Pest Control OKC

Pest Control OKC: More Plants to help keep pests away

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: Keep pests out of the garden shed

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.

Honey Bee- Pest Control OKC

How Hornet Control Via Pest Control OKC Helps Save Honey Bees!

Pest Control OKC: Get Rid Of Hornets And Save The Bees

Did you know that the most common honey bee we know in Oklahoma once originated from Europe? Most amazingly, European honey bees are now one of the most familiar insects and are becoming well-known for all the good that they can do in our lives. In addition to honey production, it is estimated that honey bees also provide nearly $20 billion annually from pollination of over 100 cultivated crops. Doesn’t that sound like a good enough reason alone to save these little bees? Our pest control OKC team sure thinks so!

Luckily, many of you are already aware and care about the conservation of the European honey bee population. For those of you who don’t know, there are a few ways to prevent the killing off of these important insects. The most common sense ways would include not trying to kill them or spray them with any sort of pesticide materials. In addition, getting rid of hornets in your yard, by using such methods as our pest control OKC team would utilize, could actually help save the bees, too!

You may be wondering how that makes sense. Let our pest control OKC expert explain.

The fact is that an individual hornet can actually kill up to 40 European honey bees in just ONE minute! Think about how much damage an entire group of hornets can accomplish. In case you need a visual, estimations suggest that a group of 30 hornets can take out an entire hive containing 30,000 bees in less than four hours.  The hornets are brutal when they attack the nearly defenseless honey bees as they swoop in and dismember their bodies. The hornets then fly back to their own nests with the bees’ thoraxes in tow to utilize as food for their larvae.

The only sure-fire way to ensure that your yard stays hornet-free is to have ongoing pest control completed. Our pest control OKC team would love to help you keep your yard safe and in turn allow European honey bees to continue living. If you need help with pest control services, please feel free to give The Bug Guy a call at 405-973-5522.

*Important Note: If you should have a bee problem, do not try to kill them yourself. There are plenty of reputable companies in Oklahoma that will offer save removal and relocation of the bees for you. For the love of bees, please do your research and give one of those companies a call if you notice bee activity on your property!