· Deny food to your people because they can bring in insects and food for the insects that are looking to multiply. Review your trash locations and of course don't cut cost too much that your waste cans provide a breeding ground.

· Seal the building. A few years ago, I sealed a building because of mice, but we trapped a snake inside.

· Remove plants or wood that are close to the building.

· Rats live for 6-12 months and can produce 50 young per year. They eat 1 oz of food per day and need water.

· Mice live 12 months, have 30 young per year and need 1/10 of an oz per day.

· Sticky tramps - much better for rodents and scorpions than bait. The last thing you want is for a rodent to eat some bait and die inside your interior walls.

· Chemicals -Diazion, Malathion, Dursban are organic Phosphates similar to nerve gases developed during WWII. They affect the central nervous systems.

· Baygon and Sevin are carbamates and are low to moderate toxicity. Good for cockroaches.

· If you have gnats and think they might live in your plants, sprinkle on some diatomaceous earth.

· To distinguish between termites and ants, winged termites don't have a wasp waist.

· Carpenter ants don't eat wood, but love moist wood to build a home. If you are good, you can hear them clicking or grinding their jaws. It's not chewing, but you now know you've got a problem.

· Wasp are predators and eat harmful garden and lawn pest. Let them live if you can.

· Centipedes are also predators. Kill them only in self-defense. Fire ants will eliminate your centipede problem.

Article submitted by J.R. Howard

AN IMPORTANT REQUEST FROM IFMA HEADQUARTERS


IFMA needs your help in soliciting responses for IFMA's salary study. We seemed to have stalled around 2,000 responses and we need 4,400 to make a valid study! Please include the information below on your Web sites and in your newsletters! THANK YOU!

Don't miss your chance to participate in a salary study . . .

How would you like to have a FM salary survey done for your state or region? It's easy! Just get as many members of your chapter to participate in the new Profiles '03, IFMA's salary and demographics survey being done by IFMA research. The results of the survey are analyzed from a number of different perspectives, including geography (broken down by state or region depending on the number of participants) (industry for councils). To participate in the study just have your chapter members visit http://www.gelbsurvey.com/compensation as soon as possible.

1.  In my subdivision we have to water every 5 days as well - I'm in the Travis County city limits.  My lawn is St. Augustine with some shade, but the unshaded portions require more frequent watering - so I cheat when I can, but otherwise, my lawn looks like toast.  I don't have a sprinkler system, nor do I know how long to water.  ... Mary duke

2. Because we are part of the "City of Austin" we water every 5 days. Believe me our employees and customers driving down Barton Springs road keep us honest!.... Diane Covert

3. Our watering schedule depends on what visitors we are planning to have.  If we want the lawn nice and green, we water about 3 times a week minimum. Right now we have dropped back to twice a week. We do water our budding plants on a daily basis for about 30 minutes. Please keep in mind I use reclaim water; so, if I am not using it to water, then it is just running off to a creek. The main reason I do not water more is the cost of cutting the grass weekly.  Les Hansen.

4.   At home, I let the grass grow longer and relax a little more by not having to cut the grass as much. A beer is far more relaxing than
cutting the grass:-)

At work, we have very limited vegetation and have landscaped using native plants thus very little watering is required.

For water conservation, we do return our HVAC condensate water to our cooling towers for make-up and we also run our RO reject water to the
cooling towers.... Ed Garcia

5. We operate our sprinkler systems between 2:00 a.m. and 3:00a.m. in the morning...
The sprinklers are operated for 15 to 20 minutes cycles per system/building...
Because we maintain 'different' buildings here in the Capitol Complex,,,
Some buildings are irrigated 3X a week while others are irrigated 5X a week...  David Mascorro

6.   We could definitely cut back. Current schedule is:
beds - 3 times per week, 10-12 minutes
turf rotary - once a week, 40-45 minutes
turf spray - twice a week, 15 minutes

7.  Here at the Capital Area Food Bank we adhere to the once every five day watering schedule recommended by the City. We have followed this schedule for the last three years. All of our original landscaping (minimal) has died off, all but the hardiest trees have perished. The grass looks o.k.,
but it is far from lush. We don't have the funds to spend on landscaping; we put our resources directly into our mission......Peter Varga

8.  According to our landscaper, we have 30 zones on this parcel. Each zone runs five days a week and averages about 20 minutes per cycle. Zones times vary by foliage. I was not able to find out if there is a rain detection device in the system.... Charles Carpenter.

 9.  Our philosophy is to encourage roots to go deeper by watering deep and every 4-5 days if possible. This also is affected by the soil levels and  type of  plants. At NI we are able to do this in several locations but not  where Annuals and Zoysia are. Here is our schedule right now. Bldg A:
 Program A is 3 days a week. Has color on it. Program B is every 5 days  Bldg B: Program A is 4 days a week. Has color on it. Program B is every 4  days  Bldg C: Program A is 3 days a week. Has color and Zoysia on it. Program B is  every 4 days. Program C is every 5 days.
 Volleyball court is on everyday right now because we had clogged  nozzles so  we are trying to saturate that grass then we will go to every 3-4 days
 Entry: On everyday right now because the grass is stressed (fairly new  grass) and because the Bald Cypress are stressed..... Judy McNew

10. Last September, we changed from 2-3 times a week to once in five days.  For most of this time, we have given all the trees an extra drink during the five days.  Most of our bubblers and spray heads water 15 minutes and the rotors for 40 minutes. Some heads go to 20 minutes and rotors have gone to 60 minutes.  The watering starts at 7 pm and is off by 8 am except one very large zone. I've timed or calculated the water in each zone. The schedule for the 10 clocks is balanced for water distribution.  The rain has fallen at the right time, but now with the 100 degree weather, it's time to go to once in four days or twice a week if we want to recover a little.  Most all our clocks have a device to shut off for a while after it rains. They aren't very reliable; so, I shut the clocks off for 3 days after a .5 inch rain or more.  We have a separate meter for irrigation water.  Although it's not part of the irrigation system, we do get a great evaporation credit for the water that goes to the cooling towers.....JR

 J. R. Howard

   Hol ida y Par ty!

 

Mark your calendars for Thursday, December 4, 2003 for IFMA Austin's annual Holiday Party!

We are so excited! The party will take place at Esther's Follies and includes a meal and event ticket for the satirical comedy program. Details to follow soon . . .

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