How to Keep Pests From Ruining Your Landscape

Posted on by Gro Social

As you’re getting into the swing of landscaping with summer around the corner, pests may be causing you some serious grief. And in all reality, pests tend to be the number one cause of landscape problems as well as general discomfort in your yard. So it’s essential that you think about the different strategies you can use to prevent them from making your yard their home.

Keep Your Grass Short

Keeping your grass short might be something you want to do anyway to best enjoy your lawn. But keeping your grass short has other benefits besides just making your backyard look well maintained. Long grass tends to attract a host of different pests because it serves as a great environment for them to grow and thrive.

Keeping your grass short will eliminate these pests in your yard which will also help ensure that you have fewer pests close to your home that could start to try and invade you there.

Trim Trees

As you think about your routine yard maintenance, you should add trimming trees to your list of tasks in addition to mowing your lawn regularly. Trimming your trees not only keeps them healthy and strong by helping you ensure that the strength of the tree goes toward the solid branches, but it also helps you prevent pests and insects from lodging themselves in your different trees.

It’s particularly important to trim any dead, dying, or infected branches quickly because these branches tend to attract different pests who may try to enter the interior of the tree from that entry point.

Use Weed Control

Using weed control throughout your yard is important to generally prevent pests from overtaking your landscaping and your yard in general. Make sure that you think carefully about the type of weed control you go with. Certain types address certain problems; getting the wrong type could accidentally result in killing your beautiful plants. It’s also important that you adapt your weed control approach to different parts of your yard.  

When it comes to your garden, it’s particularly important to adopt the right approach to weed control because successful plant growth is paramount. A great way to prevent weeds from overtaking your garden is to use mulch. Mulch helps keep the soil moisture and temperature at good levels. It also helps provide an oasis to many different forms of useful insects like earthworms that enrich your soil even more.

Clean Up Debris Piles

Debris piles are a bad thing for your yard regardless of what angle you look at it. Having piles of debris not only looks bad and can smell bad, but they tend to attract pests. Bugs can lodge themselves within the different crevices and will typically find the nutrients they need to survive and thrive in the moist environment. Simply eliminating these from your yard will eliminate a host of pest problems that could multiply if not taken care of promptly.

Eliminate Standing Water

One of the biggest things that attract pests is standing water. Why? Because water provides pests with virtually everything they need—a place to lay their eggs, nourishment to keep them alive, and a habitat to live in.

If you have areas in your yard or even on your lawn that tend to accumulate water, figure out a way to drain those areas. This might involve being particularly vigilant at draining the area after you water the lawn or after it rains. It might also involve more intensive landscape remodels to eliminate the problem areas in the first place. This might seem like a pain, but ultimately, it will be beneficial.

Pay Attention to Shaded Areas

In addition to paying particular attention to areas where you have standing water, you should also pay attention to shaded areas of your yard. Shade can add so many benefits when it comes to the enjoyability of your outdoor space, but it can also quickly become a spawning place for pests like mosquitoes.

The reason for this is because cooler spaces tend to allow moisture to build up and that moisture tends to take longer to dry up. Just as pests love standing bodies of water, they also love moist cool places. So, either figure out a way to eliminate some of the moisture in those areas or spray those areas more fully with pest control spray.

Store Pet Food Indoors

Another important thing to think about when it comes to preventing pests from messing up your landscape is how you store any pet food. Storing pet food outdoors tends to attract pests like rats and raccoons. And when they come to gnaw at your bag of pet food, they often will destroy some of your landscape in their wake.

Making the simple decision to store your pet food inside your home or at least in your garage can help prevent this type of destruction from occurring. Be sure to put the pet food in a container intended to prevent the food from going rancid and that helps limit the smell from attracting any pests.

Choose Pest Repellant Plants

In addition to placing your pet food in a dry location indoors, you should also think about the plants that you have in your yard. Certain varieties of plants may attract mosquitoes and other pests if their leaves or flowers tend to hold water well. These little pools of water can become a place of growth for these pests.

So, eliminate these types of plants if possible. Additionally, think about adding plant varieties that repel pests. For example, plants like basil and mint tend to drive mosquitoes away.

Figuring out how to transform your yard into an outdoor oasis can seem like a Herculean task from the outset. And trying to make sure that your yard is pest-free doesn’t make it any easier. But make sure that you incorporate at least some of these suggestions otherwise your hard work at creating a beautiful space might be ruined by pests who eat at your plants or destroy your landscaping.

If you do have a pest problem in your home, we can take care of it for you! Get a quote from us here.

3 Factors Out of Your Control That Contribute to the Need for Pest Control

Posted on by Gro Social

Pest control serves an important role in the lives of most Americans; yet, we often fail to consider the role that its service plays in our communities. Pest control is essential for maintaining community cleanliness because it can effectively deter or kill disease-carrying rodents and insects. Looking to the future, it seems like pest control as an industry will only continue to grow. This article will go into a few of the factors that contribute to this projected and necessary growth.

Weather

No matter where you live, weather can sometimes be unpredictable. Whether a given year brings unexpected torrents of spring rain or an early winter, these changes affect pest populations. Even though you may feel tempted to ease off regulating bug populations around your home during the winter, a failure to do so during changing weather conditions can result in unanticipated pest surges. Often, the only reliable way to truly keep pests at bay is by using pest control during the winter as well as during warmer months of the year.

Urban Sprawl

Urban sprawl, the development, and expansion of urban areas, often brings with it expanded habitats for bugs, rodents, and other pests. Because of this, urban sprawl is credited as being part of the reason for the anticipated increase in the projected market value of pest control. Undoubtedly, urban areas will continue to expand as demand for comfortable living environments grows. As people move into these areas, they expect a high level of cleanliness and comfort—leaving no room for pests in neighborhood parks and along pedestrian sidewalks.

Climate Change

As the climate continues to change, insect populations are more pronouncedly affected than other populations. Because insects’ bodies change with the temperature, populations of certain species can result in huge population growths and shrinkages. When a population of insects grows suddenly, the crops that the insects feed on are often unable to respond. Because these swings in the population are often unpredictable, pest control is often the only way to truly regulate insect populations.

Pest control is a booming industry—as urban areas continue to develop and as our climate continues to change, we will only see increases in the need for pest control in the future. Add in local weather changes and it seems nearly impossible to regulate pest populations without pest control. Responding to this demand, the industry is continuously adapting to reach new geographic regions as well as to provide new clean environmentally-friendly options to customers.

Having trouble getting rid of pests? Let us take care of them for you! Contact us today for a free quote.

Don’t Let The Bed Bugs Bite! How To Handle A Bed Bug Infestation

Posted on by Gro Social

Good night, sleep tight, don’t let the bed bugs bite! As a child, you might have thought this was just a silly rhyme. You might have even thought that bed bugs weren’t real. Be assured, they are very real, if they infest your home, you are in for a miserable night. Here’s how you can handle their intrusions.

Prevention

The best time to stop a bed bug infestation is before it starts. They say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. The most important prevention measure is cleanliness. Bugs thrive in dirty places, so make your home as clean as possible. Regularly change your sheets, vacuum/wash the floors, and keep things tidy. Next, make it difficult for the bugs to enter. Patch holes in the wall. Even if they don’t lead outside, holes in the walls give bed bugs a great place to live. Inspect your windows for cracks in the caulking. Seal up any that you find.

Treatment

If you discover signs of bedbugs in your home, take action immediately. Bed bugs can lay hundreds of tiny eggs the size of dust specks. They reproduce three times a year. Any delay can lead to things getting out of control quickly. Your first step is to strip your bed, curtains, clothing, and wash it all. Then scrub your mattress with a dry stiff brush and then vacuum it immediately. Vacuum the floors, clean up clutter. Get tightly woven covers for your mattress and box springs.

Aftermath

Bed bugs are attracted to humans and may leave bites that require medical attention. If you are experiencing an infestation, contact your doctor. Keep him/her updated if you start developing any abnormal symptoms. Be aware that bed bugs can survive up to a year without feeding. You should keep a case on your mattress for at least that long, if not longer. You may wish to consider getting a new bed and mattress altogether. If your best efforts are failing, you may need to reach out to a professional pest control company. These professionals can lay down poisons that will kill the offending bugs.

A bed bug infestation is no laughing matter. Your sleep is very important, and you will not rest well as long as those pests are around. Fortunately, prevention is mostly a matter of regular cleaning and home maintenance. Treatment can quickly stifle the infestation if you act immediately. Do if the bugs come biting, don’t hesitate — jump into action and wipe them out.

Roaches in Your Restaurant: Commercial Pest Control is Vital

Posted on by Gro Social

Cockroaches have a nasty habit of making their way into restaurants and causing many types of problems for you and your customers. As a result, the best commercial pest control in Cedar Rapids, and Iowa City, Iowa may be necessary. By working with companies likes us at D & R Pest Control, you can avoid many problems. These issues include the concerns mentioned below. Suffice to say, roaches have no place in your restaurant and need to be taken out as soon as possible.

Roaches Carry Diseases

Cockroaches are nasty creatures that often naturally carry a large number of different diseases. For example, they may be coated with various types of Salmonella. When they get into your food supplies, they’ll leave behind these diseases and potentially spread them to your customers. However, that isn’t the only disease that these creatures may spread when they invade a kitchen.

For example, roaches have been found to potentially spread Typhoid, a severe disease that could kill those who catch it. And even poliomyelitis, a bacteria that causes Polio, has been found in some roaches. On a less severe scale, cockroaches can also spread Dysentery, a disease that can cause extreme nausea and diarrhea, and which may also trigger excessive bleeding in many orifices.

Thankfully, commercial pest control can manage this problem. These experts will come to your restaurant, discover where the roaches are living, and then destroy them as completely as possible. You may have to call in a cleaner who can get rid of the residue and dust left by the roaches. Doing so will ensure that you don’t run into any health complications later on down the road. Yes, this step can be annoying and may cost you money but is ultimately more than worth the time and cash you spend on it.

Some Customers May Have Allergies

Even if your roaches somehow – miraculously – do not have severe diseases on and in their bodies, there’s a good chance that your customers will potentially still get sick. That’s because roaches have a terrible tendency to trigger allergic reactions. Though there aren’t a lot of people allergic to cockroaches, those who are may experience very severe reactions that could be very life-threatening when they occur.

And those who do not have allergies may still react to roaches. How? Cockroaches leave behind a large amount of dander, such as shed skins, wings, eaten food, and fecal matter. When this debris gets stirred up in your restaurant, it can create a gross cloud that may trigger asthma attacks or other eating problems. And if there are diseases in the matter, you can anticipate even more severe problems.

Therefore, commercial pest control is necessary. As with the previous problem, you’ll also need high-quality cleaning to get rid of all of this debris. However, you may need to get professionals to dig deep within your walls and in other areas to locate problematic issues. In this way, you can ensure that you get the most out of your treatments and can protect your customers and employees. Though you may end up spending more cash in this way, you’ll ultimately save your restaurant a lot of serious concerns.

Visible Roaches Will Ruin Your Reputation

Just think about what will happen to your restaurant if roaches move from the back of your business and into the dining area. Would you want to go to a restaurant where you saw a single cockroach even one time? Of course not: people expect that their restaurants are clean and don’t have pest invasions. The fact that so many do is well hidden but not if you let roaches spread rampantly through your facility.

Now, think about your reputation if somebody sees a roach and tells their friend. That friend will tell their friends. And those friends will tell others and so on. Even if you take care of the situation and manage the roaches fully, your reputation may never fully mend with some people. As a result, you can anticipate a surprisingly high level of a financial loss if cockroaches become a persistent enough issue.

Therefore, commercial pest control is crucial for your restaurant. You can’t take the chance that anybody besides a chef or a waiter or waitress sees a roach. Letting customers see a cockroach is basically like signing your death warrant and your bankruptcy declaration as a restaurant. So call professionals the moment you see a roach and let them take care of the situation. Doing so will protect you in ways that you may not even anticipate.

Health Inspections May Close You Down

Lastly, you need commercial pest control to ensure that you don’t run into any health code violations. As previously mentioned, roaches are very unhealthy and unsafe pests to tolerate in a business. When they spread rapidly enough throughout your building, they can end up becoming something that health inspectors notice. And when they do, you’re going to get quite a few violations slapped on you.

And as mentioned in the previous section, your reputation will take a hit. Health inspectors will be less likely to give you the benefit of the doubt and may perform more frequent inspections on you. And if you experience enough violations, they may end up trying to close you down for good. They can take this step if they find that you have committed too many violations and will try to protect the public by taking away your operational license.

And forget trying to open up another restaurant after this happens. While it may be possible for you to get a license again, you may have to pay substantial fees or prove to them that you’ve learned your lesson. They may even just deny you because they find that they cannot trust you. Therefore, you need to avoid this potential by merely taking care of cockroaches the moment you see them. Doing so is a great way to ensure that you are protected and safe.

Get Help Today

As you can see, commercial pest control in Cedar Rapids, and Iowa City, Iowa is a critical part of keeping your restaurant safe and healthy. You can’t let your customers or your employees down by not hiring the most excellent company that you can find. That’s where we at D & R Pest Control come into play. Our experts have years of experience in their field and know how to transform your restaurant into a clean area free of roaches. So please don’t hesitate to reach out to us today to learn more about our processes.

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