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Published on 04/16/03

Spring cleaning can reduce pest problems

By Mike Isbell
University of Georgia

I finally got enough resolve to clean out the garage, and I could tell spring is here by all the pine pollen I swept out. Spring-cleaning time is here. Spring "debugging" might be another way to look at it.

As you begin getting out of the house, be sure you get the bugs out, too.

Other than ants making trails through our garage every now and then, we don't have a problem with insects. But thanks to a relatively mild winter and plenty of moisture, pest populations are likely to be high this year. Pest control workers already are bracing for a busy season.

Spring cleaning offers the perfect opportunity to locate and get rid of the openings these insects can use and the places they can hide. Insects come into your home through tiny openings such as cracks in the foundation, gaps around windows or holes in screens.

Seal cracks, crevices

As you fix up your home this spring, look for cracks and crevices, and seal them with paint, caulk, insulation or other materials.

See that your screen doors and windows are in good repair. And be sure the screen door opens to the outside. Clean out your fireplace and close the damper tightly.

Where you find spiders, be sure to get the web down, too. Fill any holes the spider may have used as a retreat. Then use an aerosol insecticide on the spot.

Sometimes spiders make their way into the bath and then just sit there. Why don't they get the idea that the bath is the last place they should go explore?

Store wood outside

Firewood is especially attractive to insects, so never store wood in the house or basement during the summer.

Out in the yard, fire ants are busy foraging for food, so spring is a good time to put out baits to get rid of them.

You may have read somewhere that ants can carry 10 times their own body weight. Well, so what? Millions of years of evolution and they still haven't worked out how to build a truck.

(Mike Isbell is the Heard County Extension Coordinator with the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.)

Dan Rahn is a news editor with the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

Mike Isbell is the Heard County extension coordinator with the University of Georgia College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

Experts/Sources:
Mike Isbell
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