she says “pseudo” scorpion, which is another name for the small False Scorpions that are found under bark, she may be meaning “wind” or “sun” scorpion, which is more properly called a Solpugid. I suppose it is perfectly possible that you could have either one, but the larger solpugids are more likely to be seen walking around inside a home. These predatory animals are harmless and non-venomous cousins of true scorpions, and rely on a very aggressive nature and excellent shredding mandibles to capture and subdue their prey, which is other small arthropods. They are most common in arid regions such as the Southwest states, but we get them in the mountains of California where it gets cold in the winter, so no reason some couldn’t exist just fine in the Upper Midwest. 

False scorpions are very small and also are predatory, but they are usually found under bark or leaf litter. They have tiny poison glands in their claws that they use to subdue the tiny insects they feed on, but they are completely harmless to people. I found them in numbers under the wings of a huge beetle in South America one time, likely there to feed on the mites that parasitize the beetle. A win-win for both beetle and false scorpion. 
Control is unnecessary other than putting the critter in a jar and placing it back outside where it can serve some benefit to the landscape by eating other bugs. If the customer is too fearful to do this a vacuum works well, and exclusion to seal off entry points under doors in order to keep them outside. If it actually turns out to be the tiny false scorpions and not a Solpugid then they were brought into the house in some material where they were hiding, and examining thing before bringing them in will stop this. 
By the way. Solpugids are also erroneously called “camel spiders” and a myth spread around the internet some years ago about the terrible dangers these awful creatures posed to soldiers in Iraq. None of the information spread about them was true, other than the fact that some large species do live in Iraq. 

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Pest QuestionsMay 25, 2012

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