Cooler Weather - Yeah, Time To Winterize

 

Possum Minors and SeaHume Before Picture

                                           

                                           After Possum Minors and SeaHume

                                                 

Horticulture Hotline 10/18/26

By Bill Lamson-Scribner

 

The beautiful fall color has arrived in many parts of the United States. In the Lowcountry we will get yellow from the Popcorn Tree (a highly invasive species), the red from Virginia Creeper (nasty vine), more yellow from the Sweet Gum Tree (the tree with the medieval, spiked balls), and don’t forget the red from Poison Ivy. This year we seem to get a bonus red in mounds – the red imported fire ant mounds! The yellow flowers from Cassia and the red flowers from bottle brush always make a great fall color show! Japanese maples and their many varieties provide great fall color. The fragrant tea olive will add its wonderful scent.

 

Yes, it is time to winterize your landscape. SeaHume should be used alone or with the 00-00-25, depending on the results from your soil test. Look for a product with a 00 for the first number (nitrogen). A 00-00-25 with sulfate of potash and minors would be great. If you do not need the potash, consider just SeaHume, a wonderful combination of seaweed and humic acid. If you would like your yard to stay green later in the fall, try Possum Minors along with SeaHume (this combination is illustrated in before and after pictures).

 

Possum Minors as its name implies is full of iron and other minor nutrients that promote ‘green ‘without top ‘growth’. By having your plants, including grass plants, green at this time of year the leaves can capture more sun and produce more carbohydrates to grow roots. Since the mowing has slowed down, you will be able to enjoy the ‘green’ for a longer period, since the ‘green’ won’t be getting mowed off. 

 

SeaHume will help grass, trees, shrubs, and flowers throughout the winter. SeaHume will help mitigate salt damage. The seaweed part of SeaHume has over 60 minor nutrients, carbohydrates, amino acids, gibberellins, auxins, cytokinin’s, antioxidants and other bio stimulants. The humic acid is also full of bio stimulants that help make nutrients that are in the soil available to the plant, help with soil structure, grow roots, and feed the microorganisms in the soil.

 

Trees grow most of their feeder roots over the winter. SeaHume will help grow these feeder roots over the winter preparing the tree for whatever the spring weather brings. Drought like this year?

 

Beware of the national ad campaigns talking about winterizing fertilizers for turf. These products are usually formulated for cool season grasses (rye, fescue). I saw one over the weekend that was a 32-00-10. Not exactly what we want to put on our yard in late-October in the Lowcountry. Just ask Clemson University.

 

Have you ever had winter kill? Now is the time to prepare your grass for the wide variations in temperatures we have. If you had winter kill in the past, you need to be sure to correct low and poorly drained areas, reduce thatch in the yard, increase air movement in low areas, keep your lawn hydrated and feed (with the right food for the winter).

 

Mow your grass lower than normal (centipede 1.0 to 1.5 inches, St. Augustine 2.5 to 3.0 inches). By mowing your grass lower, you will increase the air movement around the crown of the plant, so cold air will not settle at the crown of the plant and damage the grass. In Florida helicopters fly low over citrus groves that are in valleys to get the cold air out. Tall grass or thatch will insulate the crown of the plant like a goose down jacket, keeping the cold air near the crown where it can cause winter kill. Centipede lawns usually get winter kill the worst if temperatures plummet quickly.

 

Fine blade Zoysia grass can grow very dense and get thatch. De-thatching, aerating and verticutting are great cultural practices while the grass is actively growing. This time of year, using Bio Grounds Keeper, SeaHume and very light topdressing of Cotton Burr Compost should be part of your maintenance schedule.    

 

Moles? Armyworms? Winter flowers for pots? Mosquitoes? Mole Crickets? Mice? Rats? Roaches?
Custom Program Based On a Soil Test From Your Landscape?

 

Always read, understand and follow product label. The product label is Federal Law.

 

Bill Lamson-Scribner can be reached during the week at Possum’s Landscape and Pest Control Supply (follow us on Facebook). Possum’s has three locations 481 Long Point Rd in Mt. Pleasant (971-9601), 3325 Business Circle in North Charleston (760-2600), or 606 Dupont Rd, in Charleston (766-1511). Bring your questions to a Possum’s location, or visit us at possumsupply.com. You can also call in your questions to “The Garden Clinic”, Saturdays from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM, or listen to the replay of Saturday’s show, Sundays from 11:00 to noon on 1250 WTMA (The Big Talker). The Horticulture Hotline is available 24 / 7 at possumsupply.com. 

 

Army Worm Weather

 

                                                      Army Worm - Pain in the Grass

                                            Wasp Eating Army Worm - Bite Marks on Leaves

                                            Controls Mosquitoes and Army Worms

By Bill Lamson-Scribner

Horticulture Hotline 10/03/26

 

Some situations keep coming back year after year. A few topics that I wish I could take a few years off from writing about are moles, army worms, sod webworms, mosquitoes, large patch fungus, gray leaf spot, chinch bugs, nutrient deficiencies, weeds, heat, drought, vines, fire ants, lace bugs, rats, flies, fleas, termites and roaches; however, these topics seem to be dominating the question counters at the three Possum’s year after year.

 

One great thing I experienced this week was my favorite fragrance in the landscape – the sweet tea olive. Not only a great fragrance but for me it usually means cooler weather has arrived!

 

On a not-so-great note the cloudy weather we recently had gave great cover for the army worms to appear. We have had reports from all over the Lowcountry and even the beloved Possum’s North was attacked. Not too smart – dead army worms now!

 

Army worms will affect the aesthetic value of the green grass on athletic fields, golf courses, and home lawns, and the worms thin the canopy of the grass. They can cause economic damage in hay fields, corn fields, and other crops. Prostrate growing weeds like spurge, doveweed, lespedeza and Virginia Buttonweed seem to come in the fastest on home lawns..

 

The army worm adult moth can lay over 1000 eggs. She usually lays them in groups of 50 to several 100. The eggs hatch in 2 to 10 days. The larva then eats your grass for 14 to 21 days before they return to the soil and pupate. New egg laying moths emerge in 10 – 14 days. With several hundred larvae eating your grass at once, you can imagine how quick army worms can ruin your grass.

 

What bothers me the most is you work all summer on your grass to have it look nice, and once the grass starts to slow down for the winter, fall army worms and then sod webworms attack the grass. Look for areas that appeared to have been mowed low and with a dull blade. You can see that the leaf blades have been chewed. Also thatch type debris will be churned up on the surface. Birds and low flying wasps are also predators of army worms, so they can be an indicator that you are under attack.

 

Since army worms are in direct contact with the ground, they are very easy to control. Bug Blaster, Bifen, Mosquito Pro, Cyonara and Acephate will all put a hurting on army worms. Thuricide (Bt), EcoVia EC and Spinosad are organic products that will also work well if you get them while the worms are small. Since the population of worms is so high and hit so hard, keep your eye out for a second hatching.

 

Watch for moths in your yard around dusk. If you begin to see a moth that gets out of the grass, flies for 6-10 feet then lands again (like a bobwhite quail for you bird hunters) you may want to consider using one of the above-mentioned products.

 

We just had a wind event that came up from the south. The moths of these worms will often catch rides on wind currents from areas that they are active year-round. Watering first to bring the worms to the surface and applying products in the evening when the larvae are about to feed, will often help your success depending on the product.

 

Now is the time to put out preemerge products in the lawn and beds to prevent those small seeded annual weeds. Henbit, chickweed, Poa annua (annual bluegrass), cudweed and lawn burweed are a few of the winter weeds that would like to occupy your lawn and flower beds. Poa annua (the green grass that is very visible in February and March) and lawn burweed (the prostrate growing weed that develops a sticker) are usually the most hated of the winter weeds. Some people use profanity while describing them at the counter of Possum’s! 

 

With all the recent rain fall, cooler temperatures, and shorter daylight hours large patch fungus is becoming a big issue. Use fungicides preventively to save money and aggravation. Now is also a good time to identify any drainage issues.

 

The “nasty rascal the chinch bug” is still sucking the life out of many lawns. Gray leaf spot is still alive and doing well. With the rain, fire ants are mounding up everywhere – be careful where you step! With the high tides and rains mosquitoes are out and biting, especially in the evening. Rat trap and roach control products are exploding at Possums – they want to get out of the cool weather and rain too!

 

Always read, understand and follow product label. The product label is Federal Law.

 

Transition Time

 

You Know That It Is Dry When You Can See Drainage Pipes

                                                       Large Patch

                                                Chinch bug damage 

Horticulture Hotline 08/30/2026

  Bill Lamson-Scribner

 

For the new readers of the Horticulture Hotline, my To Do Lists are designed to help you target a few activities in your yard and in your home that will benefit you in the future, giving you more free time.  These lists are not designed to interfere with high school, college, or professional football games, soccer, baseball, fishing, shrimping, hunting, golfing, eating chicken wings at a local sports bar, oyster roasts, or watching NASCAR on the couch with closed eyes!  This is not designed to be a “honey do” list. 

 

What a crazy weather year 2026 has been. Very cool nights well into May, and the drought that was so severe that we are still considered to be in a drought even after the recent rains – amazing! It was so dry that in yards with drainage pipes six to eight inches below the ground, you could see where the grass had dried out above the pipe (pictured).

 

With the rain and daylight hours decreasing Large Patch Fungus (Brown Patch Fungus) is attacking lawns across the Lowcountry.  As the grass slows down, it becomes very susceptible to this disease. Large patch is soil borne, so it usually appears in the same areas year after year. Last year’s fall outbreak was the worst outbreak I have ever seen, so if you know where you had large patch last fall, treat now preventatively. Fungicides are like the flu shot; they work best before you get the disease. If you can let your grass dry out between watering, you will have less fungus (I understand this is not easy to do with rainfall).  According to several people I talk to, there are organic products that will increase the biodiversity in the soil and help control Large Patch Fungus. Neptune Harvest Crab shell, SeaHume, and Back to Nature’s Cotton Burr based products – although these are not labeled fungicides so I cannot recommend them as fungicides, customers have reported success by adding these products to their yards – your results may vary.  If you have an active fungus outbreak, a combination of Strobe G and T-Methyl are good chemistries to rotate. (pictured)

 

I hope that you have put out preemergent control products on your lawn and beds to prevent weeds and give yourself some free time to enjoy the activities in paragraph one.

 

The drought brought on chinch bugs in record numbers on St. Augustine grass (Charleston grass). This insect is so small it regularly gets misidentified as a disease or an irrigation issue. Chinch bug damage is always in the hottest driest part of the yard because there is a fungus in the soil that keeps it in check. When the soil dries, the fungus dies and the chinch bug attacks. For this reason, you rarely see chinch bug damage in the shade. (pictured)

 

The wet weather will also run roaches and rodents into your home (when people come into Possum’s it is never their home – always a nasty friend or relative).  If you are prone to be attacked by these two pests, be sure to prepare for their arrival. 

 

Moles always get more active in the fall. Kill the mole, manage their food source with Above and Below, and use Repellex around the perimeter to keep them out of your yard.

 

Now is the time to put out your fall fertilizer for your trees, shrubs, and turf. Fall fertilization is very important for the health of your plants, trees, and lawns. Do you like to go to bed hungry?

 

Mosquitoes? Mosquito Pro works and is easy to use (kills armyworms too)– check it out! Inzecto Mosquito Traps are very affordable, effective, and last for years. More of a non-chemical approach that targets just the mosquitoes. West Nile Virus is all around us, so be vigilant.

 

If this sounds like too much work, hire a professional.

 

Always read, understand and follow product label. The product label is a Federal Law.

 

Bill Lamson-Scribner can be reached during the week at Possum’s Landscape and Pest Control Supply (follow us on Facebook). Possum’s has three locations 481 Long Point Rd in Mt. Pleasant (971-9601), 3325 Business Circle in North Charleston (760-2600), or 606 Dupont Rd, in Charleston (766-1511). Bring your questions to a Possum’s location, or visit us at possumsupply.com. You can also call in your questions to “The Garden Clinic”, Saturdays from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM, or listen to the replay of Saturday’s show, Sundays from 11:00 to noon on 1250 WTMA (The Big Talker). The Horticulture Hotline is available 24 / 7 at possumsupply.com. 

Mosquitoes, Mushrooms, and Others

 

                                                        Mosquitoes

                                              Nutrient Release Greens The Grass

                                             Fall  Flush of Growth

                                                    

Horticulture Hotline 08 17 26

By Bill Lamson-Scribner

 

The summer is going by at record speed (and record heat)! Football, volleyball, fall soccer, and deer seasons have started. Soon we will be enjoying cooler weather! Soon your grass will not need mowing every 3 days! For now, we are fighting chinch bugs, mosquitoes, fire ants, lace bugs, mice, rats, fleas, roaches, flies (all kinds), biting / stinging insects, gray leaf spot, and many other Lowcountry critters. Love the Possum and let them cross the road! 

 

With West Nile Virus being found in Georgetown County (already found in Beaufort County), I must mention mosquito prevention and protection one more time. Try to limit your outdoor activities at dawn and dust (the only cooler times to work in the yard). Limit standing water around your house that could become breeding sights (all it takes is a water bottle cap full of water for a female mosquito to lay eggs in). Protect yourself and your yard with products designed to manage mosquitoes (the County does not treat individuals’ properties). When treating your yard, watch out for the pollinators.

 

I have been getting questions about mushrooms in the yard. Not really anything to worry about as far as hurting the grass. Most people have kids or dogs that they worry about eating the mushrooms. If that is the concern, go out early in the morning and remove the mushrooms. If you wait until later in the day the spores (like seeds) will release from the mushroom cap, spreading the population. The mushrooms will usually be in the same area. Use a dog poop bag or something similar when you remove them. Mushrooms are the fruiting body (flower with spores instead of seeds in plant terms) of a fungus underneath the soil that is breaking down organic matter in the soil (an old root or stump or something). Where the organic matter is being broken down, you can often see a green area where nutrients have become available to the grass because of this process (see picture).

 

Good time to fertilize your trees, shrubs, and lawn before fall gets here. Using a combination product with a preemergent saves time and controls winter weeds as well as late germinating summer weeds. Trees and shrubs are putting on the fall flush of growth (see picture), so the 17-00-09 will help make sure that they go to sleep for the winter with a full belly. Fall fertilization will help your spring flowering plants perform their best. The addition of SeaHume G is a great organic to winterize your landscape.

 

There are still some other things to take care of this summer. Try to find a source of gas for your lawn mower that does not contain ethanol. Use ethanol free gas in your small engines, boat motors, and generators (have you tested your generator recently?). Your mower will be happier next spring if you use ethanol free gas.

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Always read and follow product label.

 

Bill Lamson-Scribner can be reached during the week at Possum’s Landscape and Pest Control Supply (follow us on Facebook). Possum’s has three locations 481 Long Point Rd in Mt. Pleasant (971-9601), 3325 Business Circle in North Charleston (760-2600), or 606 Dupont Rd, in Charleston (766-1511). Bring your questions to a Possum’s location, or visit us at possumsupply.com. You can also call in your questions to “The Garden Clinic”, Saturdays from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM, or listen to the replay of Saturday’s show, Sundays from 11:00 to noon on 1250 WTMA (The Big Talker). The Horticulture Hotline is available 24 / 7 at possumsupply.com. 

 

Plant Sale and Mosquitoes

 

Horticulture Hotline 07/26/26

By Bill Lamson-Scribner

 

This Thursday (7/30) and Friday (7/31) you can get a great deal on some great plants at the ‘Summer Sizzler Native Plant Sale’ at Trident Technical College. See attached pictures of flyer for more information. The perfect place to buy plants and see all the different (cool – old man lingo or vibe – new lingo) displays around the building!

 

The dry and windy spring kept the mosquitoes at bay, but after that little bit of heavy rain that flooded low areas and ditches, regular rains, and high tides, they are out in full force. Last night I was talking to a neighbor while she was pushing her 18-month daughter around in a stroller, and the mosquitoes were attacking the young girl. The mother, with child again, had 5 mosquitoes on her immediately. We cut our conversation short and headed to our air-conditioned houses. B^ST#$%S!

 

Malaria, Chikungunya, Dengue (still in the tropics), Zika, West Nile Virus, Eastern Equine Encephalitis are transmitted by mosquitoes … now it is time to wage war against the mosquito! Worldwide mosquitoes are the number one killer of humans (including wars) – amazing! West Nile Virus was discovered in Beaufort County this year!

 

Scout around the yard for anything that holds water. Old tires, saucers under potted plants, rain gauge, bird baths, old flower containers or pots stacked in a corner, dog toys, kids’ toys, a container by the grill you use to soak wood chips in, a cooler, an old fountain, an upside down 5-gallon bucket that has a lip that holds water, a trash can lid with a dent, brick work that needs repointing, a hole in a tree and a dog’s water bowl all make great places for mosquitoes to breed. Empty the water out these areas (refill the dog bowl and the bird bath daily). A tarp covering a boat or wood pile can have many pockets that hold water. Sagging gutters hold water.  A few empty bottles or cans can end up breeding thousands of mosquitoes! A bottle cap can be a breeding area. Many mosquitoes can breed in just an ounce of water. I was at a seminar, and the speaker encouraged people to limb up Magnolias (every horticulturalist gasped) so you could easily rake up the leaves because the big leaves held water and therefore were a breeding spot for mosquitoes. Sorry, I am not limbing up my Magnolias!

 

If you have bigger areas of water like a ditch or a low area of the yard that holds water, apply the Mosquito Dunks or the Altosid Pro G. The Mosquito Dunks are an organic Bt product that kill larvae and the Altosid Pro G is a growth regulator product that contains the same active ingredient that is used in the Precor products for controlling fleas. Although Altosid is not organic, it is very safe and labeled to be used in very sensitive areas like marshes. Turn off your irrigation when you can and correct any drainage problems. Mosquito Denial is a great product if you have a fountain, decorative pond, or standing water. Mosquitoes rely on the surface tension of the water to land and lay eggs. Mosquito Denial takes away this water tension, so the mosquito cannot lay eggs on the surface of the water.

 

Any pruning you can do to increase air movement and sunlight penetration will also help. Mosquitoes like moist stagnant areas, so it is more important to treat bed areas than it is to treat lawn areas. Concentrate your efforts on the undersides of leaves on shrubs. Many mosquito products work on lawn pests also, so many folks treat their lawn too while they are spraying. Mosquitoes are very weak fliers, so they do not like wind or air movement (big fans for parties or by your grill – helps with flies too). Mosquitoes are a public health issue, so you might be able to get some help from a government agency if you have a big ditch or pond.

 

Mosquito Pro (connect to a hose and spray), DuraFlex, and ProFlex are very good control products for mosquitoes and many other pest because they contain growth regulators that break up the life cycle. EcoVia (organic) has many formulations and is a good option as well. Luckily, there are many products that control mosquitoes available!

 

Bill Lamson-Scribner can be reached during the week at Possum’s Landscape and Pest Control Supply (follow us on Facebook). Possum’s has three locations 481 Long Point Rd in Mt. Pleasant (971-9601), 3325 Business Circle in North Charleston (760-2600), or 606 Dupont Rd, in Charleston (766-1511). Bring your questions to a Possum’s location, or visit us at possumsupply.com. You can also call in your questions to “The Garden Clinic”, Saturdays from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM, or listen to the replay of Saturday’s show, Sundays from 11:00 to noon on 1250 WTMA (The Big Talker). The Horticulture Hotline is available 24 / 7 at possumsupply.com. 

 

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Not So "Cute" Time Of Year

 

                                           "The Nasty Rascal" The Chinch Bug Damage

Horticulture Hotline 07/05/2026

By Bill Lamson-Scribner

 

1. The nasty rascal, the chinch bug in St. Augustine grass has been killing large areas of turf in the Lowcountry. Remember the products that control chinch bugs generally have a short residual. If you are going out of town for any length of time, be sure you treat the lawn before you leave. Sod webworms and armyworms will be out soon as well – you have been warned.
2.  Fleas have been a close second to chinch bugs this year. The wet fall seemed to help increase the flea population. Fleas are hard to control. Plan to treat the animal, the house, and the yard. The use of growth regulators will make an impossible task much easier. Expect about two weeks to get this pest managed.
3. Wasps, flies, mosquitoes, fire ants, and ticks should be controlled. Prevent disease or allergic reactions by controlling these pests. Fresh fruit and vegetables bring drain flies and fruit flies.
4. Japanese beetles have been chowing down. Bifen or Mosquito Pro will take care of them.
5. Be sure to get your azaleas and camellias pruned as soon as you can. They will be making their flower buds that you see much later soon. Do you have azaleas and camellias on a good fertilization program as they have big appetites to perform their best?
6. Many of us have palm trees. I’m always talking / writing about preemergent products for lawns and beds to control weed seeds. Now is the time to preform palm seed control on your palm trees to prevent those hard to control palm seedlings from sprouting up everywhere you do not want them to sprout. Simply remove the stalks that will produce seeds from the palm now. Granted it is not an easy task, but it is easier than removing the volunteer palms later. Because it involves pole saws, or ladders, or lifts, this job might be best off left for a professional.
7. Moles seem to be particularly active this year.  They just had their young in April and now they are tunneling up a storm.  The young moles are hungry!  Manage the food source in your yard (grubs, crickets) with Above and Below and go after the mole with Mole Patrol. 
8. Be sure to change or sharpen that dull mower blade. A sharp blade will give your grass a cleaner cut and will allow less entry points for disease. Inspect your blade for nicks and damage if you are going to continue to use the same blade. Since a mower blade spin at very high speeds, any nicks or bends can lead to the blade being out of balance. When a blade is out of balance, the mower will vibrate (like your tire out of balance on your car) and you could damage the spindle and other parts of your mower that cost far more than a new blade.
9. Look up at your trees. If you have any tree work that needs to be done, I would get it done as soon as possible.  Look for trees that have cavities at the base of the tree and look at the tops for broken limbs, dying tips and weak crotch angles.  Have a tree care professional inspect your trees to be sure it is safe. Most tree care companies will inspect for free. Try to get this done before the Lowcountry is in that cone for a direct hit for a hurricane! The tree companies are usually very busy year-round in the Lowcountry. 

10.  As with all products, you should read and follow product labels.  More is not better when dealing with control products.  Measure your yard so you know your square footage and watch overlapping when applying your products.  Watch the weather forecast to ensure the products have a proper amount of time on your lawn prior to any rain.  If the product needs to be watered into the ground, slow watering by a sprinkler is better than a gully washer from the sky.  A very hard rain can wash products into the storm water drains which are bad for the environment and you have wasted a lot of money. Sweep or blow fertilizers or control products off hard surfaces when you are finished applying them. In the case of fertilizer this may prevent staining, and most importantly it will keep products from washing through storm drains to the marshes.

11. With the dry weather we had earlier this year, spider mites have come out in full force. Be sure to use a product labeled for mites when trying to control these plant juice suckers. Mites are not insects, so all insecticides do not control them.
12. Another plant juice sucker that is out in full force is lace bugs on azaleas and lantana. If the leaves look mottled, flip the leaf over and look very closely for the pest. The lace bug is small and well camouflaged so you might need a magnifying glass. Dominion Tree and Shrub will give you long term control of this pest.

                     

Always read, understand and follow product label. The product label is Federal Law.

 

Bill Lamson-Scribner can be reached during the week at Possum’s Landscape and Pest Control Supply (follow us on Facebook). Possum’s has three locations 481 Long Point Rd in Mt. Pleasant (971-9601), 3325 Business Circle in North Charleston (760-2600), or 606 Dupont Rd, in Charleston (766-1511). Bring your questions to a Possum’s location, or visit us at possumsupply.com. You can also call in your questions to “The Garden Clinic”, Saturdays from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM, or listen to the replay of Saturday’s show, Sundays from 11:00 to noon on 1250 WTMA (The Big Talker). The Horticulture Hotline is available 24 / 7 at possumsupply.com. 

 

 

                                            Chinch Bug Damage

                                                     Dull Mower Blade

Do You Have Visitors? Or Travel?

 

                                                     Mole Cricket Adult 

Mosquitoes carry disease

   Great Product For Control of Many Pests

Get The Most Out of Your Water or Rain

Horticulture Hotline 06/14/2026

By Bill Lamson-Scribner

 

Depending on where you live in the Lowcountry, you might have had some rain. Others like me, still dry as a bone. The high tides have provided a place for mosquitoes to bred, and they are out and hungry (Mosquito Pro)! Summer is here and that means the kids are out of school, maybe time to look at colleges and summer vacation. The talk of bedbugs is not in the news like it used to be, but if you saw our sales of bedbug control products at Possum’s, you would be amazed. Whether you live South of Broad or in “affordable” housing, we have helped you with your bedbug situation. We have learned that is not necessarily the homeowner that brings in the bedbugs, but often it is a guest that is travelling from place to place. We all know people like to visit Charleston!

 

When you are in a hotel, do you feel phantom insects crawling on you as you sleep? Does your work or sports with the kids require you to stay in hotels, when you would rather be at home in your cozy bed with the dog and his fleas? The worse thing about bed bugs is bringing them home to infest your house in your luggage or on you person. Bed bugs can be difficult to manage.

 

Here are some tips for the traveler:

 

Treat the outside of your luggage with a repellent material labeled for bed bugs on luggage. There are nice smelling organic products (EcoVia) and standard control products labelled for this application.

 

Put all your clothes and toiletry items in see-through plastic bags that you can seal tightly. Upon arriving at your room, put your luggage in the bath / shower area while you inspect the room.

 

Bring a flashlight. Before you unpack, inspect the mattress and box springs for blood stains, cast skins and live insects. The rope-like band around the mattress will usually have some signs of bugs if there is an issue.  Look around the headboard and any adjacent bedside tables especially in the crack and crevices.

 

When you check in ask if the hotel has had an outbreak of bed bugs in the last year in the room you are checking into. Also ask if any of the adjacent rooms above you, below you, or on either side have been treated for bed bugs. If they have, request another room far away from any outbreak hotspot. Many states have a bed bug registry you can check.

 

When you get home, leave your luggage outside and run your clothes through a hot dryer cycle. The dryer should dry out any unwanted hitchhikers. Check your toiletry items and re-treat your luggage.

 

These few simple steps can save you many sleepless nights and some dollars. Out of the hundreds of customers whose houses have become infested with bed bugs that I’ve talked to at Possum’s buying bedbug control products, I’m sure every one of the wishes they took these few precautions. Bed bugs bite children, babies and adults. They can be very difficult to control, and you might have to throw away your stuff. No one likes to throw away their stuff!

 

Mole crickets just have had their babies, and they are easy to control because they do not fly. Hydrate yourself and the landscape (Possum’s Wetting Agent). Nutsedge (nutgrass) is up – control it while it is young!

 

Always read, understand and follow product label. The product label is Federal Law.

 

Bill Lamson-Scribner can be reached during the week at Possum’s Landscape and Pest Control Supply (follow us on Facebook). Possum’s has three locations 481 Long Point Rd in Mt. Pleasant (971-9601), 3325 Business Circle in North Charleston (760-2600), or 606 Dupont Rd, in Charleston (766-1511). Bring your questions to a Possum’s location, or visit us at possumsupply.com. You can also call in your questions to “The Garden Clinic”, Saturdays from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM, or listen to the replay of Saturday’s show, Sundays from 11:00 to noon on 1250 WTMA (The Big Talker). The Horticulture Hotline is available 24 / 7 at possumsupply.com.