Posts Tagged: insect control
Mites Biting?
Advice for the Home Gardener from the Help Desk of the
UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County
Help Desk Response: As I said in our conversation today, your insect is not a bed bug, but rather a mite of some kind. From its appearance, I believe it is a rat mite. There are also bird mites that can invade homes and bite people, but its appearance is closer to the rat mite.
These mites need rodents to survive, but will come into homes when their preferred hosts die or decrease in number. They cannot survive for too long without their hosts, even though they feed on humans. If there is a large population of rodents (rats or mice) in your attic or crawlspace, you might see a continued presence of these mites.
Here is a link to information from Contra Costa Vector Control District: https://www.contracostamosquito.com/mites.htm and from
Alameda County Vector Control about biting mites:
http://acvcsd.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Mites.pdf.
I didn't ask if you had rodent problems in your home, but I would be surprised if you did not (rat infestations are very common in our area). These links below are to information about controlling rats and mice: http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74106.html;
http://ipm.ucanr.edu/QT/housemousecard.html.
More information can also be found on the Vector Control districts.
I hope this information is helpful and you're able to get rid of these pesky biting creatures. Please let us know if you have more questions.
Help Desk of the UC Master Gardener Program of Contra Costa County (SEH)
Note: UC Master Gardeners Program of Contra Costa's Help Desk is available almost year-round to answer your gardening questions. Except for a few holidays (e.g., last 2 weeks December), we're open every week, Monday through Thursday for walk-ins from 9:00 am to Noon at 2380 Bisso Lane, Concord, CA 94520. We can also be reached via telephone: (925) 608-6683, email: ccmg@ucanr.edu, or on the web at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/Ask_Us/. MGCC Blogs can be found at http://ccmg.ucanr.edu/HortCoCo/ You can also subscribe to the Blog.
Upcoming Extension Meetings: September 2018
2018 Alfalfa and Forage Field DayWednesday, September 19, 2018Kearney Agricultural Research and...
2018 Alfalfa Day - Kearney Agenda
Upcoming Extension Meetings: August 2018
There are several meetings featuring the research of UC ANR Staff coming up this month (August...
Aphid Farming
I’ve been walking past this Pittosporum tobira ‘Variegata’ for at least five years now. It’s in my ‘kitchen’ raised bed, which should have become a vegetable bed, but, lacking enough sun and requiring major soil amendment, became a place to put plants that I could see from the kitchen. The pittosporum made its way there under false pretences. It’s supposed to produce sweet-smelling white flowers, but its attractive branch structure and variegated leaves are more interesting.
I’ve been pruning it back periodically, because it is really too big for the space, but my husband likes its location (hence the pruning). A few weeks ago, in a vain search for possible flower buds, I noticed that the new growth had aphids. Not only aphids, but a full complement of ants. It didn’t surprise me, but it means I will have to take some action.
Usually when there are aphids on my roses (which, in Quebec only happens in the spring), I wipe them off or remove them with a blast of water from the hose. If I feel it’s necessary, I’ll use some insecticidal soap solution, but that is rare. Of course, in California it seems as though it’s always spring, and pruning stimulates new growth. If you prune and fertilize, you’ll get lots of fresh, leggy, sweet-tasting new shoots.
So, the ants followed the honeydew trail, and they are "farming" the aphids for their that substance. They protect aphids from predators, like any good farmer, ants protect a food source, and they eat the aphid excrement. Now I have a dual problem. I’ll let you know what I do to solve it!