Bugs

Bugs,  Bagworms, Beetles, Borers, Ants, Caterpillars, Fleas, Flies, Gnats, Grasshoppers, Loppers, Mosquitoes, Sow (pill) bugs, Spiders, Ticks, Vine borers, Worms.

Read and follow all instructions on your insecticide labels.

Bring in your pictures and samples. We get better at our identification techniques all the time.

1. Ants have two kinds of feeding preferences. Some eat wood, some eat sugar, some eat both. If your bait does not work, try one with a different chemical in it. Use bifenthrin products for the lawn.
2. Aphids– use Fertilome Triple Action.
3. Beetles are my favorite. Not.  Japanese Beetles are the scourge. Fertilome Rose and Flower Food with systemic has proven very effective as a preventative for Japanese beetles. We have seen significant reductions of beetles with this product.   Sevin, Spinosad and Jack’s Dead Bug are effective as well. Asian beetles look like ladybugs, but are very specific hosts on soybeans. They like to sleepover in houses where it is cozy for the winter and leave in the spring.
4. Bugs like squash bugs can be controlled with Sevin, malathion or Spinosad or Fertilome Triple Action.
5. Bagworms are those tiny little cones that hatch. Use Spinosad, Malathion, or Sevin. Malathion is one of the oldest lawn chemicals on the market. It has a very broad label for killing about everything. It must be safe or they would have taken it off the market–but it smells like toxic waste.
6. Borers are tough because they get inside a plant. We recommend Fertilome Tree and Shrub Drench on ornamental plants which have a borer infestation or as a preventative for bronze or emerald ash borers.
7. Caterpillars are best controlled with Sevin, or BT which is bacillus thuringiensis, Bifenthrin, or Spinosad.
8. Fleas on pets can be controlled with Sevin dust or a pyrethrum dust. We go to the pet store and get the liquid gel to apply down our pets back. The dusts are faster, but the liquid gel lasts longer.
9. Flies are partially controlled with sticky tape and a flyswatter. There is a jug on the market that uses water, a little detergent and a fly lure scent that is said to be effective.
10. Gnats in house plants are fungus gnats. We have a granule that controls the larvae as well as mealy bugs, aphids, and spider mites. It is slower because it has to be taken up by the root. An aerosol indoor plant spray is also effective.
11. Grasshoppers– good control with Sevin.
12. Loopers are actually a form of caterpillar. Sometimes called tent caterpillars in some instances. Control with Sevin. In the case of tent caterpillars, break up their little tent thing with a broom handle or stick first to get the best penetration into their little wormy community.
13. Mosquitoes. Any of the sprays work as contact insecticides. We also sell the mosquito dunks which are a safe biological killer for standing water. We use the granule Mosquito Beater whenever we have large groups of people at our farm, (Fourth of July and Hayrack/bonfires.)
14. Mealy Bugs Fertilome Triple Action and a soil drench.
15. Roaches use the Bayer indoor pest spray. It has the best chemical formulation. Bug bombs work well also. We use both.
16. Scale insects are most prevalent on lilacs and euonymus. Spray early in the spring with dormant oil for best control.
17. Sow Bugs or pill bugs are controlled with granular Spinosad. They look like tiny armadillos and roll up in a ball when you touch them. Wet weather in the spring brings out hoards.
18. Spiders in the house. One million species of spiders. We use bug bombs whenever we go on the road and set off a half dozen of them throughout the house. We put down newspapers under the cans to protect carpets. The Bayer household insecticide has the best formulation for the control of all indoor pests.
19. Spider mites use malathion or Fertilome Triple Action.
20. Ticks and a number of creepy crawlers in the lawn can be controlled with any number of granular insecticides specific for the lawn. Snakes in lawns are after insects. If you have a squeamish snake person living in your residence, start with spraying the lawn and foundation of the house for insects with Bifenthrin.
21. Vine borers on squash, pumpkins, gourds, and others can be avoided by planting later. The borers operate according to the wild cucumber vine that is prevalent throughout the area. Planting later is an avoidance measure.
22. Whiteflies use Fertilome Triple Action.
23. Worms are nature’s rototillers. There is no insecticide registered for their control. A mole’s primary diet is earthworms. Castor oil mole deterrent products do work to make the worms taste nasty. The word worm is also associated with Army Worms which are actually a form of caterpillar and bagworms which are also caterpillars. For those worms use Sevin or BT (bacillus thuringiensis) products.