Both the Central and Western Regions had highly successful meetings. Our thanks to the members who joined us! It's still not too late to sign up for the upcoming Eastern or Northeast Regional Meetings.

It's time to renew your membership! The membership year runs from July 1 through June 30 annually. To ensure you don't miss out on any member benefits, be sure to renew today! Do so by logging into your MyNPMA account, or by clicking the link below. You can print the form and mail directly to NPMA with payment.

In accordance to the PA Pest Management Association Bylaws, a ny active member may submit nominees for the position of officers on the State Board of Directors. Nominees for a position as an officer of the State Association must currently serve on the State Board of Directors. Terms approaching maturity include President, President-Elect, and Vice President. Nominees must currently serve on the board. Those individuals are:

Current President-Elect: Adam Witt, Witt Pest Management

Current Vice President: Jeff King, The Pest Rangers

Scott Grill, Bill Grill Exterminating

Sean Williams, Bill Grill Exterminating

Paul Kutney, The Pest Rangers

Peter Arnold, K-9 Bed Bug Detection Services

Gary Lesher, Perry Pest Control

Keith Jones, Archer Pest Management

Leeland Manuel, Pest Rite

Jim Murphy, Tri-County Pest Control

Mike Snyder, Township Pest Control

Rob Byer, Terminix

Nominations are due by September 15, 2019.

Click here to make a nomination.

The Western Region is currently seeking nominations for the Region Governor. For more information or to make a nomination, contact Caleb Wright at [email protected]. Scott Grill says, "No experience necessary!"

The four regions of PPMA are always looking for individuals to help with the activities and functions of the Association. Feel free to reach out to Caleb at [email protected] for more information.

Outside Pests Will be Looking to Move Inside:

Timing is Critical for Fall-Invader Treatments

Written by Techletter. Reprinted with permission. www.techletter.com.

If you live and work in a temperate climate, you are probably already starting to do a little fall pest planning. Certain pests not seen in buildings during most of the year are getting ready to make a move inside -- and it's up to you to stop them! Even in warmer, more southern areas, outdoor pests often change their habits int he fall, mostly in response to drier conditions. Mice are welcome known for sneaking into homes and buildings in the fall looking for a warm place to spend the winter, but here we're discussing insects that do the same thing.

Who are these fall invaders?

Fall-invading insects are a little different than other occasional invaders or perimeter invaders such as earwigs, sowbugs, or millipedes that can migrate inside at any time of year, usually in response to a change in their moist foundation environment. These foundation pests usually die fairly quickly in drier indoor conditions. Most of the insects that invade homes in the fall with the intention of staying are outdoor plant bugs, meaning they either feed on certain crop or ornamental plants, or they are predators that feed on bugs that feed on these plants. When their plants or their prey die off in the fall and when the days get shorter and cooler, these insects begin to move away from feeding sites and toward winter lodging where they remain until spring in colder regions.

Normally these insects overwinter outdoors under bark, in mulch, in woodpiles or tree stumps, under stones, in burrows, and other protected places. If there's a nice warm building nearby, that's a definite attraction. They are not necessarily looking to get inside the building. Many of them are happy to spend the winter on the outside, although protected under siding, behind shutters and eaves, or tucked in along the roof line. But, if they find an opening that will let them into the nice warm space, they will take advantage and become a hidden part of the household, at least temporarily.

Most of the fall invaders that become pests do so because they enter homes in large numbers. Some have built up to high numbers in nearby fields or on trees during the summer. This group includes the more well known multicolored Asian lady beetles, brown marmorated stink bugs, elm leaf beetles, and boxelder bugs. There are also regional fall invaders such as the kudzu bug. The cluster fly is a fall invader that has habits and controls somewhat different than the rest.

Once they manage to get inside a structure, fall invaders go into hiding, ending up in wall voids, attics, behind baseboards, in all kinds of miscellaneous places where control is almost impossible. That's why the time to control fall-invading insects is before they begin their move inside. A complete pre-invasion approach to block fall invaders usually involves these steps:

(1) Preventive clean-up around the foundation - The area around the foundation should be kept dry and free of heavy mulch, leaves, grass clippings, boards, stones, firewood-- anything that provides a moist shelter and hiding places for migrating pests. Rake up leaves and debris at the base of any insect host trees, such as boxelder, to remove pests sheltering in leaf litter at the base.

(2) Pest-proofing the structure - Customers or technicians should seal or screen cracks, gaps, and areas around doors, windows, and vents that let fall invaders inside. These pests generally gather on exterior walls and eventually crawl upward so pay special attention first to ground or basement-level doors, window, and utility openings, and then to possible entrance points around the roof line.

(3) Application of a perimeter insecticide treatment - A late season insecticide application on the exterior will kill insects that congregate prior to moving inside. Apply a residual insecticide barrier treatment to the soil around the building's foundation and to lower exterior walls (follow the label). Spot treat around windows, doors, and other openings where pests enter, and spot treat exterior sites (especially on sunny sides) where they may hide such as under siding, behind shutters or eaves, or along the roof line.

When to treat? Timing is critical when it comes to treatment for fall-invading insects. Some species will begin moving in during late summer, others may congregate around foundations and wait for colder weather. Check the outside of customers' homes regularly for signs of clustering insects, insects moving up outside walls (especially sunny walls), or down tree trunks. Treat too soon and the residual may be gone by the time pests make their move; you may need to treat monthly until the first hard frost. Treat too late and you may find that because of early cool weather, pests are already inside. Follow the pesticide label. Your local county extension agent may have information on when certain crop or plant pests are likely to move inside in your region.

How to reduce robocalls at small businesses

Originally published by USA Today.

I get a ton of spam. No, not the processed lunch meat – unsolicited junk phone calls, or robocalls. These junk phone calls scare people into believing they’re in trouble with the IRS or selling them scam-ridden vacation packages. While, as an individual, these spam phone calls annoying, for a small business, they’re downright expensive. For small businesses, dealing with robocalls is a much bigger problem than for individuals.

Many small businesses must answer each phone call. In my company, we certainly do. And my self-employed sister sells to hundreds of businesses, so she absolutely has to pick up every call. About half the calls she receives are robocalls. That means hours and hours in the course of a week or month answering useless calls, interrupting real work, lowering productivity. 

The effect isn’t restricted to incoming calls. Those small businesses that must make calls to clients or patients now find they must leave messages, keep calling, try other means to reach people who no longer answer their phones, trying to avoid robocalls. According to a study by Consumer Reports, 70% of Americans no longer answer phone calls from unknown numbers.

All that adds up to small-business dollars and time lost. Way back in 2014, before robocalls became so ubiquitous, it was estimated that spam calls cost American small businesses a half-billion dollars a year. That number has certainly skyrocketed by now.

By the way – ever wonder how the term “spam” came about for unwanted emails or calls? It goes back to a skit by the British comedy group, "Monty Python’s Flying Circus." In the skit, a restaurant served food with the canned luncheon meat brand “SPAM,” while a chorus of Vikings sang out, “spam, spam, spam,” drowning all other sounds. Thus, spam came to apply to electronic messages repeated over and over, swamping all other communication. (And as an aside, note that Hormel, maker of SPAM luncheon meat, says they never engage in or condone spamming.)

One devious development that made spam calls even harder to deal with for small businesses was the invention of “neighborhood spoofing”– in which the scammers have found a way to show a local prefix for the caller’s phone number, making it look like the call is originating locally. 

As a small-business owner, robocalls cost me money. If you have a small business, you probably are sick and tired of spam phone calls, too. Let’s see what we can do to reduce time wasted on spam in small businesses.

What can you do to reduce the number of spam calls you get at your business?

1. Train everyone in your company. It’s not enough for you to know how to respond to robocalls, anyone who might pick up a company phone – or who uses their own phones to receive or make business calls – must be trained on how to deal with calls:

a. Hang up as soon as they determine it’s a spam call. The less time on a spam call, the less likely they are to continue to call.

b. NEVER hit any button or make any response to a call that might even possibly be a robocall.

c. If the caller says they are from a company that you regularly do business with but it could possibly be just spam, listen to the message, but look up their number on a bill or on their website to call back.

2. Contact your telecom company. Small businesses use a variety of telecommunications companies for their phone service, including VoIP (voice over IP) services. Contact them to find out what kind of free help them can provide you in reducing the number of phony calls you receive.

3. Use spam blockers on cellphones. On mobile phones used in your business, you can find tools to help you identify and reduce spam calls you receive. You can find dozens of spam blocking apps for both iPhones and Android phones.

For more information, check out the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) – the government agency tasked with responsibility for telecommunication companies’ oversight. Spam phone calls are a pittance to the caller. Of course, spam costs all the rest of us, especially small businesses, taking up time and costing us money.

Rhonda Abrams is the author of “ Successful Business Plan: Secrets & Strategies ,” the best-selling business plan guide of all time, just released in its seventh edition. Connect with Rhonda on Facebook ,  Instagram and Twitter @RhondaAbrams . Register for Rhonda’s free business tips newsletter at www.PlanningShop.com

Read the full article here.

Join us at our upcoming 2019 events!

Western Region Fall Seminar - Thursday, August 29 (Doubletree, Cranberry Twp., PA)

Eastern Region Fall Seminar – Thursday, September 12 (Wyndham, Trevose, PA)

Northeast Region Fall Seminar – Thursday, September 26 (Radisson Hotel, Scranton, PA) 

Annual State Conference – Wednesday and Thursday, November 12-14 (Spooky Nook Sports, Lancaster, PA) Note the date and location change!

The Eastern Division continues to hold its monthly meetings with varying topics of discussion on the second Thursday of every month at the Crowne Plaze in Trevose. For more information on monthly topics and speakers, contact Sue at (215) 331-1121.

Harrisburg, PA – In an effort to help Pennsylvania businesses more easily navigate the permitting process, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (PDA) will offer 31 in-person Spotted Lanternfly permit classes throughout the 14-county quarantine zone. The classes will be held from August 15 through December 18, 2019.

“The risk of spreading the Spotted Lanternfly increases in late summer through late fall as the insects reach adulthood, then begin to lay eggs,” said Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding. “The time a business traveler takes to inspect vehicles to safeguard against transporting insects is a small investment to protect our economy and our quality of life.”

Businesses that operate within the quarantined counties -- and those that cross through in transit -- are required to have a permit demonstrating that they know how to recognize the destructive pest and keep from spreading it to new areas.

Training classes are free and a permit is issued to those who successfully complete the two-hour class. To register, contact PDA at 717-787-5674 or [email protected] . Permit training can also be accessed online at any time through Penn State Extension at http://extension.psu.edu/spotted-lanternfly-permit-training .

Since implementing the permit system, PDA has issued over 900,000 permits to more than 17,000 companies throughout the United States that do business in the 14-county quarantine zone. Quarantined counties include: Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Chester, Dauphin, Delaware, Lancaster, Lebanon, Lehigh, Monroe, Montgomery, Northampton, Philadelphia, and Schuylkill.

A schedule of permit classes can be found on the PA Department of Agriculture website. For more information on the Spotted Lanternfly, visit www.agriculture.pa.gov/SpottedLanternfly .

For up-to-date information on the Spotted Lanternfly and the current quarantine zone, visit the PA Department of Agriculture's website at the link below.

PDA Spotted Lanternfly Page

The information below represents legislative activity (including bill introductions) that has occurred since the last newsletter. For a full listing of legislation that Versant is tracking for PPMA, please contact us at (717) 635-2320 or [email protected]. Activity marked HCO or SCO indicates a co-sponsorship memo which precedes the actual introduction of legislation and is designed to secure the support of other legislators prior to introduction as a bill.

HB 21 - Helm, Sue (R) - Amends the Engineer, Land Surveyor and Geologist Registration Law, providing for the regulation of the practice of home inspection; and making a related repeal.

This legislation is of particular interest to PPMA. The bill has been refered to the House Professional Licensure Committee where it awaits action.

HCO 1764 Solomon, Jared (D) - Modernizes and overhauls the Landlord and Tenant Act.

The co-sponsorship memorandum has been filed. We await the filing of the legislation.

08-28-2019 Penn State scientists may have discovered way to control invasive spotted lanternfly

A pest that sparked quarantines across the region and struck terror into the hearts of fruit farmers, timber exporters, and homeowners may have met its match. Scientists at Pennsylvania State and Cornell Universities are studying a treatment they hope will control the spotted lanternfly, the worst insect... - Philadelphia Inquirer

08-27-2019 Spotted lanternfly’s big move is here

It’s not your imagination. If you live or travel in area of Pennsylvania under assault by the invading spotted lanternfly, you are seeing more and more winged adults flitting about. The season of mass flights by the Asiatic invader has arrived. Emelie Swackheimer, a lanternfly specialist with Penn State Extension, told... - Penn Live, Patriot-News

08-20-2019 Pennsylvania's war with invasive species

Pennsylvania is at war against invasive species. Animals with names like the Asian Carp, Northern Snakehead and the Spotted Lanternfly are in the crosshairs. In large numbers they cause enormous amounts of damage, both financially and biologically. In fact, the U.S. spends more than $120 billion on invasive species every... - WITF

08-14-2019 PA Department of Agriculture Encourages Growers to Sign Up for New Crop Registry

  (Press Release)

08-04-2019 Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture offering classes for businesses to obtain spotted lanternfly permit

The risk of spreading the spotted lanternfly increases in late summer through late fall as the insects reach adulthood, then begin to lay eggs, says Pennsylvania Agriculture Secretary Russell Redding. That is why the state is asking businesses to get educated on how to curb... - Reading Eagle