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Sprinkler and Irrigation Conservation Guide | Smart Irrigation Month

. Posted by in , • Dallas-Fort Worth, Tyler

There are many ways to save water, but during the summer, the most effective water conservation improvements come from your sprinkler and irrigation system.

With just a little bit of knowledge, you can save water while keeping your landscaping healthy during hot, dry conditions.

Smart Irrigation Month Tips

  1. Know how much water your lawn needs

The amount of water your lawn needs depends on a lot of different factors including climate, soil type and grass type.

The trick is to water deeply but infrequently. You get deep roots with deep watering. As a general rule of thumb, do not water more than 1-inch deep each time.

  • Measure your sprinkler output by placing some tuna cans (or a similarly sized, flat-bottomed container) around your lawn.
  • ¾ to 1 inch of water is a good amount each time you irrigate.
  • You can get the average output by measuring the depth of water in each can and then dividing by the … Read Full Post »
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Keep Pests Off Pets During the Dog Days of Summer

. Posted by in • Dallas-Fort Worth, Tyler
Keep Pests Off Pets During the Dog Days of Summer

You protect your home from pests, but what about your pet? Things only get worse during the dog days of summer.

Pests that love pets include fleas, ticks, mosquitoes and even bed bugs. These pests aren’t just annoying, they could be extremely dangerous. According to CDC data, “illnesses from mosquito, tick, and flea bites have tripled in the U.S.”—mostly due to warming temperatures. Many pests, especially biting insects, thrive in the heat. The diseases they may carry—Zika, West Nile, Lyme, and chikungunya—are also sensitive to temperature changes.

Some key findings of the CDC report include:

  • A total of 642,602 cases of disease caused by the bite of an infected mosquito, tick, or flea were reported in the U.S. and its territories from 2004 through 2016.
  • The number of reported tickborne diseases more than doubled in 13 years and accounted for more than 60 percent of all reported mosquito-borne, tickborne, and fleaborne disease cases.

With so … Read Full Post »

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6 Ways to Keep Your Garden and Yard Pest-Free Without Chemicals

. Posted by in , , • Dallas-Fort Worth, Tyler
6 Ways to Maintain a Pest-Free Garden and Yard Without Chemicals - How to Garden Without Pests or Pesticides

Today, we’re talking about how to keep your garden pest-free without the use of pesticides or insecticides. It’s a common question for people who want to maintain an organic yard or garden.

While it may not be easy, it is possible. So, don’t give up! Let’s turn that black thumb into a green thumb.

What is Organic Gardening?

Reconnecting with nature and all its beauty is a great way to heighten your awareness to the world around you, both big and small. Unfortunately, gardening is more complicated than it seems, as any true gardener knows.

First off, the soil is alive with a small-scale world mostly unknown to us. One scoop of soil can be home to hundreds of thousands of fungi, thousands of protozoans, and a huge assortment of microscopic creatures known as cryptozoa.

In the 1980s, Jostein Goksøyr and Vigdis Torsvik (Norwegian scientists), gathered a gram of soil from a nearby beech forest … Read Full Post »

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6 Ways to Keep Pests from Traveling with You on Vacation

. Posted by in • Dallas-Fort Worth, Tyler
Keep Pests from Traveling with You on Vacation | ABC Blog

Summer vacation and family getaways go hand in hand. Camping by the lake, hiking in the hills and cooking in the grass are all quintessential summer activities. Enjoying the great outdoors is one thing, but no one wants to bring the outdoors home with them.

Typical vacation pests include ants, roaches, flies, mosquitoes and rodents — but perhaps the most feared is the bed bug. And in Texas, the chigger.

Common Vacation Pests

● Ants
● Roaches
● Bed Bugs
● Flies
● Mosquitoes
● Chiggers
● Rodents

Don’t let the fear of a fly keep you from enjoying the great outdoors! But, seriously, there are pests you just want to flat out avoid — bed bugs and chiggers, just to name a couple of the more difficult to get rid of.

Once you know where you are headed, you can look up if any specific pests might be a threat to you. For example, chiggers are normally found in moist, … Read Full Post »

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Carpenter Ant Awareness Week — 3 Signs and 4 Prevention Tips

. Posted by in • Dallas-Fort Worth, Tyler

It’s almost Carpenter Ant Awareness Week (every third week of June) and we’re here to share carpenter ant signs and prevention tips. Know what to look for and what you can do to deter carpenter ants from your home in the first place. If you’ve dealt with carpenter ants, you don’t want to again, and if you haven’t, you never want to. And you won’t — not if we can help it!

Anyone who has experienced a carpenter ant infestation is well aware of the havoc they can cause.

Carpenter ants are just as capable as termites of inflicting damage to your property. They like damp or decaying wood, removing small pieces to assemble their own nests. Although carpenter ants do not eat the wood like termites do, they can similarly infest your home and cause lasting damage.

To avoid structural damage to your home, early detection is key. Check out these 3 signs of carpenter … Read Full Post »

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How to Identify, Prevent and Treat Bed Bugs | Bed Bug Awareness Week

. Posted by in • Dallas-Fort Worth, Tyler
how to identify bed bugs

Bed bugs are an increasingly common problem in Texas. And summer just makes it worse. As we plan our vacations and get ready for adventure, there are some tiny travelers that want to hitch a ride. For Bed Bug Awareness Week (June 3-9, 2018), learn the tips and tricks for identifying, treating and preventing bed bugs.

Luckily, with some knowledge and quick action, you can identify and treat your bed bug problem and prevent an infestation.

Continue reading to learn about:

  1. Bed bugs, what they look like and how they thrive
  2. Bed bug prevention
  3. How to treat bed bugs if they do occur
  4. Working with a pest control professional

What Are Bed Bugs?

While not completely microscopic, bed bugs (cimex lectularius) are still extremely hard to spot. Bed bugs are very small, wingless insects with a flat, reddish body. Like mosquitoes, they feast on human blood. Because of this, one of their absolute favorite places is bed and … Read Full Post »

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When to Hire Professional Pest Control — Why Earlier is Better

. Posted by in • Dallas-Fort Worth, Tyler
When to Hire Professional Pest Control — Why Earlier is Better

When should you hire a pest control professional? If you are even considering it, the answer is probably now.

You may be thinking, “of course they would recommend professional pest control.” After all, we are a pest control company. While we admit the possibility of some bias, our experience consistently proves that the longer you wait to hire a professional, the worse your problem will get.

So before you start driving around town for store-bought insect killers, learn why and when you should call in the pros.

Why Should I Hire a Pest Control Professional?

Unwanted guests can enter building structures through extremely small cracks and gaps. Although it may not be possible to completely rid your home or business of all pests, there are many ways to seriously reduce the possibility of pest problems.

We highly recommend exclusion techniques (air sealing, for instance), proper sanitation and other preventative measures, but it’s also important to … Read Full Post »

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5 Natural Ways to Rodent-Proof Your Home

. Posted by in , • Dallas-Fort Worth, Tyler
5 Natural Ways to Rodent-Proof Your Home

Finding a mouse or rat can be a shocking and revolting experience, but it’s a common one. Remember, a rat can enter a hole about the size of a quarter; a mouse only requires a dime-sized hole. If you can fit a pencil into the hole, it’s likely a mouse can fit through as well.

Mice, rats and other rodents cause billions in damage every single year. In addition to structural damage, they can also create health and fire hazards when they chew on wiring, contaminate food and die inside the home. Rodents are known to carry a myriad of diseases and even other pests, such as lice, ticks and fleas.

While we normally think of rodent infestations as a winter issue, rodents and other animals still need food and shelter in warmer weather. Unfortunately, rats and mice are year-round pests. All they need is a little incentive, such as food, warmth … Read Full Post »

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How to Prepare Your Yard for Spring and Summer

. Posted by in , • Dallas-Fort Worth, Tyler
How to Prepare Your Yard for Spring and Summer

Winter weather can leave your landscape wanting. To help bring your landscape back to its fuller and lusher self, it’s important to do some spring lawn prep and maintenance.

Spring lawn care in essential for keeping your yard thriving and resilient through summer. If you want to a beautiful lawn and garden, follow these steps to keep your lawn and landscaping lush and green for the summer.

10 Ways to Get Lawn and Landscaping Ready for Summer

1. Rake It Up

The first step to preparing your yard for spring and summer is to do some raking and cleaning around the home. Use your yard waste container to collect all the leaves, twigs and other debris that has accumulated over winter. Vigorously rake your lawn to clear your landscaping of thatch—dried out, dead grass and organic debris.

The more material you have on the ground, the more difficult it will be for your lawn to … Read Full Post »

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Identify Home Moisture Issues to Prevent Pest Problems

. Posted by in , • Dallas-Fort Worth, Tyler
Identify Home Moisture Issues to Prevent Pest Problems

Rainy springtime weather can have a big influence on the number and kind of pests that can enter a building. Warm and wet weather can cause pests to leave their outdoor shelters and head into manmade ones.

Many pests spend the majority of the winter months under rocks, logs, mulch and soil. By staying below the frost line, they are able to survive extremely cold temperatures. But when the warmer weather and April showers saturate the ground, most of these pests are forced out. That’s why ants and other pests often enter buildings following a heavy rain.

In addition to rainfall driving pests out of their natural homes, water also encourages termites, carpenter ants and other wood-boring insects, encourages mold growth, and serves as a breeding ground for mosquitoes and other insects.

How to Identify Moisture Issues Around the Home

Even if you don’t think there are any moisture problems around your property, it’s … Read Full Post »

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