hiring pest control for our new home / backyard, it is worth it?
Aida DM
2 months ago
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KR KNuttle
2 months agolast modified: 2 months agoRelated Discussions
GH pest control
Comments (40)You're not going to be able to totally get rid of your bugs until you've had several hard freezes outside. The ones that are outside are going to get back in. The best you can hope for now is to keep the levels down. The fogger machine works because the bugs can't get away from it. When you coat the tops and bottoms of the leaves at the same time and all the surfaces on the bugs get coated with something that either penetrates their bodies or smothers them, it's just not good news for them. Of course you have to keep at it every few days because ones that are in egg stages still hatch and have to be killed too. No--I didn't get the cheapest fogger they had because I needed higher volume to fill my larger greenhouses. I didn't see what size your greenhouses are. Maybe a smaller one would work. Another plus is that you don't have to be in there at all while you fog, always good when working with chemicals. Your most infested plants, you should get them out of the greenhouse. If destroying them is not an option, cut them back, and pull all the leaves off of them and give them a dormant oil spray like for a fruit tree and then put them back. You need a good coverage with any spray, but especially a dormant oil spray. It works by smothering pests and eggs and it will damage soft stemmed plants, but it sounds like they're damaged anyway. It's a last resort option. Rotate your sprays, different brands of sprays work the same way. For example some attack the nervous system. If you use a spray that attacks the nervous system 3-4 times in a row, even if it's a different brand, then it'll quit working as the bugs adapt. I put a link on there for you to a chart, the chart starts on page 3 of the link. What I did was to print out the chart and then take it to my bug killers and look at the chemicals on the bug killers, then when you find what class they're in, write the class on it with a big magic marker number on the front. Then you rotate your sprays according to action and class. Use a calendar to schedule and rotate your sprays. Write down what you used, what strength you mixed it and what date. Insecticidal soap is a good one to use in between sprays if you can't remember what you used last time because it's not one they can get used to at all, but good coverage is the whole key, so therefore the fogger really helps. I've been doing this for a living now for 3-4 years and I had terrible trouble with bugs the first couple of years until I got the fogger and got my spray rotations happening. Yes, it will cause the humidity to go up, but you can always heat and vent it back out. Just don't water too much either. It sounds like you also have problems with high humidity, overcrowding and possibly overwatering. Good luck, and if you need any support, you can e-mail me, too. Here is a link that might be useful: insecticides modes of action...See Morehow does a control freak hire a designer?
Comments (42)Thanks Patty Cakes, Luckily, I have the rugs--finally--because I've been looking for ages. (That must have been twenty or thirty posts on this board.) And the walls are taken care of, too. I've also figured out the color scheme and color flow which had to be changed slightly when, after months of looking, I realized that my favored sky blue and chocolate brown just wasn't available in rugs. (I will use those colors in the master bedroom.) And--my prized possession--I have two or three bags of different fabric samples including the one bag of the main fabrics. Hopefully they're all still available. I've got most of the floor plans set in my mind, with some questions about size and scale. The difficult part is now finding the furniture at the right price and with the right fabric. Oh, and all the window treatments. I am concerned that designers will limit my purchases to the local design center, and that it will be more than I want to spend. DH, of course, just wants me to get it done. And he wants window treatments desperately. But I refuse to buy those before I know what the whole room will look like. I appreciate your tip. I think it's going to take quite a while before we have things on the walls but I'll remember to balance it. Thanks again....See MoreShould I hire a home inspector? X Post on manufactured homes
Comments (15)Wow, Mary, I'm so sorry that happened to you! I think I read about your problems over on the manufactured homes forum, or was that someone else? My ex and I bought a stick built house in 1988 in Sacramento. A home inspection was, of course, required. A couple of weeks after we moved in, I happened to be in the backyard while hubby was showering. I looked over and saw water just gushing from the window sill and coming down the exterior of the house like a waterfall. It cost a little over $10,000 to fix, and was only that little because our new neighbor loved fixing things and had every power tool known to humankind, lol. It took a month of weekends for hubby and neighbor to fix it. We sued the home inspector and recouped all our costs plus punitive damages, which we split with neighbor guy. Good thing ex is an attorney! :-) Thanks for the advice, Chris. It looks like ~$300 is the going price, and in the grand scheme of things, I think it's worth it if, as Steph recommends, I find someone with experience in manufactured homes. In this case, the inspector doesn't have to please any realtors, sellers, or buyers. Since I've already bought the house, lived in it as a houseguest with my friends for the entire month of September, and know everything my friends know about the house, I can be very specific about what I want her to look for. As Chris said, it will be helpful for prioritizing. I'm hoping to refurbish the entire house top to bottom. I have an eight to ten year plan. I love a good ten year project! I started going back to college in 2007 and hope to graduate with my PhD in 2017--a ten year project, haha! (I'll have had 13 years of higher education! You'd think I'd know something by now, haha!) I have a list of what I think are priorities, and rough estimates of what everything will cost. My first project, next September, will be an asphalt driveway and carport. Because of my mobility disability and the necessity of using a walker, and because I can't get soaking wet entering/exiting my home and car, a dry, smooth surface and dry carport is a necessity before next winter. I'm going to replace all the electrical wiring and plumbing regardless of current condition, only because they're original to the house and will need upgrading at some point anyway. I'm also redoing all the floors because they're hideous, lol, so while I'm at it, I'll do all new floor insulation. There are no leaks, and I had the roof snow coated in October, which is guaranteed for ten years. So a new roof is down lower on the priority list, but still in the ten year plan. I'll blow insulation into the "attic" when I do the roof. The siding and skirting are much newer than the house and are in beautiful condition, so replacing them would be almost last on the list. The gut remodel of the kitchen/living room, major remodel of both bathrooms, and closet systems and cosmetic touch ups of the bedrooms will be in the middle, somewhere after electrical, plumbing, and floors, but before roof and siding. It's a ten year project because I'm paying as I go, in cash, as money becomes available. That's MY plan. I want the home inspector to tell me if my priorities are right or if I need to do something sooner rather than later. The yard will be an ongoing project. I've figured out how to do an aesthetically pleasing yard using various kinds of rocks, drought resistant plants, and ornamental grasses, for very, very little money and very low maintenance....See MorePest control DIY or have someone?
Comments (11)I think it depends on the size of your yard. If you have a postage stamp size yard in the city, it may be cost effective to have the same company that handles your termite control take care of the yard. We live on a 3/4 acre lot in a rural subdivision where all the lots are of similar size. The addition is surrounded by farm land. I carry the little construction flags on the tractor and mark the fire ant mounds, We then go back and poison the mounds. It we get a concentration of ants in one area of the yard I spread a general insect poison. I also spread the general insect poison around the foundation of the house. I use about a 40 pound bag per year, plus the fire ant poison, which can vary. As for mice, voles, rabbits, squirrels etc, we have foxes and hawks. The possum and birds are keeping the ticks under control. We promote birds and such, with a butterfly garden and bird feeders. There are probably raccoons and I suspect a bear or two, to supplement the program The program keeps the pest under control....See Morececily 7A
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