Every pest needs water, food, and shelter. Dump and drain standing water, remove sources of food like trash and birdseed, and do lawn maintenance like mowing the grass, raking leaves, and trimming overgrown vegetation.
When it comes to pest control, it can seem like there are tons of different pests that can give you trouble. But the lucky thing is that most of them can be dealt with by taking the same handful of steps.
The biggest thing you can do is remove standing water. Standing water is where mosquitoes breed and it only takes a very small amount (think the size of a bottle cap). Doing this will involve tipping over containers that hold water, but it will also involve fixing drainage and removing things like damp mulch. This will also help you with ants, earwigs, wasps, and rodents. If you’re not sure how to go about this, walk your property every week, ideally a day or two after a rainstorm, and pay attention to what stays wet for longer than it should.
The next thing to do is remove food. Food, for pests, often means eating out of the trash. So make sure you put a tight lid on your trash and recycling. You will also want to clean the grill, pick up fallen fruit, and store things like birdseed in airtight containers. This will help with rodent and ant problems.
As for shelter, for mosquitoes and ticks, you will want to mow grass, clear leaf litter, and thin out dense landscaping. For rodents, spiders, and ants, it helps to store woodpiles away from the house and to pull mulch away from the foundation. If you have bright white exterior bulbs, consider using warm LEDs as well.
If you want to deal with a whole bunch of pest problems all at once, Mosquito Squad of Lansing can help. Mosquito Squad provides recurring treatment for over 20 kinds of pests, both indoor and outdoor.
