The Pest Advice

Good Morning from a cool Christchurch. Here at the head offices of Kiwicare the temperature at 10am is still in the low teens and I am regretting not putting my sweater on this morning. I didn’t bring it with me as I had seen the weather forecast and the high for the day is to be 28 degrees C. So the weather today is reflecting the variability of temperatures we have experienced this spring so far.

What implications has this had for pests in New Zealand? Insects are heavily influenced by temperature. When temperatures rise insects become more active and breed more quickly. We have seen flies, spiders, ants, cockroaches and other pests start to increase in numbers, but the cool interludes have slowed them down again each time. At least that seems to be the case in the South Island.

There is still time to get out and carry out a preventative treatment of your home or office. Stop insects plaguing you this summer. Prevention is always better than cure. Check out the Kiwicare website (http://www.kiwicare.co.nz/) for specific information on how to control all sorts of insect pests.

I am able to analyse what visitors to the Kiwicare website have searched for when they visit. I follow the trends and have seen the biggest increases in searches relating to White Tail Spiders (or Whitetail or Whitetailed or White-tail…..spider) and Borer. I found a large female White Tail in my own house last week. It reminded me that I had not sprayed the house for spiders and insects since last spring. I carried out a treatment and this weekend, when doing my vacuuming and dusting chores, I found a number of dead White Tails. I used NO Bugs Super which is a long lasting and safe pyrethroid surface spray so there are no fumes in the air to breath in. NO Spiders would have been equally effective.

If you have any questions on spiders or other pests around the house or garden contact us at Kiwicare we will do our best to help you.

My next blog will tell you something about borer.

Little Miss Muffet,
Sat on a tuffet,
Eating her curds and whey.
Along came a spider,
Who sat down beside her.
So Muffet gave it a spray.