Fire ants are a truly nasty pest; with their nasty bites, their adaptability, and their long lives it can be hard not to take their existence personally. Most people answer by declaring war on the fire ant; using a lot of poison to completely eradicate a nest will work on that nest, but it will not solve the fire ant issue as a whole and it may even do further harm to other organisms, including humans, as well as the ecosystem in general.

The first thing you need to do when you spot a fire ant nest is to resist the urge to go out and drench it with deadly, unsafe insecticides. Instead, contact a company that specializes in least toxic pest control and ask them to have a look at the situation. It’s pretty familiar territory; each year in the Southwest the federal government spends millions of dollars combating these introduced species. Let’s take a look at some ways that fire ants can be controlled without resorting to a lot of poisons and other chemicals. (more…)

Like raccoons, opossum are medium sized mammal pests that are adaptable and can make life quite a hassle for humans. They are nocturnal and very good at finding secluded spots to nest and sleep, which can make them difficult to control.

Fortunately, opossums are much easier to control than raccoon, in large part because they are not nearly as smart as those wily bandits. In addition, opossums are very vulnerable animals as they are relatively low on the food chain; they possess few natural defences and have a lot of enemies in the wild. This means that least toxic control of opossum pests is a fairly easy proposition. Here are some very effective measures employed by people all over the country (more…)

A lot of environmental problems have occurred due to the overuse of pesticides as far as pest control for trees. Not only is this approach to crop “preservation” bad for pests, though, it is also bad for humans, birds, animals, good insects, and the trees themselves! We all want our fruit trees to yield a good harvest of beautiful fruit, or our ornamental trees to stay healthy. This can be done without chemicals, but it does require a certain amount of work. Let’s take a look at some organic pest controls you can use to protect your trees.  (more…)

A big mistake that many people make around the home and garden is to assume that all “bugs” are the same. The big problem that arises from this assumption is that the use of chemical sprays or other toxins will rid your world of insect pests and leave you happily tending to your household duties. In fact, using these sprays will eventually mean that your house becomes unlivable and your garden untenable.A huge problem with toxic chemical treatments, particularly in the garden, is that they kill all bugs without prejudice, beneficial and harmful alike. In many cases, the pest populations can rebound, but the predator populations don’t, so you end up in a vicious cycle which results in the pests winning when your soil become to contaminated to be healthy. (more…)

If you are a gardener, then you know that maintaining a productive garden can be a lot of work, and you are constantly trying to find a good balance between food, water, sun, shade, and soil quality. You also know that certain pests can mean the negation of all your hard work.Many gardeners are tempted to use chemical sprays or other methods to eradicate garden pests, but this may in fact cause more harm to your garden than good. Many types of insects, in particular, are beneficial to a garden, and blanket sprays may be just as detrimental to their population as they are to the pest populations. In fact beneficial insects are often more sensitive than pest counterparts, so you may find that chemicals work most “effectively” on the good guys. (more…)