Tag Archives: household pests

Gardener's Checklist, October

Gardener’s Checklist

October 2021

Garden Maintenance

  • Text: Leaves are not litter. They're food and shelter for butterflies, beetles, bees, moths, and more. Tell friends and neighbors to just #LEAVETHELEAVESProtect overwintering butterflies, beetles, bees, moths and more beneficial insects by leaving the leaves!
  • Make more plants!

Webinar: Make More Plants! Fall Propagation of Native Perennials – CCE Tompkins County

  • Dig up tender bulbs and tubers (i.e. cannas, dahlias, elephant ears, caladiums, etc.) and store them for the winter in a cool dry place.

Storing Tender “Bulbs” for Winter – University of Wisconsin-Madison Extension

  • A pile of tulip bulbs
    Tulip bulbs

    Plant spring-flowering bulbs.

VIDEO: Planting spring bulbs is easy! – University of Minnesota Extension

Pest Watch

  • Cluster of several spotted lanterfly adults near an egg mass laid on the trunk of a tree
    Spotted lanternfly adults and eggs

    Learn more about the Spotted Lanternfly.

VIDEO: Spotted Lanternfly: A New Invasive Pest – NYS IPM

  • Help keep spotted lanternfly from spreading! This invasive insect can lay its eggs in any surface, so make sure you check your car and any items that have been outside when traveling, especially in areas of know infestation like NJ and PA.

Confirmed Spotted Lanternfly Locations – NYS IPM

Checklist for Residents – Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture

  • Info-graphic: Live in Tick County? Do a daily tick check!Report any sightings of Spotted Lanternfly in New York.

Spotted Lanternfly Public Report

  • Do a daily tick check whenever you spend any time outside!

VIDEO: Keeping Pests Out of Your Home this Fall -NYS IPM

Vegetable Gardening

  • Garden bed covered with row cover
    Row cover

    Remove and dispose any diseased plants.  Do NOT put them in you compost pile.

Webinar: Winterize your Veggie Garden – Cornell Cooperative Extension Tompkins County

  • Take some time to learn more about your soil and then get it ready for spring planting.

Webinar: Understanding and Preparing Your Garden Soil – CCE Tompkins County

Happy Gardening!

Wheel Bug - Large Insect with what looks like have of a gear on its back
The wheel bug (Arilus cristatus), a predatory bug that is commonly seen in the fall.
August, Gardener's Checklist

Gardener’s Checklist

August 2021

Garden Maintenance

  • Deadhead annuals and perennials regularly too encourage new blooms.
  • Consider adding some herbs to you perennial flower garden.

    Japanese Knotwwed in full bloom
    Invasive Japanese Knotweed

Webinar: Gardening with Herbs – Cornell Cooperative Extension Chemung County

Pest Watch

A silken fall webworm nest at the end of a branch full of caterpillars.
Fall Webworm Nest
  • Keep pests out of your home this fall!

Webinar: Keeping Pests Out of Your Home this Fall: From Stink Bugs to Mice – NYS IPM

  • Scout your lawn for grubs⁠—before you treat!!

VIDEO: Using IPM to Assess Your Lawn for White Grubs – NYS IPM

  • Dump out any standing water from containers in your yard to prevent mosquito breeding.
A very holey head of cabbage a result of feeding by the imported cabbageworm
Imported cabbageworm damage on cabbage.

How to Manage Mosquitoes in the Landscape – New York State Integrated Pest Management

  • Scout often for pest in your vegetable garden.

What Kind of Insect is Destroying my Plants?– Gardening in Orange County New York Blog

Vegetable Gardening

  • Rejuvenate your soil by planting a fall cover crop such as barley or clover.
Light purple clover flower against a background of green leaves
Clover makes a great fall cover crop.

Webinar: Cover Crops for the Home Garden – Cornell Cooperative Extension Tompkins County

  • Continue to remove weeds, as they compete with your garden plants for water, sunlight, and space.
Bottom of basil eaf covered with downy mildew spores
Basil Downy Mildew
  • Preserve your bounty.

Webinars: Food Preservation – Cornell Cooperative Extension Tompkins County

Happy Gardening!

Black Swallowtail on Lupine ‘Tutti Fruitti’
Uncategorized

Pest Watch: The Northern Short-tailed Shrew

By Sharon Lunden, Goshen Master Gardener Volunteer

This article appeared in the February 2021 Issue of Gardening in Orange County.

Northern Short-tailed Shrew - Small gray rodent climbing out between two rocks Most references to the shrew are Shakespearean, a nod to this tiny, often unnoticed creature with its sharp snout, unafraid to fight. Shrews do not damage enough to technically be listed as pests. However, they may tangle with your pets, dine on your birdseed, or enter your home, particularly at this chilly time of year.

At first glance, you might confuse a shrew with a mouse or a mole. Shrews are cousins to moles and both have very small eyes, but moles are bigger and have larger forefeet for digging tunnels.

New York State shrews belong to the family Soricidae, in the subfamily Soricinae (known as “red-toothed shrews,” so named for their pigmented teeth). Shrews are the tiniest mammals in the world, native to most of the planet, and they generally subsist on a diet of insects and invertebrates.

Seven known species live in NYS, each preferring its own type of habitat: the Masked Shrew, Pygmy Shrew, Long-Tailed Shrew, Smoky Shrew, Least Shrew, American Water Shrew, and the Northern Short-Tailed Shrew (Blarina brevicauda), the one which you are most likely to encounter in your yard.

The Northern Short-Tailed Shrew is one of the larger shrews, growing up to 4 inches in length. They seek cover, so they make their nests in mole tunnels, under logs or rocks. They live in brushy areas, cultivated fields, or in your garden, and during the winter may enter sheds and barns. Though they usually burrow through plant debris or snow with their strong paws and sharp snouts, they can also climb trees to reach your bird feeder. Because they consume up to three times their weight in food each day, they are often active day and night. They have poor vision, so use echolocation to navigate (like bats), and they have very sensitive snouts which assist in locating prey. Their salivary glands produce a venom they chew into prey to immobilize them. This venom can cause short-term pain in a human, though you are unlikely to be bitten unless you try to handle a shrew. Northern Short-Tailed Shrews, particularly males, exude a musk in order to avoid becoming dinner for other predators. They also use it to attract a mate.

A picture of a shrew looking directly up at the cameraA snowstorm may be the best time to notice the small creatures living in your yard throughout the winter. You may see tiny footprints as evidence of rabbits and squirrels. In the case of the shrew there’s barely any imprint, but you can see its tiny paths along the surface of the snow.

A Northern Short-Tailed Shrew once snuck underneath our garage door during a snowstorm, then squeezed through our basement door to get warm, leaving a long, meandering pathway around our snowy yard up to the garage. A beautiful little thing, slightly stinky and unhappy to be caught, was released back into the yard—only to promptly return to the basement!

Fun Video

Watch a Short-tailed Shrew take on a garter snake!

Resources

Adirondack Wildlife: The Short-Tailed Shrew – Adirondack Almanack

Strange and Unbelievable Facts About Shrews – The Nature Conservancy

Uncategorized

Pest Watch: Carpet Beetles

By Cecille Jones, Monroe Master Gardener Volunteer

This article appeared in the December 2020 / January 2021 Issue of Gardening in Orange County.

A variegated beetle on a green leaf
Varied carpet beetle (Anthrenus verbasci)

Carpet beetles (Family Dermestidae) also know as dermestid beetles are a common household pest. Because they can cause damage to carpets, coats, blankets and even taxidermy mounts, you definitely do not want these pests in your home.

 

Purple button down sweater with lots of holes
Carpet beetle damage

The damage caused by these pests is often mistaken for that of clothes moths. Watch out for threadbare spots and irregular holes in your wool, fur, felt, silk, feathers and leather items. Cotton and synthetic fabrics such as polyester and rayon are rarely attacked unless they’re blended with wool or are heavily soiled with food stains or body oils.

But we are not done yet, although many species feed on animal based products, there are also several species that are considered pantry pests and will feed on dry food products such as milk powder, spices, seeds, and grains.

Carpet Beetle Lifecycle
A small variegated oval beetle on a pink flower
Carpet beetle on a flower

Carpet beetles enter your home by hitching rides on cut flowers, clothing or pets. They also can simply fly through open windows and doors. In the springtime, keep an eye on your windowsills – this is where they often appear.

Black carpet beetle larva, a short grub-like creature coverd in bristles, and adult, a small oblong black beetle
Black Carpet Beetle (Attagenus unicolor)

Once inside your home, female beetles lay between 50 to 100 eggs. In a couple weeks, the eggs hatch into worm like larvae.  Larvae measure from ⅛ to ¼ inch long, tan or brownish in color, slow moving and densely covered with hair or bristles.

Furniture carpet beetle larva, a short grub-like creature coverd in black bristles, and adult, a small round varigated beetle
Furniture Carpet Beetle (Anthrenus flavipes)

The larval stage is the damaging life stage.  Many species of carpet beetles feed on things of animal origin (i.e. hide, fur, feathers, leather, wool, dead insects, etc.), while other species are pantry pests and feed on dry food products (i.e. flour, spices, nuts, grains, pasta, cereal, etc.).  Depending on the species and the conditions in which they live (i..e. temperature, food source, etc.), they will feed from anywhere between three months and two years, before pupating.  A few weeks after pupation, they emerge as adults.  The adults are not considered pests and can be found out in your garden eating pollen from various flowers.

Management

To prevent an infestation, dry clean or launder susceptible items before storing them. This will kill eggs or larvae as well as remove odors that attract these pests. Storing susceptible items in air tight containers will also keep these damaging pests away.  Routine and thorough vacuuming is helpful in eliminating an infestation. As a supplement to good housekeeping, you can monitor for carpet beetles using baited or non-baited glue traps.

Fun Facts
Short oblong worm-like creature covered in bristles
Carpet beetle larva

Although carpet beetles probably won’t bite you, the hairs on the larvae can cause can cause an allergic reaction producing large, itchy red welts.

Carpet beetles are the bane of many insect collectors as they will feed on dried insect specimens reducing beautifully pinned specimens into a pile of dust.

Resources

Carpet Beetles – University of Kentucky

Carpet Beetles in Kindergarten – Northeastern IPM Center

When preschool and kindergarten students started getting large, itchy welts on their legs, and an investigation determined that the culprit was carpet beetle larvae on the new, natural-fiber carpets that school had purchased for its classrooms.

Dermestid Beetles (Carpet Beetles) – Colorado State University Extension