“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” – Chinese proverb When it comes to integrated pest management, we talk, a lot, about prevention. Keeping mice and brown marmorated stink bugs out is preferable to dealing with them once they’re in your house. So remember those…Continue Reading What’s Bugging You? – Missed Opportunities
“The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.” ― Willie Nelson On a recent call with my mother, I learned she’d found holes in bags of rice, and so she’d put out traps. She expressed her hope that after catching four mice, she’d dealt with all of them. “Well, probably…Continue Reading What’s Bugging You? – Mice
Birds spark a deep wonder and endless fascination. They help us understand the living world and our connections to it. – Ian Owens, Executive Director, Cornell Lab of Ornithology February in New York can be a dull prospect. Sure, a fresh blanket of snow can transform the landscape, but shades of brown take over again…Continue Reading What’s Bugging You? – Birdseed Pests
“We should have little trouble with vermin if builders would hear and understand the ‘language’ of vermin and do a better job in eliminating their entrances and hiding place.” – Hugo Hartnak, 1939 Pests enter school buildings in one of two ways: they are transported in by students, staff, or delivery truck or they make…Continue Reading Back to School – Keeping the Rodents Outside
Lynn Braband has a favorite story about how he came to be employed by the New York State Integrated Pest Management Program. It occurred back in 1999 when Lynn’s experience with wildlife management brought him in contact with Director Jim Tette. Our story is that it was a good day for IPM. Statewide, regionally, nationally,…Continue Reading Best Wishes for a Pest-Free Retirement to Lynn Braband, NYSIPM Community IPM Educator!
This is the third and final post dedicated to tactics of school IPM most appropriate to the current situation of shuttered schools. (If your building is open to provide meals for at-home students, we applaud your efforts!) Post #1 Scouting, Post #2 Exclusion. Sanitation is a third step in structural pest management, as it reduces…Continue Reading Timely School IPM Tip #3: Sanitation
While pests like bedbugs are inactive waiting out school re-openings, the old standards like cockroaches and rodents can use quiet buildings to their advantage if habitat needs are met. Food, water and shelter are available in areas such as storage rooms, kitchens, boiler rooms and crawlspaces. If your building is currently unoccupied, pest activity can…Continue Reading Timely School IPM #1: Scouting for Building Pests
THIS IS A REPOST OF a JUNE 2015 SCHOOL IPM Blog post by Joellen Lampman. The timing is significant. Closed school buildings are the perfect time to tackled sanitation and exclusion efforts that are hard to manage with students in the building. If your school cafeteria is providing meals (thank you!), we’ll also be posting…Continue Reading Pests Take Advantage of Quiet School Buildings
Recently members of the NYS IPM Program met in Albany as part of a joint meeting of the Clean, Green, and Healthy Schools Steering Committee and the Statewide School IPM Committee. Clean, Green, and Health Schools is coordinated by the NYS Department of Health and helmed by Dr. Michele Herdt. Their purpose is to promote…Continue Reading Update on IPM in NY Schools
“That is a bracing cold, an invigorating cold. Lord, is it cold!” – Sheldon Cooper It is inevitable that when the temperatures drop below zero we are asked “Will this extended period of extremely low temps kill off ticks?” First, the bad news. We do not expect the cold to directly affect blacklegged or dog…Continue Reading Ticks and the freezing weather