The most common pest in both the home and the garden in North America is the ant. Ants are gregarious insects that reproduce very quickly and are also incredibly hardy. Their main problem, as far as humans go, is probably visual, but some species of ant can wreak havoc on homes and gardens. One of these types of ant is the carpenter ant, an insect which is known for its love of making extensive homes within wooden frameworks. The resulting holes honeycomb the walls, making them both structurally unsound and unpleasant to look at.

(more…)

Not too long ago, the answer to any pest solution was to gas it or poison it out of existence. Those practices led to a lot of harm by way of both the environment and health; pests are naturally adaptable and tough creatures which take quite a dosing to kill, and the concentrations of sprays and dusts needed proved harmful to almost every other living being as well. When the crisis began to come to a head, many people began asking if there were ways to control pests without the use of toxic chemicals.The strides we have made today are evident when it comes to commercial applications; pesticide use is very restricted and is often limited to the least toxic approach possible. I our daily lives, however, many people have not caught up. While in some cases an organic pest control approach is not going to be successful, many times leaving the pesticides on the store shelf is absolutely an option. There are plenty of other ways of controlling pests aside from toxic chemicals, ones that keep nature in balance and allow pests to be controlled that way. Let’s take a look at some of them. (more…)

People exploring least toxic and effective methods for dealing with insect pests have long used different applications which have boric acid as the main active ingredient. This solution is extremely deadly to even the hardiest of insects, without posing much risk to humans (outside of fetuses). In fact, it has been found that this acid is not much more toxic than common table salt. This doesn’t mean that you should take any pest control methods which have boric acid at their base lightly and sprinkle them on your popcorn; on the contrary boric acid methods need to be treated as though they were very poisonous when you are using them. They should not be left where pets or children may be exposed to them, and you need to wear adequate protective measures when you are applying the solutions. (more…)

When it comes to the hardiest species on the planet, few animals can rival the cockroach. These insects are found everywhere, and there are literally thousands of species. Of these species, there are only 30 which are known to infest human buildings and thus considered pests. Still, this doesn’t mean much if you are one of the people whose home has been infested by thousands of one of the 30 species. (more…)

It’s easy to tell when you have a gopher problem in your lawn or garden; little dirt mounds begin appearing, usually surrounding little holes that moles or gophers call home. Many people are tempted to use poisons or other toxic chemicals to deal with subterranean dwellers that ruin the appearance of their lawns, but this is not necessary; there are plenty of non-toxic ways of dealing with underground vertebrate pests that are more affordable and less harmful to other beings than chemical treatments. (more…)

When we are talking about pest control, there are usually two areas that concern the home owner: the interior of the home, and the yard (which includes your garden). Pests can be found in both areas, although the extent of damage they can cause is different in both, as your approach will be as well.

In general, we tend to use an annihilation mentality when it comes to pests, particularly in the home. We want them gone, and we want them gone totally. This actually isn’t a very realistic possibility in most cases, as pests by nature can thrive just about anywhere in pretty good numbers. After all, they are at the bottom of the food chain and have been for thousands of years, so they need to be able to survive through proliferation. (more…)