Outdoor Pest Control

The first sign is usually one fly on a sunny window in early fall. It’s a little larger than a house fly and slow enough to pick up with a tissue. It seems drawn to the glass, not to anything on the kitchen counter. A week later there are five. By midwinter, a few dozen … Read more

A stink bug on the living room wall in October is rarely a one-off. Brown marmorated stink bugs (Halyomorpha halys) spend summer feeding on fruit, vegetables, and ornamental plants. When days shorten and nights cool, adults look for a sheltered place to wait out winter, and a house with warm south- and west-facing walls and … Read more

The slugs you can see in October are not the real problem. The real problem is small clusters of pearly, translucent eggs being laid right now in damp soil, under pots, along the edges of boards, and beneath whatever has been sitting on the ground since summer. A gardener who puts out a few traps … Read more

Brush a tomato or hibiscus branch and a small cloud of white specks lifts off the leaves, circles for a few seconds, and settles back down. That is usually how people first notice whiteflies. By then the insects have often been feeding for weeks. Adults are only about 1/16 inch (1.5 to 2 mm) long, … Read more

You pull back the shower curtain and a long-legged spider is sitting in the tub. A web stretches across the garage door that wasn’t there on Friday. Then a large, fast brown spider crosses the living room floor at nine at night, and it’s the third one this week. The cause is usually less alarming … Read more

Small black flies drift up from a pot when you water it. They land on the window, crawl across the saucer, and end up in your coffee. Most people respond by swatting the adults, and a week later there are just as many. The flies you can see are the smallest part of the problem. … Read more

A freshly turned garden bed looks a lot like a litter box to a cat, and a lot like an all-night buffet to a raccoon. That’s the root of the problem. The soft, loose soil that makes seedlings easy to plant is exactly the texture a cat wants to dig in, and the worms, grubs, … Read more

A patio that looked fine in July can turn into a mosquito problem by September without a single new puddle appearing. The reason usually isn’t obvious rainfall. It’s the small, easy-to-miss pockets of water that build up as summer storms taper off and morning dew lingers longer on cooler nights: a saucer under a planter, … Read more

A pile of leaves against the fence line looks harmless. It’s shaded, it’s damp underneath, and it’s exactly the kind of spot where mice, chipmunks, and rabbits like to shelter — which means it’s also exactly the kind of spot where fleas and ticks like to wait. Most backyard flea and tick problems don’t start … Read more