NYC announces new Bed Bug Rules for Landlords

New York City unveiled their new Bed Bug Portal. The new website (click here) is well organized, offers new brochures & updated information and guidelines for homeowners, renters, travelers, schools, commercial spaces, group homes, landlords and pest control professionals.
The city also amended Section §151.02 of New York City's Health Code. The amended Code effects Landlords and deals specifically with persistent Bed Bug problems where the City has already issued a Violation and has been called back and found the problem still exists. This second Violation calls for:

1. Retain a pest management professional certified and registered by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) to employ all measures necessary to remove bed bug infestation in such unit(s).


2. Inspect and treat all units adjacent to, above and below infested unit(s) as well as all common areas as necessary to eliminate and prevent the spread of bed bugs.


3. Keep a record of all actions taken in compliance with this Order and correct and properly certify as corrected the violation(s).


4. Develop a pest management plan pursuant to Health Code §151.02 (c), in accordance with the attached guidance, to assist tenants in preventing and controlling bed bugs and other pests.


5. An affidavit from the a NYSDEC licensed Pest Management Professional signed and completed indicating the dates on which inspections were conducted and the treatment(s) provided in the affected unit(s).


6. Notify all occupants of these premises of such bed bug infestation, and actions to be taken by occupants in helping to control such pests.

Failure to comply can lead to fines up to $4,600.00 (additional info).
Magic's Bed Bug Protocols meet & exceed New York City's guidelines.
Magic continues to develop new innovative Bed Bug Services including:

• Low Cost Scalable Monitoring Program - read more


• Heat Chamber Remediation & Vault Fumigation - read more


• Educational Seminars taught by our 3 Entomologists - read more


• Bed Bug Dog Inspections - read more


• Bed Bug Treatments - read more

Weather Strikes Again by Noe’l Thoman

On December 27th 2010 Magic encountered its first snow storm of the season. Dropping anywhere up to 2 feet of snow, the storm crippled New York City and forced Magic to be closed for the day. The roads were really bad, making it nearly impossible for anyone to go anywhere. While some of us enjoyed the day off, other such as Jimmy, John Pabon, Michael Velsor, Todd and PC were here hard at work making sure we would not have a big mess to come back to (thanks guys!).

The days following the storm were especially difficult for us here at Magic since the basis of our business requires that our technicians are able to travel to our customers and the streets were not yet plowed. Several of our technicians had problems getting their trucks out of the snow and some of us had a difficult time making it into the office. However like always we managed to recover thanks to everyone who lent a hand either by shoveling, helping someone dig out, or by picking up other employees.

Here we are almost a month since the storm has hit and still there is plenty of snow left on the ground. Not to mention that we’ve had two more storms since then, which added to the existing mess. While our most recent storm was definitely not as bad as the first one, New York City was declared to be in a state of emergency and once again Magic was closed for the day.

I don’t know about you but with the wacky weather we have been having I find myself wondering what is next…

Green Bed Bug Products Released

I traveled into the City last week to attend a little Expo about Bed Bugs. One of the event sponsors, EcoSmart, has released several green products to help fight the Bed Bug Epidemic.

EcoSmart is leading the way in the development of pest control products that are derived from essential plant oils. The EcoSmart difference is their extensive research and testing to prove that their products actually perform.

I had the opportunity to meet one of the scientists who does some of this research and testing, Gretchen Palich Ph.D. of EcoSmart and Iowa State University, at the event. Gretchen had several tables with the actual plants used in EcoSmart products such as Rosemary & Peppermint along with vials of the extracted oils.

Gretchen went into great detail about how EcoSmart not only tests the effect on the target organism but on non-target organisms in an attempt to limit the effect on them since they are beneficial. Gretchen is also doing research into the attractant nature of these essential oils and the application of that technology.

Magic has been using EcoSmart products as part of our Green Shield Certified Pest Control Services for many years. Magic looks forward to incorporating these new EcoSmart products into our Bed Bug Protocol.