As we all get ready for warmer weather, BBQs, baseball games, and just sitting on the deck with a book and an iced tea, we want to make sure we can enjoy our outdoor areas safely. Getting in front of the pests that can threaten a good time is your best defense against them and the diseases and pain they can cause. Here are the top 5 ways to get your backyard summer-ready and safe to use.
- Mosquito Treatments. Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) is a rare but serious disease and up here in New England, we’re lucky (?) enough to have it around us. The primary host for EEE is mosquitoes. Unfortunately, these biting pests also carry West Nile virus, Dengue fever, Malaria, Yellow fever, and pet heartworms so having a professional mosquito treatment done is your best way to defend against them. Some companies even offer mosquito traps to deal with future fly-ins in between treatments! Most mosquito treatments are monthly starting in April, and you can plan ahead by getting on the schedule now.
- Treat for Ticks. Guess where Lyme disease was first found? Lyme, Connecticut! That’s right – they are famous for it. I guess it’s nice to be known for something, but we’re sure Connecticut would rather be known for pizza that can rival New York and New Jersey’s. Nevertheless, having tick treatments done on your backyard can keep both your family and your pets safe from the only known carrier of Lyme – the deer tick. But don’t forget this tick can also transmit anaplasmosis, human babesiosis, Powassan encephalitis, and more. So, bringing in a professional pest control company to do tick treatments is your best bet. And like mosquito treatments, you can plan them now and get ahead of these suckers.
- Stinging Pest Control Stations. Yellow jackets, hornets, and wasps oh my! Some are nastier and more aggressive than others, but if you have an allergy in the family (or you’re inviting people over who may…), nobody wants these flying stingers around. You can have your yard treated and certainly call in a professional to have a nest removed, but recently, control stations have made a splash in the world of pest control. These stations not only deal with hornets, wasps, and yellow jackets on your property, but will even take care of one that flies in from your neighbor’s house. We love that they’re discreet so they don’t mess with your landscaping, but we love more that they are childproof and secure so you can put them literally anywhere. And the stinging pests are just no match for them.
- Clean it Up. It may seem like a simple directive, but you’d be surprised! Sticky sweet spills can attract yellow jackets, cockroaches, mice, ants, and almost any other pest that may be around. Wine and beer spills, discarded popsicle sticks, a dropped burger roll that was forgotten about, a piece of watermelon rind – all of these things and more will turn sickly sweet and that’s when the bugs come running – and flying – in. So, keep it clean back there. In addition, cleaning up your landscaping like trimming tree branches and getting rid of brush piles will not only give pests fewer places to hide out, but it will give them less reason to hang around.
- DIY it! There are things you can do as a homeowner that will help deter and even repel pests in your backyard. Beautify it while you repel mosquitoes by planting these 5 plants in your yard. Get a fan! Mosquitoes are notoriously weak flyers. A well-placed fan can send them off course pretty handily. It will also help with flies, hornets, wasps – anything with wings! The butterflies will just have to put up with it. Make sure to pour out any standing water after the summer shower. Mosquitoes are not only attracted to it, but they will breed in it. Mosquito babies – not cute. Mosquito adults – even worse.
You can have a safer backyard this season. The easiest way is to start early and plan a little. Check off mosquito and tick treatments and ask us about the stinging pest control stations. The rest can happen when the weather starts to get nicer but at least those three things will be checked off your forever-growing to-do list.