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Creating Your Pest-Free Haven in 5 Steps · PEST PROSpectives

• 0:09
  Richard Piet: I'm Richard Piet.
• 0:10
  Richard Piet: Welcome back to PEST PROSpectives.
• 0:12
  Richard Piet: It's our perspective from the pros.
• 0:15
  Richard Piet: That's the point as we bring you these discussions from Pest Pros of Michigan trying to help eliminate pests in your environment.
• 0:27
  Richard Piet: In fact, today Amber Byers is back with us to talk about five ways to create a pest-free environment.
• 0:36
  Richard Piet: Hi, Amber.
• 0:38
  Amber Byars: Hey Richard, how are you?
• 0:39
  Richard Piet: Good, this is your zone, this is your expertise and in a way, this is kind of a zoomed out.
• 0:47
  Richard Piet: Look at how we do this.
• 0:50
  Richard Piet: We've talked several times now about specific pests.
• 0:55
  Richard Piet: In this case, we're really sort of zooming out.
• 0:58
  Richard Piet: So, when Amber goes to a party and tells people what she does, these are some of the things they want to know.
• 1:03
  Richard Piet: Wait a minute, how do I keep pests out?
• 1:06
  Richard Piet: We're going to give you five ways right now that you can do that.
• 1:10
  Richard Piet: What's number one on this list?
• 1:14
  Amber Byars: Well, we're going to start with mechanical control, with trying to mitigate or eliminate some of those entry points that pests are going to utilize to gain entry to the home.
• 1:23
  Richard Piet: Yeah, yeah, boy, sometimes we don't know these things are there, do we?
• 1:29
  Amber Byars: We do not know, or that's not the first thing clients think of.
• 1:32
  Amber Byars: They're just like what do you got to spray?
• 1:34
  Amber Byars: You know, what do you got to put around here to get rid of these guys?
• 1:38
  Amber Byars: But sometimes that's not the answer.
• 1:40
  Amber Byars: But we know that, especially here at Pest Pros, we utilize the integrated pest management methods, which are multiple different tools and tactics that play into coming to a solution, and exclusion is a huge part of that.
• 1:54
  Richard Piet: Yeah, and that word is descriptive.
• 1:56
  Richard Piet: We want to exclude the ability for pests to enter.
• 2:01
  Richard Piet: That's really what we're talking about.
• 2:03
  Amber Byars: Exactly, yeah, what are?
• 2:04
  Richard Piet: you looking for with that?
• 2:05
  Richard Piet: I guess it depends on what type of pest we're talking about Exactly.
• 2:06
  Richard Piet: Yeah, what are you looking for with that?
• 2:07
  Amber Byars: I guess it depends on what type of pest we're dealing with.
• 2:09
  Amber Byars: So if we're focusing on, let's say, a rodent or a mouse, we have to try to figure out where they're using to get in if it's foundation level, if it's roof level.
• 2:18
  Amber Byars: So we start by looking at the structure.
• 2:20
  Amber Byars: What's the exterior siding?
• 2:22
  Amber Byars: Are there any trees touching?
• 2:26
  Amber Byars: Are there any other bridges to the home that they could be utilizing?
• 2:28
  Amber Byars: So with a mouse, we know they only take a very small entry point about the size of your pinky or smaller if it's a smaller mouse to get in.
• 2:36
  Amber Byars: So we're looking for any area that big to seal off.
• 2:42
  Amber Byars: We're looking at siding corners.
• 2:43
  Amber Byars: We're looking at utility lines.
• 2:45
  Amber Byars: We're looking at foundation to siding gaps.
• 2:47
  Amber Byars: Clients aren't thinking about that.
• 2:50
  Amber Byars: They don't go around on their hands and knees looking at the foundation of their home.
• 2:54
  Amber Byars: That's what we're there to do.
• 2:56
  Richard Piet: And if it's the size of a pinky, we might look right at the entry point and say, nah, that's too small.
• 3:03
  Amber Byars: Yeah, exactly.
• 3:04
  Amber Byars: But then comparatively, if we're talking about something like a stink bug, then we know we're looking roof level, like gable vents or ridge vents, chimneys, window frames, door frames, and that doesn't matter what kind of siding or structural components.
• 3:21
  Amber Byars: That's the areas those bugs are going to go into the house.
• 3:24
  Richard Piet: All right, so you get it.
• 3:25
  Richard Piet: This is the situation.
• 3:27
  Richard Piet: A prospective on exactly what is happening on your property is important because, as Amber has just illustrated, she knows what to look for depending on what the pest is.
• 3:40
  Richard Piet: But the point is, exclusion is important.
• 3:43
  Richard Piet: Next step in one of the ways to create a pest-free environment, it's food and not having it.
• 3:51
  Amber Byars: Yeah, Food source, water source.
• 3:53
  Amber Byars: Whatever the case is, that can look a lot different depending on pest as well.
• 3:57
  Amber Byars: So with something like a German cockroach, they can eat whatever they want.
• 4:03
  Amber Byars: They'll eat glue off of a book or cardboard boxes or organic material, but they will not survive without water.
• 4:12
  Amber Byars: So if we can eliminate the water source or barriers up around the water sources, we'll eliminate the cockroaches.
• 4:19
  Amber Byars: With something like a spring tail, which we're dealing with crazy right now a lot of our clients, with all of the rain and either the rain or really high heat springtails are invading homes like crazy.
• 4:30
  Amber Byars: So they will not invade a home unless there is a moisture issue, because they will not thrive without organic growth, fungi, mold, algae.
• 4:41
  Amber Byars: Something has to be in that home for them to feed on, for them to be able to thrive indoors.
• 4:46
  Amber Byars: So we eliminate that.
• 4:48
  Amber Byars: We eliminate the springtails.
• 4:51
  Richard Piet: There you are again, so specific examples of a pest that then you go into your data bank and say, okay, here's what they want, here's what we should look for.
• 5:02
  Richard Piet: That's probably why they're here.
• 5:04
  Richard Piet: Reducing those things reduces them.
• 5:09
  Amber Byars: The important thing to know about that, when you're talking to a client, is just the simple fact of educating them, because what we don't want their perception to be is that our treatments are failing.
• 5:21
  Amber Byars: There are no amount of pesticides that will ever eliminate a certain species of pest.
• 5:28
  Amber Byars: Without eliminating conducive conditions, without eliminating the food source, without excluding them, no amount of product will ever be the cure-all.
• 5:38
  Amber Byars: So that's the bigger picture.
• 5:40
  Amber Byars: There is trying to inform people of that, because the first thing we hear is hey, you guys aren't doing your job, which isn't true.
• 5:48
  Richard Piet: Yeah well, it's a multi-layered approach, as you pointed out when we started here.
• 5:52
  Richard Piet: So what was that comment?
• 5:54
  Richard Piet: You may just come and spray something.
• 5:56
  Richard Piet: It's more than that.
• 5:58
  Amber Byars: Exactly.
• 5:59
  Richard Piet: And these are all examples of it.
• 6:00
  Richard Piet: Another one and I venture to say we've talked about this in other episodes because it keeps coming back the idea of not providing access points that might be your landscaping.
• 6:14
  Amber Byars: Yes, overgrown vegetation, and it might not even be vegetation but something like a mulch bed.
• 6:21
  Amber Byars: It could be something just like a normal tree that is overhanging onto the roof.
• 6:25
  Amber Byars: We have to manage those types of conditions because that is a literal bridge from a part of the earth to your structure.
• 6:34
  Amber Byars: You don't want that, whether that's for carpenter ants, whether that's for a squirrel.
• 6:39
  Amber Byars: You don't want an easier access point than you would, you know, necessarily want to have.
• 6:45
  Amber Byars: So we look at all of those things on site.
• 6:48
  Amber Byars: We look at if there's brush touching the structure, overgrown like invasive vines that come right up to the home and then trail up the siding.
• 6:57
  Amber Byars: That is a jungle gym for a lot of rodents.
• 7:00
  Amber Byars: They love to climb, you know.
• 7:02
  Richard Piet: It's a playground.
• 7:03
  Richard Piet: They like that.
• 7:04
  Amber Byars: Yeah, so we want to talk to people about let's trim that back, and not just for rodents but for things like moisture pests.
• 7:12
  Amber Byars: If there's something directly in contact with the house.
• 7:14
  Amber Byars: We always recommend putting a barrier up between the foundation and at least four or five feet out, with something like dried pebble obviously, like a landscape fabric underneath, to put that barrier between the soil and the stone underneath, to put that barrier between the soil and the stone.
• 7:32
  Amber Byars: It just is all a reduction process of reducing the amount of pests that are in the environment.
• 7:35
  Richard Piet: Well, you made a good point about describing that overgrowth as a bridge, because it's very similar to the point of the exclusion point we were talking about before.
• 7:45
  Richard Piet: So we're eliminating the entrance points.
• 7:48
  Richard Piet: We also want to take the bridge down.
• 7:51
  Amber Byars: Yeah, because that will relieve some pressure.
• 7:53
  Amber Byars: With all that touching of the structure, the pressure is higher yeah.
• 7:58
  Richard Piet: Okay Now the next thing in our list of five ways to create a pest free environment is to keep an eye on all of this stuff.
• 8:07
  Richard Piet: It's not like you can trim that stuff back and then you're good for the rest of the time you live there.
• 8:13
  Richard Piet: These things will grow again.
• 8:15
  Richard Piet: But an overall inspection, right?
• 8:18
  Amber Byars: Yeah, yeah, monitor and inspect regularly are very important.
• 8:23
  Amber Byars: That is also a part of the integrated pest management cycle is to follow up and, you know, re-inspect, make sure the program is working, whether that's by hiring a pest control company to do that for you or you having the self-discipline to do that yourself, because what you don't want to happen is for you to do all this work up front get the pests under control, eliminate the pests, possibly, and then forget about it, and that is in relevance to a lot of things in our daily lives.
• 8:51
  Amber Byars: Anyways, right.
• 8:53
  Richard Piet: That's probably true.
• 8:54
  Richard Piet: Some problems don't go away without upkeep.
• 8:58
  Amber Byars: Yes, that's what you're talking about.
• 9:00
  Amber Byars: Exactly.
• 9:01
  Richard Piet: Now do you end up I imagine you do teaching homeowners and residents how to walk around their property and spot things?
• 9:11
  Richard Piet: Is that fair to do?
• 9:14
  Amber Byars: We absolutely love to educate our clients anytime we have the chance.
• 9:18
  Amber Byars: It's just a part of who we are.
• 9:20
  Amber Byars: We will share information, especially if we have a lot of clients that are DIY people, and we're not against that.
• 9:30
  Amber Byars: All we can do is just educate them.
• 9:33
  Amber Byars: If that's going to be the path they choose, they might as well do it in the right way.
• 9:37
  Amber Byars: You know what I mean.
• 9:39
  Amber Byars: So we have some clients that, oh, I just want you to do the recurring maintenance, but I want to seal the house.
• 9:44
  Amber Byars: Okay, well, let me give you a couple of pointers here.
• 9:48
  Amber Byars: Use this product versus this product, because?
• 9:49
  Amber Byars: But I want to seal the house.
• 9:50
  Amber Byars: Okay, well, let me give you a couple of pointers here.
• 9:51
  Amber Byars: Use this product versus this product, because it will last a lot longer.
• 9:55
  Richard Piet: So, yeah, we love to educate our clients and, speaking of products we did talk about, you know, it's not just about spraying.
• 10:00
  Richard Piet: However, this is one of the five ways to create a pest-free environment.
• 10:05
  Richard Piet: There's going to be an incorporating of appropriate products that will help right.
• 10:12
  Amber Byars: Oh yeah, you nailed it.
• 10:13
  Amber Byars: There is a place for pesticides or insecticides in this cycle.
• 10:17
  Amber Byars: Absolutely, what we try to steer clear from is that being the only thing we're doing right, because we know that alone will not solve a pest issue.
• 10:26
  Amber Byars: So, yes, we know that alone will not solve the pest issue.
• 10:29
  Amber Byars: So, yes, insecticides definitely play a part in this.
• 10:31
  Amber Byars: You just have to understand the mode of action and the active ingredient and how that affects whatever it is you're trying to control so that you can be successful.
• 10:40
  Amber Byars: We know, as professionals, that there are certain species that need a certain product to be able to control them, and that is what we train our staff to look for.
• 10:52
  Amber Byars: That is what we move forward with in any of our services.
• 10:55
  Richard Piet: What is the?
• 10:56
  Amber Byars: best plan of action for this specific issue.
• 10:59
  Amber Byars: It's different at every house.
• 11:02
  Richard Piet: Oh, think about that.
• 11:03
  Richard Piet: It's different at every house.
• 11:04
  Richard Piet: So the pest prospective is to evaluate each individual situation and come up with this action plan of sorts that probably includes these five things to create a pest-free environment, or maybe one of them is somehow different, probably the products thing, but that depends.
• 11:26
  Richard Piet: So having this viewpoint is important.
• 11:30
  Amber Byars: Absolutely Cause there's so many oh my gosh, there's so many factors that play into these decisions.
• 11:34
  Amber Byars: What's the weather like?
• 11:36
  Amber Byars: You know?
• 11:37
  Amber Byars: What's the structure made of?
• 11:39
  Amber Byars: What's the environment look like?
• 11:40
  Amber Byars: How much vegetation is there mulch?
• 11:42
  Amber Byars: Is it rock?
• 11:43
  Amber Byars: Is there a lot of cement?
• 11:44
  Amber Byars: You know what's the pest they're dealing with.
• 11:46
  Amber Byars: All of that will come to the decision of okay, this is the best pesticide to use and this is where I'm going to apply it.
• 11:55
  Richard Piet: All right.
• 11:55
  Richard Piet: So what is the situation at your property?
• 11:58
  Richard Piet: You certainly can reach out to the Pest Pros of Michigan and have them evaluate the situation and give you a report, and very likely these five things will be part of the integrated pest management approach that Pest Pros will take.
• 12:15
  Richard Piet: Amber Byers is one of those Pest Pros.
• 12:18
  Richard Piet: In fact, she surveys all of the outreach that goes on at Pest Pros of Michigan, and so she is one of the pest pros Happy to help Click through and find out more from their website and also subscribe to this podcast, where you get them, because there are plenty of pest perspectives to share.
• 12:39
  Richard Piet: Thank you, Amber.
• 12:40
  Amber Byars: Thank you so much.