Although most ant invasions will occur in the summer months, you may be eerily surprised to find a swarm in your home in late winter.  More than an occasional home owner has had this unpleasant experience.

Trying to discourage ants from invading your home can be frustrating. Proper food storage and waste management will reduce the food that often attracts workers indoors.

Clean all kitchen surfaces, vacuum daily, and rinse recyclable containers before throwing them in the recycle bin.

Ants are social insects and are divided up into three castes: workers, males, and queens.  Get the workers and the food source is greatly stopped.

To find products that kill ants, we have grouped them on this page:  http://www.backyardstyle.com/shop/pest-control-ants.php

One of our favorite ant-killing brands is Grant’s.  Grant’s Kills Ants was one of the first ant bait products used to control invading ants and is still one of the most effective. Using a unique bait stake, the bait is contained in the stake and the product is effective in killing ants while protecting the environment.

Use either of these Ant Killing Products from Grants

Ant Stakes

• Active Ingredient: 1.0% Hydramethylnon
• Ants carry bait back to the colony to kill the Queen and destroy the colony.
• Use Outdoors around the house and for effective control replace every 6 weeks.
• Can also be used Indoors for up to 3 months.
• Helps keep ants from coming back.

Liquid Ant Bait

• Kills the ants you see and the ants you dont.
• For use in or around homes.
• Easy to remove plug, no drips, spills or mess.

That’s the concept behind Scarecrow, an animal-invasion deterrent commonly known as a “deer sprinkler.”

The Scarecrow deterrent device consists of a rotating sprinkler head on top of an infrared motion sensor. When it is on, it will spray any animal – dog, raccoon, T-Rex, rabbit, cat or mother-in-law – that gets within 35 feet.  (Just kidding about the T-Rex and Mother-in-law)

Cost and assembly are minimal compared with digging postholes and running fence.  This is the time of year that people stock up on the Scarecrow sprinklers because the price starts to rise as we approach February and March when some parts of the country start to defrost.

Using the ScareCrow is easy.

Attach a standard garden hose to the scarecrow sprinkler base, set the ScareCrow in the ground in the area you want to protect, and then turn on the water. Once you switch the unit on, it is ready to go.

It has a:

• Spray distance adjuster
• Ultra low energy trigger mechanism
• Sprinkler arc adjustment
• High quality motion sensor
• On / Off and sensitivity adjuster
• Optional eye and beak decals
• Runs on a 9V battery
• Has a study plastic stop for easy installation
• 17 inch stake
• Scarecrows may be hooked up in series to protect a large area

Moles are notorious for digging through lawns and devouring beneficial worms.

Stop the mole dam

age now with Liquid Fence Mole Repellent Spray and innovative Mole Repellent Worms.

Whether your problem is big or small, Liquid Fence Mole Repellent will send those insectivores running.

The eco-friendly formula coats the moles food source, making it undesirable for the hungry pests and causing them to look elsewhere for food.

So if moles are your problem, get the solution that really works!

Smile and scoop up your last Goose turd.

Goose, Duck and Turkey habitat can be greatly reduced with Liquid Fence’s ingenius product. In a nutshell, the way that Goose Repellent works is that it makes the food supply ( where you apply it) very undesirable to geese, turkeys and ducks. They hate it! In essense, this safely contaminates the geese and duck food source.

Take away the food source and those ducks and geese will migrate right out of the area to find food somewhere else. And you will be left with a doo doo free backyard, pond or lawn.

Although we love animals and birds here at BackyardStyle – we are also aware of the damage that geese and duck can do to your home and yard. They can damage grass and other vegetation, pollute ponds, and spread disease. Geese can actually endanger both children and adults with aggressive, nasty behavior.

I am a runner and have found that my worst foe is a nasty geese family that
lives near the Golf Course that I run around. These geese will actually chase me
while I am running! Although I am grateful for the additional cardivascular
workout as I sprint away from them – I am worred that someday .. one of those
suckers will take a chunk out of my leg!

Geese generally nest on shorelines, ponds, islands, man-made structures, golf courses and even in pools. If an area provides a water source, cover for a the geese nest and a good place for the bird to have a lookout, it is likely a goose will build its home there.

Geese are also attracted to lawns with short, mowed grass.

If the geese are migrating to your home – Liquid Fence Geese Repellent will do the job!

Liquid Fence Coupon: Save $5.00 on any Liquid Fence order that totals more than $75 with coupon code: rachels5 – EXPIRES AUGUST 1, 2011.

Wasps:  Wasps are long, thin, and black.  They are known to have the most painful sting.  Wasp nests are very small and can basically be built in any nook or cranny.  This can often make it difficult to find the source of the wasps.  However, wasps do really like attics, so that is one place you should check for them.  A great product to repel wasps away from your home is the Waspinator Chemical-Free Wasp Repellent.  Wasps are very competitive, and they will not occupy a pace where other wasps already are.  The Waspinator Chemical-Free Wasp Repellent looks like a wasp nest, and when wasps see it they will automatically leave your yard alone.  This is a great way to remove wasps from your yard without using any chemicals.

Yellow Jackets:  These pests like sugary treats.  They frequent picnic areas, especially when sugary sodas or ice cream is around.  Their back has yellow and black stripes, hence the name “yellow jacket.”  The look of their nest likens to a tear drop or a football.  If the nest is out in the open, it is quite easy to identify.  Identifying becomes difficult when the nest is hidden.  Luckily, yellow jackets themselves are quite easy to identify.  If yellow jackets are your problem get the Yellow Jacket Trap with Bait (Case of 12), pictured to the right.  Yellow jackets are drawn to the Yellow Jacket Trap with Bait (Case of 12), and once they enter they become trapped and die.

Hornets:  If a hornet wants to sting you, he will.  Hornets have a strong sting that can penetrate layers of clothing.  However, a hornet sting is not any more toxic than a bee sting.  Hornets almost exclusively build their nests outside in trees, shrubs, or underneath your patio.  Similarly to yellow jackets, a hornet’s nest will look like a tear drop or football.  A good line of defense against hornets is using a spray like the Shoo-Fly Hornet Bomb 12 oz.  It can shoot a distance of 25 feet, so you can cover a large radius with the Shoo-Fly Hornet Bomb 12 oz.  It can also be used on wasps, yellow jackets, as well as spiders, cockroaches, and ants.

An easy way to get rid of these critters has to do with mulch.  Moles love to burrow in mulch, with the goal of either nesting or scavenging for food.  One way to prevent moles from becoming permanent residents of your yard is to reduce the amount of mulch you have.  It would be ideal to remove the mulch around the plants that moles love to eat.

You could also build a barrier around your garden or wherever moles like to visit.  The best material would be chicken wire or poultry netting.  Not only do you need to set up this barrier above ground, but you also need to sink it under ground.  As you may realize, moles like to dig, and they are perfectly capable of digging underneath a barrier if it is not sunk deep enough into the ground.  You also have to make sure that the holes of the barrier are not large enough for the critters to squeeze through.

One of my favorite tricks is to use a “liquid fence” material, like the Liquid Fence Mole Repellent Gallon Concentrate, pictured to the right.  The liquid in the  Liquid Fence Mole Repellent Gallon Concentrate seeps into the ground wherever you apply it, and is easily absorbed by favorite food sources of moles: earthworms and roots!  Moles will not eat anything that has the Liquid Fence Mole Repellent Gallon Concentrate in it, which will force the moles to flee your yard!  The best part is that this solution is safe to use around kids and pets.

Another way to get rid of moles is to use sonic pulses to drive them away.  The Mole & Gopher Sonic Spikes 2 Pack has 2 spikes which emit sonic pulses.  You will sink these spikes into soil around areas where you are having mole problems.  Together these 2 spikes can cover an area of about 15,000 square feet.  The pulses from the Mole & Gopher Sonic Spikes 2 Pack will get rid of moles/voles/gophers for at least 4 months.

All of the methods mentioned are non lethal methods of getting rid of moles and voles.  If you have exhausted all non lethal options, then its time to turn to mole killers.  The Victor Mole Trap is a standard mole trap that is pushed into the ground, and will cause instant death of the mole when it is set off.  If you have children or pets, you must be extremely cautious when using the Victor Mole Trap.

To prevent this from happening, you will need netting to cover your trees and patches.  The key is cover the plants after their flowering stage is over.  This way, you will not prevent pollination from happening.  If you have a fruit tree, you will need to apply netting specifically made for trees.  A great brand and product is Ross Tree Netting.  The net holes are in a large diamond shape, which will protect your plants from birds while still allowing in air, sunshine, and water.  Simply draping the Ross Tree Netting over a tree is a perfect solution to preventing birds from eating your fruit.

A problem can occur when a tree is very tall.  It can be difficult getting tree netting over an entire tall tree!  If this is the case, you should at least wrap the lower half of the tree.  This way, birds will only be able to eat the fruit at the top of the tree, which is the hardest for you to harvest anyway.

If you are growing your fruit in a low to the ground patch (such as berry patches), you will need to put a little more energy into protecting your plants from birds.  What I like to do is build a wooden border around the patch, and then drape netting over the wooden border.  For a task like this, I use Ross Garden Netting, pictured above.  The holes in the Ross Garden Netting have a diamond shape, so you will have no problem regularly watering your fruit patches.  Similarly with the Ross Tree Netting mentioned above, you can easily cut this netting with scissors to make it into your desired shape.  When you are ready to harvest your fruit, all you need to do is lift up the netting.

To figure out your best line of defense against bugs, you have to know which kinds are attacking your plants.  The key to identifying the bugs is to watch your vegetable garden at different points in the day.  Once you catch the bugs that are eating your plants, you can properly get rid of them.  If you are not familiar with different types of bugs, just put one or two in a bag and find someone who can help you identify them.  You could take the bag to an avid gardner, a gardening store, or maybe even a landscaper.

If you catch the pests early while there are only a few, you can just kill them by rinsing them off with water from a hose.  However, if there are tons of bugs on your vegetable plants, you will have to take more drastic methods.  There are a variety of good quality vegetable garden insecticides, but I have a couple of favorites that you can use for organic gardening.

First, using horticulture oil spray is a well known way to kill bug pests.  I like the Earth-tone Horticultural Oil for Gardens, pictured above.  It successfully kills a variety of bugs, as well as their eggs and larvae.  The primary ingredient is canola oil, and it is safe to use year round.  If you like using Earth-tone Horticultural Oil for Gardens to prevent pests from attacking your vegetable plants, try using it on a trees and your lawn too.

Another safe insecticide is neem oil, which is made of vegetable oil.  Neem oil is an organic product that repels bugs like aphids, beetles, caterpillars, and thrips.  You can find neem oil in Bon-Neem Insecticide.  Bon-Neem Insecticide is not only great for preventing pests, but it also prevents fungal infections in your plants!

Lastly, insecticidal soap is great for killing vegetable pests.  Worry Free Insecticidal Soap – 24 oz kills spiders, aphids, and whiteflies, just to name a few.  It is made from chrysanthemum flowers, and contains fatty acids which kill insect’s cell memranes.  It can also prevent powdery mildew from developing in your plants!

There are a few tips you should keep in mind when planning your produce garden:

1.  Plant near your house. This way, you can keep an eye on your produce, and you will be able to pick it when you notice that its at its peak ripeness.  It will also be convenient to collect the produce when it is near your house.

2.  Plant in an area that gets morning sunlight. Your vegetables and herbs need at least six hours of direct sunlight a day.  Early morning sunlight dried the dew that collects overnight, which will decrease the chance of disease growing on your plants.  Additionally, afternoon sunlight can be harsh and may over-dry your plants.

3.  Prevent grass from mixing with your garden. You will need to separate your garden area from the rest of your lawn.  A good idea is to use bricks or decorative stones.

4.  Protect your garden from hungry animals. If you live in an area with deer, rabbits, or woodchucks, you will definitely want to protect your garden.  You may consider installing an animal barrier fence, like Ross Protective Garden Netting.  This malleable fence can be cut to your desired size.  It is temporary, and can be taken down at the end of the season and setup again next spring.  Setting up a net fence is a great alternative to using harmful chemicals.  If you have animals that like to dig under the fence, you will need to press wood or poultry wire through the ground to prevent digging animals from snatching your produce.

5.  Keep the soil fertile. If the garden space you chose does not have the most fertile soil, it is very important that you replace it with fertile soil.  Organic Tomato and Vegetable Food, shown above, is specially created for your vegetable garden.  Fertile soil thwarts the growth of weeds.

If you have never grown your own produce, you must start now!  You have not really tasted vegetables unless you have eaten them straight from your own garden. Your family will thank you for feeding them the freshest produce possible.

In gardens, the BMSB can damage plants such as roses, vegetables, ornamental plants and trees, but the most concern that homeowners have about this insect comes when it invades their home in the late summer and fall.

Typically, the insects fly onto the exterior of homes and businesses when the weather starts to cool around mid- to late-September or early October. Once active, these dime-sized pests begin to seek cracks and crevices to enter buildings to overwinter. Common entry points for these smelly pests include small cracks and crevices around air conditioning units, chimneys, attic vents, door and window frames, and gaps or holes in the foundation. Replacing screens, installing weather stripping and door sweeps, and using caulk to seal any cracks around the building can help keep these pests out.

While exclusion is the best preventive step that homeowners can take, careful application of insecticides containing Pyrethroid chemistry can help control large populations outside windows and doors before the insects enter the home.

Currently there are no insecticides registered for stink bug control indoors, and consumers should not apply products formulated for outdoor control to indoor spaces.

Indoor invaders can be vacuumed up in a shop vacuum and immediately disposed of, to prevent the development of the strong odor for which these insects are known.

Products to KILL Stink bugs

• Beetle Killer
• Caterpillar Killer
• Dragoon Dust
• Garden Dust
• Borer Miner Killer