Bagworms in Katy

Evergreen plants and trees have been attacked by bagworms in large numbers in the Katy area. This image shows the insect's bag, made up of chewed leaves, hanging on a Red Oak leaf. They attack any plant. If you have any cherished evergreen ornamental treat immediately. I have a customer, that within 4 days of noticing the insect bags hanging from her 4 X 14 foot Italian Cypress, had to bring down all 4 because of the damage done. Then she looked at her Indian Hawthornes and found the larvae had consumed all the leaves.

After the insect is dead I recommend harvesting the bags because you could have bagworm eggs in the pouch that will fall to the ground and reestablish their presence.

You may have found yourself admiring the beautiful white blooms on trees that line the Grand Parkway in Katy. These trees are Bradford Pears or, as some call them, Fruitless Pears. In bloom, the plant is really pretty and, unfortunately, vulnerable to a virus that can be carried on the wind or by insects. The virus enters through the blossom and kills the circulatory system of the leaves on the branch, causing the leaves to turn a copper brown color. While a few infected limbs probably will not affect the overall health of the tree, it surely can make it look awful.

The disease is called Fire Blight and the only remedy is a spray application of agricultural grade streptomycin, which should be made now. In a few weeks it will have no effect, so now is the time to call JNJ Pest Control and Grounds Care to treat your Bradford Pears.

Termites Celebrate Spring Break in Katy

March is the time that college coeds have taken to the sandy beaches at some tropical destination where they frolic in the surf at day and dance all night after gorging themselves on island fare for their right of passage for the spring vacation break.

Termites have the same biological urges, but they have selected Katy, TX as their venue. The termites attracted to over watered wood mulched beds that cover weep holes making easy access to wood structure of residences. At this time of the year the reproductives, dubbed swarmers, are empowered to jump into the wind to finally be discovered on the hard wood floor of their new vacation spot.

What to do to insure the safety of people and property you care. The children I cannot help but termites I can. First walk around your house and look for mud shelter tubes about the size of a strap on a string bikini coming out of the ground to your structure. Another tail-tell sign are mud protrusions on sheetrock walls which are built by termites workers to provide jumping off ramps for swarming winged termites like the divers in Acapulco..

JNJ Pest Control and Grounds Care can arrest termites from your structure. And like a conscientious parent JNJ is best at preventing the unfortunate consequences.

Feral Hogs in Katy Texas

You may have noticed a seriously damaged lawn, golf course, or community common area and wondered what caused so much damage – Roto-Tiller run amuck??? More likely the culprit is Sus Scrota: Feral Hogs, termed bulldozers on hooves. They are omnivores who eat tender grass roots, grubworms and earthworms in moist environments such as landscapes in areas that abut Bush Park, the Westpark Dam and similar “wild” areas. They were there long before the landscapes: Spanish explorer Hernando Desoto probably dropped off a few; plenty have escaped or been released from farms since and they’re doing just fine, thank you.

One sow can be responsible for 2 litters of as many as 12 piglets a year, beginning when she is 10 months old. It is estimated there are 1.5 million feral hogs in Texas, and they damage $52 million worth of agricultural, residential and hunting environments. The 58 trapped along Bush Park in 2008 was hardly a drop in the bucket.

So, what to do if porky and his pals show up in your yard? Nothing and don’t encourage your dog to do anything, either. No amount of shooing and/or barking is going to disrupt the feeding frenzy and it’s a really bad idea to tangle with a 250-pound animal with tusks and an attitude!

Give the dog a treat, scout around for some bleach or other serious bactericide to spray the “leavings” when this joy of life not in the big city ends; might call the landscaper to arrange a little reclamation work but don’t bother to call animal control or any other government entity: no State or County employee will be dispatched post haste to remove the animals from private property. Suppose you could shoot them if there’s some serious fire-power around, but that’s darned un-neighborly and probably illegal.

Feral hogs are dangerous animals. They are huge disease and tick vectors: an invading pack may destroy the lawn and rub bark off the pine trees to access the pitch, a natural tick repellent. In addition to tick-borne diseases, they can carry Brucellosis, rabies and E-coli bacteria; hence the aforementioned bactericide spray.

You can contact the Agricultural Extension Service (AgriLife Center) in your county who can arrange the capture of hogs on public property.

Then there is hunting in permitted areas: have at ‘em; no license, no limits. Will need a big bullet to penetrate the shoulder area and don’t forget to include the cute little piglets.

White Pock Rot

As you stored your holiday decorations in the attic you may have seen damage to the rafters similar to that in the picture. The wood looks as though it has acne or has been worked over with a meat tenderizer, which was the case for a customer who lives in Mason Creek Park subdivision. He thought he was seeing damage from carpenter ants or termites. Fortunately, it was benign Pock Rot attributable to bacteria that infects live pine trees.

After the wood is cut and seasoned or kilned the bacteria, mycelia, which produces the white color in the pockets die, halting further damage. Not an actual “rot,” this condition is prevalent in the studs used in construction of older homes in Katy suburbs. It would be unacceptable by the current standards set by the Residential Construction Code. It definitely causes the wood to be brittle. This infected lumber has been in houses for some time and no catastrophic event caused by the condition has been reported. Few inspectors performing Wood Destroying Insect Reports identify Pock Rot as a problem, since the damage is done and there is no corrective action. There is no advantage to filling in the pockets with wood putty.

With wood destroying beetles, ants, bees, or termites there will be some wood filings collecting below the infested wood. If this is seen call us for an inspection.