Many folks are surprised to see that so many young weeds have been thriving underneath this season's long-lingering snow.  The good news is that it isn't too late to apply a pre-emergent herbicide, and the even better news is that some of the pre-emergents that can be safely used in bareground areas even have some post-emergent effect. The emerged weeds will die, albeit very slowly in such cool temperatures.

Even in landscaped areas, it is still possible to apply pre-emergents to get ahead of the summer annuals - and the sooner, the better.  Pre-emergent herbicides need anywhere from a half-inch to a full inch of irrigation or rainfall to get properly seated in the soil before they can work their magic.

Your existing weeds, likely perennials or winter annuals, will need one or more post-emergent herbicide applications before they can be persuaded to disappear - and the warmer the ambient temperature, the better the efficacy of the application.  Yeah, we know - it's mighty cool right now.

While we can't do much about the late winter blues, we can definitely help you get ahead of your weed problem with the right application at the right time.  Best of all, we don't charge for estimates!  (Well, in our daily service area, anyway - but if you're in Hawaii and you're paying our way, we're sure we can work something out.)

...or 16 ounces per acre. Winter is FINALLY calling a truce, giving us a chance to get out there and help hundreds of customers (not an exaggeration) who are patiently waiting for us to treat their gravel and other bareground areas.  Being careful to use as little chemical as we need to do a good job helps us use those chemistries longer, and prevents excess from ending up where it doesn't belong.

We apply to areas we pre-measure (usually via GPS) and then treat with just the right amount of chemicals to stunt most of the weeds that are set to germinate in late winter and early spring. But before we can do that, the snow has to melt, and the soil has to dry up---just a little.

What you may not realize is that preemergence chemicals require water to push the chemical to the top couple inches of soil, where it works on germinating weed and grass seeds. If it sits on top of the soil or gravel, it doesn't help much at all. For this reason, we want it to rain a little bit AFTER we apply the chemical.

Would you like to quit worrying about the weeds in your driveway, parking lot, or that back corner where the tool shed sits? We have fantastic, affordable programs that will give you free time while your neighbors spend their weekends with a bottle of RoundUp.

​Call us for a free quote. Seriously. Until it quits snowing, we have plenty of time. 800.422.4803

Nobody wants a weedy parking area, either at home or at work. We can treat your gravel twice per year so you won't have to waste your weekend pulling & spraying weeds.
It's tree-friendly, works great, and lets you focus on other projects. But don't wait until it's too late--you want to get this scheduled WHILE IT'S STILL RAINING!
Once it quits raining, you'll have to water it in by hand, and by then, the weeds will have sprouted anyway. Keep them from sprouting--don't wait until you see them!

You want a nice, green lawn--without the crabgrass, quackgrass, and Bermudagrass.  Unfortunately, these grasses germinate at different times, meaning preemergence chemicals need to be applied at different times.  If you're serious about keeping the weedy grasses out, let us give you a free quote for a program that will leave your neighbors green with envy!

Dormant sprays are a staple for fruit trees, trees susceptible to fungal infections, and are a great way to ward off early-season fungal infections. Especially in a year like this, with LOTS of rainfall, fungal infections will be a problem.
Don't forget the shrubs & roses--these plants harbor a lot of overwintering insects and egg cases that can't wait to hatch out and start sucking your plants dry. The dormant oil (mineral oil) smothers them, halting bad insects before they can damage your plants.
Ditto for Copper--this gives your prized roses, dogwood trees, and other plants a head start against fungal infections.

Look into many back yards this time of year, and you'll see a massive display of aphids taking to the wing (video).

Flying en masse for a week or two, they're an incredible nuisance for rollerbladers, runners, bikers, walkers, or anyone else who likes to breathe. Or dislikes tiny insects stuck to your eyeballs.

Blue ash aphid, Smokey-winged ash aphid, and several other colloquial terms describe the pests that  plague Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho every fall.

Even with sunglasses, I once spent 5 minutes trying to dislodge one of the little insects from my retina.  This final batch represents the end product of months of reproduction, culminating finally in the presence of some egg-laying females.

This is when you see the inch-thick congregations on ash trees.  The females lay their eggs in cracks in the bark.  Next spring, they'll hatch out, begin reproducing without mating, boogie over to an evergreen tree, and spend a few weeks snacking on a fir.  It's a fairly complex insect (info sheet)--moreso than you'd think based on their size.

They can do real damage, so the best thing you can do is actually a non-pesticidal approach:  Dormant spraying.  A dormant oil applied in the next couple weeks will help smother live aphids on the trees & shrubs as well as prevent oxygen from reaching the eggs in the bark cracks.  A late winter dormant (Feb - April) takes care of many more.

These are on sale at your local hardware store right now:  The Pre-Baited Hobo Spider trap.  Apparently, the hobo is scary enough to warrant its own trap!

Of course, we know that there's nothing in the venom of the hobo spider that is more dangerous than other garden-variety spiders; that has been proven several times, most recently by WSU.

Further, most of the spiders identified as hobos are actually mis-identified. Here's the best guide on how to not mis-identify a hobo spider.

So is the hobo a "safe" spider? Look at it this way--we're learning more about allergies and proteins all the time, and it may be that some people will react to certain amino acids that others will not.  Bee stings are the perfect example of this.

How do you tell if it's a hobo?  I refer you back to the guide.  Here's a hint:  get out your scope, because you can't tell with the naked eye.  A super-duty magnifying glass may work, but a low-powered microscope is best.  Here's a question, though:  Now that you know it's NOT especially dangerous, do you really care whether it's Tegenaria agrestis, Tegenaria gigantea/duellica, or Tegenaria domestica?

While not especially dangerous, nobody wants a spider to bite him or her.  For that matter, you don't want anything biting you, whether it's a 3-year-old or a tiger!  One of the big reasons is infection, and that's what the early hobo bites proved to be--infected puncture wounds that resulted after the patient rubbed bacteria into a hobo bite wound.

Can you treat for hobo spiders? Yes, but don't expect a bomb to work.  They don't leave any residual.

For the record, I have sent an email to Victor, who made the "pre-baited" trap shown above.  I'll let you know as soon as I found out what it is they're using for bait!

Picture shown below was taken by Chris, on our staff.  It's a female hobo spider.

While endemic to many parts of the country and world, here in the Inland Northwest, we still see plenty of cockroaches, but they can typically be resolved with just a little elbow grease and a visit from us, your friendly neighborhood pest control team!

In other parts of the country, cockroaches move in and out and from house to house and apartment to apartment with such regularity that people who want to maintain their sanity have monthly visits from pest control operators to remedy the problem.  And make no mistake--they are a problem, tracking around disease vectors, causing allergic reactions, eating each others' fecal matter, and just generally being disgusting.

We recommend an extremely thorough cleaning of the home first.  I mean, pull-the-fridge-out-remove-the-oven-drawer-and-get-out-the-bleach-and-sponge-and-go-to-town type of cleaning.  All hyphens aside, what we're trying to do here is eliminate food sources they can use.  Even a tiny spot of jelly is equivalent to a cockroach banquet, so you have to start with a clean slate before the baits work well.

Then we come in, and use state-of-the-art baits and occasionally insecticidal dusts (boric acid, etc), growth regulators (to prevent more reproduction), and aerosols to give them a massive punch.  Even then, we recommend two follow-up visits, because eggs will keep hatching and nymphs will keep emerging for several more weeks.

Want some interesting info on them?  Check this link out!

Man Sets House on Fire!

Yes, treating bed bugs with heat is dangerous. It also does nothing against any bed bugs that move in tomorrow, or that you track back inside on your luggage.

Our methods are safe for you and your family's health, AND it keeps protecting for weeks!

So don't be a do-it-yourselfer with bed bugs--call the experts or you could get burned!

...or, Sasquatch Skeeters! These gigantic mosquito cousins pack a painful bite!

Story Link

While we don't have them this far north yet, there are things you can do to reduce mosquitoes in your yard.

Treating the shrubs and trees around your property will reduce the locations they have to rest, And will ensure you need the rest there will not last long.

Now this is a very exciting idea! I suggest some early programming built in that prevents them from using us as an energy source.

Robot PCO