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Lately, I’ve been doing a LOT of work in food processing sites. So of course, I have stored product pests on my brain. And on every other open tab of my browser! This time of year, if you run quality assurance or perform pest control services for a food processing plant, commercial bakery, or distribution hub, late summer brings a very specific kind of headache. It’s August. Temperatures inside non-air-conditioned warehouses are hovering in the upper 80s or 90s, if you are lu

I like chocolate. Specifically dark chocolate, but I’m not turning away the semi-sweet chocolate chip cookies or the milk chocolate morsels in a good brownie. A candy bar or a filled chocolate candy will do just fine. Open a bag and I’ll be there. The closer it is, the faster I am going to find it and eat it, probably a lot of it given the chance! If I have to go to the store and buy it, or spend a few hours cooking it, obviously it’s going to take me longer to get to it and

When most people hear the word "plague," they immediately picture medieval Europe, wooden carts, and plague doctors in bird masks. It feels like an ancient historical artifact. The plague is still very much active today. Yersinia pestis (the bacterium that causes plague) has been quietly circulating in the wildlife of the American West for decades. A recent announcement from the New Mexico Department of Health: a wild rodent in Santa Fe County officially tested positive for

The FIFA World Cup is here, and the numbers being tossed around are staggering. A recent piece by food safety expert Francine Shaw highlighted a logistics nightmare: one host city expects up to 10 million visitors but only has 28 health inspectors on staff. Yep, that’s my city of Atlanta. Let that sink in. Ten million international fans. Thousands of temporary food trucks, pop-up tents, and fan zones. The Atlanta airport has new food stalls in many terminals. All being monito

I’m currently on a semi-holiday, and let me tell you: work is a whole lot better when you’re watching the Atlantic Ocean, sipping tea, and enjoying a pastry from the local bakery. (Shout out to the amazing Bagel Stop here in Florida!) But even with the salt air, I can’t help but think about the unique challenges of pest control in vacation rentals. Whether it’s a tiny one-room cottage or a massive condo complex, one thing is certain: there will be guests... and there will be

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 pesti

Mosquito Madness - Day 16! I’m taking my usual morning walk yesterday and since it’s getting lighter out, I can see a bit more. Around my neighborhood, I saw not one, but three yard signs advertising that a pest control company had done a mosquito treatment. You may be asking, “but why is that a big deal?” Great question, thanks for asking. A mosquito treatment doesn’t seem like a big deal until you realize that this is early March. Granted, I live in the south and we have

If you’ve recently opened a newly constructed building or moved into a brand-new home, you might have noticed some tiny, dark specks crawling near the baseboards. Before you call the movers or file a massive insurance claim, let's talk about the beetles in the family Latridiidae, commonly known as plaster beetles or minute brown scavenger beetles. These beetles are the ultimate "I’m here because it’s damp" indicators. In fact, they have a history that goes back to the days

Let me tell you a story. It’s the story of a gnat. Let’s call him Gary. What is a gnat, you may ask. That’s a great question. Hold on a sec while I go get my soapbox. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A GNAT. People use the term all the time to describe nearly any small fly they find in nearly any situation. This is a problem because there are lots of species of small flies that can be found in many different areas. Garry could be a fruit fly (also called vinegar flies), Phorid fly (

Since we recently talked about springtails , let’s talk about another common pest that is often confused with springtails. They are found in many of the same places and under the same conditions as springtails. If you guessed psocids, you’re right. If you’ve ever been inspecting a food warehouse or a client’s pantry and seen tiny, pale specks scurrying across a pallet of flour or a dusty shelf, you might have encountered these. They often get called booklice, which is one

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