Yard Pest and Insect Control

Lawns and landscapes are a delicate ecosystem that can be easily disrupted by a few pesky insects. Insects have different life cycles which consist of various changes in shape and form. There are certain stages of life in which insects are protected from insecticides. We monitor insect development based on an advanced calendar using “Growing Degree Days” to control them while they are most susceptible. By maintaining an acceptable threshold of insects in your shrubs, trees, and soil, we can improve the quality of your entire landscape.

Some of the common yard pest control issues we treat are grubs, army worms, and cut worms. Often times the products used to control these yard pests are broad spectrum insecticides, which have a significant effect on reducing chigger, flea and tick populations for our furry friends.

So often when discussing the control of insects in our lawns and landscapes customers think they want complete eradication of their problem pest. However, more often than not, it is better to merely manage the populations enough to avoid aesthetic damage to the grass. We need insects to maintain a healthy ecosystem for growing plants and turf grasses. If we eradicate one species of insect, too often another species goes unchecked. Usually targeting only one specific insect species is just not possible with the chemical control options available today. Most treatments, when applied at regular weekly or monthly intervals will wipe out all kinds of insect life in our lawns, both good and bad. If the bad insects re-populate faster than the good insects, you could have a yard pest control epidemic on your hands.

Sometimes yard pests also come in the form of rodents. We are all too familiar with mole runs and gopher holes. While we don’t have a solution for every pest, we do offer services to reduce and control mole populations in your lawn and landscape. We use a type of poison worm to control moles in the lawn.

We like to tell our customers that controlling moles in your lawn or landscape is a lot like fishing. First, you have to know where their favorite places to hang out are. For moles, that tends to be areas of loose soil. Some examples of that would be under freshly laid sod, in a mulch bed, or simply in a really healthy lawn that has great soil structure. Healthy lawns have lots of large worms and loose porous soil. Since worms make up the majority of a mole’s diet, and loose soil is easier to hunt in than hard compact soil, unfortunately, having a nice lawn can lead to finding the occasional mole run.

Once you know where to find the mole runs, if you haven’t found them already, getting rid of them is a patience game. You simply put out a bunch of lines (or poison worms, in this case) and wait to catch something (or for the moles to find and consume them).

If you’re in Springfield, Nixa, or Ozark, Missouri, contact us and find out how we can help you with insect and pest control services for your lawn and landscape.