Marcus Chen
Areas of Expertise: Pest Identification | Integrated Pest Management
Find the Bug First
That has been my rule since 2015, and it is what led me to become a certified Integrated Pest Management specialist.
Most of my work involves identifying garden pests accurately and choosing the least disruptive way to manage them.
I teach pest control workshops, write for gardening publications, and help home gardeners identify what’s damaging their plants before choosing a treatment. Every article I share here follows that same approach.
How I Work
Most of my methods are simple. Hand-picking, insecticidal soap, and a few rows of dill and yarrow to bring in ladybugs handle most of what I see.
Over the years, I have dropped what did not hold up, like dish soap sprays and store-bought ladybugs.
Everything I share here has earned its place the same way, and that is the standard I hold every Marcus Chen article to.
Soil is more than just dirt. It is a living, breathing world that exists right beneath your feet. Every handful holds an entire community of
Bed bugs can be difficult to deal with because they often hide in small spaces and remain unnoticed until signs appear. Many people look for
You know that feeling when you wake up with unexplained red bumps or itchy patches, and you immediately wonder what visited you during the night?
Finding a bug in your laundry basket or waking up with mystery bites sends most of us straight to the washing machine, hoping hot water
You’ve probably scrolled past that viral claim: every fig you bite into contains a dead wasp. It sounds equal parts intriguing and horrifying, which is
Thistles have this infuriating superpower: you pull one out, and three more seem to appear overnight. I learned this the hard way when a single
You know that moment when you reach for your favorite cereal or open a bag of flour, only to spot tiny brown specks moving around?
You spot a tiny creature scuttling across your bathroom tile, pincers raised, moving with purpose, and your heart skips. Is that a baby scorpion? A
You know that moment when you spot something zip across your counter, and you’re convinced it just flew? Then you look closer, and there are
I’ll never forget the morning I found a trail of ants marching across my kitchen counter; it felt like they appeared out of nowhere overnight.
You step outside with your morning coffee, ready to admire your green space, and instead find mysterious tunnels crisscrossing the yard. Before you blame the
Slugs showed up in my garden last spring and destroyed my lettuce overnight. I tried everything: coffee grounds, copper tape, even staying up late with
