Scratch, Bite, Shake Any Guesses?

Horticulture Hotline 06/29/20

By Bill Lamson-Scribner

Somehow last week I skipped one of the biting insects that bothers me the most. This insect doesn’t bite me, but it bites my 17 ½ year old pound hound, Ol’Boy. To see him biting at himself chasing a flea, especially in the middle of the night, saddens me. The sad facts of the situation are that if you have ever seen a 17 ½ year old dogs dental work, the chance of him lining up two teeth to catch a flea are very unlikely! Poor Ol’Boy!

Fleas have been particularly bad this year.  I have been asked a lot about them in the store (Possum’s) and when I have been out and about. Fleas are hard to control because they have a wide range of hosts and their life cycles are designed for survival.  Although there are 2400 different species of fleas, the one we are most concerned with is the cat flea. This week I’m going to write about the biology of the cat flea and next week focus more on the control.

The flea that primarily attacks the dog is called the cat flea.  This flea attacks dogs, cats, and several other wild hosts including rodents, rabbits, squirrels, skunks and yes, the opossum!  They will also attack humans as well.  As you treat your yard, your dog, and your house you need to realize that these other animals can re-infest your yard. 

A flea can go from the egg stage to the adult stage in anywhere from a few weeks to several months (even over 1 year).  This life cycle helps ensure their survival.  The flea will wait in the pupae stage, and emerge as an adult when the conditions are favorable for the survival of the adult. Adult biting fleas only account for about 2% of the population, the rest are in the egg, larva and pupae stage.

The flea lays eggs on its host.  These eggs are not attached to the host so they are constantly falling off.  When a dog gets up from a nap and shakes, the dog is shaking the eggs off of his body.  The egg then becomes a larva. 

The larva can live on the dog or larva also live under grass, soil, mulch or other organic matter.  Larva are very susceptible to heat and desiccation so they usually stay in shady moist areas of the yard.  Treating your flower beds is very important.  You may see the adults out in the middle of your yard; however, they are coming from your mulch beds where it is shady and moist. 

After the larva stage, the flea develops into a pupa.  This pupae stage is what makes the flea so hard to control.  The pupa is made out of a silk like cocoon that protects the flea.  This cocoon is very sticky when first developed and dust and other debris stick to it making it very hard to detect.  If someone moves out of an apartment that had a dog with fleas, the apartment could be closed for months.  When the new tenants open the door and walk in, the adult flea will emerge from the pupae stage and begin biting the person who has entered.  These pupae respond to vibration, so it is good to vacuum when trying to control fleas.  Vacuuming removes fleas and the vibration from the vacuuming brings the flea out of the pupae stage and into the adult stage that is susceptible to control products. 

All these factors make the flea very hard to control.  When using control products there are several different products to use.  Some products are used inside, some outside and some on the animal.  A pest management professional is always a good option when dealing with fleas.

Next week I will write about several different control products.  In the meantime, apply Prefurred One, Petcor or Prefurred Plus to your animal, use Alpine Flea and Bed Bug, Ultracide, Precor 2625 or Precor 2000 inside the house, spread Bug Blaster or spray EcoVia EC (Organic Program) in the yard and spray the yard with Nyguard (Growth Regulator).  There are other products that work. Just be sure to apply to the animal, the inside of the house and the outside of the house and that you use growth regulators.

Since it takes about two weeks to control fleas, it will also take me two weeks to write about controlling fleas!

I’m also proud to report that Ol’Boy is flea free once again, and we are both sleeping better at night!

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. 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 http://www.possumsupply.com. You can also call in your questions to “ The Garden Clinic”, Saturdays from noon to 1:00, on 1250 WTMA (The Big Talker). Saturday's show is replayed Sunday from 11:00 - Noon.

Summertime and the Garden Is Busy

Horticulture Hotline 06/22/20

By Bill Lamson-Scribner

Today’s article is what I would call, “The Statement of the Obvious” article. These are things that I have run across in my house, friends of mine houses, or relatives of mine houses. I will expand on many of these situations in the near future. This article will be like a table of contents of articles to come. This is the type of article that the column inches go fast!

Flies around trash cans and grills are obnoxious and serious disease spreaders. When you open the trash can lid and flies fly out that have been standing on raw, half rotten chicken and follows you inside and lands on that drink you are drinking – gross! A fly is on some dog poop out in the yard. The grill master takes off the rare steaks and the grilled corn, while the medium and well-done steaks continue to cook. The grill master is a little thirsty and goes inside for another beer. When he returns, the dog poop flies are all over the rare steaks and corn. Nasty!

At Possum’s we sell to a lot of people that manage pest in restaurants and to restaurant owners themselves. Flies will close down a restaurant and will affect that “A” rating. We sell fly lights (more commercial), fly sticks, fly bags (one holds 20,000 flies another 40,000), aerosol fly bait (very popular), scatter baits, the old fly tape, products you mix up and spray… Fly control products are available. Get some before you get salmonellosis or one of the other 65 diseases they are known to carry! One group of diseases they carry

are called ‘diarrhoeal diseases’ – I don’t know what exactly that means, but umm, no thank you!

Wasps, gnats, no-see-ums, mosquitoes, fire ants and other biting / stinging insects are out there waiting on you or your children. Of all these I guess fire ants scare me the most. Yesterday I saw a fire ant ‘mound’ coming out of a sidewalk curb and an area where kids play. The area is currently closed to kids, but I could picture a kid unknowingly sitting down on the curb to tie his / her tennis shoes and getting bit by the dreaded fire ant.

Squash, tomatoes, watermelon, cantaloupe, zucchini, cucumbers … and here come the drain flies! Rats, here come the snakes! Hot weather, here come the roaches! Warm humid weather, here comes the gray leaf spot. Chinch bugs, oh yeah. And yes, people are still fighting dollar weed. Dove weed is up along with crabgrass. Those vicious vines …

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

From Spring to Summer

Horticulture Hotline 06/15/20

By Bill Lamson-Scribner

Time is flying by once again! It is already mid-June. The heat brings many situations in the landscape.

Right now, there is a great opportunity for those that love fragrance. I know I have mentioned this several times this spring, but usually the weather goes from cold to hot and these flowers don’t last as long. Magnolias and Gardenias will stop you in their tracks with their fragrance! Either flower is great to pick and throw in your truck, car or in a room of your house for good smells all day long.

If you haven’t feed your trees, shrubs or turf since early spring, it is probably about time to do it again. We have had some heavy downpours!

I put out some organic liquid fertilizer yesterday morning thinking it was going to rain by 11 am and wash the fertilizer into the ground. Well it didn’t rain until 5 pm. Let’s just put it this way the walkers didn’t think it smelt like Magnolias or Gardenias!

If you have a sunny St. Augustine lawn, it is time to get some protection out there on your turf for chinch bugs. I don’t know how much any of us will be travelling, but you don’t want to leave town without protection. Chinch bugs do a lot of damage – FAST! Your nice lawn then gets invaded by bermuda grass and other weeds where the chinch bugs attacked. EcoVia EC is a NOP (National Organic Program) compliant product. Allectus is a long-term control product. Bug Blaster, Cyonara, Bifen, and Lebanon Sevin will provide short term control.

Speaking of sunny yards, remember to protect yourself from the sun. Since I hang around mostly people that spend time in the sun, I have witnessed and heard about many sun related horror stories. These stories revolve around getting areas cut out and tested for sun cancer.

Drain flies are becoming an issue with all the good local vegetables and fruits being consumed in our kitchens. Using the scum eating microbes in InVade BioDrain will help eliminate the organic build up in drains that harbor the drain flies and the citrus oil will help reduce odors as well. The EcoVia EC (National Organic Program compliant) will help if they are already getting active.

Mosquitoes are out and about looking for a blood meal. The high tides and the heavy - rains we had, have ditches and other areas with enough water for mosquitoes to breed. Scout your yard for potential breeding sites. EcoVia EC (National Organic Program compliant) is great on mosquitoes for an organic approach. LambaStar, Bifen, and Proflex for conventional control. Proflex has a built in growth regulator which is nice.

Moles just have had their spring babies, so expect a surge in their population – wonderful!

Japanese Beetles have emerged (pun intended) on the scene, tearing up Crepe Myrtles, Roses, and many other plants. These heavy eaters are easy to kill with a little persistence. Bifen, Cyonara, and many others will take care of the Japanese Beetle. Traps also work if placed away from where the preferred meal of the Japanese Beetle and are more of an organic approach. EcoVia EC is a Botanical Insecticide that is NOP (National Organic Program) compliant and works.

The baby mole crickets are hatching and the adults are dying off. Now is a good time to ‘flush’ an area that you think you might have mole crickets. Get two ounces of lemony dish soap in five gallons of water and slowly pour it over a 2 x 2 area where you have tunneling damage by mole crickets and see what comes out of the ground in the next 3 to 5 minutes. Depending on your tolerance level, you can decide whether or not to treat. A golf green would have zero tolerance because the tunnels would affect the ball roll. EcoVia EC and Intice Perimeter are two NOP compliant products that should work good for you. Allectus and Lebanon Sevin are conventional control products that will ‘kill the baby’ mole crickets.

These wet cool nights are keeping brown patch / large patch / zoysia patch around. Strobe G, T-Methyl, and Fame are good systemic fungicides for this disease.

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. 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 http://www.possumsupply.com. You can also call in your questions to “ The Garden Clinic”, Saturdays from noon to 1:00, on 1250 WTMA (The Big Talker). Saturday's show is replayed Sunday from 11:00 - Noon.