Spring is a wonderful time of year in the Bryan-College Station area. Wildflowers are blooming, you can often catch a pleasant breeze and of course, temperatures are usually not as hot as during the summer months. The early part of the year also provides you with an opportunity to put your attention on your biggest investment: your home.
Bryan-College Station Homeowners Guide for Spring 2017
In addition to being the largest independently-owned and operated pest control company in the state of Texas, ABC Home & Commercial provides lawn maintenance, fertilization, tree care and trimming, landscaping, sprinkler repairs and holiday lighting. For over 60 years, ABC has been making life easier on home and business owners. As an extension of this philosophy, we have created a Bryan-College Station Homeowners Guide for Spring 2017.
The 9-page Guide includes:
- Ten things to do in Bryan-College Station this Spring
- Spring Home Maintenance Checklist
- Spring Cleaning List of Where to Donate or Dispose of Common Household Items Locally
- Advice on How to Mosquito-Proof Your Yard
- Spring Gardening Tips
- Ways to Protect Your Pets (and Yourself) from Fleas
- Pruning Dos and Dont’s
- Easy Home Improvement Projects
You can download the guide here. See a preview of some of the tips and helpful information in the Guide below.
How To Mosquito-Proof Your Yard
Spring is such a lovely time of year to enjoy spending time outdoors in the Bryan-College Station. Unfortunately, mosquitoes can sometimes spoil our fun. Here are a few ways to prevent these biting insects from hanging out in your yard.
Take Preventative Measures
Mosquitoes thrive in areas with long grasses, unkempt plants and shrubs and piled up branches and other debris. Keep your grass cut short, and regularly trim back plants and shrubs so they don’t harbor mosquitoes. If you’ve got branches or other wood sources piled up in your yard, make sure to clear it away and keep it from piling up again.
Remove Standing Water
Mosquitoes depend on standing water to reproduce, so take a stroll around your yard a few times a week to make sure there is no water that has accumulated in pots, wheelbarrows and in other areas of your lawn. If you have a birdbath, you can purchase disks which contain a bacteria toxic to mosquito larvae but safe for birds.
Use Natural Deterrents
Incorporate natural deterrents into your yard such as citronella, lemon thyme, lemon balm, catnip and feverfew. Natural treatments such as Bacillus thuringiensis israelensis and garlic spray can also help deter mosquitoes.
Invite Natural Predators In
Bats, purple martins, dragonflies, toads, and damselflies are natural predators of mosquitoes. They won’t do the job on their own, but in combination with other efforts, they can help reduce the mosquito population. You can encourage these mosquito-eaters to visit your yard by creating a draw, like bat and purple martin houses where they can roost.
Try DIY Mosquito Control
Many chemical treatments, traps and bug zappers can help eliminate mosquitoes. Mosquito traps attract mosquitoes by imitating human characteristics, like producing heat and releasing CO2. Bug zappers use a combination of light and electricity to attract and kill mosquitoes.
Ways To Protect Your Pets (and Yourself) From Fleas
One of the more pesky pests we see during the spring months are fleas. Here are some ways to protect your pets and your family from these biting insects.
Treat Your Yard
In the early spring, treat your yard with beneficial nematodes (Steinernema carpocapsae) that will kill flea larvae as well as adult fleas. Nematodes are safe for your gardens and can kill more than 90% of flea larvae in the soil within a single day. Make your yard less hospitable to fleas by trimming back weeds and keeping your lawn mowed throughout the year.
Treat Your Home
To prevent having fleas inside of your home, vacuum regularly to capture fleas and eggs in carpeting and floorboards. Launder all pet bedding (and human bedding if pets sleep there). Sprinkle pet bedding and rugs with diatomaceous earth, a natural, nontoxic powder. Leave it for a few hours and then vacuum it up. Use products containing cedar oil or shavings which are safe for cats and dogs and will repel and kill fleas around the house. Try flea traps that use incandescent light bulbs to attract fleas, which will get caught on sticky paper.
Treat Your Pets
Try apple cider vinegar as a non-toxic flea repellent. Add equal parts of vinegar and water to a spray bottle, and apply to your pet’s fur as well as to their bedding. Avoid getting the spray in your pet’s eyes, noses and ears. For dogs, you can add a few drops of lavender or cedar essential oils to the spray, but don’t add oils if using the spray on cats. Give your dog a bath with a nontoxic flea shampoo or Dawn dishwasher detergent (which works equally well and is safe for pets and the environment). Work up a lather and leave on for at least 5 minutes before rinsing. Use a flea comb on cats. Just like you did for carpets, you can dust your pets with diatomaceous earth. Work the powder into the fur, but try not to get too much dust in the air as it can be irritating to the lungs for both you and your pets.
ABC Can Lend A Helping Hand This Spring
As homeowners, we often struggle to keep up with home maintenance tasks, let alone with getting home improvement projects started. With the help of our Spring Guide, you can space out your tasks over the spring months and save you time. Let ABC handle some of your to-do list so you can get back to enjoying your home.
