Winter Moth, Again?

The time has just ended for a round of winter moths flying around exterior lights in Eastern Massachusetts. There is no need for fall treatment sprays, the best idea is to either inject the trees in the fall or early spring with a two year control material, or wait until the leaf has unfurled and treat the foliage with a foliar spray. Fall sprayings have very limited benefit. The numbers of Cyzenis albicans, a Tachinid fly that parasitizes only winter moth, have been rising since they have been introduced and will continue to provide a natural predatory control.
-Lauren Greenhow, General Manager, GreenHow, Inc.
www.GreenHow.com. Effective Organic & Low Impact Solutions, Lawn Care, Pest Control & Termite Control in Newton and Metro Boston.

-Lauren Greenhow, General Manager, GreenHow, Inc.
GreenHow.com. Effective Organic & Low Impact Solutions, Lawn Care, Pest Control & Termite Control in Newton and Metro Boston.

Brrr!

What a change from last year! Starting April with snow is one thing. How about these other interesting differences year to year. This March ends with 12 Growing Degree Days (GDD's) where last year ended with 20 GDD's. So it has been much cooler (with the exception of March 18th). And much drier, Last March ended with over 14 inches of rain, this March just under 2 inches of rain. This will be a slow start for insect pests, such as the winter moth which needs 20 to 50 GDD's to hatch. -Lauren Greenhow, General Manager, GreenHow, Inc. GreenHow.com. Effective Organic & Low Impact Solutions, Lawn Care, Pest Control & Termite Control in Newton and Metro Boston.

Snow Mold

These photos were from a customer site from Thursday, March 3rd. You can see snow mold in this photo where half the yard on the south side of the home was still covered in snow. This area was uncovered and green, but heavily marked with snow mold. Check out this fact sheet on snow mold from UMASS for further information.

-Lauren Greenhow, General Manager, GreenHow, Inc.
GreenHow.com. Effective Organic & Low Impact Solutions, Lawn Care, Pest Control & Termite Control in Newton and Metro Boston.

Chewed Up

Pictured to the right is a picture of a perfectly round hole chewed into a carefully filled opening outside a customers residence. This opening around the air conditioner line runs inside and up to the attic. When the customer noted a return of a noise in the attic, we went straight to the formerly offending hole and found a mouse had chewed back through the polyurethane. We added copper and refilled the hole, actual size around the size of a nickel.

-Lauren Greenhow, General Manager, GreenHow, Inc.
GreenHow.com. Effective Organic & Low Impact Solutions, Lawn Care, Pest Control & Termite Control in Newton and Metro Boston.

Insect Planet-Great for Kids-March 5th

Mark your calendar on Saturday, March 5th for the Harvard Museum of Natural History's Insect Planet event. Running from 9 am to 5 pm with hands on activities to examine live insects and learn about the many insects that share this planet with us this is a great event for familys with children. Our children alway enjoy seeing the insects doing the activities the museum has set up for this event. See you there!

-Lauren Greenhow, General Manager, GreenHow, Inc.
GreenHow.com. Effective Organic & Low Impact Solutions, Lawn Care, Pest Control & Termite Control in Newton and Metro Boston.

A Gnawing Issue

This time of year, even with 12 degree nights and snow on the ground, rodents can be active around structures. Usually, they will exploit and make larger existing openings. A favorite is the opening that may be in between two doors, at the sweep level of an astragal seal. This photo shows a small gap that let enough heat and odors out of it to encourage a rodent to start expanding the opening. You can see a leaf pictured in the gap between where the mouse has chewed it apart. The solution here is to remove these damaged vinyl sweeps and replace them with new, brush style sweeps.

-Lauren Greenhow, General Manager, GreenHow, Inc.
GreenHow.com. Effective Organic & Low Impact Solutions, Lawn Care, Pest Control & Termite Control in Newton and Metro Boston.

Blooms Ahead

As we settle in for a very cold evening, I am looking forward to the upcoming flower shows. The granddaddy, the Rhode Island Spring Flower & Garden Show at the Rhode Island Convention Center in Providence, Rhode Island. This fantastic show is from February 24 to 27th with tickets available at AAA locations throughout southern New England. This show is followed by BLOOMS! at the Boston Flower & Garden Show. The Massachusetts Horticultural Society (MASSHORT) has information available online to plan your visit March 16 to 2oth at the Seaport World Trade Center in Boston.

-Lauren Greenhow, General Manager, GreenHow, Inc.
GreenHow.com. Effective Organic & Low Impact Solutions, Lawn Care, Pest Control & Termite Control in Newton and Metro Boston.

Going down the drain.

Clean drains will reduce fly activity. You can clearly see the pens, forks and straws in the bottom coated with organic matter. What is not visible, but present, are the fly larvae and pupa casings in the moist, organic matter. Using high quality Brushtech

to clean the drain and maintain the drain, the fly breeding source in this drain is eliminated. Fly management is integrated pest management by managing breeding sources, typically wet organic matter, without the use of pesticides.

-Lauren Greenhow, General Manager, GreenHow, Inc.
GreenHow.com. Effective Organic & Low Impact Solutions, Lawn Care, Pest Control & Termite Control in Newton and Metro Boston.

New England Grows

Yesterday at New England Grows, attendance was light, but there were some excellent presentations, including one by C.L. Fornari, a last minute replacement for the original presenter, Kerry Ann Mendez. This is a link to some of the notes from C.L.'s presentation on Low Maintenance Perennials, including the grand prize, a list of low maintenance perrenials. . She has good ideas for plants that follow her criteria of low maintenance, the criteria include that it live, not require many other inputs and that it not spread or seed itself around the garden.

-Lauren Greenhow, General Manager, GreenHow, Inc.
GreenHow.com. Effective Organic & Low Impact Solutions, Lawn Care, Pest Control & Termite Control in Newton and Metro Boston.

Winter Ants

If you are noticing ants this time of year in the Boston area, then you probably have a nest on the inside of your insulation. Sometimes ants or ants with wings (swarmers) will show up in the coldest months, like now. It is a good sign that a nest exists on the interior side of the insulation, probably near a heating source. These ants will still be trailing in the usual places, looking for food and water. Water or wet food is especially important since in heated home, the relative humidity may be 28 to 32 percent.

-Lauren Greenhow, General Manager, GreenHow, Inc.
GreenHow.com. Effective Organic & Low Impact Solutions, Lawn Care, Pest Control & Termite Control in Newton and Metro Boston.

New LED Bulb

We use, and are happy with, the C Crane GeoBulb 3 LED bulb discussed here in our blog last year. Great news on the bulb front, GE recently introduced an Energy Star LED bulb. This bulb is comparable ouput as the GeoBulb, both can replace a 40 watt bulb and are great to use in hall or bedside lamps. The GE bulb is sold online for around $50, which is a little less than the GeoBulb. Both offer long life and great light output. In one room we have the GE Led and the Crane GeoBulb in lamps separated by about 20 feet, a side by side comparison. Seeing more led bulbs replace incandescent and flourescent is great for consumers interested in switching to led bulbs by creating more choice in the market place.

-Lauren Greenhow, General Manager, GreenHow, Inc.
GreenHow.com. Effective Organic & Low Impact Solutions, Lawn Care, Pest Control & Termite Control in Newton and Metro Boston.

Snack Attack

As a mom, I am looking for ways to reduce the amount of waste we produce as a family. One important area is to reduce the waste from carrying snacks and lunches. A key way for us is to use Snack Taxi's to carry lunch sandwiches and snacks without a bag to throw away. Keeping them clean is easy either by handwashing and drying in the dishrack, or machine washing.

-Lauren Greenhow, General Manager, GreenHow, Inc.
GreenHow.com. Effective Organic & Low Impact Solutions, Lawn Care, Pest Control & Termite Control in Newton and Metro Boston.

Back to the blog...Super Service Award

Time has flown by, looking at the last posting in March just before the season exploded. Last year was filled with exciting challenges including a hot dry summer that reduced some pest and lawn issues and aggravated others. We start this year with exciting news. Thanks to our customers, GreenHow was awarded a Super Service Award for 2010 in the pest and termite control categories from Angie's List. Less than 5% of the companies on Angie's List are awarded with the Super Service Award. It is exciting to recieve recognition for great lawn care, pest control and termite control service.
-Lauren Greenhow, General Manager, GreenHow, Inc.
www.GreenHow.com. Effective Organic & Low Impact Solutions, Lawn Care, Pest Control & Termite Control in Newton and Metro Boston.