For Release February 8, 2000

Winter Insect Blues

AGRI-VIEWS
by Chuck Otte, Geary County Extension Agent

"Charles, there are ants in the sink!" wife Jaye yelled from the kitchen. She called me Charles, this was obviously serious. I went to the kitchen sink. Yup. There were a half dozen medium sized amber colored ants wandering around. I quickly dispatched them down the drain, as well as the dozen or so others that appeared sporadically over the next couple of days.

One of the hardest things to comprehend are insect problems in the middle of winter. But they happen on a regular basis. We have often been led to believe that insects all go away during the winter. They either die or hibernate. Well, that isn’t always the case. What an insect does in the winter depends on a lot of things, not the least of which are, what kind of a winter are we having and what kind of an insect is it.

Some insects have very little cold tolerance, while others have very good antifreeze. As we go through warm spells in the winter, or warm winters, insects will get warm enough to be active. Mosquitoes and flies are infamous for their cold weather activity. An insect’s hibernation is not an on or off switch. As the weather gets colder, they get slower. If they aren’t in a protected enough area when it gets too cold, they won’t survive.

Other insects survive by moving into a modified environment. Honeybees cluster together and keep moving their wings and legs. This creates heat and the center of the cluster holds the queen bee at a very comfortable temperature. Many insects move inside buildings. Termites remain active in the winter. Maybe not as active, but they move in the soil deep enough so that the ground isn’t frozen and of course, they move into our heated homes!

Some insects, certain fly species and the ever popular Boxelder Bug, try to get into the attics of our homes where they are protected from the winds and predators like birds. Then with every warm spell, starting about now, we have another round of them showing up in our homes. They think it’s time to get active so they break dormancy and start moving first into the living quarters of the house, often by accident, and then try to get outdoors by moving towards the light. This is why we always find them around the windows. They’re just trying to get outside!

It’s hard to tell where the ants that were in our kitchen came from. We never saw them arriving from anywhere, they would just show up. More than likely there is a colony somewhere around or under the foundation. This location would keep them warm and then when they found a crack or an opening, their foraging activities led them into the house. Since we keep the counter very clean they found no food to forage. Had I left food out, I probably would have had a stream of ants and could then trace them back to where they were coming from (another good reason to keep a clean kitchen!) It won’t do any good to spray the few I saw, they would just die before they returned to the colony and since I don’t know where the colony is, I can’t treat that either.

Another critter causing some problems this year is the clover mite. These little red specks normally live in grass. When we have a dry and warm winter they will move up the side of houses and right under what you think is a tight fitting window or door. If you start to brush them away they’ll leave a nice bright red stain. You can spray outside the house on the foundation and grass to slow them down.

Yes, winter insects are often a surprise and usually a nuisance. Our treatment choices are often very limited. Tolerance helps, but the best solution is usually some typical Kansas weather including a little snow or rain!

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