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The Dept.of Agriculture says for the first time, little fire ants have turned up in a residential neighborhood on Oahu.

Earlier this month, a resident on Auina St. in Mililani Mauka sent in samples of ants after family members were bitten inside their home. The next day, the Department of Agriculture confirmed it was the invasive pest.

We are finding it in more and more houses today (Friday). Theres about 125 houses right around this area. Theres a gulch behind there. Were checking to see if thats infested and then theres houses on the other side of the gulch that were also checking, said Rob Curtiss, acting plant pest control branch manager for the Department of Agriculture.

To survey the area, workers planted vials outside of homes and marked them in a GPS system. The vials contain peanut butter, which should attract the ants. About an hour later, workers returned to the site to check out the findings.

Well be able to make better decisions on how we can proceed, whether we can eradicate or just get it under control, Curtiss said.

The Dept. of Agriculture says at least eight homes on Auina St. in Mililani-Mauka are infested and officials believe that number will go up as they investigatethe extent of the infestation.

But until they do, officialscant say how long it will take to get rid of them.

State Rep. Beth Fukumoto lives down the street from the infested homes.Its actually something I have been watching for over a year now, because we knew it was a possibility, she said.

Neighborhood board chair Dean Hazama also lives close by.Its a surprise to all of us. I think that it is important and critical for the state to keep our residents informed of their efforts, he said.

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State inspects Mililani Mauka homes infested with little fire ants

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Medical pot grow-ops won't get tax break in B.C.

Julia Ratcliffe, a technical consultant with The Bug Factory, a company that supplies insects for natural pest control, examines marijuana plants for pests at the MediJean medical marijuana facility in Richmond, B.C., on Friday March 21, 2014. The B.C. government says medical marijuana companies won't be able to take advantage of a property tax break that was designed for agriculture. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

image credit: Photo for: Medical pot grow-ops won't get tax break in B.C.

The province has plugged a loophole that could have let new medical marijuana producers dodge most of their property tax bills by gaining farm tax status.

They're now excluded from the list of agricultural uses that qualify for the lower agricultural tax rate.

Several Lower Mainland cities had feared they might lose property tax revenue if new cannabis producers set up on industrial land and then ask B.C. Assessment to convert them to farm tax status.

"There's a collective sigh of relief among municipalities," Maple Ridge Mayor Ernie Daykin said of the decision, which takes effect in 2015.

The provincial government is also advising municipalities not to try to ban medical marijuana operators from the Agricultural Land Reserve, cautioning that they might face a court challenge.

Several cities have passed bylaws allowing pot producers to operate only on industrial land, so the highly secure bunker-like buildings don't effectively pave over productive farmland.

While the province views medical pot as a viable ALR use, it would not qualify for farm tax status there either, joining the ranks of gravel pits, wineries and other activities allowed in the ALR but denied the reduced tax rate.

The federal government has so far issued five medical marijuana production licenses in B.C. to operators in Central Saanich, Maple Ridge, Whistler, Nanaimo and Spallumcheen.

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Medical pot farms won't get property tax break

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Someone asked me, what is Integrated Pest Management, or IPM?

Basically, it is a good replacement for the old spray-and-pray methods used in the past: Spray pesticides and pray you kill something.

This was when the industry would spray baseboards in a house or building. Any company that still sprays baseboards is in the spray-and-pray arena. IPM includes pest identification, exclusion, traps and other non-toxic procedures that are good.

The word integrated was added so that pesticides could be included in the procedure. The problem is pesticides are included when they arent necessary.

What pests require pesticides to be controlled? Basically, none. In an emergency when hornets or wasps invade a building suddenly, it would be practical to have some wasp freeze handy. But in almost all other circumstances, pests can be controlled without the use of toxic pesticides, and I mean pesticides in a liquid or aerosol format. Basically, pesticides sprays are never necessary and, in many cases, can be detrimental to the health of families and pets.

Richard Fagerlund.

I prefer the term Intelligent and Responsible Pest Management and that is what I promote and I am trying to get commercial businesses to follow so they dont endanger their customers and associates with toxic pesticides. This is particularly important as pesticide notification isnt required in New Mexico. In states where pesticide notification is required, the pest company has to post a notice on the front of a building letting potential customers know what pesticide they are going to be using and making copies of the label and Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) available for anyone who wants them so they are aware of the toxicity of the pesticide.

The New Mexico Department of Agriculture has the authority to order pesticide notification, but it refuses for some reason. Any responsible company that is going to use a pesticide in a commercial building would post notifications even if it isnt required to. While many of the pesticides in use today may not be hazardous to everyone, there are people who suffer from multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS) and are affected when they enter a building that has been sprayed.

The pest industry doesnt want anyone to believe MCS is a viable concern. A spokesman for the National Pest Control Association (now the National Pest Management Association), contended in 1988 that many people who claim they are chemically sensitive are actually allergic to the pests that the chemical (poison) is supposed to control. Others, he said, have delusory parasitosis, a distinct fear of insects. Its a neurotic disorder of people that can never be controlled.

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RICHARD FAGERLUND: Knowing species, habits can help control pests without pesticides

The likely, future arrival of crapemyrtle bark scale to North Carolina will increase our needs for diversity in tree and shrub selection.

Crapemyrtles and cucurbits (squash, watermelon, cucumbers, etc.) are among our more familiar horticultural topics of conversation during the summer months. Currently, one group has a potentially serious problem on the way, and another has a serious problem already here. Well start with the problem thats on the way.

In a May 15 posting on his entomology website (see http://ecoipm.com/), Steven Frank of N.C. State addresses the introduced crapemyrtle bark scale (Eriococcus lagerstroemia) and its progress since being found outside Dallas in 2004. Since 2004 it has spread throughout much of Texas, and has also moved into Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Tennessee. In early May of this year it was detected in Georgia. Frank concludes that even though crapemyrtle bark scale isnt yet known to occur in North Carolina, it is probably coming.

The consequences for infested crapemyrtle are quite serious. Frank relates a visit to Dallas in the fall of 2013, where he found the crapemyrtle trees in residential areas and along downtown streets in terrible condition. Infested trees were black and crusted with scales, and stumps indicated that many had already been removed.

Control will be difficult, in part because this is a relatively new pest for the U.S. and we dont yet have a good idea of how to manage it; and in part because many scale insects are by nature exceedingly difficult to control.

One strategy for now is to buy crapemyrtles locally, so as to slow movement of this pest into our state. Another is to get more serious about diversifying our tree species selection. Crapemyrtles have been relied upon heavily in the southeastern U.S. because they are exceptionally attractive in flower, and exceptionally tough and persistent under difficult landscape conditions. A much greater diversity of plant species will be needed in the future, and not just in response to the crapemyrtle bark scale.

Our second plant problem for today is cucurbit downy mildew, which was reported on June 9 in a commercial cucumber field in Duplin County, and subsequently confirmed by the Quesada Lab at N.C. State. Symptoms include angular chlorotic lesions on the upper leaf surface and a grayish-brown downy appearance on the leaf underside. Cucurbit downy mildew can result in exceptional damage and economic loss to commercial plantings, so its a disease that is carefully monitored. If you suspect cucurbit downy mildew in your garden, bring leaf samples to your local Extension office.

For the home garden, chlorothalonil products such as Daconil can provide limited control of cucurbit downy mildew, but youll also be locking yourself into a weekly spray schedule. A better strategy might be to remove infected leaves when the disease first shows up, and then remove infected plants if it begins to spread. Among the various cucurbits affected, cucumbers, watermelons and melons are more susceptible than squash and pumpkin, with cucumbers being the most susceptible of all. NCSU plant pathologist Lina Quesada-Ocampo tells me that there are a couple of slicing cucumbers with resistance to the pathogen, but resistant cultivars arent available for the other cucurbits.

Visit http://fsg.ces.ncsu.edu/publication/cucurbit-downy-mildew/ for excellent photographs and detailed information on this disease.

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Tom Glasgow: Buying locally may slow pest movement

Virginia Beach, Virginia (PRWEB) June 03, 2014

Mosquito Joe, a fast-growing franchise provider of residential and commercial mosquito and pest control treatment, announced today the launch of their new customer referral program, Share the MoJo. New customers who sign up as a result of a referral will receive a $25 account credit, as will the customer who referred them.

Mosquito Joe offers a barrier spray service to eliminate pests such as mosquitos, ticks, fleas and biting insects to residential and commercial customers. The Share the MoJo referral program was designed to reward existing customers for their ongoing loyalty and advocacy for the service they receive. Customers can make referrals both online and in-person and are rewarded with a $25 account credit once the person they refer uses the service. Referred customers also receive a $25 account credit and all customers can accumulate up to $500 of credits per calendar year. Details of the program can be found at http://www.sharethemojo.com.

We have a very loyal customer base, said Kevin Wilson, CEO & President of Mosquito Joe. The Share the MoJo program is a great way for us to reward their loyalty while letting others know about the quality services we provide to help people enjoy their yards during the spring and summer months.

The Mosquito Joe referral program is powered by RewardStream, whose referral marketing platform, Spark is used by some of the worlds largest brands. The software was designed to facilitate, track and reward referrals over a wide variety of channels including web mail and social media accounts, as well as in-person or word of mouth referrals, the most influential and highest converting type of referral.

Mosquito Joe has built their brand on the foundation of excellence in service and customer care, so customer referrals are a natural consequence of their success, said James Christensen, CEO of RewardStream. A program to reward those referrals benefits everyone; the customer, the new customer and the brand. We look forward to working with the Mosquito Joe brand as they expand their services throughout the United States.

About Mosquito Joe

Recently named among the top franchises to watch by Entrepreneur Magazine, Virginia Beach, VA-based Mosquito Joe provides mosquito control treatment to residential and commercial customers nationwide. Technicians are trained mosquito control experts dedicated to getting rid of mosquitos so people can enjoy being outside again. Mosquito Joe is an independently owned franchise that offers customers reliable and effective service from a trusted community member, while backed by a national network of technical expertise. For more information or franchising opportunities, visit http://www.mosquitojoefranchise.com.

About RewardStream

RewardStream is the foremost authority on referral marketing, combining an innovative blend of marketing insight and proprietary technology to design and manage referral programs for some of the worlds most prestigious brands. The company was founded in 1999, operates in 39 counties globally and has acquired more than one million new customers for its clients. For more information, please visit rewardstream.com

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Mosquito Joe Launches Customer Referral Program

FULTON, NY End the month of May with a night of Fast, Family, Affordable Fun this Saturday on the High Banks of the Fulton Speedway.

On the race card on Ehrlich Pest Control night will be the Tracey Road Equipment DIRTcar Modifieds, SUNY Canton Sportsman, NAPA Late Models, E&V Energy Novice Sportsman, A-Verdi Storage Containers 305 Sprints and Hiltons Automotive Four Cylinders.

Have you always wanted to run on the High Banks? Saturday is your chance in the One-On-One Spectator Races. All you need is a valid drivers license, road registered vehicle and a helmet to participate. After you buy your general admission ticket go to the track office to sign in to compete.

Adult grandstand admission Saturday is $12 with everyone 18 yrs. old and younger free. Pit admission is $27. Gates will open at 5:00 with racing set to begin at 7:00.

Last Saturday was a battle between two relatives that saw nephew Tim Sears Jr. get the better of uncle Tom Sears Jr. in the Tracey Road Equipment DIRTcar Modifieds. Fan favorite Corey Barker drove an almost flawless race winning the SUNY Canton Sportsman. AJ Kingsley is now on a two-race win streak in the NAPA Late Models. Wade Chrisman won his second of the year in the E&V Energy Novice Sportsman. With one more win, Chrisman will be moving up to the SUNY Canton Sportsman per track rules for the division.

John Cunningham is now two-for-two in the A-Verdi Storage Containers 305 Sprints and Chuck Powelczyk won a fender banging almost photo finish in the Hiltons Automotive Four Cylinders.

The Fulton Speedway would like to welcome back Ehrlich Pest Control, your local pest control experts. If its for commercial or residential needs please visit http://www.jcehrlich.com/ or call (888) 681-1552.

Mark this must see event on your calendar. In just a week and a half (June 7) A-Verdi Storage Containers & Penn Vehicle Solutions presents Wings & Warriors night. It will be an evening of the clay slinging, high flying, winged warriors of the Patriot Sprint Tour and the ground pounding 800 Horse Power, DIRTcar Modifieds. To add to the exciting racing, the popular SUNY Canton Sportsman, NAPA Late Models and E&V Energy Novice Sportsman will be in action.

To keep up with everything going on at the Fulton Speedway you can visit http://www.fultonspeedway.com like our Facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/FultonSpeedway . Any questions you might have please contact Cory Reed at cory@fultonspeedway.com (315) 593-6531.

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High Speed Racing Returns To Fulton Speedway Saturday

It is a myth that most insects are harmful and thus, need to be dreaded and destroyed. In reality, only a fraction of all insects, less than five per cent, are hazardous for crops, animals or human beings. Most others are either harmless or useful for agriculture, commerce, or ecology. In agriculture, insects play a vital role as pollinators, to boost crop yields or as natural foes of destructive pests, to serve as biological pest control agents. Valuable commercial products such as honey, silk fibre and lac are produced by insects. Some insects act as indicators of the state of environment degradation. And most interestingly, several types of insects are consumed as nutritious food by tribal communities in many parts of the world, including the north-eastern states in India.

Though efforts to develop a database of insects with their nomenclature and characteristics have been underway for centuries, most insects remain undiscovered and undocumented. According to Bangalore-based National Bureau of Agriculturally Important Insects (NBAII) Director Abraham Verghese, there appear to be about 160,000 of these six-legged creatures. Of this, only about 60,000 have been traced, and scientifically named and classified. Hardly 2,000-odd insects can be viewed as pests since they damage the crops or hurt livestock and human beings as vectors of viruses or other disease-causing pathogens. The only worry is that the number of such pests may swell menacingly, given that many existing or new insects are transforming into pests due to climate change, loss of habitat and the worsening natural balance of wild fauna.

The NBAII, which has been mandated to search for, classify and name unknown insects, plans to organise exploratory expeditions of the kind undertaken by Charles Darwin, who conceived the theory of origin of species. The current day explorers, of course, have the advantage of being equipped with modern information and biotechnological tools that Darwin lacked. Their ventures are expected to substantially enrich the available database of insects. A beginning has already been made with the discovery of about 475 new insects in the recent past.

The NBAII has set three major goals before itself. One, collect and maintain specimens of insects, so that entomologists from around the globe can examine and study them. Two, build a digitised and barcoded repository of insects for the benefit of researchers and others. And three, maintain germplasm of various kinds of insects, including mites, spiders and nematodes. This virtual gene bank of insects currently hosts live cultures of over 100 insect species. This unique facility is proposed to be expanded fivefold to hold around 500 live insect cultures by 2050. "This is likely to emerge as the most sought-after repository of Oriental insects for the world's entomologists," maintains Verghese. Ironically, many of the previous collections of insects of agricultural or economic importance are found in museums outside India, notably in the Natural History Museum, London, for want of such facilities here.

Entomologists involved in finding, preserving and studying unknown insects hope to come across numerous new creatures that may have useful traits such as the ability to check proliferation of perilous pests in an environmentally safe manner. Some insects-based means of pest control are already being gainfully used to manage various dreaded pests, such as mealy bugs of papaya, gall wasps of eucalyptus, woolly aphids of sugarcane and stem or leave borers of rice and sugarcane. A few exotic insects, too, have been effectively utilised to curb some highly resilient terrestrial and aquatic weeds and pests, such as Parthenium (commonly known as Congress grass), water hyacinth and whitefly (that prompted the European Union to ban mango imports from India). Further progress in this field would diminish the dependence on costly pesticides to combat pests.

This apart, the work in the field of agriculturally important insects is expected to remove some glaring lacunae like the dearth of trained people and repositories of insect specimens. There is a need to equip selected Krishi Vigyan Kendras with skilled manpower and facilities to multiply useful insects like pollinators and predators, and release them in the fields for the benefit of farmers.

surinder.sud@gmail.com

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Surinder Sud: Why every insect is not a pest

No matter what industry you are in, you cannot afford not to have dependable commercial pest control for your property in Atlanta. For many businesses, health codes require it, and for others, the risk of losing customers due to roaches, rats, or other pests is too great to ignore. Every year, pests cost millions of dollars in food damage alone.

At Team Pest USA, we have 40 years of experience in commercial pest control in Atlanta. We have the knowledge and skill that comes from four decades of experience, combined with the modern benefits of the latest pest control products and methods. In short, we have what it takes to protect your business from even the most difficult pests.

When you choose Team Pest USA as your partner for commercial pest control in Atlanta, you can rest assured that your pest problems will be taken care of in a prompt and professional manner. We offer monthly treatment plans to our commercial clients, treating both the interior and exterior of property. Our pest control products are extremely effective, killing pests within minutes.

In recent years, there has been a resurgence of bed bugs, largely due to increased foreign travel and increased sales of used furniture. Despite the name, bed bugs do not only reside in beds; they can also infest clothing and other furniture. Bed bugs can be brought into a business by a variety of means: carried in on clothing or luggage, brought in on furniture or bedding, or carried by wild animals such as birds.

Damage from bed bugs can be costly to remedy, not to mention a PR nightmare. Contact Team Pest USA to see how we can help protect your property from bed bugs.

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Commercial Pest Control in Atlanta, GA | Team Pest USA

Pasadena, Texas (PRWEB) April 29, 2014

Quali-Pro, the Turf and Ornamental Products division of Control Solutions, Inc, introduces a new addition to their fungicide portfolio, Strobe 50WG. The first post-patent azoxystrobin to hit the market, Strobe 50WG is a broad-spectrum preventative fungicide with systemic and curative properties that is used for the control of many plant diseases. Strobe 50WG affects every stage of specified fungal disease development and may be applied as a foliar spray, in alternating spray programs or in tank mixes. Strobe 50WG can be applied on golf courses, ornamentals, lawn and landscape areas around residential, institutional, public, commercial and industrial buildings.

To learn more about Strobe 50WG, visit our website at http://www.quali-pro.com.

About Control Solutions Inc. (CSI)

Control Solutions began as a family owned business in 1958 and is built on to the commitment of serving the professional pest control and retail markets. CSI has added product lines for the Industrial, Lawn and Garden, Animal Health and Biocide markets, and is working with over 80 distributors serving those markets. Control Solutions maintains relationships with chemical manufacturers worldwide and provides a ready supply of products in distribution warehouses across the U.S. The partnership with ADAMA/Makhteshim-Agan Industries multiplies Control Solutions agility in continuously adding new products to meet the needs of professionals and homeowners. "The one constant since the beginning in 1958 is our mission focus: to seek out and distribute effective and economical solutions for our customers," stated Mark Boyd, President and founder of CSI.

About ADAMA formerly Makhteshim-Agan Industries

ADAMA Agricultural Solutions Ltd. is a leading global manufacturer and distributor worldwide of crop protection solutions. The Company supplies efficient solutions to farmers across the full farming value-chain, including crop-protection, novel agricultural technologies, and complementary non-crop businesses. In 2013, the Companys revenues were over $3 billion, and it is ranked seventh in the world in the overall agrochemicals industry. The Company is characterized by its heritage of innovation, farmer-centric approach to product development, and its observance of strict standards of environmental protection and quality control. For more information, visit us at http://www.ma-industries.com.

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Quali-Pro Announces Debut of Strobe 50WG Broad Spectrum Turf & Ornamental Fungicide