Identifying and Removing Garden Pests Before They Become a Problem

Summer is a fantastic time of the year for a number of reasons. Whether it’s the long days, the heat or the outdoor activities, there’s a lot to love about this time of the year. However, there are also downsides, especially if you’re aiming to host a lot of outdoor events for friends and family members. Unfortunately, there’s also the problem of summer garden pests that can quickly ruin your evening especially if they’ve started to infest your backyard with their presence.

So in this article, we’re going to take a look at how you can identify and remove garden pests before they become an issue.

Ants

Ants love hot weather and they’ll be more than happy to take over your garden especially if you leave bits of food lying around and neglect to clean up drink spills. Ants are fairly easy to get rid of if you contact the right pest control company, but prevention is often the best way to stop an infestation of ants. For starters, make sure you cover all of the food in your home to prevent ants from getting into it and make sure you clean up any kind of food and drink spillages that occur in the garden.

Unfortunately, if you’re already being plagued by ants then getting rid of them will require some expert help from a pest control specialist. There are many quick remedies that are suggested on the internet, but we don’t recommend any of these as they often involve silly things such as drawing lines with chalk or sprinkling flour around your home. If you’re willing to try these natural remedies for ants then it can be worth a shot, but you’ll often get far better results by just contacting a pest control expert since they can identify not only the type of ant that’s bothering you but also the best way to deal with them and prevent them from coming back.

Mosquitoes

Mosquitoes are another common summer pest that will give you a lot of grief. Thankfully, dealing with them involves just a few simple steps. First, make sure you remove any pools of water that could be used as a drinking source for the mosquitos. This includes any toys left out in the garden, any leftover cups and glasses or even a bottle cap. Any small pool of water can be used as a breeding spot for mosquitoes and should be dealt with as soon as possible. You can also use natural repellents such as eucalyptus or lemon to keep mosquitoes away, but their effectiveness will vary and it’s not always a reliable solution.

As usual, the best solution for a mosquito problem is usually just to phone a pest control expert and have them check hidden spots and vulnerable points in your garden that could be used as a breeding ground for mosquitoes. While it can be a bit more costly than trying home remedies, it’s a fast and effective solution especially if you’re trying to prepare your home for visits and parties. While prevention is the best solution for mosquitoes, a pest control specialist can also be a good choice.

Hornets

Hornets are often confused with wasps but they contain many similarities. Wasps and hornets have incredibly similar bodies but the major difference is in the size and color of the insects. Wasps are a lot smaller than hornets and they also tend to have black and yellow rings while hornets have black and white rings. While hornets are seen all the time in the country, they’re most active during the summer months where they actively form nests.

To avoid a hornet infestation in your home, it’s important to scan your garden regularly for any signs of a hornet nest. If you do find a nest, then it’s vital that you don’t do anything to disrupt it further. Instead, call in an expert to perform a safe hornet nest removal. Once the nest is removed safely and all remaining hornets are dealt with, you’ll have a much easier time in your garden since you won’t constantly be at the mercy of hornets that are more than happy to sting you. Hornets can be a pain to deal with, but as long as you notice the signs of infestation during its early stages, it only takes a single phone call to get rid of them.

Whiteflies

Whiteflies are small white specks that will appear in droves on your leaves. They’re relatively small moth-like insects that look like small grains of rice with wings. They can often be completely white or take on a light green shade. They’re very small but easy to notice since they tend to gather together and you’ll rarely ever see just a handful of them unless they’re spreading out and branching through your garden. You might also see very small spots on your leaves near the whiteflies. These are their eggs and can often be found on the underside of leaves in your garden. Whiteflies will rarely spread out from leaves due to their large surface area but you may find them in other parts of your garden too.

They’re quite resistant to a number of pesticides but we don’t recommend using any kind of chemicals to flush them out. Instead, we suggest that you employ a natural predator such as ladybugs that can be used to control the population of whiteflies in your garden. However, if you want to get rid of them as quickly as possible, then there are traps available and you can use certain insecticides as a last resort. Getting rid of them is fairly simple so they shouldn’t pose too much of an issue, but do keep in mind that whitefly resistance to insecticides will vary depending on your location in the country and not all insecticides will work.

In short, getting rid of summer garden pests is simple as long as you deal with them as quickly as possible. Take too long and you’ll find that the infestation will grow worse over time and become difficult to root out.

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