I’m back from a month away. Thanks for hanging in while I ran errands and had some fun in ME, NV, CA, NY, NH, ME (again), and MA. I’ve summited the pile of
paperwork and inbox of e-mails. And in the near future, I’ll make an official announcement
about the next four years of the StopPests in Housing Program. For now, just
know that we’re still here to help!
Despite being out of the office for September, I did attend two conferences that may be of interest to you all. In addition, I’m on quite a few IPM listservs and have some news feelers out on topics that you all (folks working on IPM in affordable housing) may be interested in. Just in case you missed the IPM happenings, here’s the September digest:
StopPests
gets social!
In an effort to keep sharing news and tidbits during my month off, I started
“tweeting” from @taiseybug. When I returned to the office, I started up
StopPests-specific accounts for twitter and facebook. Follow us @StopPests and
www.facebook.com/StopPests to get hot-off-the-press news and keep the IPM in
affordable housing conversations going!
Our publication “IPM: A Guide for Affordable Housing” is a hit!
Hopefully all of your received a copy or visited www.stoppests.org/Guide and downloaded it. To date, we’ve shipped out about 600 copies and it’s been downloaded over 1,200 times!
BedBug
University’s North American Summit
For the second year, I participated in the Bed Bug Summit. For most of the conference, I was
tweeting tidbits I heard. For example, “If you can only afford 1
encasement, leave the mattress & wrap the box spring-it's got more hiding
spots to take away.” Want to see more? Check out https://twitter.com/taiseybug
and look for #2012bbsummit.
One of the discussions that I found particularly intriguing was about bed bug dispersal within homes. Findings indicated that the more clutter there was, the more localized the infestation. So in a hoarded home, the bed bugs would be limited to right around where the person slept. More research is needed! But the researcher hypothesized that if bed bugs could find somewhere to hide, they wouldn’t wander any further. If proven true, this would be another argument for the minimal prep approach to bed bug treatments. I'm really curious to hear your observations in the field about bed bug dispersal in cluttered homes. Chime in at www.facebook.com/StopPests.
2012
Northeast Certification and Training Workshop
I attended this meeting of the
Northeast Pesticide Safety Educators and learned a lot about what these folks
do to keep our pest management professionals certified and trained. The
Saratoga Springs Housing Authority welcomed the group into its main office and
high-rise development for a tour. Seeing the facility, speaking with the staff
(who have been trained using the IPM in Multifamily Housing Training) and
meeting some of the residents gave the pesticide educators a positive view of
public housing. We also toured Indian Ladder Farms and Betterbee, Inc where we
discussed beekeeping, apple orchards and high-tunnel production. Talk about a
broad-scope!
The
pest of the month seemed to be mosquitoes.
Each day, more reports of West Nile
Virus came across my desktop. If you haven’t read up on what you can do to
discourage mosquitoes from laying eggs on your property and biting the people
that live, work and play there—you should.
There are a lot of good sources of information. A few I recommend:
- EPA: http://www.epa.gov/mosquitocontrol/
- CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/nceh/ehs/topics/mosquitoes.htm
- eXtension: http://www.extension.org/pages/65133/mosquitoes-hot-topics
- NPIC’s repellent calculator: http://pi.ace.orst.edu/repellents/
The Ugly American...Cockroach
Dr. Mike
Merchant, one of our IPM Trainers and a Texas AgriLife Extension Specialist
wrote a blog post that went viral amongst the bug people. It’s about American
Cockroach (Palmetto Bug) Control. Read his post here:
http://insectsinthecity.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-ugly-american.html
Pest Proofing & Exclusion Webinar
The
eXtension folks did a webinar on “Pest Proofing & Exclusion” with some
top-notch speakers. The subject couldn’t be more timely with the onset of fall.
Watch the recorded training and view resources by following links from
http://www.stoppests.org/ipm-training/training-opportunities/all/pest-proofing-and-exclusion-recorded-webinar/
FTC takes action against manufacturers some bed bug products
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed deceptive advertising charges against two
marketers of remedies for bed bug infestations, who allegedly failed to
back up overhyped claims that they could prevent and eliminate infestations
using natural ingredients, such as cinnamon and cedar oil. Affordable housing
providers should heed the FTC’s report. You may find their arguments against
the companies useful when evaluating the claims of pesticide producers who
approach you. I’ve found they target public housing with their marketing. http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2012/09/cedarcidermb.shtm
That’s a wrap!
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