Texas pests: Top 3 to avoid this summer

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Summer time is right here and with it comes some annoying pests. Creepy crawly creatures are out and about and never even the warmth can cease them. Meteorologist Kristen Currie sat down with Entomologist Wizzie Brown from the Texas A&M Agrilife Extension workplace to be taught extra concerning the high three summer season pests and what we will do to outlive them.

You may watch the interview above or learn the transcript beneath to be taught extra. This interview has been edited for readability.

KRISTEN CURRIE, KXAN: Becoming a member of me now’s Wizzie Brown, an entomologist with the Texas A&M Agrilife Extension. Wizzie, let’s speak about these bugs, as a result of we’re particularly concentrating on pests. If you happen to needed to say, what are the three largest pests that we battle right here in Central Texas in the summertime?

WIZZIE BROWN, ENTOMOLOGIST: I’d say the most typical that I get calls on are gonna be fleas, mosquitoes, positively. After which flies just like the bigger flies, home flies, flesh flies, blow flies, which most individuals most likely are similar to, they’re simply large flies.

CURRIE: They’re large, and we don’t need them in our yard. So what can we do to perhaps hold the fleas of their house and out of our house?

BROWN: So should you take your canine to a canine park, positively guarantee that they’re on some type of a flea remedy. You may need to even get a flea comb to comb them once you get again, as a result of in the event that they’re interacting in these areas, you by no means know what they is perhaps bringing house into your area that you could be not need.

If it’s your individual yard, then you realize, positively maintain what you’ve bought occurring. Attempt to cut back wildlife that you’ve got within the space. After which you are able to do therapies if you need.

If it’s a must to deal with for fleas, you must deal with all areas the place they are often dwelling. So that might be on the animal, in your home and within the panorama.

CURRIE: Mosquitoes, the arch nemesis in Central Texas this yr. We talked about “don’t have any standing water,” however is there a solution to do away with mosquitoes?

BROWN: No. However you’ll be able to positively cut back the populations of them. Do away with standing water. When you’ve got standing water which you can’t essentially do away with, then you’ll be able to both deal with that with Bacillus thuringiensis or BT. Lots of people know them as these little mosquito dunk issues. And that can be utilized to deal with the water or you can put fish in there or one thing like that to eat the mosquito larvae.

As for the adults, all the time put on repellent should you’re going to be exterior for a prolonged time frame. And there are a selection of repellents which you can make the most of. If you happen to’re working within the yard, you’re going to be sweating so much, so that you may have to reapply it extra usually. The EPA truly has a web site which you can go to and it might probably provide help to select what repellent can be finest for no matter state of affairs you’ve.

CURRIE: The citronella candles, do these work too?

BROWN: In case you are in a considerably small space, then they’ll. It actually will depend on how a lot air flows within the space. Lots of instances you can simply put followers blowing, which is de facto nice proper now anyway because it’s so sizzling.
You get the additional advantage of cooling off, but it surely’s additionally going to cut back mosquitoes, as a result of they’ll’t actually fly by means of that basically sturdy air currents.

CURRIE: That is my private battle the flies, what can we do to discourage the flies from our yard in our yards.

BROWN: So flies are going to be interested in something that’s sort of a decaying natural matter. So it may very well be an enormous number of issues. Rubbish goes to be an enormous one. Recycling is usually a large one. When you’ve got pets, choosing up pet waste frequently can actually assist cut back the flies which are in your yard.

After which the opposite large large one is definitely cleansing out your rubbish and recycling bins on a considerably common foundation, as a result of it sort of builds up all that funk and that may result in fly issues.

If you happen to’re coping with flies, simply in a normal space, fly swatters are gonna kill the adults, and so they work simply in addition to something. If you happen to get fly traps for them, you’re going to need to hold these away from the construction, not proper by the again door, as a result of that may appeal to them into that space.

My very last thing is the plastic baggies of water don’t truly repel flies. There’s truly analysis that reveals that there have been extra there was extra fly exercise in areas that had these luggage hung than different areas.