Winter is coming, which means that pests have been testing the cracks in your foundation for a while to try to escape the chill. Without a good pest control maintenance plan, your Roanoke, VA home will be quickly overrun. Fighting pest surges can be exhausting and, as with many things, defense is the best offense. Learn what a seasonal maintenance planlooks like and how to schedule one!
Making a Plan
There is a need for pest control in every season, so making a quarterly pest control plan in Southwest Virginia just makes sense. Spring, summer, winter, and fall all bring different challenges.
- Spring is when pests stop hibernating and start mating.
- Summer is when pest populations surge after the spring copulation.
- Fall weather forces pests to find a warm place to hide, with your house being a premium target.
- Winter has the least external pest pressure, but can still be a problem if any critters are already inside your home.
Having a plan in place is cost-efficient and more effective than attempting to mitigate problems as they pop up.
What does a Pest Control Maintenance Plan for Roanoke, VA look like?
A pest control maintenance plan looks like having an exterminator visit your Roanoke, VA property once every quarter to do preventative maintenance. They will also be looking for signs of active infestations every time they visit, meaning that pest problems get caught early, and property damage is mitigated. Your exterminator will treat the perimeter of your property as well as crawlspaces, attics, and other common areas of entry to help deter pests from ever coming inside.
Cost Efficient
An annual exterminator plan in Vinton, VA is cheaper than paying an exterminator a premium to come to your home after you find an existing pest problem. Many exterminators offer discounts for yearly services booked in advance. With someone looking out for infestations and pest issues once every three months, your chances of extensive property damage are greatly reduced. For example, atermite infestation caught early may simply require a few holes to be patched, whereas one that is caught too late looks like irreparable structural damage to your home.
Spring
The goal of your pest control maintenance plan in the spring in Roanoke, VA is to inhibit breeding cycles of pests and cut down the number of new insects. One of the most hated insects is the mosquito. A big part of treating for mosquitoes is eliminating their water sources. Any stagnant water can be a breeding ground for these blood-sucking pests, so making sure you regularly dump birdbaths, buckets, and kiddie pools is a must.
Bushes and shady spots in your yard can be sprayed to kill adult mosquitoes, and a bait bucket can help disrupt their breeding cycle. Place a bucket with water, leaves, and sticks in the shadiest spot of your yard and keep it treated with mosquito dunks. These are pet-safe and will trick mosquitoes into laying their eggs in a spot where you can guarantee none of them will hatch.
Summer
Summer is the peak of pest populations as new insects and rodents are born. This means that summer is more about adult population control than spring. Many pests have more than one breeding cycle, so make sure you stay on top of preventative maintenance. A great way that your exterminator can help to keep ticks out of your yard is actually to treat the chipmunks, squirrels, and mice in your area.
This can be achieved with products such as tick tubes, which give nest-building animals treated cotton for their nests that kills ticks. Another great option for treating your local vermin is bait boxes, which apply a small amount of tick-killing insecticide to their napes that will not harm the animals but will kill any ticks that attempt to feed from them for up to 40 days!
Fall
Fall is a season when a residential pest prevention program is essential in Virginia. There is extreme pest pressure in the fall, as everything is trying to get out of the cold. A nice warm bed of leaves will allow insects and rodents to survive the winter, but if they can get inside your nice warm house, then there is no need for a period of hibernation.
A well-defended home is key to keeping these invaders out. Seal up cracks and holes, repair weather stripping on doors, and ensure that screens are free from holes. Your pest prevention professional will notify you of any holes or cracks that they find while spraying your home.
Winter
In the winter, pest control turns inward and focuses on the inside of your home. If there are any existing pests in your home, they will need to be eradicated before they can reproduce. This includes stink bugs, mice, spiders, crickets, and other difficult-to-eradicate pests. Your home should only be shared with guests that you invite inside; no trespassers welcome.
Wrapping Up
Use this winter wisely to create a pest control maintenance plan in Roanoke, VA. Don’t let the new year take you by surprise! Contact Allied Termite and Pest Control today to create your pest control maintenance plan and schedule your seasons accordingly!