Success Stories By MajorProgram FY2025Jul 1, 2024 - Jun 30, 2025
Brown Recluse on UK’s Campus
Author: Zachary DeVries
Major Program: Integrated Pest Management
Brown recluse spiders are one of the most feared arthropods, largely due to the fear over bites and resulting necrotic lesions. They are also one of the most challenging pests to eradicate from structures due to their reclusive nature. In response to several spiders being found on UK’s campus, I worked with the Facilities division to evaluate the situation and provided an action plan of how to respond. Furthermore, I met with those working in infested buildings to educat
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Cicada Killers on UK’s Campus
Author: Zachary DeVries
Major Program: Integrated Pest Management
Insects dominate the world around us, and during the summer of 2024 this became all too apartment to those working around Patterson Tower. During this time, a large number of Cicada Killers (a type of wasp) began emerging and swarming close to the entry to White Hall. While these insects are incredibly large, they are not aggressive and very reluctant to sting. However, they do possess the ability to sting, and their close proximity to an office/classroom area required they be
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University of Kentucky 4th Annual Pest Control Technical Directors’ Meeting
Author: Zachary DeVries
Major Program: Integrated Pest Management
Pest control and academia have grown apart over the past 20 years, where the research being conducted by urban entomology labs does not directly address the needs of the indoor pest control stakeholders. Therefore, I developed, organized, and ran a meeting involving technical directors of pest control companies from around the country, along with my trainees (5 students and 1 research scientist), to discuss the needs of the pest control industry. During this meeting (now in its four
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Cockroach Control in New York City
Author: Zachary DeVries
Major Program: Integrated Pest Management
German cockroaches are one of the most challenging indoor pests to manage indoors. They are known to have serious health effects on humans and can be responsible for asthmatic episodes, disease transmission, and various indirect effects largely related to improper pesticide use. Even worse, these effects tend to disproportionally impact people based on socioeconomic factors, particularly those who lack the means to properly suppress and eliminate pest populations, posing a substantial threat to
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53rd Annual UK Pest control Short Course
Author: Zachary DeVries
Major Program: Integrated Pest Management
In November we hosted the 53rd annual University of Kentucky Pets Control Short Course. This 3-day program incorporated 23 1-hour talks from speakers located around the country who travelled to Lexington, >360 attendees from Kentucky and surrounding states, and a team of entomologists (faculty, staff, students) from the University of Kentucky. This meeting, hour-for-hour, is one of the top pest control meetings in the country, which many others states imitate due to the quality of the
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2024 SOKY Commercial Pesticide Training
Author: Leann Martin
Major Program: Integrated Pest Management
Application of crop protection chemicals and lawn/landscape chemicals is an important industry in South Central Kentucky. Professional applicators must receive training to stay current on issues, pests, techniques, and safety for the products they apply. They need to receive continuing education to maintain their license. The agriculture and horticulture agents of areas of West 7 and 8 responded to a need for a commercial training opportunity by developing the SOKY Pesticide Tr
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Ohio River Valley Invasive Species Conference
Author: Robert Brockman
Major Program: Integrated Pest Management
The Boone County Cooperative Extension Service hosted the first ever Ohio River Valley Invasive Species Conference at the Boone County Enrichment Center. This conference targeted both local homeowners and professionals working in the natural area management space. The conference was put on in conjunction with the Midwest Invasive Plant Network, which included partners such as arboreta, universities, and conservation districts. Partners came from Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and across Kent
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Pesiticide Applicator Training
Author: Owen Watkins
Major Program: Integrated Pest Management
I was able to work with Kentucky State University's Farm Manager to set up a Private Pesticide Applicators Training for several of their students and employees. This class was just a modified version of the normal Private Applicator Training, but more focused on content knowledge. The goal was for the students and employees to further develop their knowledge of IPM but also to receive a tangible license that would make them more hirable as future or current members of the workforce. The
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Private Pesticide Training
Author: Jessica James
Major Program: Integrated Pest Management
I had my private applicator training, which I host every year. This training is for individuals that need to become re certified in order to purchase chemicals to spray on the farm. This year, I decided to do this differently by inviting Dr. Legleiter to conduct a hands on training along with other training videos that were shown. There were many farmers that attended this meeting. There were 35 participants overall. Evaluations were not given out for this but the overall goal of this prog
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Alpha-Gal Webinar
Author: Jessica James
Major Program: Integrated Pest Management
Title: Raising Awareness: Alpha-Gal Syndrome and Tick Bite Prevention in Henderson County Relevance: While still considered “rare” relative to other medical issues in the state, Kentucky is one of the states with the most cases of alpha-gal syndrome in the US, according to the CDC, with some Kentucky counties presenting the highest cases per capita in the country. This condition is developed in some people after a bit from a lone star tick. There is no known treatment
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Living with Alpha Gal Webinar
Author: Linda McClanahan
Major Program: Integrated Pest Management
While still considered “rare” relative to other medical issues in the state, Kentucky is one of the states with the most cases of alpha-gal syndrome in the US, according to the CDC, with some Kentucky counties presenting the highest cases per capita in the country. This condition is developed in some people after a bit from a lone star tick. There is no known treatment for alpha-gal syndrome. Instead, lifestyle changes can be made that help manage and reduce the symptoms. This includ
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University of Kentucky Crop Pest Management Webinars gain loyal audience
Author: Jason Travis
Major Program: Integrated Pest Management
Managing stink bugs in soybeans, maximizing disease control and return on investment for corn fungicides, improving herbicide applications, and the management of important wheat diseases in Kentucky. These topics highlighted the 2024 Fall Crop Protection Series organized by The University of Kentucky Grain Crops Integrated Pest Management group. The 4-week webinar series held in October and November of 2024 was designed to provide stakeholders with researched-based information presented by a dif
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Grain Crop Pest Management Research has Value to Kentucky Farmers
Author: Jason Travis
Major Program: Integrated Pest Management
Over half a million acres impacting an estimated $7.1 million. That’s the results from a recent survey of participants attending the 2025 Kentucky Crop Health Conference held Feb. 6, at the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Ky.Recognizing farmers need the latest research-based data as they formulate their pest management strategies, the Kentucky Crop Health Conference is specifically designed to give audiences the latest research and information. The latest University of Kentucky
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Ryegrass field tour doubles in attendance in second year
Author: Jason Travis
Major Program: Integrated Pest Management
Once categorized as solely a perennial problem in wheat, Italian ryegrass has increasingly become problematic in all of Kentucky’s major agronomic crops, now affecting no-till corn and soybean acres. Italian ryegrass if left uncontrolled in corn can cause yield losses of up to 60% and has been known to force farmers to replant corn fields. To assist ag professionals in gaining a new respect and control of the worrisome weed, the second annual University of Kentucky Italian Ryeg
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