EPA Bed Bug Summit 2011

Next Tuesday is the second Bed Bug Summit being offered by the US Environmental Protection Agency in Washington DC. I plan to be there, pending snow and ice predicted for my area those days. I attended the last summit in 2009 and found it to be extremely interesting, and as the months and years went by and the ideas that were born at this summit grew, productive. The last Summit was about ideas, a national brainstorming if you will, but this one I hope is a Summit about solutions. We have protocol and procedure in place. We know about the chemical resistance and crazy genes these bugs have. We know about the research and we know about the turmoil these bugs are bringing to cities across the country. Now it is time for action. The government needs to understand we need solutions. We need a relaxing of the rules if you will to introduce effective chemicals to the market. We need research dollars. We need answers.
We shall see....we shall see.

Flies in the Winter Time?

Were you ever sitting at your dinner table or maybe watching the evening news when something catches the corner of your eye and you look to see a fly hovering about? Did I mention it was winter time? Believe it or not, it is not that uncommon for flies to emerge during warm days in the winter and come out to cause you some winter time stress, because we all know that they usually emerge when guests are over or you are preparing dinner, and what's more disgusting for either of those two events then some big lumbering flies hanging about?

The culprit in this winter time mystery is most likely a cluster fly. These buggers breed in earth worms and once seen inside the house, are most likely entering from a hole or gap in the house and have already set up shop in your cozy abode. So what do you do to get rid of them you ask? Vacuum. If you are seeing them in the winter, the best approach to get rid of your fly problem is to use a vacuum with a hose attachment and suck them away. Once it gets warmer outside, have a look around your windows and roof line and where the pipes enter the building to see if there are any gaps that these flies can get in and seal them up.

Cluster flies are not doubt an annoyance, but with a little diligence and caulk, you can start the control process with the ultimate result of eliminating from your structure. Easier said than done!