Browse Pest Control Stories

Spring is approaching and now is a great time to schedule a community clean-up event. These events can be organized by citizens, civic groups or local governments and often have a theme or targeted area in a town or community. Clean-up events provide many benefits to a community including raising the awareness of litter prevention, developing pride in our communities and restoring the natural environment.

They have been described as palm-sized, parachuting creatures with the potential to spread up the East Coast. Now dozens of webs are appearing in trees, on fences and in gardens around the Southeast, and social media and message boards are buzzing with Joro spider sightings. Discussions of eradication methods ranging from chemical sprays to “Joro sticks” are rampant. Joro season is here.

University of Georgia alumnus Allison Johnson joined UGA Cooperative Extension as the new Pesticide Safety Education Program (PSEP) coordinator on Aug. 1. The public service position is responsible for creating educational resources and training materials to help private and commercial pesticide applicators obtain proper certifications for the safe and effective use of pesticides throughout the state.

University of Georgia Cooperative Extension offices receives many calls from homeowners frustrated with unwanted animals troubling their homes or yards. Issues range from squirrels taking up residence in their attics to deer feasting on beloved garden plants. In some cases, a straightforward solution exists, while finding a control method for others can be challenging, if not impossible.

With summer and the first tropical storm of the season arriving simultaneously this year, we're getting warm, wet weather at a time when more folks are spending time outside. This combination is sure to signal a rise in mosquito interactions, making it a perfect time to think about mosquito control around your home and community.

University of Georgia Cooperative Extension and the Georgia Department of Agriculture are partnering to offer the Using Pesticides Wisely training program in a virtual format again this year.

A unique study conducted by University of Georgia entomologists led to the discovery of a distinctive supergene in fire ant colonies that determines whether young queen ants will leave their birth colony to start their own new colony or if they will join one with multiple queens. Researchers also found that ants were more aggressive toward queens who don’t possess the supergene, causing colony workers to kill them. This critical finding opens the door to new pest control methods that may be more efficient in eradicating problematic fire ant colonies. 

As the weather cools across the state, several fall insects will begin to take center stage around Georgia homes. Be on the lookout for these nuisance pests and make preparations to deter them from entering your home for the winter.

One of the best things about living above the fall line in Georgia has always been the lack of gnat swarms, but that seems to have changed this spring.

A horse in Lowndes County, Georgia, has tested positive for Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE), one of the most pathogenic among all of the mosquito-borne, encephalitis-causing viruses. EEE is a larger threat below Georgia’s fall line, but rare cases can occur farther north in the state.