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One of the reasons I have the best job is that I get to troubleshoot. I get to try to put puzzles together, often without all the pieces. I tend to have a “standard” set of questions I start with to pry out additional information, and then I let my brain start working through the problem. I know that when a question gets to me, it’s likely the client has already tried all the “basic” IPM steps so it’s always exciting to start thinking about how to get creative with pest contr

We're back this month with our series of ten questions with a pro. Every other month, I’m interviewing a “pro” to find out what they do, how they do it, and how it helps pest control efforts. Today, we are talking with the fabulous Dr. Jody Green! 1. Give us the quick version of what you do?  I am an extension educator and urban entomologist with Nebraska Extension. I provide education and resources to help people make better decisions associated with arthropod pests in their

I have a lot of google alerts for words relating to pest control. I typically skim through, look for any scientific articles and quickly delete. Then this one caught my eye.   Ugh, here we go again, I think to myself. And yes, here we go again.   Now, I get it. Pesticides are scary, especially when you call them “poisons”. Yes, they are intended to knock down the pest. Yes, some are poisonous (ingested). Yes, we want to make sure only the target animal is impacted by the pest

I'm in Orlando this week at PestWorld so I'm super excited to see what's new and get to talk to everyone. Which brings up an interesting point. Is there anything new? Aside from a few new invasive insects which aren't necessarily structural pests (spotted lanternfly, spotted lady beetles, etc.) our pests haven't changed much. So here's a quick rundown of some history on our common pests. Starting with one of my favorites: cigarette beetles. These go back to ancient Egyptian

I’m inspecting a food facility this week and there’s always something interesting that you find. So this week, let’s talk about...

Who cares, it’s not a problem in the US? It’s not a big deal, they mostly affect cattle. It’s not like it will impact us. Except it is....

I heard a new term yesterday, and I figured it was an internet hoax. You know what happens next: I had to investigate and look it up....

This episode marks my five year anniversary. That’s officially five years of weekly (ranting) writing about all things urban pest related...

I’m probably going to get some pushback from this, but I don’t like birds. I admit that birds of prey, like raptors and owls, are very...

Apparently, March is National Flour Month. It’s also National Invasive Species Week this week. It only makes sense to feature flour...

Pesticides often get a bad reputation, especially in the media, and can be viewed as “nasty chemicals” or “harmful” or even just “evil”....

I do not live out west where the devastating fires are continuing, and that doesn’t mean I’m not impacted. All of us will be in some way...