(00:00:00) As we were talking a little bit earlier, you mentioned that you wanted to talk a little bit about philosophy. (00:00:05) Yeah. I'd like to kick that off most people when they talk about insects and mention insects and control generally present two conflicting thoughts one is that they're interested in pesticides or have a concern for pesticides and what they do in the environment and the other is that they have a desire to eliminate insects. And unfortunately that those two are not always compatible seems to me that we've built a bias against insects over the years and that's sort of exemplified by the newspaper listing in your introduction talking about this program as it relates to insects as pests and I'd prefer to think about us discussing ways to cope with insects which in once one sense is not always thinking about all insects as being pests and the other is to think about pests not always requiring a chemical control. There are other options that are open (00:00:56) to us. Well, that's a that's an interesting point. I was going to say I guess one of my first questions was is people do think of insects as pests. And of course not all insects are harmful are (00:01:09) they No, in fact most are harmless or at least neutral. There are very few in the total world of insects that are actually pests and in Minnesota. We probably number about 300 species is pest is related to over thousands that are neutral or beneficial. (00:01:24) Okay, how what are some that are beneficial that might be interesting to start (00:01:27) with? Well, the most obvious is the ladybug everybody can identify an adult ladybug and knows that they were I think they know that it feeds on aphids and other harmful insects right now. If you look in your garden and check around the plant, you'll notice a small lizard or alligator organism running around at least that's the way people describe it and that's the immature ladybug and most people as I say can identify the adults but can't identify the immature and a key to good insect control and to try to make the idea of pesticide use compatible with the environment. It is to think about identifying insects and knowing which ones are beneficial and ladybugs an example where you can miss one stage while you can identify the (00:02:07) other can they used to use of pesticides be that (00:02:11) selective. Well, there are some pesticides which are quite selective work on only one type of insect. And in fact, there's a material that's available. It's a bacterial formulation that works only against caterpillars true caterpillars being the immature stages of moths and butterflies. And that's the only thing it affects. It doesn't affect anything else in the environment. And so we do have a few of those options open to us. The other thing is to select even though it may be a broad spectrum material to select and use a chemical directed against the right stage of an insect which is the key to good insect control. And in that way you do the least amount of harm while maximizing the control in the garden. (00:02:48) Okay. I'm going to take a moment here just to mention to our listening audience that we will be opening up the phone lines for questions for Mark a cirno and the number is two two seven six zero. Zero zero locally and if you're listening in the out state area, the number is 865,000 to mine seven zero zero and that's in Minnesota and you can call us for nothing. If you call on that number. Okay, you mentioned that you'd like to see pesticides be used as compatibly as possible with the environment. Do you do people make a lot of mistakes when they use pesticides for their Gardens and Lawns? Yes, they do. Okay, what are some of the common mistakes that people (00:03:28) make well the two most common mistakes the first one is not to identify what you're dealing with just to react to the presence of an insect in which case you can spend a lot of time money effort to control something either that's not causing a problem or is actually beneficial and we have many people who would like to control immature ladybugs. The other is not reading the label there are compounds which are safe to use on food crops. There are others which are not cleared for food crops and there's a tendency on the part of a person to grab the nearest thing on the Shelf spray it on the plants and then read the label and realize They've just applied a material that should not be eaten and in which case they'll call and say what can I do and you can watch the garden grow, but then you can't eat any of the (00:04:08) produce. Mmm. What would you suggest that people look for when they do go into the store and decide that they have a problem with pests or insects. (00:04:20) Well, the extension service provides information on insecticides and insect control and again to come back to the philosophy. The first thing that you really want to do is to find something and then identify what that is. The identification leads you to the control and with the extension service, you can contact your local County extension office and get information on what to use to control spinach leaf Miner or (00:04:43) cutworms. Okay. I see that we've got some people on the line already and they're very interested in talking with Marcus or know who's an entomologist at the University of Minnesota. Hello. Hello. Hello. Have you got a question for Mark? Yes, I do have. I live in Acton and I am absolutely inundated with crickets. You can't open an outside door without the Cricut jumping in the house and they're really really pesty this year. What can I do about it? (00:05:13) Well for those that are coming in as you open the door, there's little that you can do now crickets do like to be associated with grassy fields and Tall vegetation. And one thing you might consider. I don't know how your home is situated. But there you may have grassy areas and Tall vegetation very close to the foundation of the house by changing that planting you may help to avoid some of that migration from those fields to the home crickets can occasionally become established in doors. And there you have some approaches chemical approaches that you can use to try to control those that have established inside but most of the time we're talking about a casual or accidental Invasion from the outside and trying to keep them out the way you do fly screens and well-fitting doors and so on is about all we can suggest (00:05:57) Okay. Once again the number if you'd like to talk to Marcus ER know about either problems you're having or maybe some solutions that you've come to on your own for Gardner household pets. The number locally is 2276000. And if you're in the out state area listening, you can call us at 865-680-1891. We have another caller. I think we're ready to take another question. Hello. Go ahead, please. Okay, I guess not. Well, I have one of my own from year to year since we live in the kind of climate that we do here people will store pesticides how long do they maintain their effectiveness and if they're kept too long? Can they actually damage rather than (00:06:47) help? Okay. The first question is as far as storage is concerned. There are a couple of keys to Proper Storage. If you've got a liquid insecticide one that comes to be mixed with water and it comes in a liquid form if it's stored without being frozen if you had have it in a heated shed or something of that sort. You can retain that material for about two years. It has about two years shelf life. If it's a dry material a powder that needs to be mixed and you keep it dry. You can store that material for up to five years. Those are rules of thumbs. There are some that are extend longer than that some that are less that is a mistake that people make is to store materials in properly also longer. You store a material the greater the So accidental damage and harm to people and pets because it gets mislabeled and so on occasionally, you'll see some burning of plants with materials that are improperly stored but that's fairly (00:07:40) uncommon. Okay, I think we can go to the phones now. Hello. Yes. Have you got a question for Mark? Yes, I do. Okay, go ahead. I'm from Maine Township and Otter Tail County and I have a question about quackgrass. How do you get rid of it? It seems as if till it under and your plow it and whatever and it just comes back even more strong. (00:08:03) Well for that one. I'm going to refer you to county office. My specialty is insects and I really not well equipped to handle questions on quackgrass. I have a hard enough time keeping track of materials and controls for (00:08:14) insects. Okay, another phone call? Hello. I am in the process of building a new house now all the houses today tough standard concrete foundations that are six inches or two feet above the ground but as an energy conservation measure I've got insulation this polystyrene up against the side on the outside of the of the foundation and a covering over that now do I have to worry about insect crawling up between the covering and the insulation and if so, what do I do about it? (00:08:48) Well that method of entry into the home is fairly common, whether you've got that kind of insulation or not. That's the way insects normally get in as they crawl up the foundation over the top and then into the house most of the insects and insect related organisms that do that are not very harmful. And so you can generally just go about your business. If you do have a specific problem, you can identify it and deal with it. There is a there are chemicals that you can band around the foundation to Prevent that kind of invasion but I wouldn't get involved in that kind of approach until you're sure you have a problem the materials that we have available to us. Now do not have long residual activity. So you cannot put down a barrier spray that's going to last for years. For example, normally the lifespan of the insecticides measured in weeks. (00:09:32) Okay. Thank you for calling we've got another caller here. Hello, you're on the air? Yes. I have a question for Mike about boxelder bugs. We I'm a caretaker of an apartment building and we seem to have a lot of them on the building and coming in through cracks in the windows and things and I was wondering if there's anything we can do to get rid of the box elder bugs. (00:09:55) The back box elder bug is a belongs to a group of insects. We call the The Accidental Invaders ones that use homes for wintering and that's normally what happens is the bugs feed on boxelder seeds during the summer and like everything in Minnesota in the winter begin to look for nice warm protected locations and they come to Sunny South. Exposures on homes generally homes and buildings. That's it a little higher than others in the area. They will accumulate in large numbers and then as the weather cools down and October they begin to push into cracks and crevices if the house or building weren't there be a rock that they doing this with at that point or just prior to that point is about the only time that you can reduce box elder bug populations, and we found that a mixture of laundry detergent materials like tide and draft about 2/3 of a cup in a gallon of water spray directly on the bugs. And that's the key you have to hit the bug directly will reduce the numbers that push in and may avoid some of the midwinter and following spring problems. (00:10:56) Okay, we've got another call waiting. Hello. You're on the air. Hello? Hello. You're on the air. Go ahead. I have a question about crickets again. I have a brownish kind of a cricket that I've identified as a camel cricket in my home and I'm just wondering how to get rid of it. They're they seem to come out at night, especially in the laundry room. And I find them if there's a wet cloth or anything like that. They've gotten into the downstairs bathroom. (00:11:23) Do you live in a wooded area? Yes. Okay, the camel cricket or cave cricket is sometimes called is associated with decaying logs and Fallen trees and they move from those locations and and like the other kinds of crickets will invade. So one thing you might want to consider is to take a look at the material that surrounds the home if you've got Fallen logs or restoring fireplace. Would you might want to move that further away from the house once in the house if they are established and reproducing generally measured by the fact that you'll find them in Winter. You can treat with an insecticide the All that we recommend is called diazinon and you would spray it in those dark damp locations where you feel they're coming (00:12:02) from. Okay, we've got another caller waiting. Hello. You're on the air. Hello. I'm a Furniture refinisher in Minneapolis and a woman called me the other day about furniture Beatles. I'm wondering if there's any commercial preparation. I can be purchased to deal with (00:12:19) that. Well, if she means the real Furniture Beetle, which is a domestic that's a an insect, which is a scavenger in general feeds on a wide range of food materials and can be associated with lent pet hair that may accumulate in corners and so on and that case we suggest the vacuum cleaner as a major First Step. Unfortunately people call insects by common names that don't really tell me a lot about the insect and it could be that she's calling something which is living near or in the furniture the furniture Beetle. And before I'd get involved in any extensive recommendation, I'd want to know specifically what it is now. She can collect some of them and send them to her County office or to the university insect clinic for an identification and we can go from there. (00:13:04) Okay. Hello. You're on the air our next caller? I'm I'm calling from Stewartville. I'm calling about tiny tiny red ants that come in every year in a fairly new house. Wondered whether you have a sure cure as a liquid is supposed to take care of them doesn't. (00:13:24) Okay the key to and control whether it's the tiny Greece aunt or the larger ants is to find the nest and then treat the nest directly in the case of the grease and it may be as simple as backtracking the trail that they're following to the nest site and then getting an insecticide we can we recommend diazinon for that purpose and poor door and get it into the nest directly. Unfortunately grease ants can also nest in hidden locations like behind baseboards on a under counter tops and so on and it may be a little bit more difficult to find the other option that you may want to try is to get a hold of the ant baits like Terrell and add a little bit of salad oil to it. The grease Aunt does not take to the Terrell bait which is designed for sweet ants but with a little salad oil oil you may be able to attract them to that bait. They'll pick it up. Hopefully carry it back to the nest and do the job that way. (00:14:15) Okay, we have another caller wedding. Hello. You're on the air. Hi. I'm calling from Minneapolis. I was owning a smart could suggest a non-chemical non-toxic home remedy to try to repel insects in a vegetable garden (00:14:27) you're asking for the impossible. There are so many different kinds of insects that can be found. Their timing is so different that there isn't any one thing that you can do to do that sort of thing what you really again to come back to the beginning of the program. If you were listening you really need to find out what your specific problem is and then deal with that right now cut worms are a common problem in the garden. And as you put out your plants it's a little late in most cases now, but next year you might want to consider putting a collar around some of those transplants like tomatoes and cabbage and so on to prevent the attack of cutworm, that's a non-chemical non-toxic way that you can avoid. Some of those problems handpicking is another thing that I use in my garden. If you didn't put the collars around the plants and you're finding some cutworm activity, generally. There's only a few cutworms in an area that are causing that problem and just by rooting around the soil at the base of the plant Gimli and the top half inch or so you can often find the cutworm and kill it mechanically and be done with the (00:15:26) problem. We'll go to the phones again our next caller. Hello. You're on the air. Yes. I'm calling from Otter Tail County and the woman who had a question about quackgrass. I thought very good luck killing quackgrass by tilling for into week segments early in Spring and late in Fall when nothing else is in the garden and growing. This is a period when the quack grass roots are fairly weak and once they sprout again after a two-week period you get them again, and it works very effectively. Well, okay, let's hope she's still listening. Thank you for calling. Our next color is ready for Marcus. ER know who's an entomologist at the University of Minnesota. Hello. You're on the air. Hi. I have two questions. They're both relating to ants. Okay. I live on shore of Lake Minnetonka and the shoreline is about a 45-degree slope and I have medium sized black ants that are badly eroding the soil in several different areas there and a couple of weeks ago. I just poured some aqueous ammonia and one of the NASA and that seemed to have killed them in that Nest, but I'm not sure that that's a good thing to do. I'd like to know where I can get diazinon. Is that a commercially available thing? And my other question is the Exterminator that we had come out and try our house a couple weeks ago said that we had evidence of some carpenter ants I'd like to know what are those he said we had to find the nest in order to get rid of them. There are some rather large black ants that are creeping around and I'm interested in How do we find them? (00:17:02) Okay, let's see if I can take that in order the problem on the slope leading down to the lake is probably related initially to thin vegetation and some ground nesting ants like to select areas that don't have a lot of ground cover for a nest site. And so one of the things I would do in your position is to begin to think about planting some plants that will hold the soil in that location ants do not kill with a few minor exceptions do not kill living plants. And so really the ant control is only secondary to your real problem, which is erosion probably because a lack of plant materials the Carpenter and I can't remember all the questions but the carpenter ant question or the information that you receive from the Exterminator is correct. You really need to find the nest now carpenter ants are large black ants and by large, I mean greater than 1/2 inch in length. They are common and native to the area. Normally they nest in rotting wood in a living tree say A tree that has Heart Rot they will also nest in homes particularly in locations. Where wood is beginning beginning to soften because of moisture problems. And so the thing that I would suggest with your carpenter ant problem is if you're citing them indoors frequently and throughout the year including the wintertime begin to check areas where you know, you might have a moisture problem. Linkie a leaky bathtub roof that may not be holding the water out and so on and check for sawdust and course wood shavings, which are a sign of the nest. They normally nest in rotting wood and Hollow it out as a nest site. They don't feed on the would occasionally they'll nest in Hollow areas and the hard part is you can imagine is finding the nest after that. It's pretty straightforward the diazinon which we're recommending is readily available in most garden shops and discount houses. (00:18:50) I'm going to take a moment here and give the toll-free number for outstate Minnesota. If you'd like to call us and you live outside of the Twin Cities area you can dial. Have two nine seven zero zero eight hundred six, five two nine seven zero zero. There's one question. I wanted to ask very quickly is on television. You see a lot of advertising for how to get rid of termites. We have any termites in Minnesota. (00:19:16) Well, that's not a there's not a fast answer to that. Yeah, we do have termites in Minnesota, but they're uncommon and they don't act like termites do in other parts of the United States. There are a couple of Select areas some in the southern part of the state. There are a few in the st. Paul area where there are pockets of termites, which have not moved very far in 30 years and part of the reason is they do not swarm in Minnesota the way they do in other states. So if you're in one of these hot areas, it's a good idea to check your home. If you're outside those areas termites are rare if not non-existent so not to worry not to worry not not according to those and not at least based on those (00:19:54) advertisements. Okay. We'll go to our phones again. Hello. You're on the air. Hello, you're on the air. Go ahead. I'm from st. Paul and I see advertisements for a ACME Garden guard and it says it's a natural insecticide and it's biodegradable and it's from the root of an exotic plant called barbasco, and I'm wondering if it's effective. It says it can control fleas on dogs and cats. So it must be safe and it's for vegetables and flowers, but I'm wondering how effective it (00:20:34) is. Okay, I think I'll use this question is to get a point where which I think is worth mentioning the material. I think that they're talking about in Garden guard is rotenone, which has been an old standby so called organic material. It is derived from the roots of plants that generally belongs to the chrysanthemum group wrote known now, you said it's it's used for flea control. Therefore it must be Well, there are a number of chemicals which are used for flea control. Now, you've got to keep in mind that materials that kill insects are poisons and need to be treated as such and they're not if you misuse them rotenone or other organic materials can be quite deadly and in fact, if you look at the toxicity of rotenone compared to some of the in organic insecticides the synthetic materials wrote known as more dangerous to you the user than some of the other materials biodegradable. Yes, but not necessarily more safe nicotine is another example probably one of the more deadly materials we have available to us it certainly naturally occurring but that does not mean that it's safe to handle and I would caution everybody out there to handle all insecticides as if they were poisons and could hurt you. (00:21:44) Okay, our next caller is waiting. Hello. You're on the air. Hello there. Hi, I'm from Wilkin County and we have a real bad problem with mosquitoes in their town and I've got a garden out in front and on the side that have just invested with them. So badly can't even go out there and walk. What is the best stuff to use to kill them off or repel them without killing off everything else? I've got a lot of ladybugs out there too. (00:22:13) Okay, the mosquito control is not easy an organized program. Citywide program is probably the best bet overall. I doubt very much whether you have anything like that so short of that kind of Municipal type program things that the homeowner can do are really very few than the personal repellents the often and so on used when mosquitoes are biting are effective if used properly the other thing that we can recommend is if you are planning on having an out Or a party at in the backyard and you want to reduce mosquito problems for the short term. You can spray the Shrubbery and taller grass where mosquitoes like to hide during the day with an insecticide called malathion that will kill those that are in the yard for several hours and we'll give you a few hours of reduced biting mosquitoes are strong fliers. They can move 12 miles with no difficulty at all. And so what you've done today for your party tonight that group of mosquitoes will be replaced tomorrow. So it's not the kind of thing that we recommend as a routine only in those specialized cases. (00:23:20) Okay. We have another caller waiting. Hello. You're on the air. Hello. I'm calling from Minneapolis. And I have a question regarding specific Beetle. And then also I'd like to ask you about finding determining causes of insect problems and how best to go about first. The specific insect. I'm looking at now is about a half an inch to 3/4. Long because they are fast running Beetle. It has a stout Delhi and it has it's a it's a good strong crawler. It has very strong jaws, and it seems to eat through wood and they've come into the house several times and they seem to be in the garden to and specifically around rotten wood and my other question I guess is who do I contact about insect problems whether or not they're beneficial and the best method of control? (00:24:19) Okay. The last question first Contact the first Contact you should make is through the county office give them a description of the insect that you want identified and perhaps they'll ask for a specimen to be sent in if they can identify it there. They often pass it off for send it down to the university for identification and if we can identify it then we generally will find some about some expert in the country who may be able to do it now as far as the That you described that's probably a ground beetle ground beetles are crabs are beetles which are predators. They feed on other insects a wide range of things including worms in the garden. They are quite beneficial and should be tolerated your statement. They chewed through would I think is incorrect? I'm not sure what you base that on. They can certainly come into homes and much the way that we talked about with the gentleman who's to building is home over the top of the foundation and they will become occasional Invaders. It's an example of an insect that needs to be tolerated so that we can try to reduce some of this pesticide use keep those insects that are beneficial (00:25:23) around. We've got another caller waiting. Hello. You're on the air. Thank you. I'm calling from Grand Marais Minnesota. And I have o 12 years ago. We acquired an older home and I find every once in a while a small insect or around using the bathroom in the tub around the sink and sometimes in the kitchen and it looks like a small wood tick and it has crab-like pincers on it and it can travel backwards as fast as it can travel frontwards and I just don't know what it is. (00:25:57) Okay, you just grab that a small I believe that is probably something we call a pseudoscorpion which is a small Predator feeds on very tiny insects generally find those in dark damp locations in drawers and things of that sort near books because it feeds on some of the insects that may be found in association with book bindings. It's again an insect that needs to be tolerated and going back to our philosophy in the beginning learning to identify and then tolerating some insects will go a long way to reduce in the need to put in time and effort in insect control and this is another example like the ground beetle and the previous call where we really need to tolerate the insect rather than try to destroy it. (00:26:38) I'd like to take a moment and repeat our wats line number again. It's eight hundred six five two nine seven zero zero and that's for those of you who live outside of the metro area but still in the state of Minnesota. We have another caller waiting. Hello. You're on the air. Good afternoon. I'm calling from st. Paul. We recently purchased. An older home and in one of the bedrooms, we have centipedes and I would like to know how to get rid of them. (00:27:04) When you say a centipede. Do you mean something with long legs that moves fast or do you mean the slow-moving (00:27:10) type? It's quite a fast-moving one and it's thought anywhere from half an inch to 1 inch long. (00:27:16) Okay, that's called a house centipede and again three in a row now we're talking about an organism which feeds on other things and in the home. It's it will feed on anything from carpet beetles to cockroaches to sow bugs and millipedes which come in from the outside a few and a home is not uncommon. In fact most homes have a one or two roaming around. It has a fairly long life cycle. It takes a long time to go from eggs back to the adult stage where to reproduce and so an effective means of killing it to a reducing the population is kill it as you see it grab your shoe and hit it once I would recommend if you can tolerate the sight of them and they're not the These things around that if to ignore the one or two that roam around they're very docile. They're shy they don't like to be where people are and as I said, they're doing good things for those harmful insects, which may be coming in. (00:28:09) Okay, we have another caller waiting. Hello. You're on the air. Hello. Hello. You're on the air. Yes. I'm from st. Anthony and I was wondering if there was any effective prevention for the boars that attack the mature zucchini plants usually in the fall not at this early stage of their life, but he's worms or boars that literally heat up the stem and Give me a lot of problems. I was never able to exactly control them. (00:28:35) Okay, what you're dealing with here is the squash Vine borer and it can be well, there are two approaches to the squash Vine borer one is to try to prevent the attack at the time at the adult stage, which is a moth but looks more like a wasp is flying around and depositing eggs. That's normally late. June beginning of July the way to do that is chemically and it's a matter of applying a insecticide on a weekly basis from the time the vines begin to run until over position. Egg-laying is complete at the end of July beginning of August. So that's one approach to try to reduce the numbers that actually get into the plant the other approach which is the more common thing that people do is to react to the problem. Once the the vine borer is in the plant is to backtrack the wilting Vine to the place where you see a small hole and some yellow material coming out slit the stem length wise at that point find the Borah, which is a large cream. Caterpillar take it out kill it and then by heaping moist soil back over that area. You can sometimes develop secondary roots and save some of the vines. (00:29:41) Okay, we have another caller wedding. Hello. You're on the air. Yes. I'm calling from more and I have a question related to wood ticks. This year seems to have a large much larger number of what takes out about. We have a dog that lives with us in the house and he brings them in. Is there any way that we could one treat the dog therefore getting preventing him from getting the wood ticks into the house and to what we can do to prevent wood ticks from being around the house generally. (00:30:10) Okay wood ticks are common in grassy fields and like to be found or a like to locate themselves along paths that larger animals tend to follow deer Trail's letting the dog run free is the reason that you're picking up large numbers of wood ticks the dog runs free picks them up and then brings them back to the house. They drop off there's very little that you can do to prevent that other than keeping the dog more in check. So it's not running as free occasionally for homes that are butt up against a field. There is a thing that you can do wood ticks like the taller grass and so by keeping a margin mode around the your home and the field you can sometimes reduce the movement of the wood ticks into your backyard. You can also put an insecticide down as a barrier which may reduce the numbers that eventually come in today that area the chemical we recommend is called 7 se viiiain, but I wouldn't do that until I was sure that we were you were getting migration from Adjacent field and not the having the dogs bring on all those wood ticks. (00:31:15) Okay, we've got another caller waiting. Hello. You're on the air. I'm going from Minneapolis. Okay from your description of carpenter ants I have reason to believe that I may be storing some in my basement because I recently split some firewood that was infested with the kind of ants that you described if I opted not to move the firewood back outside and want to spray. It's a with diazinon. Can I then later use that fire within the fireplace without causing any harm to myself or my family? (00:31:49) Okay, the answer to the last question is yes, you can you can burn that firewood without any difficulty. However, the use of diazinon it and what I think is the way you're going to approach it is not going to be effective. Normally. There are only a few pieces of firewood in the pile which are harboring the carpenter ant nest and I would suggest that if you are not willing to move the firewood The house that you look for those few pieces and move those out of the house. Just spraying the woodpile is not going to help you're going to have to find out that find where that Nest is. And since that's the 90% of your control. Anyway, you might as well go the next ten percent pick up the wooden carried outside. (00:32:27) Okay, we've got another caller waiting with a question for Mark a cirno entomologist from the University of Minnesota. Go ahead. You're on the air. Hello. Hello, you're on the air. Good afternoon. I'm calling from Plymouth and I have to in sexual questions. I'd like to ask one is about the Japanese beetle and the other silverfish in the home. Are we getting any Invasion Ivan digging out in the garden recently and found what I think are some Japanese beetle grubs is that true that they're around the area and silverfish basically around the tile cracks and towels and bath room areas. What can be done to control that place. (00:33:10) Japanese beetles have not yet been found in Minnesota. The closest the Japanese beetle is to Minnesota is perhaps Wisconsin that's questionable right now as a matter of fact, so what you're finding in the ground are white grubs. We certainly have white grubs in Minnesota. They belong to a Genus call Falafel. They're fairly common, but they are not the Japanese beetle as far as silverfish control is concerned. Yeah, they do tend to Found along baseboards and you can approach silverfish control where you have high populations with the same approaches you'd use for cockroaches half percent diazinon sprayed along baseboards and other areas of location. However, a silverfish are for a common pests in Minnesota's Minnesota homes. They don't commonly however do a lot of damage they can get into synthetic fabric particularly where it's been stored in boxes and dark areas of the basement and before I'd get involved in a extensive silverfish control program. I'd be checking to make sure that they're causing some damage. (00:34:10) Okay, we're ready for our next caller. Hello. You're on the air. I'm calling from Stewartville. Am I right in thinking that in Minnesota spiders are helpful. I dust the cobwebs, but I don't kill spiders (00:34:22) spiders are helpful in all the states. Not only Minnesota all spiders have beneficial. They all feed on other insects and are an important factor in keeping some of our harmful insects insect populations in check. There are two spiders which may be considered dangerous one is the Black Widow which we have a variety called the northern Widow which occasionally shows up in Minnesota. It's an uncommon spider. However, the other is a brown recluse and to my knowledge has not yet been found in Minnesota. And since we are talking about rare occurrences of those two Dangerous Ones all the rest are are totally beneficial and I try to encourage people to keep not kill every spot at they see. (00:35:03) Okay, we're ready for the next caller. Hello. You're on the air. Hi. I'm calling from Minneapolis and I by grains and legumes and things in bulk and I end up storing them in airtight plastic or metal containers for six months to two years. Now problem that people run into occasionally, who do this is with weevils, though, the grains or legumes might be clean or free of mature weevils when they're purchased and stored. In the home when the containers are open after a period of time there will be infestation there and I'm wondering is there is you know, if diatomaceous earth or whatever else might be safe is effective in controlling or killing larval weevils. (00:36:00) Okay, the diatomaceous earth is is not a very effective material on the way the diatomaceous earth works on in Sexes from a control standpoint is to kind of sandpaper the external skeleton of the insect and allow the moisture inside the body to escape that takes a lot of Diatomaceous Earth and it takes a lot of movement on the part of the larvae to to do that in places where it's been tested out the amount of Diatomaceous Earth exceeds the amount of material that you're storing. So it turns out to be a really ineffective way to go a control you. Want to consider treating those containers malathion as a short-term insecticide short-lived insecticide, which is used for grain storage in general and the recommendation is to treat the container prior to putting in the grain for storage and that I think you'll find may may do more than the diatomaceous earth. (00:36:54) We have another caller waiting. Hello. You're on the air. It's only from Edina and I've been plagued with these small beetles. I do have many gardens around the perimeter of my house and the gardens are plastic and rock and the Beatles seem to dwell the hundreds or rather thousands and they're coming in the windows now and I found them in the carpeting there about 3 inches long Excuse Me 3 centimeters long, they are nocturnal and they can fly. Could you tell me what type of beetle this is (00:37:35) I've Me on that. I'd need more of a description or the the insect in front of me. Are you sure it's a beetle? (00:37:41) Yeah positive very positive on that. It has a very hard sell it short stealth Wings also, it does seem too. Seems to hide and shag Carpeting and under carpeting under plastic. It's a it looks for Darkness. I guess (00:38:03) why don't you send that one into your county office or to the insect Clinic? I can identify that from your description. (00:38:10) Okay, we're ready for our next caller. Hello. You're on the air. Hello. I'm calling from rural Henderson. We have a problem with our moths and about two years ago two years ago in winter time. I noticed a small moth flying around and pay too much attention to it till I found that in our food pantry at had gotten into a lot of the food on open bag to lay the eggs and it was just multiplying in there and ever since then there. Always Somewhere in the house every night. I find about 5 6 10 and we kill him and I can't seem to find the area where they're coming from. We do burn wood. We bring wood into the house every winter. I was wondering if they come in with that. Thank you. (00:38:57) Well, I suspect The Moth that you're dealing with at least the one that you found associated with the food is called an Indian meal moth now Indian meal moths are about three quarters of an inch, maybe a half-inch in length and they have a darker band towards the backside that back into the wings as opposed to the front end. So that's a way you can identify it Indian meal Moss represent a group of insects called Pantry pests, which can be controlled by cultural and storage techniques. And the first thing we recommend is that a person check dried food products. Now the Indian meal moth prefers whole grain items and people generally check the pantry where the pancake mix is, but forget about places where they might have pet food or bird seed store normally in an attached garage nearby, so I would Down and spend some time think about all these other Alternatives check those to see if you can find infested package. Once you found what's infested. You have a couple of options. You can either sterilize it and then reuse the food these insects even if consumed are not medically damaging and so you can other than worrying about them. You don't need to worry about consuming them from a medical point of view after you've done that or thrown away the food which is your option then make sure you properly packaged the food as you restock your shelf put it in insect proof containers, like plastic metal or heavy plastic plastic bags and packages as they come from the store can be penetrated by these insects. So you want to do Proper Storage as the main method of control. (00:40:21) Okay. We're ready for our next caller. Hello. You're on the air. Yes. I'm calling from st. Paul and I'm calling about a large bird that has been continually circling circling our building and screeching it comes out mainly at night about a week and a half ago the bird started swooping. At particularly my apartment with the open windows and open sliding doors and it would swoop and Screech toward the apartment and it's been going on for some time. It's calm down now, but it is still there and it's been kind of really harassing to the people around here and wondering if you have any idea what kind of bird it might be or what possibly could be done about it. Okay. This is probably a good time to remind people that Marcus earner was an entomologist which is a person who specializes in insects and Mark shook his head and he said, I don't know anything about that bird. So we'll go on to our next caller. Hello. You're on the air. Hello. I'm calling from Bayport mother been a lot of advertisements for these electrically or electrical Bug Killers for mosquitoes and whatever how effective are they? (00:41:30) They're not effective. There are several problems with those electronic bug killers. And one of them is that they will the light that they emit will attract bugs to the art. I don't deny that at all, but the Trap itself isn't capable of catching all the insects that you bring into the yard. So what you end up doing in essence has to increase your problem while with this bug device my suggestion is if you have a neighbor you don't care for very much get him to buy one and put it in his yard. (00:41:58) Okay. I think I'm going to take a moment now and remind everyone that there's just a little bit over 10 minutes left to the program. And if you'd like to talk to Marcus owner, oh the entomologist from the University of Minnesota. You can call us locally at 2276000 or if you live outside of the metro area, but inside the state of Minnesota, you can call 806 five two nine seven zero zero. Hello. You're on the air. Are you talking to me? I am I want to know what to sow bug is I heard your guests mention it and I had read the other day to put lime around my clematis to avoid Sal bucks. I wouldn't know one if I saw it (00:42:40) sow bugs can be identified by well the way I described them as they look like very small armadillos there about a half inch two perhaps three quarters of an inch in length. They're not true insects. Actually. They're more they're closely related to the crustacean group. They have many legs. If you turn them over you'll find that there are 12 to 14 pairs of legs. The antennae are sometimes noticeable from the top people describe them from being slate gray to black in color slow-moving you often find them dried up on the insides of homes. I wouldn't worry about them around plants at all. They feed on decaying organic material. They break down Leaf litter lawn clippings and material of that sort. So from that standpoint the quite beneficial That's about all I can say about (00:43:28) them. Okay, we're ready for our next caller. Hello. You're on the air. Hello there. I'm going for Minnetonka. Okay, I'm calling for Minnetonka. Okay, go ahead. You're on the air. I've got a bad connection for getting you in here. I heard the answer regarding spider several calls back and we've got a problem that is probably a classification of a spider infestation at the house about 20 years old. We've lived here for five years. He's our little spiders that are about an inch long very delicate tiny little body. They look like miniature daddy long legs and they are in literally everything in the house every piece of Machinery Appliance every corner there inside the light fixtures. They don't miss a thing. I've tried to get some information on whole house fumigation if you could Me and information on this at your appreciate it thank (00:44:28) you. Okay, two things to keep in mind one is that spiders require other insects to feed on so if you've got that kind of problem if your accurately representing the infestation, you better look for the food that they're using normally what you find is that there's another kind of an insect problem that is giving those spiders a chance to reproduce to that level and by attacking that problem you indirectly take care and reduce your spider problem. If you're near a lake you maybe the food may be in a position where you really can't do much about it flies that come up from the lake and so on whole house Yuma gatien is a matter of taking a tarp and throwing it over the entire house and then putting in a very volatile very dangerous insecticide which kills everything and anything that's left in the home. Once the house is aired out and you move back in the material has no residual activity and I would not recommend that until you figured out where your spider problem is coming from and I Your shoes, I would look at the the attack of the food source rather than the spider problem directly. (00:45:31) Okay, we've got another caller waiting. Hello. You're on the air. Hello. Okay, go ahead. And you're talking to me. Yes your honor. All right. I leave a 15 watt bulb and about center of the house on with aluminum foil shielding it from the windows. I've got a kit that has lived with me. Oh more than 10 years at cat spends all night every night hunting insects and goes along now. I'm wondering if that is a characteristic common to catch or do I have a peculiar cat? (00:46:12) Cats like to jump on things that move not a I don't keep cats. I don't know much about them, but I have seen them go after roaches and other moving insects, so that doesn't surprise me at (00:46:21) all. Okay, we've got another caller waiting. Hello. You're on the air. I live in South Minneapolis and we purchased a house that had quite a few saw bugs in it and I heard what was mentioned earlier, but I'm concerned about the best way to discourage them while they're in the house. We have had exterminator out so that some work has been done on it. (00:46:45) Okay, the sow bugs that are in the house are there mainly as a place to hide during the winter sow bugs feed on decaying organic material unless you have that in the basement. They're really living outside during the summer and migrating to the home in the fall. We don't recommend in-house control of sow bugs other than taking a fan or dehumidifier to lower humidity. They require about a completely saturated environment. If the area is dry, they'll die get you back and clean around and clean them up to prevent them from moving towards the foundation. Think about making sure Leaf litter lawn clippings other decaying organic material does not accumulate alone the foundation or when window And if you desire, you can put an 18 inch band of insecticide diazinon around the foundation, which will kill them on the migration in that application shouldn't take place until late August at the earliest and more likely beginning to middle of September. (00:47:39) We have another caller waiting. Hello. You're on the air. Hello. I'm from Minneapolis. And you mentioned before about a few centipedes being beneficial. Well, I have a lot more than a few. I have hundreds and I want to know how to get rid of them. (00:47:54) Okay, the same advice that I gave to the person with the spider problem. If you have large numbers of predators that live in the house, you must realize they have to have other living insects to keep them going. So look for perhaps another insect problem and often we find a strong association between how centipede spiders and the sow bugs that we had just finished talking about where the sow bugs provide the major food for those so you may want to do some of the things we had just previously recommended to prevent those sow bugs from getting in and allowing the centipedes to reproduce rapidly. The other thing is centipedes do not have a web they run around and so there's no one place you can apply a spray. The only way that you can effectively kill them with insecticides is to spray them directly and my advice is if you're close enough to hit him with the spray take the can and hit him with that and be done with (00:48:39) it. Okay. We have another caller on the line. Hello. You're on the air. Hello. I'm calling from Minnesota. Okay, and the armyworm seem to be back again this year and I planted to know apple trees and I was wondering What I can do to keep the worms off short of having to stand there to come off all day. (00:48:59) Armyworm is a term that people in Minnesota used for a wide range of caterpillar insects. There is a true army worm. And I'm not sure which one you're talking about. The cankerworm in the metropolitan area is called by some people the armyworm in the northern part of the state. The forest tent caterpillar is called the armyworm and I I'm I'm guessing that it's the forest tent caterpillar that you're talking about. Is that correct? She there (00:49:28) no, I don't think so. I have a feeling that that's probably what he's talking about because I was in Duluth last week in and I saw one too. (00:49:35) Okay. This is the time when the so-called armyworm of forest tent caterpillars about done with its feeding and control of the forest tent caterpillar if you desire to do that really needs to be done when it's very early in its development quite small in the damage is still in significant, and it's a matter of spraying the foliage. With an insecticide at this point which is when most people complain about it. Most people are interested in the tree defoliation as much as they are the spinning and the nuisance of the worm as it comes off the tree and once that occurs, there's nothing that you can do just tolerated until until it takes care of itself, which is normally within a few weeks. (00:50:10) Okay, we have time for a couple of more calls. Hello. You're on the air. Thank you Mark. I'm hyper little allergenic to insect Venom. The last time I was stung a severe anaphylactic shock reaction. Is there any way I can desensitize myself (00:50:25) there are desensitization programs as you contact your physician for information on those the advice that I would give is an entomologist though is to avoid places and situations where you're likely to be stung by bees and wasps sting in defense and it's either defense of the individual where you become a threat to that bee or wasp and the recommendation I make their as when you're close to one don't SWAT or swing at it. They don't sting unless you they perceive you as a threat. The more important stinging occurs when you get close to the Colony and generally if you move within four feet or so of a wasp nest the wasps in that Colony will perceive you as a threat regardless of what you do and I would make sure that I avoided that situation. (00:51:07) Okay, we have another caller waiting. Hello. You're on the air. Yes. I'm calling from rural Mankato and during the summer months. We've experienced some large light brown or beige colored spiders in the barn and other outbuildings the bodies range in size from that of a pea up to a large my marble. I'm wondering what type of spider they are and if they're poisonous. (00:51:27) Well, I'm not really sure what kind of spider it is. There are a number of there's a wolf spider which gets quite a bit larger than that. There are many spiders in that size range and I can't identify it from that description in the strict sense. All spiders are poisonous in that they carry a poison they use to paralyze their prey from the standpoint of I think as you're using the term poisonous, no, it is not. (00:51:49) Okay. I think we have time for one more caller. Hello. You're on the air. Hi. I'm calling from st. Paul. I wondered if you had any advice about controlling aphids on tomato plants particularly some sort of solution. That doesn't involve poisons. (00:52:09) Well, it's a good one to finish up on gives me a chance to talk a little bit about the philosophy again tomatoes are well able to withstand moderate up to moderate populations of aphids with no decrease in yield or the quality of the Tomato. That's finally produced. So in this case the decision to treat her Not to treat should be based on the damage that the insect is doing and it's not doing any really in most cases in addition heavy pelting rains, which we've been lacking this year plus the presence of ladybugs which are very common right now often keep aphid populations. Well in check now without the heavy pelting rain you can act the same way by grabbing your hose and spraying those tomato plants with a strong spray of water off the hose and that will help to keep the population in check. So what I'm saying in this case is that chemical controls for aphids on tomatoes are really not recommended. There are chemicals that you can use malathion for example, but I wouldn't I wouldn't waste my time if I were you. (00:53:07) Okay, I'd like to thank you Mark Mark A cirno a University of Minnesota entomologist for answering so many questions today from all over the state.