Notes from the Green Truck

There’s nothing more pleasant on a New Jersey summer night than being lulled to sleep by nature’s summer symphony. Outside your window, the cricket’s piercing fiddle provides a pleasing counterpoint to the soft drone of other nocturnal insects. But when an errant fiddler takes up residence in your basement, disrupting your peaceful slumber with his [...]

An episode in Manhattan last week sent a warning bell clanging through northern New Jersey’s retail industry. Bed bug infestations closed two of Abercrombie & Fitch’s popular Hollister clothing stores in New York City. Hollister Epic, the brand’s 40,000-square foot flagship store in SoHo was reopened after extermination but Hollister’s South Street Seaport store remains closed.
With [...]

Mice are everywhere in New Jersey and New York City, and it is not surprising that many schools are experiencing mouse problems. School cafeterias provide a great source of food for mice, and they are the main reason for the infestations. According to the Freedom of Information, a total of 545 cafeterias in NYC schools [...]

Excerpt from “How Green Are Natural Insecticides?” written by Corrinna Underwood for FoxNews.Com…our very own Gary Stamer, ChemTec Field Operations Manager is quoted….
Botanicals use essential oils from plants known to have natural insecticidal properties, such as chrysanthemum, garlic, sweet flag and clove. Not only do these natural avengers zap the bad bugs, they are also [...]

The rat problem in New York City remains unsolved, and it seems to be getting worse all the time. In lower Manhattan, construction works have caused thousands of rats to emerge from their hideouts, and they have settled in nearby public housing areas. These dreaded creatures are making life distressful for many residents, and it [...]

Many people who are living around Lake Musconetcong, New Jersey are troubled by the growing population of mosquitoes in the region. In the past, lakeside residents only experienced mosquito problem during night time, but now, they are being attacked all day long.
Residents in the towns of Bryam, Roxbury, Netcong, and Stanhope said that the mosquito [...]

Thank you for all of the great feedback on our LadyBug post. 
My sister, the gardener, had a suggestion for those of us who’s roses and other treasured plants get over-run with aphids during the growing season.  She suggested that when vacuuming the Lady Bugs, we use pantyhose to catch the lady beetles and then secure and store them (in [...]

Our phones have been ringing all afternoon with stories of massive swarms and invasions of Lady Bugs all over our northern New Jersey area:  Franklin Lakes, Oakland, Hillsdale, Totowa, Ramsey, Haldon, Oradell, Woodcliff Lake, Ridgewood, Wayne and Paramus seem to be the most concentrated areas in Bergen and Passaic Counties.  These Ladybugs are actually Asian Lady Beetles, brought into the [...]

The emergence of a mosquito-borne disease in Africa, India, and parts of Europe is causing great concern among health officials in the United States. The Chikungunya virus is known to be much deadlier than the West Nile virus, and it is almost certain to cause health problems in human beings who are infected.
The Chikungunya disease [...]

Why is it that the person that I know who is most afraid of snakes is the one who encounters them most often?  My poor friend’s wife was doing one of her late night tasks of throwing a load of towels into the washing machine when she happened to glance over at her dryer.  There [...]