Ultrasonic Pest Control is a Good Idea but Does it Work?

Imagine being able to just plug in a small device and be rid of mosquitoes.

In a world consumed with diseases such as malaria, West Nile virus and other serious diseases transmitted by mosquito bites, the idea of an ultrasonic pest control device is exciting.

How The Ultrasonic Pest Control Device Provides Protection

These devices operate by using the high frequency - short wavelength sound waves - to discourage mosquitoes from flying in a specific area.  The idea is that if you're within the area of coverage no mosquitoes will be able to enter. Kind of like Star Trek, "Aye, Captain, shields are up." Not only would you be free of the annoying bites but you'd also be free of the diseases they carry. Ultrasonic pest control uses a frequency that is too high for the human eardrum to process and is therefore undetectable to humans.  It is however possible for many household pets to detect.

Insects use the special hairs on their antennae, called sensilla, to detect sound waves.  The claim is that the sound wave detected from an ultrasonic pest control device is tuned at such a level as to repel the insects and therefore rid the vicinity of the pest.  There are many different ultrasonic pest control device promoters that insist their machine replicates the sound of a bat, therefore driving the pests away from their believed predator. 

Governmental Tests Prove Ultrasonic Pest Control Promise Do Not Hold True

Recently, the United States Environmental Protection Agency participated in a two-year study, involving nearly every type of electronic pest control device on the market to determine the reality of their pest control claims.  They chose an area known for its high mosquito population, the area around Chesapeake Bay, and performed actual tests with each product.  It was their finding that not one of these electronic pest control devices, including the ultrasonic versions, provided any noticeable relief from the pests.  In addition, supporting research at other universities across the United States supported the EPA's findings.  Due to these test results, the United States Postal Service and the EPA are pursuing fraudulent charges with ultrasonic pest control makers for making the inaccurate scientific claims for their products.

If marketing claims fall within legal guidelines, ultrasonic pest control units continue to be offered. As a consumer, be aware of what you're buying. Do careful research on whichever product you are contemplating purchasing to be sure you're getting your money's worth. Scientific studies don't support all the claims.

Pest Control Tips for Your Home

Bugs rule the world. They don't make any distinction between living inside or outside our homes. Let's face it, if they can figure out how to get inside, they will. Living conditions are sweet for them with no natural predators trying to eat them.

We all know that one of the major problems that we can face when we own a house are the pests that may be lurking on the insides of our walls. And even though we try all we can to keep all the pests away, this problem may require more help from professionals.

On the other hand, there are also home remedies for pest control that we can follow to somehow prevent or minimize their propagation inside our homes.  These are the best tips for home remedy pest control that we can follow and they are tough and effective.

Tips That Should Be Followed

During the dry season, the pests will find ways to go inside your house to look for the moisture that they need in order to live.  That's why you'll commonly find roaches in bathrooms and kitchens. However, there are many ways in which we can use a home remedy for pest control to make sure that our homes stay pest and insect free.

The number one tip for a homeowner is to seal all the cracks in your house exterior to help keep pests like ants, insects and cockroaches from getting inside. Get yourself some caulk and start thinking like a bug. Look for any opening they could get through. Even tiny cracks can be like superhighways. 

Another a big step in keeping our homes pest free is to always make sure that our doors and windows are always closed and properly sealed with tight-fitting screens and weather stripping.  This way the pests will find it harder to get inside our homes. You'll eliminate the easy pathways.

Also, another great tip for a home remedy for pest control is to keep your food sealed and refrigerated once you have finished eating.  Keep leftovers in  the refrigerator to prevent attracting pests from coming inside our homes looking for food. Insects carry harmful bacteria so you don't want to be eating food that they've crawled on. Take the time to clean up any crumbs on your counter, stovetop or floor. A small crumb is a feast to a bug.

If you are storing your clothes, consider placing them in a plastic container to keep fabric pests from breeding or staying in your clothes.  This is a great way to keep away such pests as moths and silverfish. It discourages those fabric pests from living and nesting inside our closets. 

Another way to not only keep your home clean but serve as a great home remedy for pest control is to keep all the debris, stones, bricks and others piles away from your home.  They serve as a good place for pests and insects to hide and breed. Keep the exterior walls of your house free from all plants, too. Not only will this extend the life of your home, but it will also be easy to see if you have any trails of bugs heading your way.

Keeping your home sealed up is a good way to start your home pest control remedy. Make it as pest unfriendly as possible If you can keep new bugs or rodents from coming in your home, you'll only have to deal with the ones already inside.

Different Kinds of Do-It-Yourself Pest Control

Pest control companies are very available to come to your home on a regular basis. Many of us would rather take a do it yourself approach to pest control. This way we only need to apply any chemicals when needed. We also have complete control over what and where products are applied.

Do It Yourself Pest Control Products

Some rodent control products are specifically made for do it yourselfers that can be used by the average homeowner or farmer. A very common pests in the house and farm are rats or mice.

On a farm, they tend to eat some of the crops and them leave them with large holes or damage. They make themselves at home in the feed room or grain storage areas. Most farmers employ cats in their farms to control the rodent population but when there are too many, chemical do it yourself pest control can be used. These DIY pest control products come with instructions and warnings regarding their proper use and application. These can be in the form of baits, traps or poison.

As for homeowners, they usually use the do it yourself pest control trap method that employs metal traps and sticky glue paper to catch smaller rodents. These traps can effectively catch a smaller number of rodent population in the house but, as on the farm, if the rodents in the house are numerous, the method of baits and poison can be more effective.

Farmers also employ the aid of chemical sprays to rid their crops and vegetables of insects. They often use do it yourself pest control sprays that can be bought in feed stores and other stores which specialize in farming and plants. The problem with insecticide is that it affects all insects even the useful kinds.

Other pests that plague homeowners are cockroaches and ants. These pesty bugs seldom stick to sticky paper so these are not effective do it yourself pest control products. It's also difficult to trap an entire colony of them with any kind of physical trapping method. The most effective way of killing and getting rid of a minimum number of insects is to spray them with insecticide. If their numbers are large, you must call an exterminator.

You must take care when using and applying any do it yourself pest control products that contain poison. Store them in a place where children and pets cannot reach them. When applying any poisonous product, closely monitor children and pets to ensure that they aren't accidentally exposed to any dangerous chemicals.

Environmentally Friendly Pest Control

Many new pest control products have been developed and are on the market that are environmentally friendly. Demand for these types of products has increased because people are realizing that they can control certain pests without harming all living creatures.

Pesticides like DDT were hailed as a miracle product when they were invented.  The prospect of not losing any crops to insects was like a dream come true.

However, DDT wound up not only killing pests but desirable animals as well as it made its way into the food chain at all levels.  Most species of predator birds ate animals infected with DDT or other pesticides.  The pesticide stayed in their bodies and made them lay eggs with thin shells.  Pesticides can also make their way into drinking water by seeping through the ground.

So, are we doomed to always physically battling it out with the bugs and the rodents?  Environmentally friendly pest control has come to our rescue.

Pheromones

Pheromones are a chemical scent given off by all living creatures - animal and insect alike. They are very specific to the type of creature that produces them and generally cannot be detected by another species.

Pheromones are already widely available for some species like yellow jackets (hornets) and gypsy moths.  They are lured into a trap they can't get out of through the use of sex pheromones - tiny and harmless scents that smell exactly like the opposite sex. The pheromones work only to attract a specific species and have no affect any other.

Helpful Insects And Plants

There are plants and bugs that either ward away or eat pests.  These are the most natural of environmentally friendly pest control.  Lady bugs eat aphids.  Spiders eat just about any kind of bug you can imagine.  Don't kill a spider in your home - they're helping you out. 

Birds also eat bugs and snails, so by encouraging birds around your garden or keeping hedgerows between pastureland, these winged environmentally friendly pest control workers will do the job for you.  Those crows in the cornfield may be more attracted to protein-rich bugs feasting on your corn than the corn themselves.

Plants like garlic, lavender and rosemary put off scents that a lot of pests don't like.  They can be planted with or beside other plants, gardens, or in front of your home.  To keep pests off of you, try some tea tree and/or lavender oil.  There are also citronella therapeutic grade aromatherapy oils that are very effective at keeping bugs off of your body, but some people do not like the smell.

Ever Think Of Cleaning This Place?

You can discourage pests from moving in if your keep your home clean.  Never leave food lying around, sweep up and plug up any holes that mice or roaches could get in.  If possible, move some of the major kitchen appliances and give that the once over.  Dirt, grease and old food collect and attract pests in nooks and crannies you might not have thought of at first.  A good cleaning is just about the best natural pest control there is.

No matter what type of environmentally friendly pest control you use, you'll feel good knowing that you can rid yourself of unwanted bugs without harming Mother Earth and her delicate balance of nature.

Biological Pest Control

When we think of pest control, generally some kind of chemical poison comes to mind. While that's the most common and universally used type of control, there are biological pest control options available.

Biological pest control is a method that gives your the ability to control pests and diseases with natural predation rather than chemicals. Many organic gardeners believe in biodiversity to further health. A landscape is more sustainable with the more variety of plants growing in it. Therefore, an organic gardener works to develop a biological pest control system that keeps the insects at a manageable level with a complex system rather than eradicating them.

Biological pest control is a holistic approach that works to develop an understanding of the interaction between the myriads of organisms that make up garden fauna and flora rather than the conventional gardening practices that rely on chemical methods. An organic gardener who is using biological pest control will often consider the eradication of pests impossible and undesirable, since without the insects the beneficial parasites won't be able to survive.

Become familiar with the life forms that are found in your garden such as predators and pests. Learn their life cycles, feeding patterns and the habitats that the insects prefer. Knowing this information will help you to determine which insects to focus your biological pest control on and which ones will be taken care of naturally.

Types Of Insects

One main predator of aphids is ladybugs which are active between May and July. They will happily feast on mites, scale insects, whiteflies and small caterpillars. Another welcome predator in your garden are the hoverflies which look like slightly darker bees or wasps. They feed primarily on the greenfly as well as the fruit tree spider mites and small caterpillars. Their egg production relies on adults eating nectar and pollen. Hoverflies can also encourage the growth of attractant flowers during the growing season such as poached egg plant, marigolds and phacelia.

Dragonflies are not only so beautiful to watch but their eating habits are very welcome. They love mosquitoes and will which attack them both in the air and in the water. Unfortunately, mosquito control programs that spray chemicals will often also kill dragonflies. Relying poisons to control mosquitoes can in the long run actually increase their population by killing off their natural predators.

Bats also a very friendly animal to encourage in your garden. They are voracious insect eaters with a particular taste for mosquitoes and other nocturnal insects. Building bat houses for them to sleep in during the day encourages them to take up residence in your yard. Another nice side effect is the 'guano' or manure droppings that makes wonderful fertilizer for your plants.

There are also larger animals which play an important role in keeping down pests. Cats focus on keeping the rat, mice and bird populations down as well as dogs which chase away pests such as gophers and rabbits that burrow underground and cause problems in the garden. Hawks and owls also are our friends. They are excellent at catching rodents and rabbits that can reproduce very rapidly. They are all a part of the circle of life Mother Nature designed.

Learning to rely more on natural biological pest control and less on chemicals is a strategy that is ecologically sound and earth friendly. Learn to accept a few blemishes on your fruits and vegetables - it's natural.

Homemade Pest Control

One morning you stumble into your kitchen, flip on the light and out of the corners of your eyes, you see roaches scurrying off into your cabinets. On top of that, there is a line of tiny sugar ants threading their way across the counter gathered on the crumbs you forgot to clean up from the night before.

When you have a pest problem in your home, the first thing you will probably think of doing is contacting a pest control company to come and take care of the problem for you. However, if you are interested in saving money and are willing to tackle the job yourself, then you are going to have to come up with some homemade pest control remedies.

Sure you can go out and just buy regular chemicals and insecticides, but these can be very dangerous to use, particularly if you are a novice and especially if you have young children or pets in your home. Homemade pest control products, on the other hand, are much safer to use, not to mention less expensive.

The Best Homemade Pest Control Remedies

When it comes to homemade pest control remedies, there are some really great ones out there to choose from.

Alcohol spray is usually effective in killing all types of pests in the home. To make this yourself, you'll need to mix one to two cups of alcohol per quart of water. The amount to make will depend on how serious your pest problem is. Remember that using undiluted alcohol as a spray is very risky for your plants. You can mix up an insecticidal soap/alcohol spray according to the directions on the label. Be sure that you substitute alcohol for half the water.

Another great homemade pest control product that you can make yourself is a tomato leaf spray. You make this by soaking one to two cups of chopped or mashed tomato leaves in about two cups of water, leaving it to soak overnight. Then strain through cheesecloth or fine mesh, adding about two more cups of water to the strained liquid, and then it is ready to go.

Herbal sprays are also very effective forms of homemade pest control, and generally are made by mashing or blending about one to two cups of fresh herb leaves with approximately two to four cups of water and leaving this to soak over night.

When You Need Professional Help

These types of remedies work incredibly well for taking care of pest problems in the home, but if your pest problem is especially serious and you can't seem to get the job done yourself, then you are going to want to call in professional help to take care of the problem for you.

Especially if termites are the source of your problem. Termites can do serious structural damage to your home. Although calling in professionals is going to be cost more, at least you will have peace of mind knowing that you, your family and your home are safe.

Many types of insects can be treated with homemade products. Sometimes they work extremely well and sometimes you'll get only a moderate amount of success. If you're the adventurous type, give them a try - they're easy and inexpensive.