January 1, 2009 to December 31, 2009

Wet Weather Brings More Than Rain

August 11, 2009

The Northeast has experienced cool weather and drenched with more rain than usual.  Experts are predicting a worse season than normal for Deer Tick that spread Lyme Disease and mosquitoes that carry encephalitis viruses.  Why is this so?  Deer Tick prefer cool, damp environments like that found under pine needle and leaf litter. Cleaning up such litter may help reduce tick pressure but will not eliminate those present.  Mosquitoes require standing pools and puddles of water to breed and reproduce.

Draining containers that catch and hold water may reduce breeding sites but will not kill the adults that bite and disturb people.  Properly placed insecticide treatments will kill ticks and mosquitoes that can spread disease and bother people trying to enjoy the yard and reduce disease potential.  Waltham Services offers tick and mosquito treatments that can reduce tick and mosquito pressure outside, in the yard.

*Call your local Branch for a quote.

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Luring Varroa Mites to Their Doom

August 1, 2009

The Varroa mite, Varroa destructor, is only about one-sixteenth of an inch long. But that hasn’t stopped the eight-legged, blood-sucking parasite from becoming the single worst pest of honey bees since first being detected in Florida in the 1980s.

Any threat to honey bees is a threat to American agriculture. Without them, the yield and quality of many flowering crops would suffer—almonds, apples, blueberries, cantaloupe, cranberries, and zucchini, to name just a few. Indeed, as the chief pollinator of these crops, the honey bee’s contributions are considered a $14 billion asset to our economy—and that’s not even counting the honey and beeswax the insect produces.

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Can you tell the difference?

June 7, 2009

In August of 2008, a highly destructive, tree destroying insect previously not thought to exist in the northeast was discovered in Worcester, Massachusetts. The only currently accepted method of control is to destroy the infested trees to stop the beetle from spreading. Large areas of Worcester County in Central Massachusetts have been quarantined and thousands of trees have been destroyed on public and private property to try to contain the beetle.
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