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Welcome to 2021 Everyone Do you need CEUs

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Not much has changed as we begin the new year, if you are needing those CEU credits for your license you will find most of it has moved online via Zoom or other Cloud based software.

For those of you who are licensed with TDA either as a commercial or noncommercial applicator you still must obtain your CEU credits. Over the holiday break the Department of Agriculture sent out this notice to all CEU providers.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the current rise in cases across the state, the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) is extending its allowance for Department approved CEU courses and Technician Training Courses, normally held in-person, to be given as a web-based interactive and live courses, where the audience can ask questions of the instructor and exchange information. To address the CEU and licensure requirements for Structural Pest Control Certified Applicators (CA’s) and Technicians, the TDA will work with the CA’s, prospective Technicians, CEU Course providers, and Technician Training Course providers of Texas to make CEUs and training available during this critical time. Licensed CA’s needing CEU’s and Apprentices needing to become Technicians will be allowed to take CEU Courses and Technician Training Courses as online, web-based interactive and live courses to meet their CA CEU requirements or eligibility requirements through December 31, 2021.

TDA will continue to enforce requirements for CA’s to obtain their CEU’s for their respective license and categories each calendar year. CA’s must complete their calendar year 2020 CEU’s by 12/31/2020 and their 2021 CEU’s by 12/31/2021. Per 4 TAC § 7.134, self-study online CEUs may be used every other year to meet CEU requirements. Web-based interactive and live online courses as authorized by this notice are not considered self-study online courses.

Commercial and Noncommercial Structural Pest Control

If you have a structural pest control license, you must receive your continuing education credits each year, which is Jan. 1 through Dec. 31. Those credits are so you can renew your license the next year. For example, my license expires in May, but I need to obtain 2 General, 1 Pest, 1 Lawn & Ornamental, and 1 Weed as those are the categories, I’m licensed in between Jan 1 and Dec 31 each year. Everyone who is licensed in structural MUST obtain 2 general category CEUs, plus 1 CEU in every category you are licensed in.

The above provision also applies to those Agricultural Pesticide Applicators who are Private, Commercial, Noncommercial, Noncommercial Political Subdivision license holders as it pertains to obtaining your CEU credit to renew your license.

Commercial, Noncommercial, Noncommercial Political:

These licenses must be renewed annually. TDA interprets annually based on licensing period, so if you are licensed from May 2020 to May 2021, your CEUs must be obtained between that 12-month licensing period for you to be able to renew. The license holder must complete 5 CEUs each year to be eligible to renew, with one credit each from two of the following categories: laws and regulations, integrated pest management or drift minimization.

Each applicator will be required to maintain proof of the number of CEUs necessary to renew a license or certificate. Certificates of completion verifying attendance at approved activities during the previous licensing period must be maintained by the applicator for a period of 12 months after the most recent renewal of their license or certificate. The department may audit the CEUs an applicator has obtained during an onsite inspection or by letter requesting that copies of certificates of completion be mailed to the department. Certificates of completion will be compared with course attendance rosters on file with the department. Credits obtained at a single course cannot be split or divided between licensing periods.

Private, Certified Private:

Private applicator licenses and certificates are valid for five years, and the applicator must obtain 15 CEUs during that time to renew, including two (2) credits in laws and regulations and two (2) credits in integrated pest management (IPM).

Testing:

The Texas Pesticide Law requires that persons must be licensed or certified by TDA to lawfully use a restricted-use pesticide, state-limited-use pesticide, or regulated herbicides. For more information on Agricultural Applicator licensing and testing check out this website link

The Structural Pest Control Act (Chapter 1951 of the Occupations Code) requires licensing of businesses and individuals that perform structural pest control for hire. Additionally, employees of units of state government who apply pesticides as part of their job duties, and persons performing pest control at an apartment building, day-care center, hospital, nursing home, hotel, motel, or lodge, warehouse, food-processing establishment (other than a restaurant, retail food, or food service establishment), or school must be licensed. Structural pest control includes but is not limited to pests that may infest parks, buildings or structures and adjacent areas, industrial plants, streets, docks, railroad cars, trucks, ships, or airplanes. Structural pest control includes the following activities for compensation:

  • identifying infestations,
  • making inspection reports,
  • providing recommendations,
  • submitting estimates or bids,
  • contracting,
  • performing services to prevent, control or eliminate infestations, or
  • advertising such services.

How To Schedule SPCS Licensing Exams can be found at this website link

Looking for CEUs Here is what I have found for the next two months, I added the Purdue Annual CEU workshop because they are offering TX CEU credit and it’s not something you will get a chance to attend unless you travel north. At the same time, the annual spring CEU program we offer through the Texas A&M AgriLife Research & Extension Center in Dallas, is going virtual as well, we are working on our registration now.  You can always check out TDAs CEU website search for classes that are being added weekly.

Name of conference Website to register Dates
Purdue Pest Management Conference https://www.extension.entm.purdue.edu/urbanconference/assets/pdf/brochure_2021.pdf January 11-14, 2021
2021 Professional Grounds Keepers Conference https://bell.agrilife.org/2021-professional-grounds-keepers-conference/ January 21, 2021
Bexar County Virtual CEU Workshop https://agriliferegister.tamu.edu/productListingDetails/3305 January 29, 2021
North Texas Pest Management Virtual Conference https://agriliferegister.tamu.edu/productListingDetails/3303 January 29, 2021
Spring IPM Seminar Save the Date – we are working on registration website February 23, 2021

Finally, if you did not take any on demand courses last year (2020) you can take them this year visit our AgriLife Learn website https://agrilifelearn.tamu.edu/catalog?pagename=Pest-and-Weed-Control to see all the CEU courses we offer.

2020 is the Year of the Rat and Rodent Academy is going Virtual

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The Texas 2020 Rodent Academy is going virtual!

Register early to join us for this unique urban rodent management virtual workshop. Come spend two-days with experts from around the country discussing better ways to understand rodent ecology and integrated pest management (IPM). Learn about rodent disease, monitoring, trapping, urban rodent surveys and much more.

This event will be December 1 & 2, 2020 via Zoom and will be from 8:00 AM until 4:30 PM with time for you to chat with our speakers.

Cost is $75 per person and we ask that you register by Nov. 30th at 3:00 PM to give us time to send you the video link for the meeting.

Who Should Attend?

This course is intended for pest management professionals, municipalities, universities, public schools, and food safety personnel involved in the rodent control programs.

Curriculum Content

The topics will include:

  • Health significance of rodents
  • Rodents and allergens
  • Biology and behavior of rodents
  • Overview of Integrated Pest Management
  • Pesticide labels and federal regulations
  • Exterior bait boxes – what, where, how?
  • Alternative tools & techniques for rat control
  • Rodent Sensing Systems – which one is right for your business

 Class Size:  since we are going to be virtual, we will allow for a larger class than our in-person events. However, it will still be limited to 75 people to keep the group somewhat small so we can chat at the end of each day.

Academy Completion Certificate and CEU Credits

To Receive a Certificate of Academy Completion

  • Students will be expected to participate in class activities via chat or online polling.
  • Both sessions must be attended and completed by the same student from each company.
  • All students must also pass a final exam, which will be given via an online survey software.

Video or audio taping of any session of the Academy is prohibited, except with the express and prior permission of Texas A&M AgriLife Research & Extension

Meet some of our speakers:

Dr. Claudia Riegel, Director, New Orleans Mosquito, Termite and Rodent Control Board. She is currently leading a city-wide program of rodent baiting not only considering the increased pressure from the coronavirus pandemic, but out of concern that the higher pressure could spread disease among the homeless population.

Dr. Niamh Quinn, Human-Wildlife Interactions Advisor, University of California Cooperative Extension Area Vertebrate Pest Advisor, based at the UC ANR South Coast Research and Extension Center in Irvine.CA. She facilitates interactions and information exchange among campus-based academics, CE advisors and community stakeholders. Her focus is directed on the coordination of Cooperative Extension programming regarding human-wildlife conflicts, particularly within the residential and industrial areas within Southern California where significant human-wildlife conflicts are occurring, with concentration in Los Angeles, Orange, and San Diego Counties.

Timmy Madere, Pest Control Specialist, New Orleans Mosquito, Rodent and Termite Control Board. Madere has worked on research studies and urban pest issues concerning everything from termites and bed bugs to coyotes and raccoons, but his primary focus is on commensal rodents and urban rodent control.

Sylvia Kenmuir, BCE Sylvia is an Industrial Entomologist and chair of the West Coast Rodent Academy. She is currently the Western US Technical Specialist with BASF where she is responsible for product support.

Dr. Michael H. Parsons is a Visiting Research Scholar in the Department of Biological Sciences at Fordham University in the Bronx, NY. His work focuses on creating novel biological field assays to explore how scents influence risk assessment, disposition and decision making in small mammals. As a multi-disciplinary researcher, his assays with wild, city rats have been adapted into neuroethological assays and have been utilized for urban pathogen surveillance.

There will also be a discussion about the banning of rodenticides in California, how they got there and what steps everyone should learn from this.

Have you heard about rodent remote sensing?  Are you unsure what it is or how to use? Then Wednesday afternoon will be the day to learn more about this new technology.

Both days will end will a roundtable discussion that will allow participants to ask questions and share ideas with others.

Here is the Rodent academy agenda I will have more detailed information closer to the event.  In the meantime, get registered now.  If you need SPCS CEUs or a certificate of training you must register Online Here  I will notify each participant with the Zoom invite for the meeting.  Once you receive the invite from Zoom, you will have to register again to get the room code.  Please do not share the link.

I look forward to “seeing” you on December 1 and 2, 2020 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM

 

Getting the Bugs Out: Bed Bug Training 2020

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Alan Brown

Alan Brown teaching how to use steam for bed bug treatment

IPM Experience House: Getting the Bugs Out: Bed Bug Training 2020 is here to help you understand this old but new foe the “Bed Bug.” Long-time bed bug specialist for ABC Home and Commercial Services, Alan Brown, Staff Entomologist/ Department Manager will be providing his insights into best practices for bed bug control. In  addition to classroom training on the finer points of the “modern bed bug,” the class will get hands on experience with inspecting, treating using heat and other methods and developing practical and effective follow-up plans for your customers.

Hands-on activities include use of various sprayers and dusters, bag fumigants, solar heat treatments, and situational problem solving. In addition, we will use microscopes to examine different bed bug life stages and species.

Registration is now open for bed bug training academy at IPM Experience House.

What: This class will provide basic and advanced training in bed bug recognition, treatment methods and problem solving. Registration open until October 28, or until the class is full. Class size limited to 10.  No refunds after October 29.

JJ teaching

JJ teaching the class about solar treatment for some items

Where: Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center, Water & Land Resources Building along with IPM Experience House .

When: October 29, 2020. 8:15 am to 5 pm.

Instructors: , Janet Hurley, Alan Brown and Jonathan Joubert.  (CEUs: 8 hours verified training in Pest Category, Pending: 2 CEU general, 1 CEU Pest)

How to Register: Click here to register online.

Agenda: Oct. 29, 2020, 8:15 am – 5:00 pm you can find the full agenda here Detailed Agenda

2020 Fall IPM Virtual Conference

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For anyone who needs structural or ag CEU credits in turf and ornamental pest management, 2020 Fall IPM Conference registration is now open, and we are going virtual.

We understand this year has been a challenge and getting your CEU credits is still required, so like everything else there is a Zoom meeting for that.

Never Fear AgriLife Extension is Here. You can trust us to have speakers that will help keep you engaged and teach you a thing or two.

When: Wednesday, November 18, 2020 – Zoom conference room will open at 7:45 AM. We will break for lunch (on your own) and begin right at 1:00 PM with Dr. Renchie and will be done by 3:30 PM.

Our speaker lineup includes Dr. Becky Bowling talking about water and how that impacts pests – too much or not enough is that is needed to stress an area out. Dr. Eric Reasor will discuss herbicide resistance, this applies to all of us as we watch products drop off the market. Dr. Sonja Swiger will be discussing a topic we haven’t heard from in a while – flies and that’s not just mosquitoes, but flies are always problematic in certain areas. To ensure you are awake after the lunch break, we have Dr. Don Renchie scheduled to cover laws and rules, yes, he will still get you to say an Amen or Hum at least once during his session. Our final speaker of the day will be Erfan Vafaie, discussing some of the smaller insect pests that occur outside on vegetables and ornamentals.

Did you realize a couple of names were not listed as speakers? No, we didn’t all retire, only Dr. Mike Merchant retired in August, Dr. Chrissie Segars and Janet Hurley will be part of the program only we will be monitoring the chat box and you the participants to make sure you are there. online! 

How to Register

This virtual conference brings some changes to our normal registration process. All payment and registration will be done through our registration link only. You MUST register here  and have your payment to College Station by November 16th. This is a hard deadline and no exceptions will be made. We are unable to take registrations on the day of the conference due to the nature of the virtual format. We appreciate your patience with this process. All necessary information will be sent to your email once registration is complete. You must have an email to access the zoom webinar information.

To qualify for CEU’s, you must enter your correct license number and be present for the entirety of the virtual conference. The online platform will monitor your presence at the conference and CEU’s will be awarded accordingly. More explanation will be given the day of the conference.

Wednesday, November 18

Webinar Register online! scroll to the webinar section http://agriliferegister.tamu.edu/IPM

Registration/Payment Questions: agriliferegister@tamu.edu  979-845-2604

Cost $50 through November 16 Please enter your current pesticide license at registration!

Cancellations received no later than Nov. 16 will receive a refund minus a $10 administrative fee

Seminar questions: Sharon Harris 972-952-9201 SRHarris@ag.tamu.edu

Dr. Mike Merchant Retires After 30+ Years with Extension

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The Department of Entomology and Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service celebrated the retirement of a longtime professor and Extension Entomologist during a virtual celebration held on August 7.

Merchant, a Professor and Extension Entomologist in Dallas, will be retiring on August 31. He has been with Extension for more than 30 years when he joined as an Urban Entomologist in the District 4 offices located in the Dallas area.

His career highlights started in 1993 when Merchant was named Chair of the statewide School IPM Advisory Committee. As chair, Merchant served as principal drafter of the original regulations establishing the Texas School IPM program. Since then, he has created video training tapes and wrote a handbook for school IPM coordinators, and a training conference.

In 2001, Merchant and Program Leader and Extension Specialist Dr. Don Renchie were awarded a multi-state grant in to develop the Southwestern Technical Resource Center for IPM in Schools and Daycare Facilities. The grant also allowed Merchant to hire Extension Program Specialist Janet Hurley to help create the Texas School IPM Team, which gained national recognition for their outstanding work developing training materials and courses in integrated pest management for schools.

In the early 1990’s Merchant was the author of the original fact sheet for the “Texas Two-Step” method of controlling fire ants that was developed by the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service. The sheet was the most frequently requested publication from 1995-1997 and is now being used by commercial fire ant bait manufacturers and is recognized as the most effective control program available in the nation.

Crepe myrtle bark scale

Over the past decade, Merchant led a team of entomologists to identify a new insect pest of crape myrtle, officially named the crape myrtle bark scale or Eriococcus lagerstroemiae. The scale has now spread throughout the southern U.S. Merchant demonstrate that neonicotinoid soil drenches controlled the scale, and his research has focused on safe and effective methods of control that are also safe, economically feasible, and do not adversely impact pollinators who use crape myrtle as a source of pollen in the late summer.

In 2003, Merchant along with colleagues Drs. John Jackman and Carlos Bogran developed the Master Volunteer Specialist in Entomology program. This training consists of a course which offers in-depth training in entomology to Master Gardeners and Master Naturalists and created an online outreach tool for professionals and general public called Insects in the City. He also oversaw the renovation project in 2016 that eventually became the Texas IPM House, which is a hands-on training facility for pest management professionals to learn about IPM and pests that invade homes or used structures as a source of food and shelter.

Merchant also created an interactive website called “Mosquito Safari” to help teach homeowners and businesses about proper mosquito control. During the emergence of the Zika virus, Merchant worked with Dr. Sonja Swiger to develop a statewide outreach program to educate about controlling mosquitoes and prevention of Zika in Texas. In 2016, they enlisted the help of several Extension agents, specialists, and program specialists to create and distribute materials.

Mike Merchant training a class at the IPM Experience House

Their efforts in mosquito control educational programming resulted in 339 education events, directly training nearly 140,000 people plus over 2 million media contacts engaged with the programs. In addition, 76,400 people received newsletters with Zika information and more than 11,000 printed copies were distributed throughout the state.

Since 1995, Merchant has also maintained another highly popular website called Insects In The City, or citybugs.tamu.edu, that allows visitors to sign up for insect updates, post questions, and view fact sheets. The site receives at least 1.2 to 1.5 million visitors and an average of 3.2 million views per year.

In addition to Extension, Merchant was very active in the Entomological Society of America where he made significant contributions through his service, including co-authoring a 208-page study guide Associate Certified Entomologist program titled IPM for the Urban Professional: A Study Guide for the Associate Certified Entomologist.

Merchant also served on the Entomological Society of America’s Certification Board, a board that is responsible for the Society’s certification programs, and the Director of the BCE program in 2001-2002. Since he was director of the BCE, he led the reorganization of the program committee and established the Associate Certified Entomologist program.

Extension Program Specialist Wizzie Brown said that Merchant will definitely be missed by everyone.

“Mike has been an excellent mentor over the years and will be sorely missed by myself, other entomologists, and people within the pest control industry,” Brown said.

“Dr. Merchant has always been some whom I could depend on whenever I had a question or an issue,” Associate Professor and Extension Specialist Dr. Sonja Swiger said. “He has provided guidance, wisdom, compassion and steadfast for all of us in the Extension Entomology group. While his retirement is well deserved, he will be deeply missed by all.”

Ant identification class

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carpenter ant adult

Carpenter ants are easily distinguished from acrobat and other ants, if you know what to look for.

COVID-19 may have slowed things down temporarily, but IPM House classes will restart next month with advanced training on ant identification. This will be our second time to offer this course with guest trainer Dr. Robert Puckett.

Ants are one of the toughest pest groups for PMPs to identify. Because of their small size, ants generally require a microscope or a good hand lens, and a trained eye to identify. In this class participants will practice identifying a variety of ants with a hand lens and microscope.

Topics to be covered include introduction to ant biology and behavior, ant anatomy and recognition of the important Texas ant genera, ant sampling and surveillance, and fire ant biology and IPM.  Hands-on activities include use of microscopes to look at different mosquito life stages and species.

The class is part of the IPM Experience House PMP Advanced Training classes. It will be held at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center on Friday, July 16.  Classes at IPM House include a combination of hands-on demonstrations and classroom instruction. Lunch is provided. (CEUs: 6 hours verified training in Pest Category, have requested CEU credit for Ag and SPCS). Early online registration (up to July 16) is $60. On site registration is $80. No refunds after the July 15.

We ask that all participants bring their own face mask. If you do not have one, we will provide one for you. Social distancing will be practiced during the class and hand sanitizer provided.

As a special bonus, Mike Bosco with Safehaven Pest Control will demonstrate proper technique for disinfection, and talk about disinfection as an add-on to your business.  To register, and for more information, go to https://agriliferegister.tamu.edu/productListingDetails/3150

Social distancing and IPM House

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Who would have believed, even one week ago, that coronavirus would dominate our lives so quickly and severely?  This sort of thing is something that happens to other countries, not ours.  Yet here we are.

The reality of coronavirus hit home last week when we realized we couldn’t follow through with our plans to offer a long-planned mosquito control class as part of our IPM Experience House class curricula.  Texas A&M AgriLife and our local campus have moved to emergency mode, effectively shutting most training classes down for the foreseeable future.

In addition to IPM House classes, upcoming school IPM coordinator training courses are similarly affected.  We are still cautiously considering whether we may be able to offer classes in May and June.

It took me a while to grasp the significance of the coronavirus shutdown strategy; but for what it’s worth, here are a few facts and links that turned me around this week.

  • Understanding that the COVID-19 is not just another seasonal flu.  It’s a disease with 4 to 7X higher mortality rate than the flu and longer persistence in the environment than the flu (up to 3 days on stainless steel and plastic).  Maybe worst of all, people (especially children) who catch it can be contagious without even realizing they are sick.
  • We don’t hear a lot about the plight of those who catch this virus and recover (not as gripping in headlines), but this is not a virus to take lightly. Early reports suggest the possibility of chronic lung impairment in some recovering COVID-19 patients.
  • Yeah, it sounded bad in China, but look at Italy.  In Italy, where health care systems are more similar to our own but where quarantine actions were slow to be adopted, a crisis situation developed with lightning speed in emergency rooms of afflicted areas.  And if you think Italy’s health care is inferior to our own, consider one statistic.  In hospital beds per 1,000 people, Italy leads the US 3.2 to 2.8.  Anyone thinking that our doctors and hospitals could do better in the face of overwhelming numbers of cases as in Italy would be wrong.
  • Thankfully, there is a strategy behind the “stay at home” message we are hearing so much about. It’s called flattening the curve, and it’s based on the impact that self isolation and social distancing can have on the speed of spread of COVID-19.  While it may seem inevitable that some of us will get the virus, by reducing our exposure to others we can slow the rate of virus spread.  And if we do this, we might be able to spare our health care system the tsunami of cases seen in Italy.
  • Our country rightly invests billions of dollars each year in science and health care.  It’s time to listen to those smart folks who have dedicated their lives and their intellects to understanding health and illness and the spread of disease.  They don’t know everything, of course, but they know a lot more than us non-health professionals know.

So for all these reasons, I am working this week in an empty building with plenty of social distance around me. We use hand sanitizer, wash our hands regularly and stay away from large gatherings including, unfortunately, classes where we might otherwise be training some of you.

Let us pray for our communities and our nation, and look forward to celebrating a return to face to face interactions in a matter of weeks.  Be assured that our IPM training classes will resume as soon as possible.

2019 ACE Prep Class in Dallas

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A prep class for the Associate Certified Entomologist (ACE) exam will be offered December 12-13 in Dallas.  The class will provide an [optional] opportunity to take the ACE exam on the second day. The class at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center in Dallas is part of IPM Experience House course series for 2019.

ACE Prep class members 2018

Prep classes are usually small and lively in discussion. Last year’s class included (from left): Brandon Guy and Bruce Guy (Bugs and Blooms), Mike Merchant (Instructor), David Gayle (Gayle Pest Control), Brad Hudson and William (Ashley) Jenkins (Presto-X) and Rodney Hall (Home Exterminating Services).

With over 1,000 ACEs nationwide, the Certification program of the Entomological Society of America (ESA) is the fastest growing certification program for PMPs.

We find that the biggest hurdles for PMPs wanting certification include uncertainty about how to prepare for the ACE exam, and fear of test-taking.  That’s where the ACE Prep Class comes in.  The Dallas class, December 12-13, is a one-and-a-half day course followed by an opportunity to take the ACE exam on the afternoon of day 2.

Classes provides a review of fundamental entomology and basic knowledge requirements for the exam. The training is intended as either a kick off for the studying process, or as a last minute review and confidence building class (not a substitute for comprehensive studying).  Coincidently, the class is also good for new technicians who would like a broad overview of the science of pest management.

Test taking success rates are much higher with good preparation.

Costs for the class

Registration for the Dallas class is available online and costs $60 ($70 after 12/09; click here for agenda and registration). Snacks and water are provided at the Dallas class; lunch is on your own. As part of the IPM Experience House curricula, the Dallas class also includes some extra time with microscopes and specimen viewing.

Size of the prep class is limited to 30 students.  Up to 4 CEU credits will be available for those providing license numbers.  In addition, you have the option to purchase the highly recommended: ACE Study Guide “IPM for the Urban Professional: A Study Guide for the Associate Certified Entomologist.” Entomological Society of America -$49

How Do I Get Certified?

So what’s involved with getting certified? First you have to qualify. To become an ACE, you must:
Have five years experience in pest control (three years for those with an entomology degree);
hold a current U.S. pesticide applicator’s license; and agree to sign the ACE code of ethics.
If you think you qualify, you can apply through the ESA/ACE website. The application fee is $355 for ESA members and $395 for non-ESA members.

After being approved by the ESA, you will need to study to take the ACE exam. Information about how to study for the exam and what study materials are recommended can be found on the ESA website. Note: if you plan to take the exam after the class prior study is highly recommended. The Prep Class is not a prerequisite for taking the exam, however many people find that the class is a useful way to prepare for study.

Finishing 2019 Strong at IPM House

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We are please to offer three courses for pest management professionals this November and December at IPM Experience House. All IPM House classes provide a mix of lecture, demonstration and hands-on practice.

The PMP Toolbox

Successful pest control requires being familiar with the tools of the trade.  Tools of the Trade: Equipment and Materials for Pest Control, is a new class to be offered on November 8. This class will provide an overview of essential pest control tools, how they work, how to use them, and how to maintain them.  We will also cover exclusion materials and techniques for pest proofing. All topics will be covered from the perspective of Integrated pest management (IPM) and new technologies will be discussed.  This will be an excellent class for both new and seasoned technicians.  Guest trainers include Randall Kennedy, with Dallas Fort Worth Wildlife Control, and Greg Orr with B&G Equipment Company.

This is a one-day class that runs from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm. Certificates will be given for 7 hours of verifiable classroom training for apprentices. Up to 3 Structural CEU credits will be awarded. Lunch is provided. Cost is $60 preregistration. Click here to register today, class size is limited.

Rats!

We are proud to offer Rodent Academy for the third year in a row with Dr. Bobby Corrigan.  Rodent Academy is in demand across the U.S. and this is your only Texas opportunity to take it. The course is intended for pest management professionals, municipalities, universities, public schools, and food safety personnel involved in the rodent control programs.

This year’s course will be held December 17-19.  In addition to Dr. Corrigan, we will have distinguished presenters Dr. Claudia Riegel, from the City of New Orleans, Travis Gates with ABC Home and Commercial Services in Dallas, Scott Smith with Bell Laboratories, as well as the IPM House faculty, Dr. Mike Merchant and Janet Hurley.  If your company does rodent control or exclusion, or would like to expand into this lucrative area, you’ll want to sit in on this fascinating three days of lecture and hands-on activities.

Note that Rodent Academy will be held in a new location this year. While still at the Texas A&M AgriLife Dallas campus, we have moved into the classroom located in the new Water Education building on the north end of the main parking lot.  Check the map on the registration page for directions. Cost for the three-day class is $300, lunches and snacks included.

ACE Prep

If you’ve been a pest control professional for five years or more and would like to be recognized by your peers and your customers for your hard work and professionalism, consider the Associate Certified Entomology program. This program is available to qualified professionals who can pass a certification exam.  The ACE Prep class is an intensive one-and-a-half day class designed to help prepare you to take the ACE exam.

The ACE Prep class is really for three kinds of people. It’s for young professionals starting out who would like a succinct overview of the science of entomology and pest control.  It’s for the ACE candidate who has studied hard on their own and just wants a final “cram” and confidence booster before the exam.  And it’s for anyone interested in preparing for the ACE exam, but who isn’t sure how best to study.  If you fall in this last category the ACE Prep class is just the thing to orient you to what to study, and get you pumped up to hit the books.

This year’s ACE Prep class will be held in the Healthy Living Building Classroom (formerly the Education Building) on December 12-13.  Lunch is provided. Cost for the two-day class is $100.  Mark your calendar now; registration is coming soon.

 

Getting the bugs out: Bed bug Academy 2019

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Registration is now open for our first ever bed bug training academy at IPM Experience House.

What: This class will provide basic and advanced training in bed bug recognition, treatment methods and problem solving. Registration open until September 25, or until the class is full. Class size limited to 20.  No refunds after September 23.

Where: Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center, Building E Classroom.

When: September 25, 2019. 8:15 am to 5 pm.

Instructors: Mike Merchant, Janet Hurley, Alan Brown.  (CEUs: 8 hours verified training in Pest Category, 1 CEU IPM, 1 CEU Pest)

How to Register: Click here to register online.

Agenda: 

  1. [8:15 – 8:30 am] Pre-test
  2. [8:30 am] Introductions/orientation
  3. [8:45 am] Introduction to bed biology & ID [classroom – Merchant]
  4. [9:45 am] Break
  5. [10:00 am] Introduction to IPM, monitoring, inspections [classroom – Hurley]
  6. [11:00 am] Round 1 Stations. Stations [IPM House – All instructors]
    1. Inspection: sofas [Merchant]
    2. Heat treatment – solarization [Hurley]
    3. Heat treatment setup [Brown]
  7. [12:00 pm] Lunch
  8. [12:30 pm] Control options for bed bugs [Classroom – Brown]
    1. Vacuuming/steam/tape
    2. Heating/cold
    3. Dusts for bed bug control
    4. Pesticides
    5. Fumigants
  9. [2:15 pm] Round 2 Stations [IPM House – All instructors]
    1. Bed bug ID [Merchant]
    2. Checking heat treatment [Brown]
    3. Applying insecticides [JJ]
  10. [3:30 pm] Thresholds and low-income customers [classroom – Brown]
    1. What is a threshold?
    2. Options for low-income customers
      1. Other options?
    3. [4:00 pm] Mystery bugs and bed bugs [classroom – Merchant]
      1. What are mystery bugs?
      2. Delusional clients
    4. [4:15] Problem solving exercise. [Classroom – all instructors]
    5. [4:45 pm] Evaluations and Post-test
    6. [5:00 pm] Dismissal