Lawn Pest Control

Get rid of lawn pests with behavioral control tactics. Behavioral control means changing things about your own behavior that may be luring pests to your yard. Start by storing trash in bins with tight-fitting lids, and keeping the bins in a garbage stand so they can't be tipped over. When trash is left easily accessible to pests, there's a far better chance that they'll take up residence in and around your yard. This is true of raccoons, squirrels, mice, crows, ants, flies, and bees, just to name a few. Next, pick up any fallen fruit, quit feeding pets outside, get an enclosed compost system, and consider taking bird feeders down. Another thing is to stop using outdoor lights or switch to sodium lights, yellow lights, or LEDs. Standard white lighting attracts little pests, and little pests, consequently, attract the bigger pests who want to eat them.

Use habitat control to get rid of law pests. Habitat control is the removal of those elements in your yard that make it a suitable environment for pest habitation. Have a look around your yard for anything that pests might use for shelter and get rid of it. This will include brush piles, wood piles, stumps, leaf mounds, patches of tall grass, piles of grass clippings, rocks, stones, lumber, plywood, shrubs, bushes, old tires, etc. Once those are removed, consider lowering the deck on your lawn mower. Most bug pests prefer taller grass because it provides better shelter and holds more moisture. However, if you are having issues with grubs, keep your lawn longer. The beetles that produce lawn grubs prefer laying their eggs in shorter grass. Finally, control the moisture in your yard. Get rid of any standing water, and if you must water your lawn, do it with deep, infrequent waterings.

Exclude lawn pests with physical control methods. Physical lawn pest control is the utilization of objects and/or structures to keep pests out. The best structure for controlling the most critters is a fence. Erect one that's at least six feet high. It should also extend two feet below ground to stop burrowers. The bottom of the buried portion should have a six inch ledge (usually made from hardware cloth) extending outward from it at a 90º angle. To stop climbers, run a couple of electrified wires along the base of the fence. Attach the first wire 6–8 inches above the ground and the second 1–6 inches above that. For protecting trees, shrubs, and bushes, build cages from 2" x 2" lumber, and wrap hardware cloth around them. Wrap tree trunks with corrugated drain pipe or with ¼-inch mesh hardware cloth to protect them from girdling.

Utilize mechanical control methods. Mechanical pest control involves the use of tools or devices for repelling or killing pests. For larger critters like coons, birds, skunks, possums, moles, and rodents, there are live traps, pit traps, snap traps, scissor traps, harpoon traps, choker traps, and more. For insects, there are sticky traps, light traps, water traps, and pheromone traps. Be careful with pheromone traps. While they do work very well, sometimes they work too well and lure even more pests to your yard. If you're going to use them, place them well away from the areas you are trying to protect. Don't wanna use traps? Scare critters away with motion-activated sprinklers, radios, and noise makers. Though I don't know how well I trust them, ultrasonic pest control devices are also getting quite popular.

Consider biological pest control solutions. Biological lawn pest control is the process of controlling yard pests with green pest control methods. Do this with natural pest control products, the encouragement of natural predators, and with organisms that cause disease in the host. The most effective natural pest control products for insect pests include pyrethrins, boric acid, insecticidal soaps, horticultural oils, and neem oil. You should also consider encouraging the natural predators of pests. Put out houses for toads and birds such as wrens, chickadees, and purple martins for insect control, and owls for rodent control. For deterring the larger mammalian pests, leave the dog out or purchase predator urine such as fox, coyote, or cougar. Finally, spreadable bacteria—milky spore for grubs and BT for any number of insects—work great and are fairly host specific. Check out my Natural Pest Control article for more in-depth information on particular options.

Kill lawn pests with chemical control. Chemical pest control is done with, you guessed it, chemicals. Most commercial pest control products are applied to the lawn in one of three ways: as a spray, a granule, or a powder. Many brands sell their products in multiple forms, and most of them will exterminate a wide variety of pests. They also kill beneficial insects such as honey bees and ground beetles, so think on that before applying them. Space is limited here, so contact me directly for recommendations. For rodent-like critters, look for products like d-CON, Contrac Blox or Pellets, Terad3 Blox or Pellets, or Tomcat. They work great for killing mice, rats, and voles. To get rid of moles, look for baits like Talpirid, RCO Mole Control, or Kaput. You can also kill moles (and groundhogs) with fumigant cartridges containing both sulfur and carbon dioxide or with aluminum phosphide pellets.