- Author: Karey Windbiel-Rojas
- Author: Belinda J. Messenger-Sikes
Instructions for making homemade mixtures to control pests are easy to find online and in social media, and it's tempting to make your own home remedy when pests invade. Doing so may seem like a natural, organic, and non-chemical solution, but did you know that what you are mixing is considered a pesticide? A pesticide is any mixture used to kill, destroy, repel, or mitigate a pest.
Pesticide mixtures of household ingredients like dish soap, garlic, and vinegar (Figure 1) may seem harmless and safer than storebought formulated pesticides, but they can actually pose unrealized risks.
What is the concern with homemade pesticides?
While ingredients in home remedies are items we might eat or use in the kitchen, the...
- Author: Elaine Lander
- Author: Karey Windbiel-Rojas
While we continue to spend more time than usual indoors, you may have noticed a few unexpected (and perhaps unwanted) co-occupants like ants, cockroaches, or mice. Luckily, UC IPM has a series of fact sheets called Pest Notes to help you identify and manage hundreds of different pests in and around the home, only a portion of which might come indoors.
Any room in the home can attract and harbor indoor pests including kitchens, pantries, bathrooms, closets, storage areas, or other living spaces. Prevent and reduce indoor pest problems by cleaning and decluttering indoor spaces. This removes access to food, water, and shelter for pests such as ants, carpet beetles,...
- Author: Karey Windbiel-Rojas
Invasive pests threaten California's natural environments, agricultural production,
- Author: Belinda J. Messenger-Sikes
- Author: Karey Windbiel-Rojas
Weeds are usually thought of as native plants we don't want in areas such as landscapes, fields, or vegetable gardens either because they reduce economic output or they are considered aesthetically displeasing. Invasive plants are generally non-natives that infest natural ecosystems and can become problems.
There are four distinctions between a weed and an invasive plant. The first is how they are introduced to an area. Weedy plants in gardens, landscapes, or in agricultural fields are usually accidentally introduced. While that is sometimes true for invasive plants, they are more often intentionally introduced as ornamental plants, for aquarium use, or for food or fiber...
- Author: Donald R. Hodel
- Posted by: Elaine Lander
