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.
