What is your biggest challenge with summer pests?

1. 96

   cat on a soapboxposted 10 years ago

   What is your biggest challenge with summer pests?
   
   Whether insects, garden pests, or houseguests who never leave ( lol ,) how do you handle it?

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2. 0

   sheilamyersposted 10 years ago

   I don't get a lot of insects in my house during the summer when all the windows are open, but I've noticed it happens more often where I live now than when I lived in town. Do more bugs prefer to live in more rural areas? I don't know even though it seems that way. I simply kill the ones that can be dangerous (the very occasional stinging insect) or catch them and take them back outside. I think dealing with a few bugs is more than a fair trade-off when living where I feel I have space to breathe.

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   1. 96

      cat on a soapboxposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Hi Sheila,
      Mosquitoes/flies/ants seem to be the worst insects that come in at night, but that depends on environmental conditions.  Crowded conditions, food availability, and pest control overuse make urban areas worse. Thanks for your answer!

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3. 45

   DDEposted 10 years ago

   I live in the countryside and can't avoid any summer pests so we attached nets on the window frames to prevent any summer pest from getting in   and that helps out tremendously  however my biggest challenge was the yellow jackets or the wasps but not so much   over this time

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   1. 96

      cat on a soapboxposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks for the comment!  There are really good tips on line for home-made wasp traps. Insect infestations seem to vary from year to year too.

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4. 40

   Borsiaposted 10 years ago

   We do get an invasion of ants when the real wet season arrives, probably next week, and we do have mosquitoes.
   But the real invader that causes the most problems is mold.
   The Monsoon season will e starting any day now and few days-weeks we will wake up one morning and everything in the house will have mold on it.
   Leather, plastic, nylon, etc. It doesn't matter everything will have to be washed with some sort of mold killer every few days. That means every tiny pocket in wallets and computer cases, shoes & sandals the entire car interior and so on.
   I've tried lots of different treatments but none seem to do very well against the Creeper.

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   1. 96

      cat on a soapboxposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Hello Borsia,
      I can't imagine having to deal with something like that!  I'll gladly take my 4-6 week ant invasion. How long is the Monsoon season? Thanks for your answer.

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   2. 40

      Borsiaposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Hi Cat; Monsoons usually run from early July - into November.
      This year it hasn't started yet, we have only had about 1-2' so far.
      So we're all wondering when it is going to come down seriously.

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   3. 96

      eugbugposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      .

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   4. 40

      Borsiaposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Hi Cat; I see this question has new comments and reading back I thought I would fill in the blanks about last years monsoon season.
      It came in the first week of August and lasted well into November. We got a total of just under 13 feet of rain.

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5. 82

   epbooksposted 10 years ago

   Here in Vegas, there aren't many.  We have an exterminator spray quarterly, but when I lived in New York, the mosquitos were out of control.  Basically, I didn't go outside at night! I have no tolerance for those pesty things!

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      Borsiaposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Oddly where I live in the Philippines, basically jungle, we don't have nearly as many as one would expect. Maybe because I live in a very open area, as opposed to being surrounded by trees.

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      cat on a soapboxposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I know what you mean-  they can really put a damper on outdoor evening activities. I cringe when I hear that high-pitched buzz!

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6. 96

   eugbugposted 10 years ago

   With the climate we have, slugs are a major problem and eat everything in sight, usually newly planted flowers, never weeds! During our heatwave of the last few weeks, they have taken a vacation because it is too dry to travel around at night. However the rains have come so I expect to see lots of them emerging tonight.
   For the first time ever over the weekend I was treated to a swarm of winged ants in the utility room. They had burrowed under the pavement outside and somehow managed to emerge from a crack in the concrete floor indoors. Luckily I managed to vacuum thousands of them and they haven't managed to re-appear, yet...... Perhaps some Hubber entomologists might know about this subject... Are the ants reproducing in vast numbers to make up for the "massacre" !?

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      Borsiaposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Your winged ants might be termites they swarm this time of year.
      As for slugs and snails if you can't beat them with snail bait there are some other options.
      They won't crawl over copper so put copper bands around trees or flower pots.

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   2. 96

      cat on a soapboxposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Really good tips, Borsia.  I agree that the winged ants are likely subterranean termites at seasonal swarm time. For slugs, there are organic  baits which don't harm  pets. Another option is  newspaper. They hide under it for an easy riddance.

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   3. 96

      eugbugposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      No, they were definitely winged ants, luckily we don't have termites in this country!

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7. 49

   hemingunther2014posted 9 years ago

   Termites! I mean a great number of termites surprises me every summer. We are hiring pest controllers in order to get rid of these pests but they just keep on coming back. I don't know if there's just no way they can be eradicated or it is just that I didn't get the best service.
   
   - http://bugandtermitecontrol.com/

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