It is beginning to warm up, although there are usually a few cold fronts that come in until the middle of March. February is the time to trim your Crepe Myrtles. They only bloom on new growth, so you can trim them back pretty severly and you will have lots of flowers come early summer. It is also the perfect time to fertilize your yard with a weed and feed fertilizer. Now that the soil temperature is above 60, the St. Augustine will begin to grow. In our Weed & Feed; we use Atrazine mixed into the fertilizer which won't bother any trees, but you must keep it out of the shrub beds as it could hurt sensitive shrubs. A slow release Nitrogen is important to extend the usefullness of the fertilizer til our next treatment in early April.

All this rain and flooding will stir up the fire ants. Be careful in your yards and playgrounds.

See how quickly the weather changes in Houston! We go from 30 degrees to the low 70s a few days later. After the rains we had, be sure and check around your home for anything that might hold water, because mosquitos will begin breeding again and if this weather holds for a couple of weeks; we will be back to fighting off mosquitos in the middle of Houston winter. Keep in mind that with more than one-third of the world’s population living in areas at risk for transmission, dengue infection is a leading cause of illness and death in the tropics and subtropics. As many as 100 million people are infected yearly. Dengue is caused by any one of four related viruses transmitted by mosquitoes and there is no vaccine. The Center for Disease Control reported a case of Dengue Fever acquired locally in Key West. There have been 28 cases reported in Key West in 2010. Cases of dengue in returning U.S. travelers have increased steadily during the past 20 years (8). Dengue is now the leading cause of acute febrile illness in U.S. travelers returning from the Caribbean, South America, and Asia (9). Many of these travelers are still viremic upon return to the United States and potentially capable of introducing dengue virus into a community with competent mosquito vectors. Because of concerns over the increasing number of travel-associated dengue infections, the risk for local transmission upon introduction of the virus is becoming more common. If you are having a terrible time with mosquitos in your yard, we can help either by Spraying the entire yard and shrubs which will give immediate relief and last for a few weeks or by installing a misting system which will give you long term and permanent control of your environment. Call us or check our website at www.advancedpest.com/mosquitocontrol.html . We are now using a water based enzyme solution that kills the mosquitos and is completely harmless to people and pets. Works great. Houston TX Organic Mosquito Control Systems Texas Mosquito Control Services Houston www.advancedpest.comHouston TX chemical mosquito control and mosquito control services and systems for controlling mosquitoes around homes, ponds, pools and more