Pest Control OKC

Pest Control OKC: More Plants to help keep pests away

/in , , , , , , , , /by

Pest Control OKC: Some more plants to keep pests out of your garden

Last week, pest control OKC talked about some plants you can add to your home or garden to help keep away pests while adding some color and nature to your home. But those are just a few of the examples of what you can add to your garden. There’s still quite a few more options to help keep your home pest free!

Mint: Mint is best grown in separate pots. It looks nice and smells great but it also grows aggressively. Planting mint in your garden could mean you end up with a really nice smelling weed ravaging your garden. Mint leaves mostly repel mosquitoes but can work on other insects. And, much like basil, mint is a great plant for the kitchen. Use it to flavor iced tea and added to many recipes. The mulch of a mint plant is also great for vegetables like broccoli, cabbage, and turnips.

Rosemary: Rosemary is a much less invasive option to repel mosquitoes and a slew of other insects. It can be grown in pots but it does just fine in gardens or landscaped beds. The plant itself or it’s clippings both repel insects and it can even be boiled and turned into a repellent, making it one of the most flexible plants you can pick. And of course, Rosemary oil is great for cooking!

Alliums: Not one specific plant, but the family of plants known as Alliums are all effective natural insecticides. Repelling everything from slugs to aphids to cabbage worms. Putting an Allium near plants like tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, cabbage, broccoli, kohlrabi, and carrots can ward off many of they’re natural pests. Alliums also include small herbs like chives, leeks and shallots!

If your home has some uninvited guests, call The Bug Guy, Pest Control OKC, today at 405-973-5522!

Pest Control OKC

Pest Control OKC: Plants to keep away pests

/in , , , , , , /by

Pest Control OKC: What to plant to drive away pests

Gardens are a great investment in your home and your health. Gardening is a great way to get exercise and can leave your home looking beautiful. But all those beautiful plants can also attract not-so-beautiful pests…or can they? The Bug Guy, pest control OKC, has a few plants you can add to your home or garden to drive away pests!

Basil: Planting some basil in containers in your home near entrances to the outdoors can help keep away flies and mosquitoes. It also has the added benefit of letting you grow a herb that had many uses in cooking! Basil can be added to salads and used to enhance other vegetables like tomatoes.

Lavender: Lavenders smell great to humans but moths, fleas, flies and mosquitoes hate the scent and will avoid it. Lavender had been used for centuries to add fragrance to homes. Keeping bouquets in your home will drive away the flies and putting one in your garden will help keep pests that might be attracted to other plants away.

Lemon Thyme: A more adaptable solution to repelling mosquitoes, Lemon thyme can be planted in rocky or shallow soil and still thrive. It just needs to be in a sunny location. There is some more maintenance to keep it repelling mosquitoes though. To release it’s chemicals you have to do what’s known as bruising the leaves. Simply cut off a few stems and rub them between your hands. Make sure you’re not allergic to this plant though, you can test your tolerance by rubbing a few crushed leaves on a small part of your forearm for several days and watching for adverse effects.

If your home is hosting some unwanted guests, call The Bug Guy, pest control OKC, today at 405-973-5522!

Pest Control OKC

Pest Control OKC: Keep pests out of the garden shed

/in , , , , , , , , , /by

Pest Control OKC: Keep your shed pest free

It’s starting to warm up, and that means it’s approaching time to bust out the garden tools and start taking care of the lawn. But there’s always that trepidation that comes with opening that garden shed for the first time in months. What’s going to come crawling out of there? Rats? Wasps? Ants? Is your lawnmower going to be covered in ants? Is your leafblower now home to a black widow? The Bug Guy, pest control OKC, has a few tips to keep the pests away this year.

Keeping your shed clean and organized is the most effective way to keep most pests away. Pests hate a well kept environment with few places to hide and fewer food scraps to eat. Regular vacuuming, sweeping, and cleaning will go a long way to keeping your shed pest free. The scent of mint, lavender, and tansy can also drive away bugs while also letting your shed smell great! Removing standing water to deter mosquitoes from nesting in your shed. Spiders are a problem that will handle itself once you clear away the other bugs. Spiders prey on other insects, so if your shed has no insects it won’t have any spiders! Stain or paint exposed wood to protect it. Never store compost, potting soil, or sawdust in your shed and always keep other garbage away from your shed. You can deter ants from invading your shed by drawing a chalk line around your shed. You can keep bees and wasps away by sealing and holes in your shed and keeping dead or old wood, including firewood, away from the shed. And always, always clean your tools before storing them back in the shed. You don’t want all your hard work to be for nothing because you didn’t want to wipe down your lawnmower do you?

Call The Bug Guy, Pest Control OKC, for all your pest control needs.

Pest Control OKC

Pest Control OKC: Common Lawn Pests

/in , /by

Pest Control OKC: Identifying common lawn pests

March is here and the weather is starting to heat up. Pretty soon it’ll be time to get out and take care of the lawn again. But all the lawn care in the world won’t help if you’ve got some of these pests. Pest Control OKC is here to help you identify certain pests.

June Beetle: When trying to identify what’s eating up your lawn, your best bet is to look for clues. The beetles themselves won’t usually eat at the turf on your lawn, mostly sticking to gardens, but should you see some of these creepy crawlers in your garden it means they probably have laid eggs. If you start to see lawn damage, chances are the grubs of the June beetle have hatched.

 

Grubs: Lawn grubs are the larval form of the June, as well as a few other, beetles. They all eat up your lawn, but which beetle larva is eating up your lawn largely depends on where you live. In the Northwest, Midwest, and Southwest these grubs are a big problem. Patches of dying grass usually indicate that lawn grubs are present and eating grass roots. What’s worse, skunks and armadillos like to dig in lawns in search of these grubs.

 

 

 

 

 

Mole Crickets: These insects may be the most damaging. Mole Crickets like to burrow underneath your lawn, feeding on other insects and the roots of your turf. A mole cricket infestation will often cause irregularly-shaped brown spots on your lawn. These spots typically feel spongy to walk on. You may also notice finger width tunnel entrances. You can check for Mole Crickets with a drench test. Fill a bucket with soapy water and throw it over an area you suspect to be infested. The soap will begin suffocating the crickets and cause them to leave their burrow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you need pest control, call The Bug Guy, Pest Control OKC today at 405-973-5522!