It’s tick season and social media is blowing up with recommendations for removing ticks. Petroleum jelly, a hot match, twisting tools, and swirling with a cotton swab are a few on the list. They all promise to cause the tick to release with the head intact. People are very concerned about leaving the head behind….Continue Reading It’s tick season. Put away the matches.
Bad news for basil
Planning on pesto? Basil downy mildew can leave you with a pot of pasta and no sauce – and we have had reports of it in NY already this summer. Basil downy mildew is a disease that can survive on the seed and infect the plant as soon as it germinates. It can also travel…Continue Reading Bad news for basil
Rats, Fleas, the Media … Part II
When Cornell’s NYS IPM story — based on IPM entomologist Matt Frye’s research — hit the news a week ago, it made quite a splash. Back then, nearly 20 media outlets told the story: how Frye found over 6,500 lice, mites, and fleas on 113 rats live-trapped in New York City. And — that among…Continue Reading Rats, Fleas, the Media … Part II
Tis the Zzzzzzzzzz Season
After a long winter, warm weather is a welcome change. But no season is perfect. The air is abuzz with the zzzzzzzzzzz’ing of mosquitoes, a small insect that more than makes up for its size in its capacity to annoy. But mere annoyance is not the extent of the problem with mosquitoes. Itching and swelling…Continue Reading Tis the Zzzzzzzzzz Season
Skeeters, Ticks, and the Sandy Connection
Metro-New Yorkers can count on mosquitoes being even more of a hassle this year. Wherever Hurricane Sandy carved belowground gullies, however small, beneath streets or buildings — mosquitoes will find them. That’s because the rainwater that pools underground provide all the room these mosquitoes need to lay eggs….Continue Reading Skeeters, Ticks, and the Sandy Connection