Mosquito Reduction Tips For Middle Tennessee

Mosquito Reduction Tips For Middle Tennessee

Mosquito Reduction Tips!

Warmer weather is here and with that will also be mosquitoes! Our Mosquito Reduction Service is designed to reduce the mosquito population in your yard. Our technicians will treat the foliage of trees and shrubs where mosquitoes rest during the day. When they come into contact with the treated surface, they will die.

But, you may still see some mosquitoes from time to time. Especially after a good rain! So, we wanted to equip you with some extra tips to help keep down the mosquito population and protect you and your family.

• Dispose of old tires, tin cans, buckets, drums, bottles, plastic sheeting, or any water-holding containers
• Clean debris from rain gutters to allow proper drainage
• Fill in or drain low places (puddles & ruts) in the yard.
• Keep drains, ditches, and culverts clean of weeds and trash so water can flow properly
• Cover trash containers to keep out rainwater.
• Check around outdoor faucets and air conditioner units and repair leaks or puddles.
• Empty plastic wading pools at least once per week and store indoors when not in use.
• Make sure your backyard pool is cared for while away from the home.
• Fill in tree holes and stumps that hold water with sand or cement.
• Change the water in bird baths, plant pots, and drip trays at least once per week.
• Keep the grass cut short and shrubbery well trimmed around the house where the adult mosquito may rest.
• Irrigate lawns and gardens carefully to prevent water from standing. If it squishes when you walk on the lawn, it is being over-watered.
• Eliminate seepage from cisterns, cesspools, and septic tanks.
• Stock ornamental pools with top feeding predacious minnows.
• Check window and door screens on the home. Be sure they are in good condition to keep out mosquitoes.
• Wear light-colored clothing, plus long-sleeve shirts and long pants for extra protection.
• Use repellants on your skin and clothing while you are outdoors.

Control the Standing Water For Best Results!

As you can see, many of our recommendations concern water. Why? Water is the breeding ground for new mosquitoes. Here is a great video on the mosquito life cycle.  The more we can eliminate standing water the better result you will have in reducing the mosquito population in addition to the service we provide.

Our technicians will apply a larvicide to any areas of standing water they notice while they are treating your yard for mosquitoes with an adulticide. Please help your technician know of any known areas that hold water that may go unnoticed when it is dry. We can preventatively treat those areas, too.

Purple Triangle in the Tree: Emerald Ash Borer Traps in Murfreesboro, TN

Emerald Ash Borer
Have you seen the purple triangle in the tree?

It’s hard to miss. The purple triangle in the tree sticks out among green vegetation.

Is it a kite? Is some kid crying because their toy is trapped in a tree?

No, this trapped object is actually a trap for emerald ash borers. These destructive pests infest ash trees and kill them within three years.

The emerald ash borer entered America by way of Michigan 15-20 years ago. And now they’ve made their way down to Tennessee. They’ve traveled so far because of the transportation of firewood from one state to another, or even from one side of a state to the other side of a state.

One of the best ways to prevent the spreading of these awful insects is by not transporting firewood.

If you’re going to go camping in the Ocoee River Basin in East Tennessee, then buy your firewood there. Don’t bring Murfreesboro firewood to Cleveland, TN.

Keeping firewood local will make more people happy campers, and help keep ash borers more contained.

For more information on the emerald ash borer in Tennessee, you can visit this website: http://www.tn.gov/agriculture/regulatory/eab.shtml. It includes helpful tips, including quarantine information.

Here’s a video about the life cycle of emerald ash borers:

This brings an entirely new market to shopping locally: Shop local for firewood. 🙂

 

Ants on a Potted Plant in Murfreesboro, TN

Ants on a Potted Plant

It’s the first day of spring! And with our warm weather comes lots of ants. Lots and lots and lots and lots of ants. And then more ants.

‘Ant’yways, one of our Quarterly Pest Control customers recently called us to see what we could do to get rid of an ant invasion at her home. Dan Cassidy, owner of The Bug Man, captured a video of the pesky ants.

If you continue to find ants indoors, there is a good chance that they may be nesting inside the house.  Many times the ant nest is relocated indoors with a potted plant.  They will nest inside the soil and when you move the plant inside, the nest of ants will move with the plant.  Always check between the potted plant before bringing them inside.  This will help deter this problem.

Ants will also be attracted to potted plants on patios, sunrooms, porches, and even indoors.  The ants like the frequent watering the plant requires, many of the plants also have aphids that the ants are attracted to.

Why do I still see bugs after The Bug Man treats my home

Why do I still see bugs

Pest control is a sophisticated science. Using fun examples from Nintendo’s Mario Kart, learn about the reason we’re able to offer a warranty on our services.

Attention Homeowners Hosting for the Holidays:
If you’re noticing the beginning of an ant invasion, please call us as soon as possible so our products have time to take full effect. Because of the biology of ants, it may take a few days for their invasive colony to be wiped out. Please, read on for more…

 

King BooBugs are bootastic! You don’t want them in your house, but they show up anyway. You call The Bug Man, but sometimes the bugs still remain after a few days, even after a treatment is done. What gives?

Biology. It’s all about biology.

Believe it or not, pest control is a sophisticated science. Products are created to fulfill different purposes. Some products kill things immediately but don’t last very long. Other products take longer to eliminate the bugs, yet last a long time. And, still others use a combination.

Toad

To illustrate–and have some fun–let’s think of this in terms of Mario Kart.   Yes, Mario Kart.

Some products work like Toad. They take off almost instantly. Others work like Donkey Kong. It takes a bit to get that fella going, but once he’s moving, it’s hard to stop him.

When it comes to killing ants and termites, we use products that have a high residual and a transfer effect. Translation: We use products that are going to last a while, and will kill the pests over time. The ants and termites walk through the products or eat the bait, and then they transfer the poison to their colonies. Then they will die off gradually. That’s how we’re able to offer you a warranty.

This high residual and transfer effect explains why you may still see ants in your kitchen up to 10 days after we came out to your house. It’s not that what we did in treating your house failed. It’s just that the product is rollin’ around your house like Donkey Kong, bustin’ upon those pests!

If you still see a lot of pest activity 10 days after we’ve treated your home, please give us a call at 615.217.7284. We’re pleased as Punch Brothers to come back and scope out the situation. Our One-Time Pest Control comes with a 45-day re-treatment guarantee. And our Quarterly Pest Control service is guaranteed in-between visits.

Termite Tips: Simple Fixes Make a Great Defense

Termite Tips

Like a helpful friend, we want to share these tips with you for termite protection. A few simple fixes could save you thousands of dollars.”Hey, Jess!” she said with glee. Tori hadn’t seen her best friend in a week. She was excited to catch up. “Thanks for coming over. Ready to go for a walk? Or do you need any water or anything?”

“Nah, I’m good,” Jess replied.  “Already got a water bottle. Let’s jet.”

“Ok,” Tori said with a smile. “Let’s go out the back door. The street behind my house is less busy than the one in front. You know me. I can’t even walk in a straight line. Don’t want to run into any cars.”

Tori dug for the house key in her pocket. Jess–in the market for new lawn furniture and always imagining ways to upgrade her own back yard–scoped out Tori’s brand new in-ground pool and fire pit. As she was gazing around the yard, she noticed a pile of firewood.

“Hey, Tor. You shouldn’t store that firewood on your back porch.”

“Why not?” Tori replied, still fumbling around with her house key.

“Termites.”

“Huh? What?”

“Storing firewood near your home is an open invitation to termites,” Jess explained. “So are those leaves in your leaky gutters.”

“I never knew that!” Tori exclaimed. “I wish someone would’ve told me.”

As your helpful friends–who happen to know more than a little about termites–we’re here to tell you a few things that you may not know about termite prevention. Please look at these tips on how to set up a line of defense. Special thanks to Termidor for the list.

  • Don’t attach wooden trellises to exterior walls
  • Keep wood debris, scrap lumber, sawdust and firewood away from your home
  • Don’t bury wood near your home
  • Remove infested trees and stumps
  • Repair leaking faucets and water lines, both inside and outside
  • Fix leaky roofs and gutters
  • Don’t allow leaves to accumulate in gutters or drains
  • Grade soil (meaning, make a natural downhill path) so that water–including condensation from your air conditioner–runs away from the foundation of your home
  • Cover at least 90% of the soil in crawl spaces with plastic sheeting
  • Keep wood siding, stucco, and form board at least six inches away from the ground or mulch landscaping

Subterranean termites are particularly evil. They are evil to the tune of $5 billion dollars of damage every year, actually. Many homeowners think their homes are safe because they don’t see any termite damage. However, for peace of mind and for protection, it’s best to call a professional to get an inspection. The Bug Man offers a free termite inspection and a customized termite treatment plan.

For more homeowner tips, read our blog on pest prevention for your home.

Using Technology to Feel Like a Superhero

Using Technology to Feel Like a Superhero

Hello. My name’s Lindsay. I do social media stuff for The Bug Man. Nice to meet you. This morning, as I was shuffling around and getting ready for work in my suburban apartment, I discovered a ravenous villain in my bathtub. An evil menace had set out to disrupt my pest-free* pleasantness. Although I work for a pest control company, I don’t have every bug memorized…yet. I’ve learned a lot while working at The Bug Man. I like to call myself an aspiring bug expert, but I’ve got a long ways to go. Some bugs look like other bugs. A few bugs have similar names and traits (i.e. centipede and millipede). Some bugs are different in Tennessee than where I grew up in Nebraska.

So what’s a girl to do when there’s a nasty, unidentified bug in her shower?

She supposed to pick up her smart phone. *nods matter of factly*

Wait! Pick up a smart phone?! You can’t kill a bug with a smartphone! Well, you could, I guess, but it’d be really messy and would gunk up your phone. But you can educate yourself. And you can envision heroic scenarios where someone else (The Bug Man) sweeps in to kill the bug so you don’t have to.

I grabbed my iPhone and opened up the National Pest Management Association (NPMA) app so I could figure out what bug was staring at me from my bathtub.

Through reading descriptions of common household invaders and looking at pictures, I discovered that a centipede had trekked up through the drainpipe to greet me. Now that I knew what bug it was, I somehow felt better. I felt empowered. I was also relieved to remember that the app also has this nifty feature that helps me find a pest professional.

Don’t get me wrong. I know where The Bug Man is located and I know my own office’s phone number. But it was comforting to find us in the list of pest professionals in the area.

I’ve got to admit that I’m a tech geek. And a superhero fan. And I have an active imagination. So I imagined that the NPMA app worked like the perfect weapon to combat the evil centipede. Because I had to kill the bug in order to take a shower, I thought of myself as The Bug Woman, using my new-found knowledge to muster up the guts to bag the bug.

And then, I jumped into The Bug Mobile. I mean…my car.  And I drove to work to continue the fight against the injustice of the bugs in the world.

If you have a smart phone, I highly recommend that you download the NPMA app. It’s pretty nifty. And if you’ve got bug issues, call your local superhero: The Bug Man. 🙂