Well, the first part is up to you, then we’ll handle the rest!
Get in touch with us by either calling or filling out a contact form here on our website. If you’re ready to go, you can also click HERE to set up your service from start to finish!
Once we confirm service, we will send one of our operators out to complete your first service. When we arrive, we will let you know that we are there and ask you to bring any kids and / or pets inside for their safety. We don’t carry any highly toxic pesticides labeled with “Warning” or “danger”, but its always best if people are inside during the application and until the product dries.
Next, we will do a visual inspection of your property and anything that we can see from your property to identify any problematic spots where mosquitos or ticks could be breeding. Did you know that a female Culex mosquito could lay an egg raft of 100 eggs in a plastic bottle cap? It doesn’t take a wheelbarrow full of water or a kiddie pool for mosquitos to lay eggs, so we are looking out for anything we can that will prevent issues.
Next, we will handle the small items, like turning over a forgotten flower pot or things of that nature. We will note any larger issues and report them to you via email in our inspection report. The most common items we find would be low lying areas that are collecting water, pitchy gutters, or the broken birdbath in your neighbor’s yard that has become prime grounds for mosquito breeding. These areas can and in most cases will be treated, but repairing them (or talking to your neighbor about their birdbath) is up to you.
For more persistent areas like the yuck puddle that shows up by your deck every time it drizzles, or the low spot on your driveway, we will apply a mosquito larvae selective bacteria to control the breeding and maturation process. We will repeat this as necessary through our ongoing service schedule.
Our next step will be a perimeter treatment to both eliminate and repel mosquitos and ticks. Mosquitos normally live on the underside of broad leaves in trees, and ticks in areas with tall grass, brush and trees, so our focus is on these areas. We avoid areas where pollinators would be foraging, as these areas are not where our target pests spend their time. Also, we don’t treat flowering plants or food items for obvious reasons.
This treatment typically consists of EPA 25b Exempt solutions that take out the problematic pests. Depending on the time of year and the weather, we may also mix in a selective IGR (insect growth regulator) to make sure the next generation of mozzies ticks and don’t make it to adulthood. For severe infestations, we may recommend the use of traditional pesticides to get the problem under control before returning to a natural program.
We tell our customers that they can expect a 50+% reduction in the pests after the first treatment if we are doing it midsummer. This number should increase dramatically when done on a scheduled routine to about 80-90%. Getting an early jump on the season in April or May makes the treatments even more effective. There’s never a guarantee of complete eradication as mosquitoes can fly in from other areas aside from your treated property, but you will definitely notice that being outdoors in the evening is much more pleasant!
When it comes to frequency of service, we recommend every two to three weeks from mid April until October for mosquitoes, and mid April through November for ticks, depending on how early the first freeze comes. Ticks LOVE leaf piles, and although their numbers dwindle when it starts getting colder, they seem more brash when the fall starts. You will be able to choose the package which suits you best, every 2-3 weeks, and if you don’t know which one is best for you, we can help you out and/or change up your schedule to make it work out in a way that is best for you!
We also utilize technology to make the whole process easy for you from start to finish. We strive to be a “set it and forget it” style company, where you hire us and we send you a text to let you know when we’re coming, who was there and when we left. We’ll give a knock on the door when we arrive, but you don’t have to be home. We also run on totally automatic billing, so you will not have to write us a check or go digging for cash when you see us parked outside. Also, we offer nice end of season discounts for our existing customers who want to continue with us the following year as a nice “thank you”!
For one-off treatments or event treatments, please give us a call and we can discuss the available options!