Insects-Pests
Healthy landscapes require more than sunshine and rain. They need proper nutrients and vigilance in scouting for potentially damaging insect pests. From the emerald ash borer to fire ants, MSU Extension specialists and agents understand the long-term investment Mississippians make in their environments, and they are ready to help protect those investments with practical, research-based information homeowners and landowners can use to make decisions.
Publications
News
Firewood can carry invasive pests and diseases. To avoid spreading these to uninfected areas, you should not move firewood over long distances.
Fall is the perfect time to enjoy fire pits and camping trips! Firewood is a necessity for both activities, so it’s important to know how to properly collect and manage it. Be sure to get your firewood within 50 miles of where you will burn it whether that’s in your backyard or at a campground several miles from home.
Keep a flyswatter handy and be diligent in your cleaning to prevent flies from multiplying in number. (Photo by Canva)
There are not very many things quite as annoying as a pesky house fly in your home. House flies will buzz inside anytime a door or window is opened. Airconditioning, modern sewage management, and the lack of livestock near our homes means most people don’t see large numbers of flies in their homes these days. Think about how bad they were back in the day before proper window screening existed! But there are times when flies will occasionally get inside and certain settings that can increase the fly population around your home.
Fall armyworms can be different colors and range from light green to almost black. Photo by Blake Layton
If you’re a homeowner who loves your bermudagrass lawn, be on the lookout for fall armyworms. These caterpillars can eat voraciously, devouring yards within just a day or two. These pests show up every year from late summer to early fall, and you never know exactly when or how many there will be.
If you’ve noticed spiderwebs in your pecan trees, chances are they’re not spiders. They’re fall webworms.
Fall webworms are partial to pecan and persimmon trees but will also feed on other trees, including Bradford pears.
Lawns, pastures and even winter food plots are at risk as an insect army advances across much of the state in higher than normal numbers. Blake Layton, entomologist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said fall armyworms are the most damaging insect pests of bermudagrass hayfields and pastures
Success Stories
When most people think of mosquito control, they envision a large chemical tank in the bed of a pickup truck.
Spraying chemicals is actually the last resort in integrated pest management (IPM), a scientific process of preventing invasive insects from reaching adulthood. IPM uses environmentally responsible alternatives, such as habitat removal, structural barriers, and larval control, before using sampling and resistance management to determine treatment plans for adult mosquitoes.
A dream of the Mississippi Pest Control Association and the Mississippi State University Extension Service is coming true after more than 20 years, thanks to a generous donation by one of Mississippi’s oldest pest-control companies.
