The holiday season is fast approaching! With many people traveling and visiting new places during this time, it's important to understand how to check for bed bugs and prevent them from coming home with you.
Regardless of what type of lodging you choose–hotel, motel, cabin, or other type of rental–no place is immune to bed bug introductions or infestations. Follow these tips for a bed bug-free holiday.
When settling into your room
- Before putting your luggage down on the bed, couch, or floor, do a quick bed bug check. You can either leave the luggage in the hall or place it in the bathtub, where bed bugs are not likely to be.
- Thoroughly inspect the bed, nightstand, upholstered furniture, and closets. You can use a flashlight or a phone light to help you look for bed bugs, shed skins, or fecal spots. Look along mattress seams, under covers, around the box spring, behind headboards and picture frames, and along baseboards.
- Watch this video to learn how to do a bed bug inspection: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWCc3Mngo7E&t=2s
After you return home
- Before bringing luggage inside your home, inspect it for any signs of bed bugs that may have hitched a ride. Store luggage away from the bedroom to prevent potential introductions.
- Launder all the clothes from your trip on the hottest settings to kill bed bugs or their eggs that may have gone unnoticed. For items that cannot be washed, freezing them for several days will also kill all stages of bed bugs.
To learn more about bed bug identification and management, see the UC IPM Pest Notes: Bed Bugs. Staying home for the holidays? Here are some tips to host a bed bug-free holiday!
- Author: Lauren Snowden
- Posted by: Elaine Lander
Originally posted on the UC Master Gardener Program Statewide Blog
During the holiday season many plants, cut flowers and flowering bulbs are used as decoration and given as gifts. Many of these items can be poisonous to both humans and pets with long-term negative effects to one's health. Plant poisoning can range from simple rashes and blisters all the way to organ damage and in severe cases death. Be safe this holiday season by being mindful of what plants and flowers you are either giving, receiving or decorating with. Common holiday plants that pose a toxic risk are: Amaryllis (bulb portion), Chrysanthemums, Holly (berries), Mistletoe (berries and leaves) and Poinsettia.
Simple steps can be taken to help minimize the risk that poisonous or toxic plants cause when brought into the home.
- Know what plants you have in your home and the health risks they pose
- Place poisonous plants out of reach of children and pets
- Teach children not to put any part of a plant in their mouth
- Discard plant leaves and flowers in a safe way so that children and pets cannot get to them
- Use protective gloves and clothing when handling plants that may be irritating to the skin
- Wash your hands after handling plants
- Don't garnish food trays or tables with poisonous plants
Signs of poisoning range from dizziness, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea or stomach cramps. Some plants can cause irritation to the skin, mouth and tongue and immediate burning pain. The signs of poisoning may not appear immediately so if you suspect that someone has been poisoned by a plant, telephone your doctor or the Poison Control Center 1-800-222-1222. If you are advised to go to an emergency room, take the plant or a part of it with you (take more than a single leaf or berry). Take the label, too, if you have it. The correct name can result in the proper treatment if the plant is poisonous. If the plant is not dangerous, knowing the name can prevent needless treatment and worry.
Resources:
To view a list of safe and toxic plants for humans please visit: http://ucanr.edu/sites/poisonous_safe_plants/
To view a list of safe and toxic plants for animals please visit: http://ucanr.edu/sites/poisonous_safe_plants/Plant_Toxicity_Levels_523/
For houseplant pest problems visit: http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74172.html
Pittenger, Dennis. California Master Gardener Handbook--2nd Ed, Davis, UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, 2015.
/h3>/div>/span>- Author: Ed Perry
The Christmas cactus (Schlumbergera bridgesii) is native to the jungles of South America, and available in a wide variety of colors including red, purple, oranges, pinks and creams. Its pendulous stems make it a great plant for hanging baskets.
While the Christmas cactus can adapt to low light, more abundant blooms are produced on plants that have been exposed to high light. While indoors, keep your plants in a sunny location. You can move your Christmas cactus outdoors in summer, but keep it in a shady or semi-shady location. Too much direct sunlight during the summer months can turn the leaves yellow, or even burn the leaves.
The Christmas cactus prefers warm temperatures. Good, vigorous growth occurs at temperatures between 70 to 80 degrees F during its growing season from April to September. However, evening temperatures of 55 to 65 degrees F are best for flower bud formation. When you move your plant indoors in fall, keep it away from heat vents, fireplaces or other sources of hot air, especially once flower buds are set. Continuous warm temperatures - especially above 80 degrees F - can cause the flower buds to drop.
The Christmas cactus also requires thirteen hours or more of continuous darkness each day before flowering will occur. This occurs naturally in fall. Street lights, car lights or indoor lighting can disrupt the required dark period, causing a lack of flowering.
The plant is not a true cactus and is not quite as drought tolerant as the name infers. However, it is a succulent plant and can tolerate some drying. Water thoroughly when the top half of the soil in the pot feels dry to the touch. During the summer, water so that the soil is always slightly moist. The plant does not tolerate wet, waterlogged soil conditions, especially during the dark days of winter. When fall arrives, water the plant only well enough to prevent wilting.
The Christmas cactus flowers best when kept somewhat potbound. Plants should be repotted in spring every two or three years, or whenever the pot is filled with roots and the soil no longer holds water and nutrients.
Fertilize your Christmas cactus with a soluble houseplant fertilizer every three to four weeks when new growth starts in early spring, and throughout the summer. Reduce the fertilizer during the fall and early winter. During flower bud formation, stop fertilizing and only water enough to keep the leaves from becoming shriveled.
Prune your Christmas cactus after blooming to encourage the plant to branch out. Remove a few sections of each stem by pinching them off with your fingers or cutting with a sharp knife. You can start new plants by rooting the stem tips in moist potting soil.
Ed Perry is the emeritus Environmental Horticultural Advisor for University of California Cooperative Extension (UCCE) in Stanislaus County where he worked for over 30 years.
- 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 don't worry, any insects on your holiday tree are not harmful to you or your home.
- When you have selected your tree, vigorously shake your tree to dislodge crawling or flying insect pests.
- Before bringing your tree inside, examine the branches and trunk and prune any infested branches.
- After your tree is inside, continue to monitor and vacuum any insect you find around the base of the tree.
- Avoid spraying the tree with any pesticide, as they could be flammable and most likely not intended for tree pests or labeled for indoor use. Even if sprayed on the tree while outside, you are still bringing the tree inside and could expose yourself and your family to pesticides.
Rest assured, most holiday trees will be free of pest infestations, but for more information on pests specific to holiday trees in California, please see the UC IPM website information on pests of trees, shrubs, and woody ornamentals.
We're looking for your feedback! Please consider taking a quick, anonymous survey to help us serve you better: https://bit.ly/2ZJJVEI
- Author: Elaine Lander
- Editor: Karey Windbiel-Rojas
While many of you are preparing for the 4th of July holiday, we at UC IPM are also thinking about stars and stripes but in a slightly different way: yellow starthistle and striped skunks.
As you celebrate July 4th, be sure to cover up to avoid mosquito bites when outdoors and watch out for yellowjackets that may be foraging for food while you barbecue. If you're watching fireworks light up the sky, we hope you'll be reminded of dandelion puffballs “exploding” and sending their seeds in the wind to establish new plants (and then look up how to remove them).
If you are going camping, be sure not to move any invasive insects with you by buying firewood near your camping location. At the campsite, beware of raccoons, ants, and poison oak!
Wishing you a safe (and pest free) holiday!