My daughter was just stung by two yellowjackets in our yard! Isn’t it a little early for this? We normally don’t have yellowjacket problems until late in the summer. K. V., Lee, NH It’s not too early for yellowjackets to be out and about, but it is early for them to be interacting much with
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We just moved into a new house. Our old home always had all kinds of pests in the garage. We found mice, spiders, camel crickets, and even food moths, among other things. How can we keep the same thing from happening in this new place. I don’t know what it is about garages. N. L.,
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Just what we need, another tick that “vants to suck our blood!” The lone star tick is found mostly in the southeastern U.S. But as for many other pests, the range of this tick is gradually moving northward as winter temperatures moderate. The lone star tick, Amblyomma americanum, had been known to occur in Massachusetts,
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There are certain indoor pests that don’t require control with insecticides, usually because they are “occasional invaders” that accidentally get inside and don’t reproduce indoors. Earwigs, millipedes, stink bugs, and clover mites are just a few of the temporary nuisance pests that can be found in small numbers. And spiders are hard to control with
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I’ve been told that I have a sawtoothed grain beetle infestation in my kitchen cabinets. For months, I’ve been finding these tiny, dark beetles and it’s driving me nuts. I’ll throw out one box of food only to have the beetles turn up again several days later. Help! R.W., Plaistow, NH Sawtoothed Grain Beetles Are
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While most of the nation is readying for a possible onslaught of cases of Zika virus, we here in the Northeast need to be more concerned at the moment with diseases that are transmitted by ticks. We know we have the ticks, and almost everyone knows someone who has had Lyme or a related tick-transmitted
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What’s the deal with silverfish? I used to see one or two occasionally but now it seems like we’re overrun with them. They’re really creepy. How do we get rid of them? W. L., Londonderry, NH Silverfish are similar to cockroaches in habits and lifestyle. Because they are active mostly at night and hide during
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If you have an ash tree or two on your property, you’re justifiably worried about the emerald ash borer. This ½-inch long wood-boring beetle from Asia is decimating all types of ash trees across the Eastern and Midwestern U.S. It was first found in the Detroit area in 2002 and was later discovered in Massachusetts
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Lately I’ve been finding these small cocoon things in my kitchen cabinets in the corners of the shelves. When I smash them, they seem to be empty. Any idea what these are? M. N., Sterling, MA It’s really hard to say without an inspection or seeing one of the “cocoons.” If the cocoon is round,
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