Daddy Long Legs

On this fathers day I thought I'd write a quick post on "daddy" pests and the only one I could come up with was the daddy longs legs spider. How fair is this? The females have the queen bee, the lady bug, the black widow has her story, but the guys...not so much. If anyone out there has any ideas or stories post the in the comments, and have a happy Father's Day!

Green Beetles

Green beetles are no doubt pests that people hate to deal with, and the worst thing you can do is not deal with it. The reason for this is because these green beetles are most likely Japanese beetles which are highly destructive plant and turf pests.

These beetles came to America for vacation at the Jersey Shore one day and decided to stay way back in the early 1900's. They have grown ever since, being sighted in more than 22 states across the county.

These Japanese beetles are extremely destructive in both their adult and larvae form, which is why it is so important to get them and keep them under control. Easier said than done sometimes. So just how do you accomplish this?

Beetle traps are a good method of trapping the green beetles in their adult form. If you place out the trap and it is filled up in one day, you have a problem, and should search for the grub version in you lawns. If you put the beetle trap up and only a few are caught with in a week then you don't have much to work about.

So you got a full trap? Now it is time to go grub hunting. Check for dead spots in you grass. Check around the edges of the dead spots by digging into the soil. Dig out a 8 by 8 by 3 inch sample of turf and look in the roots for grubs. A pain in the butt? Yes. You can hire a specialized pest control company to do this as well. You can treat for grubs with a product like Merit.

Some other methods include using fungi or parasites to get to them. Nematodes like
Steinernema glaseri and Heterorhabditis bacteriophora work the best, now say that ten times fast.

To sum it all up, these green beetles are a pain in the butt to kill and extremely damaging to the environment. It is possible to control yourself, but you may also want to consider bring in a professional.

Roaches

I used to get many calls about roaches all of a sudden showing up in a clients kitchen. They never had roaches in the past and their home is clean. So where do they come from? Most of the time they come in on a delivery or shopping order, believe it or not, roaches also live in super markets. As clean of a place as the store might be, it is almost impossible to keep roaches out of a building that is constantly getting deliveries like a super market. So when you bring home a shopping order, chances are you may bring home a bug or two that you don't want.

Another way you may suddenly get roaches is if you have a guest visit your home who may have roaches. Roaches can hitch hike in purses, pockets, shoes, and once they are in they make themselves at home.

Thankfully roaches are easy enough to get rid of, especially if you catch the problem early. Call a professional and relax.