You can have anything you want in life if you dress for it. —Edith Head I don’t know about you, but what I want in life is to go outdoors and enjoy beautiful weather without contracting a life-changing illness. And, thank goodness, it IS possible. In the long list of items you can do to…Continue Reading Tick Bite Prevention – Dressing the Part
Permethrin treated clothing – watch your timing
“One can never have enough socks.” ― Albus Dumbledore For Christmas, I gifted my step-family… socks. To be honest, I was a bit surprised by the delight with which the 8 and 10-year-old boys received them. (I didn’t get excited by socks until I was college-aged.) And, in my defense, they were good hiking socks….Continue Reading Permethrin treated clothing – watch your timing
Buy Local Christmas Trees
“Freshly cut Christmas trees smelling of stars and snow and pine resin, inhale deeply and fill your soul with wintry night.” – John Geddes Fresh cut Christmas trees look and smell beautiful. But did you ever stop to consider how these and other agricultural products support local businesses and local economies? It’s hard to see…Continue Reading Buy Local Christmas Trees
Avoiding tick habitat
“Tick species differ in where they prefer to hang out, but it is possible to come into contact with a tick anytime you leave the pavement.” – Don’t Get Ticked NY There are many tick resources out there and almost all of them include recognizing and avoiding tick habitat as a strategy for avoiding a…Continue Reading Avoiding tick habitat
Back to School – Keeping the Rodents Outside
“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
5th Annual Invasive Species Mapping Challenge
iMapInvasives has put out a call for help and we’re happy to do our bit. Check out this citizen science project looking at increasing the amount of information regarding invasive species throughout New York. Written by Mitchell O’Neill, End User Support Specialist for iMapInvasives. There is one more weekend in the 5th Annual Invasive Species…Continue Reading 5th Annual Invasive Species Mapping Challenge
NYSIPM partners with The Tick App
The Tick App: Studying human behavior, tick exposure and the risk of Lyme disease using a citizen science approach via a smartphone application. If you have heard any NYS IPM Program staff talk about ticks, you have probably heard us mention that there is a lot we don’t know about ticks. Or exactly how our…Continue Reading NYSIPM partners with The Tick App
Timely School IPM Tip #3: Sanitation
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
Timely School IPM #1: Scouting for Building Pests
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
Pests Take Advantage of Quiet School Buildings
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