Pest Problems & Solutions

Are pests bugging you?  If pests are taking over there might be a good reason!  Integrated Pest Management (IPM) offers effective techniques and less-toxic products for controlling common pests.  You may need to make some changes to get the results you are looking for.   Also check our IPM fact sheets for solutions to your pest problems.

For specific questions about gardening products or pests, please visit the Our Water Our World web site and select the "Ask the Expert" tab.

 

Are You Giving the Bugs a Great Place to Live?

 
Outside:
  • A moist, cool, protected environment. Bugs love ivy, standing water, and woodpiles.
  • Animal waste, rotting fruit, and debris provide the perfect breeding ground for bugs.

Inside:
  • Easy access into your house
  • Easy access to food and water
 
Plan your IPM battle strategy in this order:
   

1st - Physical Controls

  • hand picking

  • cleanliness

  • barriers

  • caulking holes

  • vacuuming

  • traps

 

2nd - Biological Controls

  • predatory insects (for example, use ladybugs to eat aphids and parasitic insects)

  • bacterial insecticides (for example, use Bacillus thuringiensis, or B.t., to kill caterpillars)

  • birds, toads and spiders

3rd - Chemical Controls - Your Last Resort

  • dehydrating dusts (for example, diatomaceous earth)

  • insecticidal soaps

  • boric acid powder

  • horticultural oils

  • Insect Growth Regulators, or IGRs - these interrupt the reproductive cycle of insects without affecting their enemies

  • baits
   

Ants

Inside:
  • Remove and clean up whatever the ants are after.
  • Follow the ant line and find out what they’re getting into.
  • Wipe up the ants and their trail with soap and water to destroy the ant scent.
  • Caulk openings where the ants enter the house. Petroleum jelly or duct tape in the cracks is a quick, temporary fix.
  • Apply diatomaceous earth into cracks. Apply a fine dusting of this powder to entry points that can't be caulked.
  • Apply boric acid powder in cracks and crevices (for example, Roach Prufe® - found in hardware and drug stores). It is a poison so be sure it is inaccessible to pets and children.
  • Avoid the use of aerosol pesticides. It is more likely that you will breathe a pesticide if it is airborne, and these products have very little long-term impact.
  • Use ant bait products containing boric acid, hydramethylon, fipronil or arsenic.

Outside:

  • Ants are generally beneficial in the garden (they attack termites and eat the eggs of many pests, including fleas), so limit your ant control efforts to problem areas only.
  • Apply a sticky substance (such as Tanglefoot) several inches wide around tree trunks and bush stalks to prevent climbing.
  • Place ant baits in problem areas: Look for boric- acid baits (such as Antrol® Ant Killer or DraX®) or hydramethylon baits (for example, Combat®). These are less toxic than arsenic baits. Both are insect stomach poisons, which have relatively low toxicity to mammals, but keep out of reach of children and pets.
  • Destroy a nest that becomes a problem by drenching it with boiling water, insecticidal soap, potassium salts of fatty acids (for example, Safer®, Inc., or Orthoganics® insecticidal soap) or dust the nest with diatomaceous earth.
Mosquitoes

  • Screen all windows and doors.

  • Remove all standing water near your house (in tires, vases, barrels and wading pools). This is a critical step.

  • Stock ornamental ponds with mosquitofish (available free from County Vector Control as a mosquito control program).

  • Use Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis in ponds. Is is safe for mammals and most other insects. (Available as spray or briquets – for example, Summit® Mosquito Dunks found in hardware or garden supply stores.)

  • Burn citronella oil at outdoor parties – found in import stores, like Cost Plus, or hardware stores. Try citronella-based repellents found in health food stores.

  • More toxic mosquito repellents, if used, should be applied to clothing, not to skin; test fabric first to avoid staining.
Roaches

  • Do not leave any food (even pet food) out at night. Vacuum to remove any food in carpet and in cracks. Cleanliness is critical.

  • Caulk cracks. Close off all gaps around pipes and electrical lines. Screen vents. Install weather- stripping on doors.

  • Apply boric acid powder (such as Roach Prufe®, found in most hardware stores) in places where roaches hide, in cracks and under the refrigerator. It's a poison, so be sure the powder is inaccessible to pets and children. It is a proven, less-toxic insecticide.

  • Apply a fine dusting of a dehydrating dust to the cockroach walkways.

  • Use nontoxic roach traps (for example, Roach Motels®) to monitor your impact on the population.

Aphids
  • Knock aphids off with a strong stream of water (injures and kills many), or spray with an insecticidal soap. Spray in early morning so leaves get a chance to dry.
  • Beneficial insects: Avoid using conventional pesticides so that the local natural aphid predators can flourish. Pests always arrive before their predators. While waiting for this pest's enemies to arrive in spring, crush dense colonies at plant tips by hand or spray with water. Purchase native beneficial insects. Have some type of flower blooming in your yard all year to keep the predators from leaving when the pest population is reduced (such as calendulas and fennel).
  • Since ants will protect aphids from their enemies and will carry aphids to other plants, controlling ants will help control aphids.
  • Don't overfertilize plants with high-nitrogen fertilizer in early spring. Aphids like the fast, new growth. Use a slow-release fertilizer, like fish emulsion.

Snails
  • Hand picking snails is the safest and surest method to control them in a small area. Kill snails by smashing them or dumping into soapy water.  Bury dead snails to prevent a fly problem.
  • Set a trap: Snails can be found in large groups in the morning under propped up, overturned flower pots, boards, or black plastic sheeting. Snails are drawn to the yeast in beer. Sink a bowl containing beer in the ground up to the rim. Remove dead snails regularly.
  • Minimize the number of shady, cool, moist spots in the garden where snails can breed (for example, ivy patch, agapanthus, lilies, ice plant, or woodpiles).
  • Copper strips 2"+ wide (such as Snail Barr® or SureFire™ strips) mounted around a raised garden bed prevents snails from entering. They won't cross the copper. Be sure to remove any snails already in the raised bed area.
  • Use iron phosphate bait.  Choose a bait product carefully.  Baits containing methiocarb kill earthworms and beneficial insects.  Baits containing iron phosphate (such as Sluggo®, Escar-Go®, Worry Free®) are safer for children and pets than baits containing methaldehyde.  Nevertheless, always keep this and all other pesticides out of the reach of children and pets.
  • Reapply iron phosphate baits every two weeks.

Fleas
Inside:
  • Vacuum carpeting (especially edges), pet bedding, and furniture, and seal and dispose of vacuum bag in trash outside of the house. Monitor adult fleas with a green light trap and a sticky card (available at pest control supply stores). light should periodically go out for a short duration for best results.
  • Steam-clean the carpet. Steam will kill most of the hatched adults, larvae, and some eggs. The heat will trigger some of the eggs to hatch, so be prepared to vacuum soon after steam cleaning.
  • Use methoprene containing products. Methoprene is an Insect Growth Regulator (IGR). IGRs eliminate the next generation of the pest by interrupting their reproductive cycle, but don't affect the pest's insect enemies. Methoprene mixed with pyrethrin is a common, less-toxic combination. IGRs are thought of as one of the safer pesticides. Spray on carpets and floors, where fleas breed.
  • For infestations: Use a pyrethrin-based spray. It is a short-lived pesticide and may require reapplication until the fleas are under control.  Apply sodium polyborate powder deep into carpets to control fleas through dehydration. look under "pest control" in the Yellow Pages.

Outside:

  • Ants, which eat flea eggs, can be beneficial in your yard. Spray insecticidal soap in outdoor areas where fleas are concentrated. Spray beneficial nematodes on your yard regularly (check with a reputable nursery). Not harmful to humans or animals, beneficial nematodes control fleas by eating flea larvae and pupae. They die when their food source is gone. Fenoxy carb is an insect growth regulator and effective outdoors in combination with other materials. Methoprene is not effective outdoors and may contribute to polluted urban runoff.

On Your Pet:

  • Use a good flea comb on pets regularly. This is a very important step, and the best way to monitor your progress. Kill the fleas in soapy water.
  • Wash pets with an insecticidal soap (for example, Safer's Flea Soap™), or a pyrethrin/methoprene shampoo, or a citrus-based shampoo or dip containing limonene or linalool (for example, Flea Stop® shampoo). Find these products in pet supply stores, at your vet's office, or local animal shelter.
  • Ask your veterinarian about the effective and low-toxic products that you can apply topically to your pet's neck (Advantage or Frontline) or give orally (Program).  And ask about the Insect Growth Regulators (Precor or Nylar) that can now be applied topically or orally that break the fleas' reproductive cycle.
  • Avoid using conventional flea collars (a constant, low-level exposure of your pet to a toxic substance). If you use them, limit use to periods of serious infestation.
     

 Whiteflies
  • Encarsia partenopea wasps (tiny, stingless predatory wasps) help keep the whitefly population under control. If you spray pesticides, you may be killing these beneficial wasps.
  • Be sure that plants get enough water while under attack. Whiteflies suck plant fluids.
  • Insecticidal soaps can help control the common whitefly in greenhouses and gardens.
  • Use traps (for example, Ortho or SureFire™ sticky whitefly traps). Or make your own traps: paint a piece of cardboard bright yellow, coat with a sticky product like Tanglefoot® or a mix of petroleum jelly and detergent, and hang near infested plants. (Safe for Encarsia wasps which are not attracted to yellow.)

Recommendations for specific less-toxic pest control materials and brand name examples are from the following established pest control experts:

Bio-integral Resource Center (BIRC). Olkowski, Daar, Olkowski. Common-Sense Pest Control. Tauton Books and Videos, 1991; and other BIRC literature. University of California, Cooperative Extension, Statewide

Integrated Pest Management Project, M.l. Flint, Director. Pests of the Garden and Small Farm. 1990. And other U.C. literature. Rodale's Chemical-Free Yard & Garden. A. Carr, et al. Rodale Press, 1991. United States

Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA). Citizens Guide to Pest Control and Pesticide Safety. September 1995. EPA730-K-95-O01. Telephone (202) 260-2080.

To make it easier to find the recommended materials, examples of brand name products are included. The brands listed have been represented by their manufacturer to contain the materials specified and are registered for use as pesticides in California. No endorsement of named products is intended, nor is criticism implied of similar products that are not mentioned.
 
 

WATERSHED WATCH HOTLINE:  (866) WATERSHED
 
SCVURPPP is an association of the thirteen cities and towns (Campbell, Cupertino, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Los Gatos, Milpitas, Monte Sereno, Mountain View, Palo Alto, San Jose, Santa Clara, Saratoga, Sunnyvale) in the Santa Clara Valley, together with Santa Clara County and the Santa Clara Valley Water District. Program participants share a common permit to discharge stormwater to South San Francisco Bay.

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