- Author: Elaine Lander
While you are outside gardening or inside doing your spring cleaning, you may have recently found small, round, speckled beetles you've never seen before. We've had several questions this past week about insects crawling around windowsills, found on screens, or noticed on outdoor plants, or fuzzy, oblong insects on carpets or rugs. What are they? While there are many insects starting to emerge from their winter rest, if you are finding small beetles like these, they could be carpet beetles!
Carpet beetles are pests of homes, warehouses, and museums. In California, there are 3 species that damage fabrics, carpets, and stored foods including the varied carpet beetle,...
- Author: Elaine Lander
February is a month where we celebrate and acknowledge many things: Black History Month, Valentine's Day, Groundhog Day, President's Day, and others. But did you know February is also National Pesticide Safety Education Month? While pesticide safety is important year round, we at UC IPM are taking time to reinforce this topic to help those who use pesticides stay safe.
Pesticides used in gardens, landscapes, and around the home include store bought products, aerosol bug sprays, weed killers (herbicides), concentrated or ready-to-use products, and even home-made mixtures used for killing pests.
Basic Pesticide Safety
/h2>- Author: Belinda J. Messenger-Sikes
- Author: Lisa A Blecker
- Posted by: Elaine Lander
Insecticide foggers, also known as total release foggers or “bug bombs” (Figure 1), are popular products widely available in many retail nurseries and garden centers as well as drug stores, supermarkets, and convenience stores. These easy-to-use products may seem to provide an easy way to kill a lot of bugs fast and may be viewed as more convenient and cheaper than hiring a pest management professional. But do they work?
Are Foggers Effective?
Foggers can be used effectively to kill pests that are flying around or resting on surfaces, like flies, but there are better long-term and more effective...
/h2>- Author: Elaine Lander
If you're planning to get a holiday tree for your home, you may find unexpected guests have already made their home in your evergreen selection. Common holiday trees such as firs, pines, and spruces can host pests such as aphids, scales, mites, bark beetles, or even praying mantis egg cases. These pests may be present regardless of whether you select your tree from a local tree lot or go to cut your holiday tree at a nearby tree farm or forest. But...