Area braces for pests

The Permian Basin is all caught-up on its rainfalls after a couple of weeks of frequent showers. Gardeners rejoice! Well, looking at the splatters on your bumper, perhaps you want to hold off on the celebrations for a minute.

The rain and the greenery sprouting is making the conditions ripe for mosquitoes, grasshoppers, snails and all others things that want to eat up and disrupt a garden, experts say.

Tommy Doederlein, Texas A&M University’s Integrated Pest Control extension agent for Dawson County, said the increased amount of vegetation that would result from the recent rains would allow more grasshoppers to survive and then breed. Though they would pick on anything from pasturelands to the mesquite bushes and grasses on highway medians, they can certainly be a nuisance to your garden as well.

“They just eat leaves,” Doederlein said. “If you have enough leaf loss, it sure can minimize production.”

Doederlein suggested putting down powdered chemicals such as Sevin dust to treat them if more than a few grasshoppers are around. Tilling the soil would also keep eggs disturbed and could stop some from hatching.

Yard Dog co-owner Lynn Correa said she actually hasn’t heard any gripes on the grasshoppers, even though the rains could draw some other pests like snails. She was bracing for the mosquito complaints though, saying “anytime you get rain” they show up.

So was the city. Odessa public information officer Andrea Goodson said earlier this week that they haven’t had a surge in requests for spraying but are counting on calls after the recent rains.

Mosquitoes breed in standing water. Goodson suggested emptying the water from any standing container, while Correa said birdbaths and ponds can also treated with a mosquito dunk that kills the larva in the water.

The city only sprays for mosquitoes on request by sending a truck through their area and shooting an aerosol pesticide in the vicinity of the property, Goodson said. Anyone who wishes for the city to treat their area can call the city at 335-3204.