Seasonal Pest Control: Preparing Your Home For Each Season

Performing regular preventative Kansas City Pest Control services can save you money in the long run. That’s because different kinds of critters are more active at different times of the year.

Warmer temperatures bring out pests, from ants seeking crumbs to mosquitoes breeding in standing water. Eliminate their smorgasbord by keeping food in airtight containers, regularly emptying trash cans, and repairing any gaps around doors and windows.

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Spring

The warm spring weather causes pests to resurface and start looking for food, shelter, and water. These pests will often take advantage of untreated cracks and crevices, making it essential to seal these areas to prevent infestations. It’s also important to regularly inspect your property and address any signs of damage from rodents and other pests, including gnaw marks and rodent tunnels. This will allow you to take proactive steps to eliminate the problem before it gets worse.

As summer starts, you’ll likely be dealing with mosquitoes and other flying insects, ants, wasps, termites, and more. To control these pests, keep up with outdoor maintenance by mowing the lawn regularly and trimming shrubbery. Eliminate standing water sources and store firewood properly to help reduce the risk of mosquitoes breeding around your home. Install screens on windows and doors, repair any tears in existing screens, and use mosquito repellents throughout the property.

Cockroaches are a year-round nuisance, but they become more active in the fall as the weather cools and they search for warmth. You can prevent cockroaches by sealing all cracks and crevices around the property, as well as eliminating moisture problems in basements and attics. Store firewood at least 20 feet away from your home and elevate it off the ground to deter cockroaches and other overwintering pests.

Taking the right precautions in each season will protect your property from pests and help you enjoy your home worry-free. For any persistent pest problems, seek professional pest control services. With the right combination of prevention and treatment, you can achieve pest-free success. For more information about how we can help you achieve this goal, contact us today. Our team is happy to answer your questions. Our products are a safe and environmentally friendly way to keep pests away from your new home or business. Our team is available for residential and commercial pest control services throughout the state. Call or email us today to request a free estimate for your property. We look forward to serving you!

Summer

Summer offers us the chance to enjoy warm weather and outdoor activities, but those moments can quickly turn unpleasant when mosquitoes, flies, and wasps buzz around. As the season progresses, these pests can also become more active inside homes, where they search for food and shelter. Fortunately, a few preventative measures can help make your home less appealing to pests and reduce the risk of infestation.

As temperatures rise, overwintering pests like cockroaches and ants emerge from their winter dens and seek food and water indoors. Summer heat and humidity also provide ideal conditions for mosquitoes, flies, and other moisture-loving pests, while increased outdoor activity attracts fleas, ticks, and spiders.

Proper lawn care and regular trash removal can minimize the number of pests that gather in your yard, while regularly inspecting and sealing cracks around your house can reduce their ability to enter. You should also keep firewood stored away from your home and eliminate standing water sources that can promote mosquito breeding.

Fall brings cool weather and an uptick in rodent activity, as rats and mice begin to look for warmth and shelter indoors as the season changes. Ants and termites also begin their annual migration from outside to the inside of homes, seeking food and moisture.

You can prevent pests from entering your home by regularly inspecting and sealing cracks, and using caulk to fill any gaps. In addition, you should store food in airtight containers and always clean up spills and crumbs immediately. You should also keep garbage bins tightly closed and empty, and eliminate any standing water that might promote pest breeding. Regularly checking and repairing window and door screens can also reduce the chances of unwelcome invaders making their way inside your home.

Fall

During fall, the cooler temperatures trigger pests to seek warmer shelter and food sources indoors. Rodents, cockroaches, stink bugs, and spiders all enter homes in search of warmth and shelter, while stored product pests like ants, beetles, earwigs, and weevils invade pantries and cupboards in search of food. Additionally, squirrels and raccoons become active as they prepare to hibernate and often infest kitchens in their search for nuts, seeds, and other foods.

Regular cleaning and decluttering to eliminate food sources and hiding spots can help reduce fall pest activity. Also, making sure window and door screens are in good condition can prevent unwelcome critters from entering your home. Finally, removing weeds and trimming shrubbery can prevent pests from finding pathways to your house.

As the weather gets colder, rodents and cockroaches look for warm, dry environments where they can lay their eggs. Pests that enter homes during the winter can cause significant problems, including property damage and health risks. Additionally, spiders and cluster flies may be found in attics and wall voids during the fall as they spin webs to stay warm.

To prevent pests from entering your home during the winter, make sure to seal cracks and gaps around doors and windows, trim back overgrown trees and bushes, and clear away debris that could provide a pathway for pests. Additionally, keeping food in airtight containers and storing garbage in pest-proof bins can deter infestations. Lastly, strategic placement of citronella candles and torches can be an effective long-term outdoor pest repellent.

Winter

Pests aren’t just a nuisance, they can pose health risks and cause damage to homes and businesses. However effective pest control requires a multifaceted approach that adapts to each season. After all, tactics ideally used to remove mice from your home in the winter are very different than those for stinkbugs and cockroaches in the summer.

Pest control is a year-round commitment, but identifying seasonal pests can help you plan accordingly and reduce the need for unnecessary pesticide treatments. For example, you might be able to decrease the number of mosquitoes by removing standing water and reducing aphid populations in your yard. Or, you might be able to cut down on ant infestations by using baits and barrier treatments. And you might be able to minimize the activity of ticks and fleas by keeping pets on leashes and regularly checking them for these tiny hitchhikers.

As the temperatures cool down, pests that haven’t already migrated indoors will do so to seek shelter from the chill. This may lead to a flurry of activity as rodents stock up on food and materials for the coming winter or trigger cockroaches to mate and start new colonies. It’s also an ideal time for stinging insects to begin their peak activity, including bees and wasps, which can attack if provoked.

Rodents are especially active in the fall as they seek food and warmth to weather the upcoming winter. This is a common time for rats and mice to enter homes, where they can damage insulation and chew through electrical wires and wood supports. It’s also a great time for ants, who begin their peak breeding period as they look to restock their nests with food. Fruit flies, pincher bugs, and earwigs are also most active in the fall and can be attracted to ripe or rotting foods. Termite activity also picks up in the fall, and pest management during this time often involves combining baits, insect growth regulators and crack and crevice applications. Of course, the best way to avoid these pests is by preventing them from entering in the first place, so be sure to store food in airtight containers and empty trash frequently, as well as seal any entry points into your home.

Types of Pest Control

Pests are organisms that cause damage or spoil crops, animals, and other materials. Some natural forces help control pest populations, such as climate, natural enemies, food, water, and shelter availability.

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This group of methods aims to prevent pests from damaging plants by removing the resources they need—food, water, shelter—or by blocking their access. These methods are often much less expensive than chemical controls and usually have fewer off-target effects. However, they may be harder to implement than other control tactics.

Physical or mechanical controls include traps, screens, barriers, and exclusion techniques that physically prevent pests from gaining entry into crops or structures. For example, a screen can create a boundary that insects cannot cross while allowing air to flow freely. Barrier sprays, on the other hand, can produce a chemical boundary that repels insects from a home or garden. These techniques are most effective when used in conjunction with other control measures.

Other forms of physical control use natural enemies of pests to reduce their populations. These natural enemies include predators, parasites, nematodes, and competitors. Predators and parasites kill or injure pests that would otherwise damage crops or gardens. They also compete with pests for food, water, and shelter. Nematodes and competitors consume or displace pests, depriving them of the resources they need for survival.

Biological or natural controls are organisms that interact with pests in ways that reduce their damage or influence the behavior of those pests. Examples of biological pest controls are fungi, viruses, bacteria, and beneficial insects such as ladybugs, wasps, and lacewings. Pheromones are chemicals that influence the behavior of other organisms in a pest population.

In general, pest control should be undertaken only when the number of pests reaches unacceptable levels. Threshold levels for pests are generally based on esthetic, health, or economic concerns. The key to making threshold-based decisions is scouting and monitoring.

By understanding what factors promote or limit the growth of pests, you can better predict when and how to apply control methods. You can also tailor those methods to the environment and specific circumstances in which pests appear. For example, mountain ranges and large bodies of water restrict the spread of some species of insects. You can also alter the conditions that encourage plant diseases by changing irrigation practices or planting resistant varieties of crops.

Biological Control

Biological control (or biocontrol) uses living organisms — predators, parasitoids, pathogens, or competitors – to suppress and/or make pest animals, weeds, or plant diseases less damaging than they would otherwise be. It is a natural method of pest control that can be used as part of integrated pest management (IPM) programs to reduce the use of synthetic chemicals and/or other controls.

In nature, organism populations are subject to frequent attacks and high mortality rates from natural enemies — predators, parasitoids, herbivores, or pathogens — that keep them in balance with their environment and in check. Invasive plants and insects introduced to new areas often lack their normal complement of natural enemies, which allow them to grow unchecked and eventually outpace native species. This imbalance leads to the formation of so-called “invasive” species, which have become a serious problem in agriculture and natural ecosystems.

Biocontrol levels the playing field by reintroducing some of the special natural enemies that helped to control a particular invasive species in its native habitat. These organisms are screened and selected for their ability to attack and suppress the target pest in our environment, and then mass-reared and released into agricultural fields, nurseries, or other locations where the target pest is present. Biological control agents are not treated with chemical pesticides, so they remain effective for the life of the crop and can be reused year after year.

The most common form of biological control is the conservation of resident or naturally occurring beneficial organisms that are adapted to the target pest. For example, lacewings, hover flies, or fungus-infected aphid mummies are often found in aphid colonies and can be encouraged by providing aphid host plants. This practice, sometimes called classical biological control, is simple and cost-effective.

Another way to increase the number of natural enemies is by introducing new ones to an area, which is known as augmentative biological control. This is done by mass-rearing natural enemies in insectaries and releasing them into an agricultural or natural habitat where the population of the target pest is too low to sustain a viable population of natural enemies on its own. Biological control agents may be released in this manner on a seasonal basis, or inundatively.

Natural Forces

The purchase and mass release of predators, parasites, or pathogens to prevent the growth of a pest can be an effective form of biological control. These “natural enemies” can be purchased from commercial suppliers or made in laboratories. When successfully established, they can lower pest populations without further human intervention and at a relatively low cost. This form of control is best suited for greenhouses or other enclosed structures, where the natural enemy can become established.

Most biological controls involve predators, parasitoids, or pathogens and are designed to control specific pests. They may also be used in combination with other controls. The success of biocontrol depends on the number of natural enemies released and their ability to find and attack the pests. The natural enemy must also have a high reproductive rate and must be capable of finding new hosts. Additionally, its life cycle must coincide with the pest’s life cycle in order to effectively control the pest population.

A variety of fungi and bacteria can be used as biocontrol agents, including the Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) bacteria that targets caterpillar pests; metarhizium, which controls nematodes; and Heterorhabditis spp., which control root-feeding grubs. Other biological controls include spiders, wasps, and mites.

Biological controls are most often employed when pests threaten crop production and public health, but they can be used in home gardens as well. Fern-leaf yarrow (Achillea filipendulina), for instance, is a beautiful herb that attracts predatory insects such as lacewings and hoverflies. Another great home garden plant is the dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), which produces natural insecticidal compounds that can be used to fight diseases and insects that damage plants.

Suppression and prevention are goals of most pest management programs, but eradication is occasionally attempted. The goal of eradication is to reduce pests below the level at which they cause unacceptable harm, and it usually requires a multi-tactic approach that includes cultural, mechanical, and chemical control methods.

Eradication is especially difficult for outdoor pest problems that are widespread or difficult to monitor. Governmental agencies often support eradication programs for exotic pests that pose a threat to food or forest crops, livestock, and wildlife.

Eradication

Pests are unwanted creatures that are known to cause serious problems such as physical contamination of food with rodent droppings, insect parts or other foreign material, contamination with disease causing agents carried on the bodies or in the guts of the pests and direct damage to buildings and structures. Pests may be controlled through setting traps or baits, blocking points of entry using quality sealant or knitted copper mesh, removing trash on a regular basis and making sure all areas are cleaned up on a daily basis. Professionals are able to deal with all kinds of pests in commercial environments including rodents, cockroaches, termites, and bed bugs.

The most common form of pest control is through chemical based products. These come in the form of over the counter sprays that can be easily sprayed onto suspected areas where pests may be found. These products often contain poisonous substances that can be dangerous for humans and pets. They should be used only in accordance with the manufacturer’s product label. Applying more than the recommended amount will not improve results and can be illegal in some countries.

There are also microbial pesticides available, such as the bacteria Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis), which has been developed into strains that target specific insects. Microbial control agents are generally considered to be safer than conventional pesticides but they may have lower shelf-stability and a limited host range, meaning that they need to be applied more frequently.

Eradication is a form of pest control that involves eliminating an entire population of the organism through biological or chemical means. Typically, it is only employed when the pests are likely to cause more harm than is reasonable to accept. Examples of eradication include the Smallpox Eradication Program (SEP) and the programs for eradicating Guinea worm and polio.

Many people are hesitant to use pest control methods that result in the death of the pests, even when such controls may offer advantages over non-lethal control techniques. This is probably because of the deep human attachment to and valuing of life, which makes some pests more ‘acceptable’ than others. A review by DoC of public attitudes towards different pest control measures indicates that the majority of the public supports genetic controls when the outcomes are preventative or result in no significant mortality, but not for those that are purely eugenic.

The Importance of Pest Control

Pests are organisms that damage or spoil crops, livestock and human food supplies. They can also spread diseases.

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Biotic controls such as predators, pathogens and parasites can be used to keep pest populations below damaging levels. Pheromones and juvenile hormones can also be used to manipulate pest numbers.

Pests can cause many problems to people, animals and the environment. They can destroy crops, contaminate food, eat into building materials, create health problems for human and animal occupants or simply be a nuisance. The best way to deal with pests is to prevent them from entering the property in the first place. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approaches to pest control emphasize prevention, suppression and eradication.

Preventing pests involves modifying the environment or changing their behavior. This may include keeping doors and windows closed, using screens on windows and doors, and removing woodpiles and other materials from the yard. Preventing pests can also involve using mechanical controls such as traps, barriers and nets. Changes in the environment such as temperature, day length and humidity can alter pest activity.

In addition, the weather can directly affect plant growth and insect reproduction by killing or suppressing their hosts. This can result in reduced pest populations and reduced damage to plants.

Some pests are sporadic, while others are continuous and require regular control. Monitoring helps to predict pest populations and the conditions that favor them. This information can be used to manage the pests and their damage, especially in continuous pest situations such as in greenhouses and food processing facilities.

Indoors, it is important to keep kitchen benches and other surfaces clean to reduce the attraction of flies, mice, ants and beetles. It is also important to store food in airtight containers and to move trash to an outside dumpster as soon as possible to avoid attracting pests. Finally, it is important to regularly inspect and clean areas where crumbs are stored like kitchens, pantries, cupboards, etc.

Pest infestations occur when pests gain access to a home or commercial building. While regular cleaning and inspections can help, it is important to use IPM techniques to limit pests as much as possible. This includes identifying pests and understanding their habits so that targeted treatments can be used without causing off-target damage. It is particularly important to correctly identify pests when using pesticides, as some pesticides can be dangerous to pets and humans.

Suppression

Pests are organisms that disrupt natural or human activities by damaging or spoiling crops, animals, or other materials. They also often cause annoyance or discomfort and may carry diseases or parasites that threaten human health. Pest control methods seek to reduce or eliminate pest populations using exclusion, repulsion, physical removal, or chemical intervention. Eradication is rarely an objective in outdoor settings, but it is often the goal in enclosed environments such as dwellings; schools, hospitals, and food processing plants; and greenhouses.

In addition to eradication, some pests can be controlled by preventing their reproduction. Restricting seed dispersal by removing nests or blocking breeding areas can be an effective strategy for some species. The use of resistant cultivars or other forms of plant material can also help manage some pests.

Other methods attempt to manipulate the environment or change the behavior of pests to reduce their numbers. Changing the amount of water or light available to pests can limit their growth or alter their development rate. Insecticidal traps, netting, pheromones, fungicides, radiation, and heat can also be used to control pests.

A few ants or bees in the garden don’t need to be controlled, but more than that could signal an infestation and require treatment. Threshold-based decision making involves scouting and monitoring to determine how often, where, and when to treat. For example, if you see Japanese beetles in your garden every day and in increasing numbers, it’s time to take action.

Devices that kill a pest directly or block the pests from reaching their targets are called mechanical controls. Traps and screens are common examples, but other devices such as weed mowers and steam sterilization of soil can be considered to be mechanical controls.

Biological pest control employs the use of pathogens, predators, and other organisms to suppress or destroy pests. In the early days of this discipline, research was aimed at finding new natural enemies that would provide dramatic suppression similar to that achieved by the vedalia beetle against cottony-cushion scale.

More recently, nematodes, microscopic worms that feed on the roots of plants, have been developed to control certain pests in crop fields. They are applied to the soil and kill or slow down the growth of a targeted pest without damaging the plant. Like other biological pest controls, nematodes are best used in combination with other IPM tactics.

Identification

Identifying pests is the first step in any pest control strategy. It helps to determine the nature and extent of the pest problem and the most effective ways to manage it. Identification also allows you to assess the safety of different methods of control and avoids the need for unnecessary application of chemicals that may harm beneficial organisms, people or property.

Whether you are a do-it-yourselfer or a pest management professional, the best way to identify pests is to inspect and observe them. Most pests leave visible evidence, such as droppings or greasy marks, that can be found on surfaces or in corners and cracks. Some insects have a distinctive smell, such as that of bed bugs or cockroaches. Others are abrasive or produce a sticky residue, such as termites or ants. Others have a grotesque or frightening appearance, such as spiders and silverfish. And some, like wasps and hornets, bite or sting (real or perceived).

Other indicators of a pest infestation include the presence of droppings near food sources, chewed or gnawed leaves and fruits, holes in the woodwork, damaged or discolored garden areas and unusual sounds, such as scratching or chewing noises. You should also keep an eye out for larger droppings, such as those produced by birds or squirrels, and signs of scurrying along walls, such as grease marks.

A pest’s physical appearance can change depending on its life stage or time of year. It may also change with weather conditions. For example, a weed seedling can look very different from the mature plant and a house centipede will look quite different in winter than it does in summer.

For the food industry, identification is critical to managing pests in processing environments. Food manufacturers should maintain a pest sighting register to record and track pests in the facility, and work with their pest management companies to ensure that they are identifying and treating all relevant pests. In addition, food companies should use non-chemical strategies to minimize the need for pesticides. These include sealing cracks and crevices, replacing worn-out weatherstripping, repairing screens and securing doors and windows.

Monitoring

Monitoring is a vital component of an integrated pest management program (IPM) regardless of the specific control tactics utilized. It allows a pest manager to identify problems quickly and efficiently and evaluate how effective the control tactic has been. Monitoring provides the information necessary to decide when treatment is needed and determine which control methods will be most successful in the future.

In addition to identifying and evaluating pest infestations, pest monitoring can help identify pest conducive conditions that contribute to their presence, such as the weather or food and harborage availability. The data can then be used to predict future pest outbreaks and develop control strategies to prevent them.

Pest monitoring may include scouting for pest activity or checking traps and other devices for evidence of a problem. It can also be as simple as recording the results of a pheromone trap or bait station on a grid or map. Ideally, a pest infestation should be caught before it becomes damaging to the crop. For example, a sudden influx of first instar German cockroaches is a good indication that they are within striking distance of their harborage source (such as a food facility).

Monitoring can be used to determine the threshold at which pest control must be initiated. Thresholds are pest-specific and must take into account both internal and external pest populations. They are most useful in helping to establish appropriate scouting and treatment intervals, and to determine when pest control is required for unacceptable levels of damage or injury.

Regular pest monitors should be placed in the most important areas of a facility such as inside equipment, in voids, behind walls and in shaded or protected locations. They should be inspected and rebaited periodically to ensure that they remain a valuable part of your pest control program. For example, stored product pest monitors should be emptied and the bait replaced on a regular basis so that they continue to be effective. If the bait has been sitting in a monitor for six months it will likely be long past its expiration date and is no longer attractive to rodents.