Even though we are in the business of insect control and termination, we do still believe in treating all creatures with kindness and respect. If you follow a few basic prevention methods, sometimes a pest infestation can be curbed before it becomes an issue. especially in your garden.
We had a look at environmentally friendly methods you can use to prevent insects in your garden & home becoming a pest and causing damage to your house or plants.
Caterpillars
Cover your special plants with fine mesh at the start of spring to stop caterpillars from munching on your plants.
Mice, rats, snakes and spiders
Instead of killing a critter when they move into your house, rather try catch and release. In the case of beetles and spiders, make use of an empty ice cream container and quickly flick the critter into the container and cover it with the lid. Once captured, you can release the creature a safe distance from your house. You can rodent-proof your home by physically blocking up all external holes and access points, to avoid rats and mice coming inside in the first place. Snakes though is a different story and should not be handled if you do not have sufficient experience handling snakes. You can access a list of reptile rescuers in South Africa HERE.
Cockroaches
To deter cockroaches from entering your home, cleanliness is key! The best is to ensure you keep a spotless home with no potential food source left out overnight that would attract cockroaches. Also ensure that all potential entry points to your home is blocked off.
Ants
Sprinkle chalk powder, cayenne or black pepper, cinnamon or even baby powder to ants in their tracks. These are also good to stop scorpions, earwigs & centipedes in their tracks.
Aphids
Hang ripe banana skins off branches to deter aphids from invading your plants.
Snails & slugs
Laying broken eggs shells or pieces of copper mesh around your plants will create an unpleasant barrier for snails and slugs so that they don’t get onto your plants. Placing sandpaper around the stems of your plants will also deter them from climbing up.
Wasps & hornets
Make up a mixture of 50 drops peppermint oil with 100ml water and spray it in areas that wasps and hornets might enter your home.
If however this advice comes too late and you are unfortunately having to deal with a pest infestation that can harm your home or garden, Contact Us today to do a proper inspection of your home and apply the best solution.
