Ant Control: What to Expect After Treatment

Our professional technicians may use one treatment or a combination of
treatments to obtain the best results. This includes spray application and/or
bait application (gel, dust, or granular) on the interior and exterior of your
home.

• You may see increased ant activity immediately following the treatment. This is normal and to be expected. Be patient and allow the applied material time to work.
• Dead ants can be removed by dry sweeping with a broom and dust pan or by vacuuming. Do not spray any cleaning products on the treated areas.
• DO NOT use any ant sprays or baits that you purchased online or at the store. These materials will counteract the professional material that we applied during treatment.
• The material can take 2-3 weeks to fully eliminate your ant problem. Reapplying material within that time period will not make the treatment more effective. If you are still seeing active ants after allowing 2-3 weeks for the material to work, call our office to discuss next steps.

Steps You Can take to Prevent Continued Ant Problems

• Keep landscaping, shrubbery, and trees trimmed and at least 6 inches away from your home.
• Keep gutters clear and free from debris and decaying leaves.
• Eliminate sources of food and water--repair water leaks, clean up all spills and crumbs, and don't let snacks or pet food sit out.
• Seal any cracks, crevices, or holes where ants may be gaining entry.

Carpenter Bees

• They are wood destroying insects.
• They excavate tunnels in wood for shelter and a place to lay eggs and rear  their young.
• They use and expand upon the same tunnel systems year after year, if left untreated.

Control Methods

• Preventive spray application to wood surfaces in the spring. This application
  discourages the bees from tunneling into treated areas. For best results, preventive applications may need to be performed 2-3 times during the peak season (early spring – early summer).
• Treating and plugging of already established holes/tunnel systems. Applying material directly into the galleries to eliminate adult bees and larvae. Treated holes are then plugged with a wooden dowel. This prevents continued use of the tunnels and reinfestation.

Important Notes

• Carpenter Bees are important pollinators and generally do not sting. We want to prevent them from damaging the wood on your home, but cannot prevent them from flying around, testing wood, or even beginning to drill a hole.
• Our ultimate goal is to prevent Carpenter Bees from creating galleries inside the wood and using those galleries year after year, causing continued damage and nuisance. This can also help deter woodpeckers from damaging wood, as they channel out the Carpenter Bee tunnel systems in search of eggs and larvae.
• You can discourage carpenter bees from drilling in to the wood on your home by painting/staining wood surfaces or choosing building materials that are unattractive to carpenter bees (composites, metal flashing,  hardwoods, etc.).
• If wood has been severely damaged by carpenter bees or channeled out by woodpeckers (who feed on the carpenter bee larvae), we may advise that the wood be removed, replaced, or covered with materials such as aluminum or composite flashing.

Mosquito Control

Things you can do to reduce Mosquitoes around your home:

1. Keep your grass mowed short and mow before, not after, application.
2. Don’t over water your lawn.
3. Keep hedges and other hiding places trimmed and open.
4. Empty and clean bird baths regularly.
5. Keep ornamental ponds clean and circulating.
6. Keeping wading pools and swimming pools clean – especially if you aren’t using them.
7. Get rid of old tires, cans, bottles, or other containers that collect rain or irrigation water.
8. Empty plant saucers after a day or two.
9. Plant bromeliads in pots, not on the ground. Empty the water they collect regularly by inverting them.
10. Keep gutters and down spouts clean and free running. 
11. Put screen over water collection barrels. Let water in, but keep mosquitoes out.
12. Water control is mosquito control.
13. Share this information with you neighbors – mosquitoes don’t honor property lines.

Stink Bug/Ladybug/Cluster Fly Control

• Stink bugs, ladybugs, and cluster flies are insects that live outdoors in the warmer months and seek out the warmth and shelter of our homes in the fall to overwinter.
• Preventive spray application in the fall is the best way to prevent these insects from getting in to your house and overwintering.
• Homeowners can also seal areas where stink bugs, ladybugs, and cluster flies could be getting inside such as cracks around windows and doors, attic vents, and chimneys.
• Control methods cannot completely prevent these insects from finding their way into your home, but annual maintenance will greatly reduce the number of insects that get inside, overwinter, and emerge again in the spring.