A calendar for looking, not spraying
Pest prevention can start with simply noticing things. A short walk around the house, a glance into a cabinet or a look inside a stored box can catch something while it is small. Spread a handful of checks across each season, and no single weekend has to carry them all. When a check turns up something you cannot handle, that is the moment to call a pest company.
Spring
- Kneel along the foundation. Every few steps, look where the wall meets the soil for cracks, gaps or little mounds of dirt.
- Pull the mulch back. Rake mulch and stones a little away from the wall so the base of the house stays in view.
- Slide a sheet of paper under each outside door. If it passes through with no drag at all, the sweep may need replacing.
- Check vent covers. Make sure dryer, bath and attic vents close and their screens are whole.
- Scoop the gutters. Clear leaves and grit so the downspouts carry water off the roof.
Summer
- Hunt for water that sits. Wheelbarrows, kiddie pools, tarps over the woodpile and flower pot saucers can all hold it; tip them out after watering or a rain.
- Leave a gap between green things and the house. Prune hedges and climbing plants until you can walk behind them, and keep limbs off the roof.
- Keep the grill clean. Scrape grease and food scraps off after each use, and cover it.
- Keep bin lids shut. Hose out a bin that has held a leaking bag, and park the bins along a fence rather than beside a door.
- Treat pet food like people food. Serve it at mealtimes, then put the bowl away and the bag in a sealed tin.
Fall
- Finish the repair list from spring. Patch each opening you wrote down then, and leave anything you are unsure of for a pest company or handyman to look at.
- Look up at the eaves and soffits. Check for loose boards, holes and gaps where the roof meets the wall.
- Rack the firewood. Set it on a frame so it sits above the soil, well back from the siding, and bring armloads inside only as you need them.
- Run the garage door down. Look at the rubber strip along its bottom edge, and replace one that is torn or stiff.
- Give outdoor things a once-over before storing them. Turn cushions, toys and planters upside down on the lawn and look underneath before they go into the garage.
Winter
- Take a flashlight into the attic. Scan the insulation for tunnels, nests or droppings, and switch the light off for a moment to see whether any daylight leaks in.
- Swap cardboard for plastic. Repack clothing, paper and decorations in bins with lids that snap shut.
- Vacuum under the big appliances. Clear the floor beneath the refrigerator and stove, and the dust on the coils behind the refrigerator.
- Feel the cabinet floor under each sink for damp. Look at the hole where the pipes go through the wall; a gap there can be filled.
- Read back over the year. Look at your notes and decide what to bring up with a pest company.
Any time of year: the kitchen and pantry
- Clear crumbs from counters, the toaster and the floor by the table at the end of each day.
- Keep flour, cereal, rice and birdseed in containers with tight lids.
- Rinse cans and jars before they go in the recycling.
- Have a dripping tap or a weeping hose fitting repaired promptly.
What Kansas law says about a pesticide business
Under Kansas law, a pesticide business without a pesticide business license from the secretary of agriculture may not lawfully advertise, sell or perform any service for the control of a pest on the property of another, or apply a pesticide to the property of another.
The bond or insurance behind a license
To get a Kansas pesticide business license, the applicant files either a surety bond of not less than $6,000 per year or a certificate of liability insurance with at least $25,000 bodily injury and $5,000 property damage coverage for each occurrence.
The license question
Ask any company you are thinking of hiring: "Do you hold a current Kansas pesticide business license, and what is the license number?" Note the reply, the date and the name of the person who answered. Ask for proof of liability coverage and workers' compensation as well.
Asking for an inspection
Call a company when something keeps coming back after your own checks, or when you cannot tell what you are looking at. Before you agree to anything, have the company write down what it found, what it intends to do about it, the product names, the places it will treat and the price. Ask what each product label says about when people and pets can go back into a treated area, and mention pets, aquariums and food gardens before the work starts.
A service file
Add a line at the end of each season: what you checked, what you fixed and what you saw, with dates. Keep the proposals, product names, receipts, the license answer and any treatment notes with it. Over time, the file can show which spots keep coming up, and it gives a new technician a history to start from.