Time to prepare for a pest plague
Kiwis are being urged to brace themselves for a plague of flies this summer – and they’re being told there’s little that can be done to stop it.
Numbers of the little black pests are already high, thanks to the warmer than average winter, and according to those in Taranaki’s pest control industry it’s likely to get worse.
Ian Charlton, the director of New Plymouth bug control firm PestAway, said he was already getting calls about the problem.
Flies can’t heat themselves so die in colder temperatures.
They rely on warm and moist weather to stay alive and breed in the warmer months, he said.
Charlton said last summer was terrible for flies and if the weather continued people could expect the same. ‘‘It just gets out of control,’’ Charlton said.
‘‘Last year was by far the highest amount of fly enquiries we have ever had. Ninety per cent of phone calls were for flies.’’
Jeff Wills, of Bio-Tech Pest Control in New Plymouth, said if the weather continued it would be an early start for the flies.
‘‘It’s the heat they like.’’ Owner of home improvement store HomePlus Taranaki, Grant Des Forges, said he was already inundated with inquiries for insect screens after a busy summer last year and a warmer week in the region, where the mercury rose to 21 degrees celsius on Wednesday.
‘‘I went through six houses on Wednesday morning for insect screens,’’ he said.
He warned we could have a repeat of last summer, which was the ‘‘biggest year ever in insect screens’’.
During the summer Waitara’s Big Jims Garden Centre owner Vince Naus sold out of venus fly traps because of the problem and so did his supplier.
At the time Naus said other plants known to reduce the fly problem were in hot demand, including pyrethrum, rosemary and shoo-fly.
However, MetService meteorologist Mark Bowe said while New Plymouth had enjoyed higher average temperatures throughout July and August it was hard to predict what this summer would be like.
Bowe said it was not yet certain whether the Pacific Ocean cycle would bring about a warm El Nin˜ o or cooler La nina effect.
The country was in a neutral state currently with with regards to El Nino or La Nina but models suggested there was a 50 per cent chance of El Nino developing this year, meaning a warm summer, Bowe said.