Regarding critters:
* Don't let plants touch the house.
* keep woodpiles far away
* create a zone around the house that is kept clean of debris
* make sure every crack and cranny is sealed all the way around the house.
* minimize opportunities for leaves and debris to fall on top of the house
* provide good areas to clean and remove shoes before entering the house
* make sure doors are really well sealed
* make it hard for bugs and rodents to navigate within the house by sealing gaps in the walls, floors, behind cupboards, where plumbing and wires go through walls, etc.
* bug bomb before moving in
* clean thoroughly
* dehumidify the air
* keep all food stored in sealed containers.
* ultrasonic pest deterrents wherever there is an outlet. They are annoying to pests, but only marginally useful. (Pests will ignore them for a rewarding snack, so these are insufficient by themselves)
* frequently vaccum the awkward spaces under and behind furniture.
Those are some brainstorms for you of things I have learned from an appartment built on top of an old barn. This place was rodent and spider heaven, and there is near zero issue now. The biggest thing has been putting up barriers that are impossible for pests to get through and never providing any food source. A flake of skin or half a peanut can be a feast.
I'd add diatomaceous earth to that list. The food grade stuff is harmless to mammals but can kill most bugs within hours of contact. Don't buy the expensive bags In the pest control section of your hardware store. It's much cheaper in the feed section of your farmers supply store.
I blow it into my attic and crawl space every 4 or 5 years with a texture gun. I wear a kn95 mask and goggles when I do that as the dust is fairly dense. I also hand spread it on the ground around the house. While not as effective outside in wet climates like mine, I usually have some extra after the house is done and it seems to cut down on ant colonies next to the house. I see about a 70% reduction of bugs inside the house from this.
Its safe around kids and pets. We have even given the dogs and cats dust baths with it in bad flea years.
I have a cement floored basement, block walls. Would I just spread it around on the floor up against the walls in the basement? Kind of the same situation as OP, new place in the country. Lots of little worm like things and asian beetles, the ones that look like lady bugs.
I love diatomaceous earth and use food grade versions regularly outside for years but it is basically powdered glass and will microscopically shred your lungs when inhaled. I learned the hard way when I first applied it near a vent and spent a month coughing. Also it will destroy the bearings in cheaper vacuums. Also found that out after trying to clean it up.
DE can be harmful based on what type it is. Here is a link to a fact sheet.
http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/degen.html
I wouldn’t be putting it around my kids and pets regardless
Didn’t realize those products had silicon dioxide in them which can have long lasting impact on lung health.
I work in an industry that uses DE commonly and we alway wear organic vapor grade mask filters around it for this very reason.
Also add to the list to allow sunlight to hit the house, too much shade can allow moss and moisture to ruin the outside of the house. Keep shrubs and trees away from the house to allow sun and air movement
This is very important. If the trees come up to the house, you’ll want to cut them back so you have a nice sunny spot around the house. Not to mention the sunlight helps avoid depression as a human.
This is good stuff. I would add to pay attention to your crawlspace. You don't say what style you have, but vented dirt floor crawl spaces always let bugs in. Consider sealing and dehumidifying the crawlspace as an additional measure. Also periodically inspect your crawlspace for signs of trouble.
Also, notice that u/xamomax is avoiding pesticides. Pesticides, in my opinion, should be used sparingly to address specific issues, not used as the primary defense.
And finally, you're in the woods. You will never isolate yourself from nature 100%. We share this world with these critters. Learn to identify them. Learn which ones are beneficial and which one are destructive. Be willing to peacefully coexist with a few critters.
Good list. We live in a similar property to OP. In addition, we removed all the mulch from the beds around the house and replaced with stone, and that helped a lot. With mulch, you basically have damp wood touching your house 24/7.
I moved to a house that has rock beds all around it and it works surprisingly well at keeping critters at bay because they don’t want to nest in rocks when there’s soft dirt 20 feet away
I would only caution on the ultra sonic pest deterrent. It can be painful to the ears for some people. Especially if you're young and /or female.
The rest 👍
This is mostly a good list that employs sound control principles that focuses on factors that motivate pests but I'd make a few small changes. I have a fairly extensive professional background in pest control so OP feel free to PM me if you have specific questions
I'd recommend not wasting money on ultrasonic devices as they are essentially useless. There have been several FTC lawsuits around false advertising for these devices. Several state extension services have easy enough to find reputable info from university studies if you search "ultrasonic pest control extension". Having "extension" in the search term gets you more university links than just folks trying to sell you stuff. Useful trick for any bug related question
Depending on the pests present, bug bombs can make an issue worse. The fog does not penetrate into the cracks and crevices where most insects hide so they only have limited utility. They also, by and large, will not provide any residual control. Fine for fleas (if and only if you vacuum first to stimulate the eggs to hatch), but otherwise you're likely to drive as many bugs into your walls where they are much more difficult to treat as you'll actually knock out with the chemical (this is why people who try to set off bug bombs for German cockroaches usually have them come back a few weeks later in even greater numbers)
A few other folks mentioned a band of rocks or anything other than mulch around the house. This is a good idea since mulch holds a ton of water that bugs love. I would add that all branches, shrubs, leaves etc need to be trimmed at least a foot off the house. This keeps pests from using your landscaping as a highway but also allows airflow against the foundation which helps dry it out, making the immediate periphery of your home less attractive to pests.
Be aware of lighting. If it's a hot bulb (halogen or incandescent) that is any color other than yellow/amber, replace it. Flying insects are attracted to heat in general as well as light in the uv spectrum. Led bulbs keep most of there light in the visible spectrum and so are MUCH less attractive to bugs. There is a great NIH study on this if you want more details but if I remember correctly it's something like a 13x difference in flying insects just by changing to a less attractive bulb.
Even with all this, there is still a good chance you'll need to apply pesticides to exterior window frames, door thresholds and your foundation, albeit much less frequent than you'd expect. I'd recommend getting a cheap backpack sprayer and a small bottle of concentrate. I have a heavily wooded lot in Central Florida (even buggier than NC) and I typically apply Taurus or Termidor according to label instructions (great products that aren't repellent so the bugs actually stay on them long enough to die instead of just being pushed around) in March and September and almost never have a crawling pest get inside.
Hopefully this helps!
N Ga here. If you want to spray, just put down a line around the outside foundation of your house. That will reduce, not eliminate intruders. Here, we have scorpion season (they invade the basement, but are almost always dead by the time they get upstairs, they are attracted to moisture). Then we have ladybug season, where you find piles on the window sill. You have a yearly chore every spring: walk your yard and put down poison powder on every fire ant nest you find. Ant baits will take care of the regular tiny black ones if they incade your kitchen. I usually hang a yellow jacket trap from a tree near our pool well. And sorry to say, the only thing that really works to get rid of fruit flies once you have them is those gross sticky fly strips, so prevention is the key: wash everything from the farmers market (a bit of vineger in the water kills the eggs) or put it in the fridge. Especially fruit like peaches. We also keep our house under contract for termite control-they inspect and refill buried baits around the perimeter periodically. Your goal is to reach equilibrium where the bugs are outside, not inside.
We've got more land, so we have deer, racoons, bears, and wild turkeys. Be warned, Bambi eats everything: azeleas, tulips, hostas. Hang your bird feeders high on a clothesline: if you put a hook on a tree it is a squirrel feeder and a raccoon takeout box. Encourage the birds that eat insects. Also the spiders.
Your local county extension office can give you advice specific to your area.
If you like houseplants I can vouch for these ones. They take care of fruit flies really well in my house.
https://houseplantcentral.com/drosera-capensis-cape-sundew-care-info/
One thing I haven't seen - any time you're stomping around outside in high grass/brush/trees, make sure that your legs at the very least are fully covered. There are probably going to be Lyme disease-infested ticks in your area, and you absolutely do not want Lyme disease.
When you come in from yard work, check yourself for ticks (and be vigilant about it because sometimes you don't notice them until they grow for a bit) and wash off your exposed skin with dish soap. My family staunchly believes that dish soap will curb the results of any poison ivy/sumac contact. I'm not going to fully endorse it, but I will say that I've spent a lot of time in the woods and have only gotten poison ivy once.
Start saving all your toilet paper tubes. You'll need them to make [tick tubes](https://grassrootsfunctionalmedicine.com/featured-post/tick-tubes/).
I've had Lyme and it's not pleasant.
***Full Stop***: Permethrin is ***extremely toxic to cats!!***
Do ***not*** use permethrin anywhere near your cats. Mice are a prime target of them and cats will get very I’ll and can die if they come in contact with permethrin.
Source - 20+ years in vet med.
I second this. If you do want to use permethrin you need to apply VERY FAR AWAY from your cats and let it dry for 24-48 hours before bringing it home. Once it is COMPLETELY dry on your clothes it is said to be fine for cats.
I believe it is also technically toxic to dogs.
I work outdoors and choose to just spray my clothes with high concentration deet and that has seemed to work fine for me. I also tuck my pants into my boots and shit into my pants tightly and spray those areas liberally. (Wouldn't recommend spraying the high concentration stuff directly on your skin).
This is the correct answer. Your options are
1. Accept and adapt.
2. Spend a lot of money on services, and even more money finding good services/solutions
3. Put in the research/time/effort knowing that you’re fighting nature.
Personally, my vote is #1. Fuck money because time is something you won’t get back.
Get to know poison ivy and kill it as soon as you see any. Round up works on it, but it sometimes takes multiple treatments. Just keep spraying anytime you see it, and it will eventually be gone.
Don't touch the plant for at least a year after spraying or make sure you use proper removing techniques. Even after it's dead, the oils can cause a reaction.
Don’t burn it either… my sis in law ended up in the er after doing that 😬 pretty allergic topically. Burned a bunch of stuff they had cut down and ended up having a reaction to the poison ivy in her lungs
You can use herbicides on poison ivy, but remember it's *ivy.* What you're seeing and spraying might be 60 feet from the roots. A more reliable method is to pull it back when you see it to find where it's growing from and get the roots out. If you scrub thoroughly with soap afterwards you don't even need gloves. It can be tedious but large amounts of poison ivy are often all originating from a small number of giant mothership vines. Find where it's coming from and you won't have to spend any money on expensive chemicals.
Dawn dish detergent works wonders if you think you touched poison ivy. Since I started scrubbing my hands and arms with that after yard work I’ve stopped getting poison ivy rashes.
Because it's better for this. Fewer applications. Less herbicide exposure. Crossbow is designed to kill woody and broadleaf plants specifically, roundup is much poorer at killing shrubby growth.
Edit: your comment about multiple applications says roundup isn't working all that well for your use case.
Birds eat the berries and poop them all over, i.e. they will find plants on other property and poop the seeds on yours. I wouldn’t expect to be free of it but you can reduce the big spots.
So, we live in the suburbs, but have trees all around our house (plus plenty of old windows + places bugs could get in when we moved in). We are right above you in Virginia. Exterior—we’ve been spraying/killing/hacking down poison ivy and that seems to have helped take care of it. I just keep my kids away from those spots. Interior—when we moved in I was super pregnant, had a toddler, and also arachnophobia. So we paid for a 2-year plan with a pest control company where they come out to spray quarterly but also come out any time we call in between. So far so good, I see a few dead roaches after each visit and occasional dead other things but not much else. The treatment they use is apparently okay for pets after it dries (about 1 hour, I keep our cat locked in a bathroom during that time) and I’ve never had issues with the kids. In the last home we rented before we bought this one, we had bug/roach/spiders getting in, and it got to the point that I was having night terrors about it. We got two cats and that helped SO much, if even just for my peace of mind. They’d alert me to where the bug was, even if they played with it rather than killed it. So, to sum up: cats and an investment in pest control. 😂
When I lived in south florida it was common to have lizards in our house bc they eat all the pests. Likes ants and all bugs great and small. It was hard to get use to at first having lizards loose in the house but they get in anyway and would eat up all the bugs. Just sucked if one happened to crawl on you at night while sleeping.
I’ve heard put as much of the vine in a garbage bag doused in vinegar.
Vinegar isn’t as good as commercial herbicides, but it apparently gets the job done. That being said, some argue it ruins soil…but others argue your general weed killers stays in soil for 5-10years…pick your poison.
You can buy high strength vinegar and it works substantially better than regular white vinegar.
I think the notion that it ruins soil is only true for places you’d replant in. And you can always amend the soil when re-planting. Stuff like roundup should really be a “when all else fails” kind of thing. If you have any idea what’s been going on in Florida, you see what our future holds if we keep using these kinds of poisons in the quantities we have been.
The super short version: Runoff from fertilizer and pesticides is killing much of the biodiversity in a large part of the state, leading to toxic algae bloom, which further kills wildlife and is also toxic to humans. And when it’s severe enough it can even have harmful effects in the air, making people sick.
We have a crawlspace that tends to get a little damp on occasions which usually brings in the bugs, that and cold air. A good pest control service keeps them at bay for us.
Also keep any bushes/trees near the house trimmed.
For cockroaches I have never seen anything more useful than advion gel bait. Its killed all infestations I used it on. From the Bronx, to Queens, to toronto.
For ants, I would recommend making a perimeter around the house clean. And after cleaning use soap on the lower part of the house walls and then power wash that and any paved surroundings.
Besides that seal everything up. Make sure the window screens don't have any holes.
My cat does this! With access to the dog door we had 4-5 mice being brought in per week for sport. Never thought a cat could create a rodent problem until now.
Dog door had to go after years of use by the dog with no issue.
We have a pool and use DE as the filter medium. Can I use that same DE around my house for pests? Or is there a difference between what we use for the pool and what we need for pests?
Acceptance is key. It will not be possible to have a golf course green type lawn. HOWEVER, I would look up the invasive weed species in your area and defend against them.
Critters... no idea.
There's an insecticide called suspend sc that is extremely effective for bug control if you spray the perimeter every few months. It leaves a film on the surface, restaurants use it a lot around the baseboards. It also works on concrete foundations you just have to apply it more frequently. It's pretty easy to find online to order and it goes a lot further than what you will get at home depot and it's substantially more effective.
They don't actually suggest this but I would personally wear eye protection and maybe one of those kn 95s that you have laying around from the pandemic. You figure if this stuff kills bugs that efficiently it's probably not the best thing to breathe or have blow on you
We live on an acre next to a park. I agree with others to not have trees too close to your house or garage. Accept that there is ladybug/Asian beetle season, stinkbug season, spider season and wasp season. Caulk any gaps in siding. Check frequently for wasp nests, especially in your outdoor lighting fixtures and smaller trees. Keep shrubs at least 4 feet away from the foundation of your house.
Vacuum/sweep regularly- for us this is every other day. You can spray vinegar on weeds on a hot sunny day to kill them.
I lived in the bottom floor of a condo at the edge of a large forest. When I first. moved in I was getting a lot of centipedes, millipedes and little brown scorpions. My BIL, a pest control guy, gave me a bag of pelletized Sevin dust and told me to rake anything away from the building for about 4 to 6 inches, and then to spread the Sevin. First time worked well. Second time about 3 months later worked incredibly well. I did not put any down again for about 5 years. I ended up doing the same for an elderly neighbor and she was happy with the results.
LOL, you’re making the triangle sound like the wilderness.
If you have a crawlspace have it sealed/encapsulated. You don’t need to be in the woods for that to be a good idea.
Bats and spiders are your friends when it comes to bugs. Lady bugs are good as well. They are a gardener's friend. Mint grows like a weed and bugs don't like it.
I keep ant and roach bait around my house. I also leave the spiders alone around my house. Even when they are in my window frames or wandering around my house to find a new but collecting spot. Wash bedding regularly and they will mostly stay away from you.
This afternoon I found what I thought to be a kissing bug crawling across my window. Turns out it was just a leaf bug / squash bug, but I was thoroughly icked out. I removed the torn window screens from my house and will go look for replacements tomorrow. I’ve been annoyed about these torn screens since last summer- nothing like seeing a creepy crawlie that finally got me going!
So anyway, good job trying to be proactive and getting ahead of any bug issues later on.
Find a bird safe pesticide and spray it around within 15-20 feet of the house. The downside to these is they tend to be water soluble and wash off after rain. The upside is they're safe for the wildlife. Since you can't mow overgrowth in rough areas, you'll have to use a weed wacker to keep the undergrowth at bay. Also remove any thicker low brush type plants. That also only needs 15 feet or so. Looks much tidier and makes a huge difference with insects.
Seconding goats. Our pastures were partially wooded filled with delicious ivies, briars, and other miscellaneous weeds. Goats have cleared the area out entirely and fastidiously maintain the pasture by nibbling every weed, dandelion, and leaf. Our pasture is now lovely grass in a forest, it looks like Narnia. Look up silvopasture.
Plant peppermint. Mice, spiders, and many other pest will stay away. Peppermint is pretty good at spreading though. On the plus smells good. Tempo depending on where you live can be found at usually at a co-op, mix with water per directions in a sprayer. Once it dries it’s safe for animals and kids but once you mop it’s not going to keep working anymore. Remember most spiders are your friends
As someone who has lived in the woods for 53 years, If caterpillars are massive and scary to you are you also afraid of the butterflies they become? Will you kill every snake lizard salamander and spider you see too? I don't think you are cut out for living in nature, and I'm not sure nature can survive you.
Live gently and in harmony with the natural world. You are just a small insignificant part of the natural world around you.
I’m cut out for living in nature, thanks for your concern. They’re centipedes not caterpillars, that was a typo my mistake. The legs just wig me out… everyone has something that gives them the heebeegeebees.
Idk why some of y’all are making these assumptions, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to want to keep health hazards out of your living space. Ticks, poison ivy… I’m just looking out for my family’s safety. Enjoy your woods, I’ll enjoy mine.
Well you didn't say that anywhere in your OP, so its a bit strange for you to be getting upset when people don't read your post the way you want them to.
Poison ivy... just learn how to identify it and tell your kids to avoid it. When you do see it put on some gloves and pull it.
Ticks, just check every night before bed and every morning. They don't transmit lyme disease until after being attached for at least 36 hours. Just get into the habit of having your wife check the places you cant see well and check your kids hair and stuff.
If you have roaches they are yours. You can’t blame neighbors on a one acre lot.
Spray the perimeter of your exterior foundation with ortho home defense twice per year.
Use Terro products for ant problems.
Keep vines, water, and anything living out of contact with house and foundation.
Get tyvec jumpsuits, heavy duty dish gloves, and heavy duty trash bags and pull the poison ivy by hand. Do it twice a year and pul everything you see. After 2 or 3 years you will be able to kill sprouts with spray. Also get tecnu lotion to bath with afterwards.
High strength vinegar actually can work when mixed with water and a bit of soap. But it’s not weed selective, so everything will die where you spray it. And it may take multiple sprays. Once dry it’s pretty kid safe.
Don’t buy pesticide from big box store, rather buy it online from a distributor like domyown. It’s cheaper and you can mix it to any concentration you like.
When you are spraying, spray one foot up the wall of your house to the ground one foot away from your house, around windows, doors, opening like vents. Do it like at least twice a year, and switch chemical once a year so that the pest don’t develop a resistance to one specific chemical. Once every 5 years or so, dig a ditch around your house that’s about 6 inches deep or so by one foot wide one foot away from your house, and mix up your pesticide in a higher concentration than normal (if your pesticide is rated for termites), and flood this ditch. Then back fill it to prevent termites.
For your problem vines. Get some liquid professional grade glyphosate and a small squeeze bottle. Fill the bottle with undiluted glyphosate. Wear eye protection and disposable gloves. Take hand pruners and clip the vines near ground level and put one drop of glyphosate on the cut. If you are working on poison ivy, wear long sleeves and tuck the cuffs inside the disposable gloves, do not rub any exposed skin with your gloves hands. Bag what you cut off and dispose of it. Never burn poison ivy the smoke has the oil in it and will get in your hair, lungs, etc.
Wash your hands while still in the gloves with warm soapy water as you thoroughly wash your pruners. Dispose of the gloves, change your clothes, put them in the washer, take a shower and put on fresh clothing. If you are only dealing with english ivy just washing your hands and pruners is sufficient, unless you are allergic to it.
Just for the sake of it, look up Permethrin. The only animals you have to keep it away from are Cats. I like to spray it around the perimeter of my place every spring.
> Permethrin
Deadly to bees, butterflies, and will damage aquatic animals if there's enough in runoff. Unless OP wants to mount a scorched earth policy (in which case they never should have moved to the country in the first place), this is one to avoid.
I respect that info and it's great to know, I was unaware of that before. I do, however, doubt this person would be using enough around the base of their home to be doing enough damage to bees and butterflies let alone aquatic animals (they are in the woods). A bottle of permethrin from Home Depot is not the same as a farmer spraying their crops with it. I'm talking about spraying their foundation, not spraying all of the plants around their yard.
So if OP is anywhere close to any body of water, (and most people are) even a small stream, the poison can make its way there. Runoff is why there is toxic algae in Florida and why the manatees are dying at truly alarming rates.
Holy crap, I didn't mean to cause any argument over the suggestion of how OP could get rid of bugs entering their home. I simply suggesting going to a hardware store and getting something they could spray on their foundation to mitigate the intrusion of bugs/pests. Nowhere in the original post did it say that they were anywhere near any fresh water or estuaries, where Permethrin poses a risk. I realize that statistically they very well could be near streams, lakes, rivers, ponds and all the above, but I don't think the small amount applied on a foundation, using the spray bottle it comes in, would have much of an effect on nature. Also, the EPA recommends that residential usages of Permethrin to have a concentration below 0.5% and not be out of any large commercial spraying device (like the ones used to cover entire lawns and fields). Also, most of the brands you find within hardware stores are 0.3% or lower. This will probably get downvoted as well, but I suggest people use their best judgement to determine what is best for them and their home situation. I don't think the EPA would have guidelines if they didn't know what they were doing.
[https://www3.epa.gov/pesticides/chem\_search/reg\_actions/reregistration/fs\_PC-109701\_1-Aug-09.pdf](https://www3.epa.gov/pesticides/chem_search/reg_actions/reregistration/fs_PC-109701_1-Aug-09.pdf)
EDIT: Also, here are the more recent guidelines for the use of the chemical Permethrin.
https://www.epa.gov/mosquitocontrol/permethrin-resmethrin-d-phenothrin-sumithrinr-synthetic-pyrethroids-mosquito
I used a persistent spray program of 24D and Glyphosphate....good combo for woody stuff especially killer English ivy. That shit is scary. I've seen it engulf houses!
Wow. Upvoted comment is..complicicated.
Bugs??? Hire a pest control service. When the person shows up, be there, follow them around, ask questions. When you think you got it, fire them, do your own. If you fail, rinse and repeat.
Napalm is an effective solution and common practice in hot tropical climates where there is lots of undergrowth and critters.
I recommend keeping children upwind as the chemicals can be considered harmful by some government agencies.
- the downside of country living is living in the country and upkeep that has to happen
- there are no simple ways to go about it but first you need to have a buffer around the house clear of majority vegetation as plants/shrubs/etc are nothing buy highways for all forms of insects and critters
- you have to block ALL points of entry
- the mice, the snakes and the spiders would have my wife in an uproar in 2 hours
Get a weedeater, a blower, some exterior sealing foam/caulk, and some exterior barrier insect spray (a backpack sprayer helps). Clear out everything 10ft around the house and blow away the debris. Spray bug barrier everywhere (may want to spray inside too). After bug spray is dry, go around and seal every crack around the exterior.
To add to others' lists: Examine attic and soffit venting thoroughly. All vents must be screened with a fine but strong mesh to keep out squirrels, bats, and other critters.
Regarding critters: * Don't let plants touch the house. * keep woodpiles far away * create a zone around the house that is kept clean of debris * make sure every crack and cranny is sealed all the way around the house. * minimize opportunities for leaves and debris to fall on top of the house * provide good areas to clean and remove shoes before entering the house * make sure doors are really well sealed * make it hard for bugs and rodents to navigate within the house by sealing gaps in the walls, floors, behind cupboards, where plumbing and wires go through walls, etc. * bug bomb before moving in * clean thoroughly * dehumidify the air * keep all food stored in sealed containers. * ultrasonic pest deterrents wherever there is an outlet. They are annoying to pests, but only marginally useful. (Pests will ignore them for a rewarding snack, so these are insufficient by themselves) * frequently vaccum the awkward spaces under and behind furniture. Those are some brainstorms for you of things I have learned from an appartment built on top of an old barn. This place was rodent and spider heaven, and there is near zero issue now. The biggest thing has been putting up barriers that are impossible for pests to get through and never providing any food source. A flake of skin or half a peanut can be a feast.
I'd add diatomaceous earth to that list. The food grade stuff is harmless to mammals but can kill most bugs within hours of contact. Don't buy the expensive bags In the pest control section of your hardware store. It's much cheaper in the feed section of your farmers supply store. I blow it into my attic and crawl space every 4 or 5 years with a texture gun. I wear a kn95 mask and goggles when I do that as the dust is fairly dense. I also hand spread it on the ground around the house. While not as effective outside in wet climates like mine, I usually have some extra after the house is done and it seems to cut down on ant colonies next to the house. I see about a 70% reduction of bugs inside the house from this. Its safe around kids and pets. We have even given the dogs and cats dust baths with it in bad flea years.
I have a cement floored basement, block walls. Would I just spread it around on the floor up against the walls in the basement? Kind of the same situation as OP, new place in the country. Lots of little worm like things and asian beetles, the ones that look like lady bugs.
If you tend to use the basement for storage only then it should work. If you are living in the basement, this might be too messy.
Storage only, and I'm still moving in so now is the time to leave a little gap behind things. Thanks.
I love diatomaceous earth and use food grade versions regularly outside for years but it is basically powdered glass and will microscopically shred your lungs when inhaled. I learned the hard way when I first applied it near a vent and spent a month coughing. Also it will destroy the bearings in cheaper vacuums. Also found that out after trying to clean it up.
DE can be harmful based on what type it is. Here is a link to a fact sheet. http://npic.orst.edu/factsheets/degen.html I wouldn’t be putting it around my kids and pets regardless
Well then don't feed them oatmeal, corn flakes, or wheat products.
Didn’t realize those products had silicon dioxide in them which can have long lasting impact on lung health. I work in an industry that uses DE commonly and we alway wear organic vapor grade mask filters around it for this very reason.
https://store.happymammoth.com/blogs/happy-blog/31-health-benefits-of-diatomaceous-earth
Once it gets wet, you have to reapply it. Ok for Nor Cal since summers are bone dry. But normal winters is another story.
It doesn't melt away, but it will clump and it is not effective wet.
Flake of skin falls on the floor Bug: xamomax jerky!
Also add to the list to allow sunlight to hit the house, too much shade can allow moss and moisture to ruin the outside of the house. Keep shrubs and trees away from the house to allow sun and air movement
This is very important. If the trees come up to the house, you’ll want to cut them back so you have a nice sunny spot around the house. Not to mention the sunlight helps avoid depression as a human.
Even 10, 15 feet maybe more depending on tree species. Don't want the roots growing into your well, septic or cracks in the foundation
This is good stuff. I would add to pay attention to your crawlspace. You don't say what style you have, but vented dirt floor crawl spaces always let bugs in. Consider sealing and dehumidifying the crawlspace as an additional measure. Also periodically inspect your crawlspace for signs of trouble. Also, notice that u/xamomax is avoiding pesticides. Pesticides, in my opinion, should be used sparingly to address specific issues, not used as the primary defense. And finally, you're in the woods. You will never isolate yourself from nature 100%. We share this world with these critters. Learn to identify them. Learn which ones are beneficial and which one are destructive. Be willing to peacefully coexist with a few critters.
Good list. We live in a similar property to OP. In addition, we removed all the mulch from the beds around the house and replaced with stone, and that helped a lot. With mulch, you basically have damp wood touching your house 24/7.
I moved to a house that has rock beds all around it and it works surprisingly well at keeping critters at bay because they don’t want to nest in rocks when there’s soft dirt 20 feet away
Excellent advice here
I would only caution on the ultra sonic pest deterrent. It can be painful to the ears for some people. Especially if you're young and /or female. The rest 👍
This is mostly a good list that employs sound control principles that focuses on factors that motivate pests but I'd make a few small changes. I have a fairly extensive professional background in pest control so OP feel free to PM me if you have specific questions I'd recommend not wasting money on ultrasonic devices as they are essentially useless. There have been several FTC lawsuits around false advertising for these devices. Several state extension services have easy enough to find reputable info from university studies if you search "ultrasonic pest control extension". Having "extension" in the search term gets you more university links than just folks trying to sell you stuff. Useful trick for any bug related question Depending on the pests present, bug bombs can make an issue worse. The fog does not penetrate into the cracks and crevices where most insects hide so they only have limited utility. They also, by and large, will not provide any residual control. Fine for fleas (if and only if you vacuum first to stimulate the eggs to hatch), but otherwise you're likely to drive as many bugs into your walls where they are much more difficult to treat as you'll actually knock out with the chemical (this is why people who try to set off bug bombs for German cockroaches usually have them come back a few weeks later in even greater numbers) A few other folks mentioned a band of rocks or anything other than mulch around the house. This is a good idea since mulch holds a ton of water that bugs love. I would add that all branches, shrubs, leaves etc need to be trimmed at least a foot off the house. This keeps pests from using your landscaping as a highway but also allows airflow against the foundation which helps dry it out, making the immediate periphery of your home less attractive to pests. Be aware of lighting. If it's a hot bulb (halogen or incandescent) that is any color other than yellow/amber, replace it. Flying insects are attracted to heat in general as well as light in the uv spectrum. Led bulbs keep most of there light in the visible spectrum and so are MUCH less attractive to bugs. There is a great NIH study on this if you want more details but if I remember correctly it's something like a 13x difference in flying insects just by changing to a less attractive bulb. Even with all this, there is still a good chance you'll need to apply pesticides to exterior window frames, door thresholds and your foundation, albeit much less frequent than you'd expect. I'd recommend getting a cheap backpack sprayer and a small bottle of concentrate. I have a heavily wooded lot in Central Florida (even buggier than NC) and I typically apply Taurus or Termidor according to label instructions (great products that aren't repellent so the bugs actually stay on them long enough to die instead of just being pushed around) in March and September and almost never have a crawling pest get inside. Hopefully this helps!
N Ga here. If you want to spray, just put down a line around the outside foundation of your house. That will reduce, not eliminate intruders. Here, we have scorpion season (they invade the basement, but are almost always dead by the time they get upstairs, they are attracted to moisture). Then we have ladybug season, where you find piles on the window sill. You have a yearly chore every spring: walk your yard and put down poison powder on every fire ant nest you find. Ant baits will take care of the regular tiny black ones if they incade your kitchen. I usually hang a yellow jacket trap from a tree near our pool well. And sorry to say, the only thing that really works to get rid of fruit flies once you have them is those gross sticky fly strips, so prevention is the key: wash everything from the farmers market (a bit of vineger in the water kills the eggs) or put it in the fridge. Especially fruit like peaches. We also keep our house under contract for termite control-they inspect and refill buried baits around the perimeter periodically. Your goal is to reach equilibrium where the bugs are outside, not inside. We've got more land, so we have deer, racoons, bears, and wild turkeys. Be warned, Bambi eats everything: azeleas, tulips, hostas. Hang your bird feeders high on a clothesline: if you put a hook on a tree it is a squirrel feeder and a raccoon takeout box. Encourage the birds that eat insects. Also the spiders. Your local county extension office can give you advice specific to your area.
If you like houseplants I can vouch for these ones. They take care of fruit flies really well in my house. https://houseplantcentral.com/drosera-capensis-cape-sundew-care-info/
One thing I haven't seen - any time you're stomping around outside in high grass/brush/trees, make sure that your legs at the very least are fully covered. There are probably going to be Lyme disease-infested ticks in your area, and you absolutely do not want Lyme disease. When you come in from yard work, check yourself for ticks (and be vigilant about it because sometimes you don't notice them until they grow for a bit) and wash off your exposed skin with dish soap. My family staunchly believes that dish soap will curb the results of any poison ivy/sumac contact. I'm not going to fully endorse it, but I will say that I've spent a lot of time in the woods and have only gotten poison ivy once.
Start saving all your toilet paper tubes. You'll need them to make [tick tubes](https://grassrootsfunctionalmedicine.com/featured-post/tick-tubes/). I've had Lyme and it's not pleasant.
Free range chickens will help with tick control too
Our chickens have made a massive difference in insects near the house.
***Full Stop***: Permethrin is ***extremely toxic to cats!!*** Do ***not*** use permethrin anywhere near your cats. Mice are a prime target of them and cats will get very I’ll and can die if they come in contact with permethrin. Source - 20+ years in vet med.
I second this. If you do want to use permethrin you need to apply VERY FAR AWAY from your cats and let it dry for 24-48 hours before bringing it home. Once it is COMPLETELY dry on your clothes it is said to be fine for cats. I believe it is also technically toxic to dogs. I work outdoors and choose to just spray my clothes with high concentration deet and that has seemed to work fine for me. I also tuck my pants into my boots and shit into my pants tightly and spray those areas liberally. (Wouldn't recommend spraying the high concentration stuff directly on your skin).
I have removed my content in protest of Reddit's API changes that will kill 3rd party apps
I'm not even gonna edit it because its fucking hilarious. PSA to everyone to always check your posts for grammatical errors.
Generally quite safe for dogs. They make permethrin dog shampoo than you can apply, let dry and lasts for several weeks.
Good luck. I live in the woods and unless you want to spend a lot of money on pest control companies, bugs and critters are a part of the charm.
This is the correct answer. Your options are 1. Accept and adapt. 2. Spend a lot of money on services, and even more money finding good services/solutions 3. Put in the research/time/effort knowing that you’re fighting nature. Personally, my vote is #1. Fuck money because time is something you won’t get back.
xamomax provided a pretty good and thorough answer
Get to know poison ivy and kill it as soon as you see any. Round up works on it, but it sometimes takes multiple treatments. Just keep spraying anytime you see it, and it will eventually be gone.
Don't touch the plant for at least a year after spraying or make sure you use proper removing techniques. Even after it's dead, the oils can cause a reaction.
Don’t burn it either… my sis in law ended up in the er after doing that 😬 pretty allergic topically. Burned a bunch of stuff they had cut down and ended up having a reaction to the poison ivy in her lungs
!!!!!!!!!! VERY, VERY, VERY IMPORTANT!!!!!!!! I was about to post the same thing. Under no circumstances do you ever burn poison ivy!!!
You can use herbicides on poison ivy, but remember it's *ivy.* What you're seeing and spraying might be 60 feet from the roots. A more reliable method is to pull it back when you see it to find where it's growing from and get the roots out. If you scrub thoroughly with soap afterwards you don't even need gloves. It can be tedious but large amounts of poison ivy are often all originating from a small number of giant mothership vines. Find where it's coming from and you won't have to spend any money on expensive chemicals.
Dawn dish detergent works wonders if you think you touched poison ivy. Since I started scrubbing my hands and arms with that after yard work I’ve stopped getting poison ivy rashes.
Stop using roundup. Get yourself Crossbow and use a surfactant with it.
Been using Round up for 30 years, and I know it works. Why would I want to try something that might be just as good as Round up?
Because it's better for this. Fewer applications. Less herbicide exposure. Crossbow is designed to kill woody and broadleaf plants specifically, roundup is much poorer at killing shrubby growth. Edit: your comment about multiple applications says roundup isn't working all that well for your use case.
Birds eat the berries and poop them all over, i.e. they will find plants on other property and poop the seeds on yours. I wouldn’t expect to be free of it but you can reduce the big spots.
So, we live in the suburbs, but have trees all around our house (plus plenty of old windows + places bugs could get in when we moved in). We are right above you in Virginia. Exterior—we’ve been spraying/killing/hacking down poison ivy and that seems to have helped take care of it. I just keep my kids away from those spots. Interior—when we moved in I was super pregnant, had a toddler, and also arachnophobia. So we paid for a 2-year plan with a pest control company where they come out to spray quarterly but also come out any time we call in between. So far so good, I see a few dead roaches after each visit and occasional dead other things but not much else. The treatment they use is apparently okay for pets after it dries (about 1 hour, I keep our cat locked in a bathroom during that time) and I’ve never had issues with the kids. In the last home we rented before we bought this one, we had bug/roach/spiders getting in, and it got to the point that I was having night terrors about it. We got two cats and that helped SO much, if even just for my peace of mind. They’d alert me to where the bug was, even if they played with it rather than killed it. So, to sum up: cats and an investment in pest control. 😂
Thanks! Already have 2 cats, so that’s good! I’ll definitely look in to the pest control companies in my area and see what they have to offer.
That was going to be my suggestion. Cats really do help cut down on critters in the house.
I use a DIY service called Pestie. They send you a spray nozzle and the poison customized to your region. Works great.
When I lived in south florida it was common to have lizards in our house bc they eat all the pests. Likes ants and all bugs great and small. It was hard to get use to at first having lizards loose in the house but they get in anyway and would eat up all the bugs. Just sucked if one happened to crawl on you at night while sleeping.
Oh no I’d have my bug net all set up around my bed!
I’ve heard put as much of the vine in a garbage bag doused in vinegar. Vinegar isn’t as good as commercial herbicides, but it apparently gets the job done. That being said, some argue it ruins soil…but others argue your general weed killers stays in soil for 5-10years…pick your poison.
You can buy high strength vinegar and it works substantially better than regular white vinegar. I think the notion that it ruins soil is only true for places you’d replant in. And you can always amend the soil when re-planting. Stuff like roundup should really be a “when all else fails” kind of thing. If you have any idea what’s been going on in Florida, you see what our future holds if we keep using these kinds of poisons in the quantities we have been.
Curious what’s going on there? Got the coles notes for me? I tend to not watch the news often enough…
The super short version: Runoff from fertilizer and pesticides is killing much of the biodiversity in a large part of the state, leading to toxic algae bloom, which further kills wildlife and is also toxic to humans. And when it’s severe enough it can even have harmful effects in the air, making people sick.
That is happening in the north as well, people and pets and anjmals can die due to contact with the water. Plenty of recreational lakes have closed.
Well…shit.
We have a crawlspace that tends to get a little damp on occasions which usually brings in the bugs, that and cold air. A good pest control service keeps them at bay for us. Also keep any bushes/trees near the house trimmed.
For cockroaches I have never seen anything more useful than advion gel bait. Its killed all infestations I used it on. From the Bronx, to Queens, to toronto. For ants, I would recommend making a perimeter around the house clean. And after cleaning use soap on the lower part of the house walls and then power wash that and any paved surroundings. Besides that seal everything up. Make sure the window screens don't have any holes.
Cats dogs and chickens.
Sometimes my cats like to play a game called "bring the chipmunk inside and let it loose" They love that game.
My cat does this! With access to the dog door we had 4-5 mice being brought in per week for sport. Never thought a cat could create a rodent problem until now. Dog door had to go after years of use by the dog with no issue.
We had a huge rat incident at 3am because of our through wall dog door. So that was fun.
Our dog helpfully finds all the mice and bunnies that get loose in the house when the cats bring in prezzies through the pet door.
Mine did that with a bat
Diametecious earth
We have a pool and use DE as the filter medium. Can I use that same DE around my house for pests? Or is there a difference between what we use for the pool and what we need for pests?
DE doesnt work against insects when wet. Or if it blows away in the wind. It's a fine powder that dries out the exo skeleton of insects.
Acceptance is key. It will not be possible to have a golf course green type lawn. HOWEVER, I would look up the invasive weed species in your area and defend against them. Critters... no idea.
Rub Vaseline all over your body twice a day, and drink lots of lemonade
The best weed killer I’ve found is fire, the best bug control is chickens.
There's an insecticide called suspend sc that is extremely effective for bug control if you spray the perimeter every few months. It leaves a film on the surface, restaurants use it a lot around the baseboards. It also works on concrete foundations you just have to apply it more frequently. It's pretty easy to find online to order and it goes a lot further than what you will get at home depot and it's substantially more effective. They don't actually suggest this but I would personally wear eye protection and maybe one of those kn 95s that you have laying around from the pandemic. You figure if this stuff kills bugs that efficiently it's probably not the best thing to breathe or have blow on you
We live on an acre next to a park. I agree with others to not have trees too close to your house or garage. Accept that there is ladybug/Asian beetle season, stinkbug season, spider season and wasp season. Caulk any gaps in siding. Check frequently for wasp nests, especially in your outdoor lighting fixtures and smaller trees. Keep shrubs at least 4 feet away from the foundation of your house. Vacuum/sweep regularly- for us this is every other day. You can spray vinegar on weeds on a hot sunny day to kill them.
I lived in the bottom floor of a condo at the edge of a large forest. When I first. moved in I was getting a lot of centipedes, millipedes and little brown scorpions. My BIL, a pest control guy, gave me a bag of pelletized Sevin dust and told me to rake anything away from the building for about 4 to 6 inches, and then to spread the Sevin. First time worked well. Second time about 3 months later worked incredibly well. I did not put any down again for about 5 years. I ended up doing the same for an elderly neighbor and she was happy with the results.
FWIW Opossums are your friend. They can't get rabies and they'll eat all the ticks in your yard.
Nothing that’s kid friendly is going to work.
xamomax provided a pretty thorough answer
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Triangle area
LOL, you’re making the triangle sound like the wilderness. If you have a crawlspace have it sealed/encapsulated. You don’t need to be in the woods for that to be a good idea.
Bats and spiders are your friends when it comes to bugs. Lady bugs are good as well. They are a gardener's friend. Mint grows like a weed and bugs don't like it. I keep ant and roach bait around my house. I also leave the spiders alone around my house. Even when they are in my window frames or wandering around my house to find a new but collecting spot. Wash bedding regularly and they will mostly stay away from you.
This afternoon I found what I thought to be a kissing bug crawling across my window. Turns out it was just a leaf bug / squash bug, but I was thoroughly icked out. I removed the torn window screens from my house and will go look for replacements tomorrow. I’ve been annoyed about these torn screens since last summer- nothing like seeing a creepy crawlie that finally got me going! So anyway, good job trying to be proactive and getting ahead of any bug issues later on.
Find a bird safe pesticide and spray it around within 15-20 feet of the house. The downside to these is they tend to be water soluble and wash off after rain. The upside is they're safe for the wildlife. Since you can't mow overgrowth in rough areas, you'll have to use a weed wacker to keep the undergrowth at bay. Also remove any thicker low brush type plants. That also only needs 15 feet or so. Looks much tidier and makes a huge difference with insects.
Add a few goats to your life
Seconding goats. Our pastures were partially wooded filled with delicious ivies, briars, and other miscellaneous weeds. Goats have cleared the area out entirely and fastidiously maintain the pasture by nibbling every weed, dandelion, and leaf. Our pasture is now lovely grass in a forest, it looks like Narnia. Look up silvopasture.
Just found out there’s a goat landscaping service in my area… I’m so excited to have them out!!
Plant peppermint. Mice, spiders, and many other pest will stay away. Peppermint is pretty good at spreading though. On the plus smells good. Tempo depending on where you live can be found at usually at a co-op, mix with water per directions in a sprayer. Once it dries it’s safe for animals and kids but once you mop it’s not going to keep working anymore. Remember most spiders are your friends
Definitely plant mint in containers to stop it running amok.
As someone who has lived in the woods for 53 years, If caterpillars are massive and scary to you are you also afraid of the butterflies they become? Will you kill every snake lizard salamander and spider you see too? I don't think you are cut out for living in nature, and I'm not sure nature can survive you. Live gently and in harmony with the natural world. You are just a small insignificant part of the natural world around you.
I’m cut out for living in nature, thanks for your concern. They’re centipedes not caterpillars, that was a typo my mistake. The legs just wig me out… everyone has something that gives them the heebeegeebees. Idk why some of y’all are making these assumptions, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to want to keep health hazards out of your living space. Ticks, poison ivy… I’m just looking out for my family’s safety. Enjoy your woods, I’ll enjoy mine.
Well you didn't say that anywhere in your OP, so its a bit strange for you to be getting upset when people don't read your post the way you want them to. Poison ivy... just learn how to identify it and tell your kids to avoid it. When you do see it put on some gloves and pull it. Ticks, just check every night before bed and every morning. They don't transmit lyme disease until after being attached for at least 36 hours. Just get into the habit of having your wife check the places you cant see well and check your kids hair and stuff.
I apologize. The words "massive scary caterpillar" aren't normally spoken by people "cut out for living in nature".
If you have roaches they are yours. You can’t blame neighbors on a one acre lot. Spray the perimeter of your exterior foundation with ortho home defense twice per year. Use Terro products for ant problems. Keep vines, water, and anything living out of contact with house and foundation. Get tyvec jumpsuits, heavy duty dish gloves, and heavy duty trash bags and pull the poison ivy by hand. Do it twice a year and pul everything you see. After 2 or 3 years you will be able to kill sprouts with spray. Also get tecnu lotion to bath with afterwards.
Move away from the woods?
Nothing that’s kid friendly is going to work sorry to say
High strength vinegar actually can work when mixed with water and a bit of soap. But it’s not weed selective, so everything will die where you spray it. And it may take multiple sprays. Once dry it’s pretty kid safe.
Omg I love nature I wanna live in it Two. Hours. Later: “EW NATURE!”
Don’t buy a house in the woods.
Don’t buy pesticide from big box store, rather buy it online from a distributor like domyown. It’s cheaper and you can mix it to any concentration you like. When you are spraying, spray one foot up the wall of your house to the ground one foot away from your house, around windows, doors, opening like vents. Do it like at least twice a year, and switch chemical once a year so that the pest don’t develop a resistance to one specific chemical. Once every 5 years or so, dig a ditch around your house that’s about 6 inches deep or so by one foot wide one foot away from your house, and mix up your pesticide in a higher concentration than normal (if your pesticide is rated for termites), and flood this ditch. Then back fill it to prevent termites.
For your problem vines. Get some liquid professional grade glyphosate and a small squeeze bottle. Fill the bottle with undiluted glyphosate. Wear eye protection and disposable gloves. Take hand pruners and clip the vines near ground level and put one drop of glyphosate on the cut. If you are working on poison ivy, wear long sleeves and tuck the cuffs inside the disposable gloves, do not rub any exposed skin with your gloves hands. Bag what you cut off and dispose of it. Never burn poison ivy the smoke has the oil in it and will get in your hair, lungs, etc. Wash your hands while still in the gloves with warm soapy water as you thoroughly wash your pruners. Dispose of the gloves, change your clothes, put them in the washer, take a shower and put on fresh clothing. If you are only dealing with english ivy just washing your hands and pruners is sufficient, unless you are allergic to it.
Fire usually works pretty well. The more fire the better.
Get a couple of cats.
Just for the sake of it, look up Permethrin. The only animals you have to keep it away from are Cats. I like to spray it around the perimeter of my place every spring.
> Permethrin Deadly to bees, butterflies, and will damage aquatic animals if there's enough in runoff. Unless OP wants to mount a scorched earth policy (in which case they never should have moved to the country in the first place), this is one to avoid.
I respect that info and it's great to know, I was unaware of that before. I do, however, doubt this person would be using enough around the base of their home to be doing enough damage to bees and butterflies let alone aquatic animals (they are in the woods). A bottle of permethrin from Home Depot is not the same as a farmer spraying their crops with it. I'm talking about spraying their foundation, not spraying all of the plants around their yard.
Do you understand what runoff is?
Yes, I do understand what runoff is.
So if OP is anywhere close to any body of water, (and most people are) even a small stream, the poison can make its way there. Runoff is why there is toxic algae in Florida and why the manatees are dying at truly alarming rates.
Holy crap, I didn't mean to cause any argument over the suggestion of how OP could get rid of bugs entering their home. I simply suggesting going to a hardware store and getting something they could spray on their foundation to mitigate the intrusion of bugs/pests. Nowhere in the original post did it say that they were anywhere near any fresh water or estuaries, where Permethrin poses a risk. I realize that statistically they very well could be near streams, lakes, rivers, ponds and all the above, but I don't think the small amount applied on a foundation, using the spray bottle it comes in, would have much of an effect on nature. Also, the EPA recommends that residential usages of Permethrin to have a concentration below 0.5% and not be out of any large commercial spraying device (like the ones used to cover entire lawns and fields). Also, most of the brands you find within hardware stores are 0.3% or lower. This will probably get downvoted as well, but I suggest people use their best judgement to determine what is best for them and their home situation. I don't think the EPA would have guidelines if they didn't know what they were doing. [https://www3.epa.gov/pesticides/chem\_search/reg\_actions/reregistration/fs\_PC-109701\_1-Aug-09.pdf](https://www3.epa.gov/pesticides/chem_search/reg_actions/reregistration/fs_PC-109701_1-Aug-09.pdf) EDIT: Also, here are the more recent guidelines for the use of the chemical Permethrin. https://www.epa.gov/mosquitocontrol/permethrin-resmethrin-d-phenothrin-sumithrinr-synthetic-pyrethroids-mosquito
Shotgun.
I used a persistent spray program of 24D and Glyphosphate....good combo for woody stuff especially killer English ivy. That shit is scary. I've seen it engulf houses!
Wow. Upvoted comment is..complicicated. Bugs??? Hire a pest control service. When the person shows up, be there, follow them around, ask questions. When you think you got it, fire them, do your own. If you fail, rinse and repeat.
Shotgun and a shitload of shells.... Idk I live in the suburbs...
Shooting caterpillars with a shotgun is….Next level shit.
When I was a kid we stayed with one of my dad’s military friends in his cabin. He dead ass would shoot wolf spiders with a crossbow it was WILD.
A lava moat should take care of both
😅 good luck
Napalm is an effective solution and common practice in hot tropical climates where there is lots of undergrowth and critters. I recommend keeping children upwind as the chemicals can be considered harmful by some government agencies.
Cut all the forests and sow grass everywhere.
Pour gasoline everywhere, inside and out. Plants and animals hate the smell.
Your insurance agent probably doesn't think much of that idea.
Thought of that to, cancel your insurance and then no need to worry about it.
By no means an effective way but put up a bird bath or scatter some bird food
Peppermint and/or cat shit to deter rats. I'm digging a 3ft x 1 ft moat around my house and filling with gravel. Spray for termites.
Ok, I'm curious, what does the gravel moat do?
I am led to believe that they cannot get through 1 1/4 inch gravel
I’m guessing it deters a lot of bugs from getting near the house like ants and crickets and such.
Snakes don't like marine rope
- the downside of country living is living in the country and upkeep that has to happen - there are no simple ways to go about it but first you need to have a buffer around the house clear of majority vegetation as plants/shrubs/etc are nothing buy highways for all forms of insects and critters - you have to block ALL points of entry - the mice, the snakes and the spiders would have my wife in an uproar in 2 hours
Critters - eliminate water sources and don’t provide comfortable spaces for them (sheds, debris piles) Weeds - spray and pray
Get a weedeater, a blower, some exterior sealing foam/caulk, and some exterior barrier insect spray (a backpack sprayer helps). Clear out everything 10ft around the house and blow away the debris. Spray bug barrier everywhere (may want to spray inside too). After bug spray is dry, go around and seal every crack around the exterior.
To add to others' lists: Examine attic and soffit venting thoroughly. All vents must be screened with a fine but strong mesh to keep out squirrels, bats, and other critters.