You bet! Rat poisons or rodenticides are pesticides designed to kill rodents, like mice and rats. They are formulated as baits that include tasty ingredients like peanut butter, molasses, and grains to attract animals. These ingredients can be also attractive to children and pets. Rodenticide baits are not only poisonous for rodents, but they can […]
Can Rat Poison Hurt Kids and Pets? Read More »
Flies that find their way into the kitchen, or buzz around the barbeque are common this time of year. These irritating pest flies include the house fly, face fly, stable fly, and blow flies. They breed in animal and food wastes and decaying organic material, where they can pick up bacteria and viruses that may
Along with the warm, sunny days of summer comes a scourge of pests – spider mites. These little arachnids, related to spiders, look like tiny moving dots. The eight-legged, oval shaped adults live in colonies, primarily on the under-surfaces of leaves and a single colony may contain hundreds of individuals. They overwinter as mated females
These Pests Love Hot, Dry, And Dusty! Read More »
If you’ve grown tomatoes for a few years, chances are you use plants known to be free of and resistant to two common deadly fungal diseases, fusarium and verticillium wilt. But did you know that the blackened branch on a prized Japanese maple, towering ash, or verdant pepper tree may be the result of infection
Are Your Tomatoes Wilting? Read More »
July 16 is World Snake Day: an opportunity to celebrate snakes and raise awareness about their preservation. While snakes are threatened by many of the same issues that affect all wildlife (habitat loss, climate change, and disease), negative attitudes toward snakes may be the biggest barrier to their preservation because it often impedes efforts to
Snakes are good for the Garden Read More »
Many gardeners fertilize their yard based on the calendar rather than what is actually needed by the plant. Do you know if the nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium (main nutrients in fertilizer) levels are actually low? You can save yourself time and money by testing your soil with simple test kits. When you know what is
Before you fertilize ….. Read More »
National Pollinator Week, this year June 16 – 22, is an annual event celebrated internationally in support of pollinator health. It’s a time to celebrate pollinators and spread the word about what we can do to protect them. Pollinator Week was initiated and is managed by Pollinator Partnership, and more than fifteen years ago the
It’s National Pollinator Week! Read More »
Grrrrr – while merrily tending my roses, I’ve come across another victim of the dreaded beast – the gopher. If this is not one of the gardening challenges you face, you can stop reading now. Since I live in gopher heaven, each season I have to deal with the damage from this voracious pest. And
Traps are the Most Reliable Way to Manage Gophers Read More »
There’s a whole lot of buzzing going on – bees are busy doing their thing, zipping from flower to flower, moving pollen from one to the other, bringing the promise of plump peaches, tasty tomatoes, and humdinger zucchini. There are also ones that might be drilling little holes in the eaves of your roof or
A Bee or Not a Bee, that is the Question Read More »
With the wet winter weather behind us, you may now be dealing with some of its impacts. Time to get ahead of the curve with preventing pest problems:
After the Wet Weather Read More »
