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1. Ants
Most people deal with ants around their home at some point. Because most ants live outdoors, focus efforts on keeping ants from entering buildings by caulking entryways. Follow good sanitation practices to make your home less attractive to ants. Spraying ants inside the home will not prevent more ants from entering. Use baits to control the ant colony. Pesticide baits work by attracting worker ants who then take the poison back to the nest where the entire colony, including queens, can be killed. In the landscape, ants protect...
/h2>- Author: Anne Schellman
- Author: Karey Windbiel-Rojas
May 17 is World Packrat Day, a designated date for those who revel in collecting and keeping large amounts of “stuff.” Unfortunately, when your home, garage, or storage areas are full of extra items, it can create clutter and foster an environment that attracts and harbors pests. Below is a short list of some household pests that are also happy to celebrate this day.
Cockroaches prefer warm, moist environments with places to hide. There are several species of cockroaches, so identification is the first step in management. Consult the Pest Note: Cockroaches for help.
Clothes moths may...
- Author: Anne Schellman
- Author: Karey Windbiel Rojas
Gardeners and other consumers frequently look to retail nursery and garden center employees to answer questions about pests and pesticides. To help retailers stay abreast of current pest topics facing California, UC IPM held a workshop for retail employees on January 28, 2016 in Ontario, CA focusing on integrated pest management (IPM) concepts and current issues. Partnering with local UC Cooperative Extension (UCCE) Advisors and Specialists, the day was filled with information participants could bring back to customers to address their pest and plant problems.
Topics addressed in these workshops include:
- Invasive Pests
- Asian citrus psyllid and...
UC IPM has created a diagnostic tool to help easily diagnose pest problems in your garden or landscape.
To get started using the tool, you'll first need to identify the affected plant in your landscape. Then, choose one of the four Plant Types categories that best describes it. To do this, click on the photo directly or use the +Add to my list button.
You will know the choice was made when...
Spring is a good time to begin monitoring for any lawn insect pests. Pest examples include various root, crown and leaf-feeding caterpillars, grubs like masked chafers, billbugs and chinch bugs.
Although insects can be serious pests of lawns, lawn damage is more frequently due to lack of proper cultural care and/or improper grass species selection for your area. An unhealthy lawn is more easily attacked by insects, weeds and diseases.
Insects are sometimes are blamed for lawn damage when the culprit may actually be disease-causing pathogens, dog urine, or abiotic causes such as leaving an item on the lawn for some time and inappropriate use of garden chemicals such as fertilizers and herbicides.
It's important to...