IPM Coalition Meeting

Yesterday we had our second IPM coalition meeting of 2011. We had around 15 participants either in person or through teleconference representing LPS and OPS, Nebraska Department of Agriculture (NDA), EPA, UNL Extension, Nebraska Health and Human Services, and tribes.

We had two speakers--Allen Grell from Keep Nebraska Beautiful, and Craig Romary, from NDA, who gave presentations about chemical cleanout programs/responsible chemical management in schools and household hazardous waste disposal programs in Nebraska. The goal is to get rid of hazardous chemicals, such as pesticides and science class chemicals that are either outdated, dangerous, or not used/needed by schools. Many of these chemicals have been kept in storage because the school didn't know how to dispose of them. These programs, through grant dollars or through established locations like "Under the Sink" in Omaha hope to reduce the amount of these chemicals and thus improve human health and safety and protect the environment.

We also discussed our demonstration school projects at LPS and OPS. The fifth visit for both schools is coming up--June 1 for OPS and June 2 for LPS. At that time we will do our final walkthrough and discuss more details about IPM STAR. Even though the demonstration project is ending, Clyde and I will be available to help the schools prepare for and receive IPM STAR certification.

Mike Daniels updated the group on our efforts in the tribal schools. He is still working on setting up the second visit.

Finally, we promoted our half day educational coalition meeting on July 27 that will include presentations on pests,pesticides and health, the tribal IPM project, bed bugs (including an appearance from Spots), and PMP work with facility managers.

Tribal School IPM

Mike Daniels, Nebraska tribal Pesticide Circuit Rider, contacted us about doing an IPM in Schools demonstration project for two Omaha tribal schools, two Winnebago tribal schools, and one Iowa tribal school. On April 5-7, Clyde, Mike, and I visited the Nebraska tribes and conducted our initial assessment of their schools. We looked for conducive conditions, especially in kitchens, teacher lounges, science and home ec rooms, bathrooms, and around the perimeter; visited with administration, teachers, and custodial staff to find out what types of pest problems they had experienced; and took notes and photos that we'll use to write up recommendations for the school.

School staff reported having seen mice, flies, and an occasional roach in their facilities. They also said that boxelder bugs and multicolored Asian lady beetles were a problem. We observed this ourselves as many of the school perimeters had aggregated boxelder bugs around open holes or pipe penetrations. In one case, a panel was falling from the outside of the building and boxelder bugs were congregated on the windows on the inside as well as the outside. Sealing these areas will be a pretty simple fix to keep out these accidental invaders. Surprisingly enough, we also spotted queen paper wasps in some of the same areas, "getting along" with their boxelder bug neighbors as they searched for a nesting spot.

As with most schools, sanitation, sealing gaps, cracks, and areas around pipe penetrations, and installing good doorsweeps is a general recommendation that will help these schools reduce any pest problems. Throwing away cardboard in food storage areas, keeping food in pest proof containers, and reducing clutter is another good strategy.


We placed sticky traps out in locations such as custodial closets, kitchens, storage rooms, teachers lounges, and under the sinks in home ec rooms. We will check these on our next visit to monitor pest populations and determine any "hot spots."

As with LPS and OPS, our tribal school demonstration project will be year long and consist of 5 visits. On Tuesday we'll be visiting a tribe in Iowa, and Mike, Clyde and I will be joined by Mark Shour of Iowa State.

Stay tuned to this blog for updates about this project as it moved forward!

IPM Process Video filming

On March 22, 23, and 29, we went on location to our LPS school to film a fictionalized version of the IPM in Schools process. The video follows the steps we've taken during visits to our OPS and LPS demonstration schools. Actors from Omaha and Lincoln played all the major roles...UNL Extension, the principal, food service staff, the head custodian, a pest management professional, a teacher, the school nurse, and other school staff.

The story revolves around UNL Extension personnel, including IPM, entomology, turfgrass, and wildlife specialists, who visit a school to help solve their pest problems and implement an IPM program. The video covers the team's interactions with the principal and staff, IPM Coordinator (head custodian), and pest management professional (PMP). It also focuses on the importance of developing good communication between the PMP and the school in order to maintain the IPM program after the demonstration project is over. The characters cover important tools needed for a successful IPM program, including recordkeeping, education, non-toxic or low-toxic pest management methods, and teamwork. It also uses a narrator to guide viewers through the process as it unfolds on screen.

It is our hope to distribute the final video to schools across NE (and maybe even nationwide!). It will serve as another way to publicize IPM in addition to our current demonstration schools, youth programs, and the IPM coalition. The more we can educate NE schools about IPM, the more knowledgeable they will become and the more likely they will be to implement IPM practices. After watching the video, if schools have questions, are interested in learning more about IPM, or want to develop an IPM program in their own facilities, they can contact our Pesticide Education Office for more information on how to get started.

Thanks goes to all of the actors and UNL cameramen who helped with the IPM video! They did a wonderful job and I know it's going to be a great production.

Look for the video to be available through our YouTube page after final editing. Keep an eye on this blog for the latest updates!

LPS 4th visit

On Monday we completed our 4th visit to our LPS demonstration school. It was spring break so very quiet! After a short meeting, the head custodian led us to the kitchen and other locations listed on our recommendations sheet.

The kitchen was greatly improved from past visits. There were two "hot spot" locations where we still saw evidence of cockroaches...near the "cooking" areas and near some back wall sinks. We told the custodian to place more sticky traps in those areas, and to deep clean under appliances. He noted that the drains had been cleaned since last time, which is very important in reducing food and water sources.

Stephen Vantassel made note of some things in the courtyards (one behind the kitchen and two student courtyards) and the perimeter. The main issues in these area were drainage problems (slopes going toward the building), and holes or gaps (under eaves and in the walls) that are big enough to allow insects and mice to enter.

We also visited the home ec and boiler rooms, which still had evidence of brown recluse spiders. We advised the custodian and PMP to continue to monitor in these areas.

The custodial closets looked good...pesticide was removed or in locked cabinets and mops were hung.

Overall, the school is doing very well, and the custodian informed me the next day that he'd already put in work orders to fix some of the things we had noticed! So LPS is well on it's way to IPM implementation!

My next blog will talk about our two day film shoot at this same school. We are doing an "IPM Process" video that highlights the things we do during these demonstration visits. Dramatized by actors, this video can be distributed to Nebraska Schools and nationally to show what steps are involved in implementing an IPM program.

Omaha Public Schools 4th visit

On February 24th, our Extension team visited the OPS demonstration school for the 4th Integrated Pest Managment walkthrough. We had a really good turnout...with three PMPs from the contracted company; the IPM Coordinator (head custodian); and environmental and operations professionals from the main OPS office, who have been heavily involved in this effort, all attending.

As we did with LPS, we first spent some time in the conference room discussing questions they had about the recommendations we had provided from our third visit, and about IPM Star. The school and the district are still working out a good system for communicating pest sightings to the pest control company and keeping records in the log book. Although the log books are in place, we encouraged the IPM Coordinator and PMPs to strive to write more details about what has been seen by the school (including teacher and other staff reports) and the resulting treatments done by the PMPs. This will be an important element for IPM Star Certification.

After our meeting, we conducted a walkthrough...visiting the kitchen and kitchen storage, staff lounge, home ec, portable perimeter, boiler room and custodial closets, all of which we'd had concerns about in the past.

The kitchen had had a pretty bad German roach problem when we first began these visits and this has improved dramatically due to better monitoring and cleaning. We did find some active oriental roaches in one corner of the kitchen near sinks and manager's office, which will need to be addressed. We also found some phorid (humpbacked) flies and a moth fly on some of the traps, indicating there is still some moisture and sanitation issues. We encouraged the school to continue their sanitation (especially deep cleaning) efforts, and the PMPs to place more sticky traps to provide for more extensive monitoring.

The kitchen storage room didn't have many problems, although we did find that the trash can handles were made with holes that provided harborage sites and a good place for debris to accumulate. We recommended that these holes be sealed. We also recommended that plastic pallets being used for storage be moved further away from walls so that they don't hinder inspection efforts.

The staff lounge was also vastly improved from it's original high German roach infestation. Much of this probably had to do with removal of conducive furniture (couches, etc.), old wallpaper, and an old pop machine. We encourage continued monitoring in this room.

The boiler room was in good condition as well, but we recommended a continued effort to keep floor drains covered to discourage rats.

One custodial closet had a German roach problem, with nymphs found on traps. Increased sanitation and application of roach gel bait is necessary in this room.

Finally, we visited the home ec room...although we didn't find any roaches as we have in the past, there was a lot of sanitation issues, such as grime under and around stoves, a large hole in the wall under one sink, and clothes behind the washing machine. We spoke with the home ec teacher, who told us about seeing roaches in the past and believing it was a pretty bad infestation. This is another place where sanitation measures should be increased as well as continued monitoring.

Outside,Stephen Vantassel took a look at the perimeter around the portable classrooms. There was evidence of animal entry in holes around the portables. The school will need to take measures to fill in these holes (after making sure the animal is gone) to prevent new inhabitants from moving in.

Overall, the school has made some good improvements, especially in the reduction of German roaches in the kitchen and staff lounge areas. But there are still other improvements and ongoing general IPM practices we are going to encourage them to implement.

Third OPS IPM Visit

Clyde and I visited our Omaha Public Schools IPM demonstration school for the third time on Dec 9th. The school has recently employed a new pest management company, and a representative from that company was in attendance. We spent some time initiating him on the project, and also talked with the whole group more about IPM Star Certification. In addition, we provided the head custodian with a box of sticky traps so that he can continue monitoring on his own, and gave recommendations of where to purchase more traps when he needs them.

After a short meeting, we consulted the written recommendations we had provided after the second visit and looked at locations such as the kitchen, staff lounge, custodial closets, boiler room, and home ec room where there had been issues. The school had definitely paid attention. Some highlights included:

• Wallpaper removal in the staff lounge, which had been a concern because it could harbor cockroaches. Although German roaches have been found in the room before (especially near the pop machine and fridge) and we found new ones on traps, the school is taking measures towards reducing the conducive conditions that attract these pests and will continue to monitor.


• The kitchen had Oriental roaches, but no Germans! This was great news since in earlier visits we had found Germans in the kitchen. We continue to emphasize the importance of deep cleaning...both floors, under appliances, and in drains, and the reduction of moisture to discourage the Orientals.


• The boiler room was especially impressive...no Oriental roaches were seen on traps as they had been in the past. The dirt pile in the corner of the back room had been cleaned up and moisture issues had been addressed.


• In the main custodial office, all the pesticides had been removed.

With all of these improvements, the school is well on its way to fixing issues mentioned in the recommendations.

Finally, Clyde and I also reminded the group that they are welcome to attend the Urban Pest Management Conference coming up February 7-8. They thought both school reps as well as people from the pest management company would be interested in going. With topics covering various pests, research, and IPM, this conference should provide some good information for the school staff and their pest management company as the move forward in the IPM process.

LPS Second Visit

On Sept 23, Clyde, Barb and I began our second visit to the Lincoln demonstration school by meeting with the staff, which included the principal, operations manager, head custodian, director of food services, and two PMPs, including the technician who services the school. We discussed that we'd be checking traps set last time and visiting vulnerable areas. We also talked about the recordkeeping process they have in place. Currently, this school keeps a pest log in the custodial office, but they are likely going to make a second set of pest sighting sheets available in the main office to simplify the pest reporting process for staff.

After the short discussion, we made our way to visit the food storage and kitchen areas, home ec, staff lounge, boiler room, and custodial closets/offices.

Food storage was good about primarily using open metal shelves! They did have a few wooden pallets and lots of cardboard boxes, but the area was clean, neat, and dry. We recommended they just discard the pallets and reduce the cardboard.

The kitchen is a pest vulnerable area, as we have seen in visits to many other schools, and we did find traps with Orientals and Germans, as well as a German cockroach hiding behind a bulletin board! We gave them similar recommendations as OPS of deep cleaning everything (behind and beneath equipment, floors, drains, etc.), caulking around the bulletin boards, and setting out more traps to continue monitoring.

The staff lounge was in overall good shape...the traps primarily had incidentals but we had found some mouse droppings under a sink last time, so encouraged them to put out snap traps.

The Home ec room looked good...sinks were clean underneath with no storage of pesticide, and stoves, sinks, etc. were clean overall.


In the boiler room, we saw two live wolf spiders...as big as half my thumb! I got this great picture of one before Clyde started telling me it would jump on me. I wasn't sure whether to believe him, but I wasn't taking any chances :-) so I moved back and let someone perform some "mechanical" IPM on the spider with his shoe! We also saw some dead Orientals on the floor, a bag with pop cans, and various areas with debris and dirt. We encouraged the school to address an area of standing water near the water softener, especially since Orientals love and thrive on lots of moisture.

We looked at several custodial closets and with the exception of some clutter/debris and some cans of pesticide that we recommended they remove, they were in good shape. Mops were hung, trash bags were changed daily, and most buckets were dry.

The LPS school, like OPS, is well on its way to implementing their IPM program. Both schools have or will be receiving recommendations after this second visit that will help guide them in the process.

Second IPM Visit to Omaha Public Schools

On Sept 9, we visited our OPS demonstration school for the second time. Clyde, Barb, Stephen and I met with administration and staff to discuss how they were progressing on developing a recordkeeping book. They are going to create a print notebook that will either be housed with the IPM coordinator or in the main office that both the staff and the pest management professional can access. The principal mentioned that she will also send information about it out on a school listserv to make staff aware that they can report pest sightings.

After these discussions we visited the kitchen, staff lounge, food storage area, custodial closets and other areas we had seen during the first visit. There is still a roach problem (primarily German in the kitchen and primarily Oriental in the boiler room) and we gave recommendations on how to approach this issue. We were very pleased to see that the Roach prufe that had been applied under Home Ec sinks had been removed. We encouraged the head custodian (IPM Coordinator) to also remove other pesticides, such as Raid, from the facility. We also checked sticky traps and noted what pests were found and replaced with new traps in the same areas to continue monitoring.

Outside, Stephen gave advice on how to better "insulate" portable classrooms from wildlife and rodents, including using hardcloth, sealing holes, and putting crushed gravel or other appropriate materials around foundations where there are gaps.

We will be sending out written recommendations soon...some of them are general practices we have told other schools...remove pesticides such as Raid, check entryways and replace doorsweeps where necessary, reduce moisture and clutter, and increase sanitation in vulnerable areas.


At the tail end of our visit, we also found a great biological control, a Chinese praying mantis, who was in the landscape. I took him home for a few days, then let him go on some bushes at UNL :-)

Turf Assessment in Lincoln

Yesterday we visited our Lincoln school again and examined the turf. Clyde and I were joined by the head school custodian, Roch Gaussoin, turf specialist at UNL, and one of the school's groundskeepers. There was a lot of white clover growth, which can be both good and bad!

Roch said that until the 1950's, clover was actually included in part of the seed mix for lawns because it helps release nitrogen. He mentioned that if the school wanted to, they could actually allow the clover to be the primary groundcover. The only concern might be potential liability issues with bees (student and staff allergic reactions)

Increasing fertility (using more fertilizers, such as one application in the fall) would greatly cut down the amount of clover. However, this would encourage grass growth and result in the need for mowing more often. The school has limited manpower to address the turf at all the Lincoln schools, so this might not be the preferable option.

Another thing of note was that mulch was compounded around the trees. The trees were planted well, at the proper depth. Roch suggested that the mulch just be spread out a bit away from the tree rather than mounded so tightly against it. This will help reduce mower hits against the tree as well.

The groundskeeper also mentioned that sports turf areas in LPS are the only places where herbicides are used because these areas have a higher priority to be maintained. He mentioned otherwise they just mow, and they don't fertilize the general turf.

Overall, we offered the school a variety of options in addressing their turf health and our recommendations take into consideration that their decisions have to be based on time and personnel.

Finally, Clyde also suggested that the sports turf groundskeeper as well as any other interested district groundskeepers attend the Green Expo in January. This is great for both pesticide applicator recertification as well as updated information about landscape and turf issues.

IPM in Schools: First Demonstration Visit

On June 22nd and 23rd, our Nebraska IPM team conducted the first assessment at the two demonstration schools in Omaha and Lincoln. In addition to the UNL team members (Clyde and Barb Ogg, Stephen Vantassel, and myself) we had great attendance by school administration, custodial supervisors, and nutrition and environmental specialists. Also joining us were PMPs who service the schools and Mike Daniels, the tribal representative who wants to implement IPM for the Winnebago and Omaha tribes in Nebraska.

We began the day by giving an introductory presentation about IPM and explaining a bit about how the demonstration process would work at each of the schools. We covered topics such as what IPM is, the move away from the "traditional" approach of preventative spraying, children and pesticides, specific pests, conducive pest areas within schools, and what responsibilities each school staff member (administration, food service, teachers, school nurse, custodians, and contracted PMPs) have in helping to implement and maintain IPM in their schools. Upon concluding this, we asked what pests had been seen around the school and then set out to do our walkthroughs.


The kitchen was probably the biggest area of concern in the schools. Both schools had problems with German and Oriental cockroaches. Live cockroaches were found in drains and even running around on the floor--mainly in the kitchen, but also in the home ec room and near entrance ways. Sanitation was definitely an issue in both cases...drains, floors (especially under appliances), and surfaces need to be deep cleaned in each kitchen. Because school is currently not in session, this would be a good time to address these issues.

Staff lounges and the home ec room were also of concern. Again, this is due to all the food that is eaten, cooked, or stored in these areas. One school had had problems with a pop machine in the staff lounge being infested with German roaches. Obviously, with sweet pop residue and a warm, dark place to live, it was the ideal place for a roach party! The PMP stated that the machine had been treated with gel bait and sure enough, many dead roaches were seen around the area of the pop machine.
The same staff lounge had a leafed wooden table. When we separated the table, we could see lots of debris had built up in between the leaf---again, cleaning this could go a long way in reducing the number of roaches. Any place where food residues can be removed will help.

The other staff lounge had an open bag of peanuts. Staff lounges are going to undoubtedly have food throughout the year, but it's best that long-term items such as the peanuts, chips, candy, cookies, etc. be put in sealed containers, and plates with treats such as donuts or cake be covered tightly when no one is in the lounge.

The home ec room, like the kitchen, needs a good deep cleaning. Dead and live roaches were found several places, plus an old sticky trap that had been placed was full of them. The stoves (in, around, and behind) need to be cleaned, as well as the floors and drains. Doing this will go a long way in reducing food sources for pests.

In all of these areas we placed many sticky traps...some were specifically pheromone traps for roaches. It is our hope that this will help us monitor and determine the extent of the problem. We will check these at an upcoming visit.

We also looked at custodial rooms in both schools...both had pesticides stored, although one had them on open shelves, the other in locked cabinets. Things like Roach Prufe (boric acid) and Raid were some of the more commonly found products. We recommended to the schools that they remove these from the shelves. We'd rather see them implement good old mechanical controls like fly swatters (or a shoe!) than spraying Raid at a pest. Both require direct contact to kill the pest, so why not use the non-toxic approach if possible? Additionally, we talked about how the PMP has the tools and low-toxic products like gels that could be placed in cracks and crevices, thus reducing human exposure.

Finally, we took a look at the perimeter. Overall, both schools looked good but had a few problems with grading and water pooling that could cause excessive moisture problems and attract pests. Also, weed free zones should be in place around both schools. Stephen indicated that the schools should watch out for gaps in the roof, foundation, or walls that could encourage bat, wildlife, or rodent entry. Portable classrooms were one particular problem as they had many gaps, broken vents, or other problems that could encourage animal entry. One school had courtyards that were overgrown with weeds, had grading problems, and had trees touching the roof or walls. These will need to be updated and maintained to discourage pest activity.

This first visit was very productive! Everyone involved seemed very enthusiastic about fixing any problems and working hard to implement IPM over the next year! We'll be providing a report with recommendations to each school, and working with them over the course of the next four visits. Stay tuned!

Big Week

Well, this is the week we start our first IPM demonstration visits to the Omaha and Lincoln public schools! Tomorrow we'll be in Omaha and Wednesday in Lincoln.

We'll be conducting a walkthrough at each school as well as providing the school administration and staff with a presentation about IPM and how the process will work over the next year. We plan to document pests and pest conducive conditions by taking photos and notes, and from these we'll be able to provide recommendations for the schools. We'll also be placing traps in conducive areas.

Stay tuned for a detailed report after the completion of this initial assessment.

Upcoming NE IPM Events

It is going to be an exciting year for Nebraska IPM! June 22, 23 and 29 we'll be conducting our first IPM assessments at the Omaha and Lincoln schools.

July 7 Mark Shour from IA state will be with us at our Nebraska IPM coalition to speak about his experiences with IPM in schools in Iowa.

The first week of August, as part of the North Central IPM Working group meeting, we'll be doing a walkthrough at a Nebraska City school.

Oct 6 Tom Green from the IPM Institute is joining our coalition meeting to talk about IPM Star Certification.

Stay tuned for more details about these important and educational IPM events!