PESTS
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Outsmart biting bugs while bringing new beauty to your garden with these superhero plant species.
Q: Until this year, my tall fescue lawn has always been plush and green, but a few weeks ago, some yellow spots devel...
Some house problems are obvious from the get-go—for instance, you know you’re in trouble when raw sewage starts backing up in your basement shower. Other problems...
Mosquitoes are an unfortunate reality of summer. As soon as the weather warms up and the humidity rises, any small body of stagnant water can become an instant br...
An enjoyable afternoon spent working in the garden, a lovely evening relaxing in the yard: the exterior of your home provides plenty of opportunities to recharge ...
If your backyard and garden have become a buffet for deer, these 10 Bambi-resistant plants will encourage them to forage elsewhere.
Roll out the welcome mat for friendly insects that will get on your garden's good side. While some insects like aphids and grasshoppers can wreak havoc on gardens...
Summer is here at last, along with all the fun and pleasurable outdoor activities that come with it. But as we spend these longer, warmer days outside, gardening,...
Though small in size, mice can be big trouble when they invade your home’s garbage cans, cabinets, crawlspaces, and o...
Surely one of the cuter rodents you’ll ever counter, chipmunks are also among the most destructive. These small, stri...
If you want a pest-free kitchen, the name of the game is CLEAN. You’ll be more successful in deterring bugs if you keep crumbs and food waste to a minimum. So, to...
Q: Just yesterday I spotted a tick on my bathroom floor and last week I found one on my clothing. Is it possible that...
There's nothing more annoying than having your summertime fun ruined by the buzzing and biting of the season's peskiest foes—mosquitoes. Before they breed, congre...
Strategic landscaping choices can help you get rid of ticks, protecting your family and pets from the danger posed by these insects, even in the seeming safety of...
Usually found marching along a kitchen sink, the tile near a baseboard, or outside on the porch by your welcome mat (some welcome!), ants are tiny and persistent ...
Q: I squashed an ant on my kitchen countertop this morning only to spot more circling the sink. Where did all of thes...
Summertime is packed with fun activities: barbecues, beach vacations, afternoon swims, and backyard games. But the warm weather also summons pesky bugs and creepy...
Landing on the food at your backyard barbecue. Buzzing around your face as you do yard work. Zipping through your fro...
If mice, voles, or spiders have taken up residence on your lawn or in your garden, consider befriending their enemy: ...
If you’ve ever been out on a summer evening outdoors only to be startled by an inch-long, slow-flying beetle crashing...
If you’re like most gardeners, you spend an inordinate amount of time (and chemicals) trying to banish bugs that coul...
Q: I recently took my favorite sweater off of its hanger only to discover small holes in its knitting. Could this me...
Sugar truly deserves its place of honor in pantries around the world. It's indispensable for sweetening up beverages like coffee and tea, and it adds delicious fl...
Bugs got you down? No one wants to swat gnats away from their food or stomp roaches as they scurry across the floor, so it’s no wonder exterminators always seem t...
Keychains, postcards, t-shirts and seashells: These are some of the most popular mementos that people bring home from...
There's no doubt that homeowners go to great lengths to make a house into a home, and the results of their hard labor...
Q: For the first time in my life, I have mice. I had thought that I dreamed the scratching and skittering sounds I he...
If you pride yourself in growing your own pumpkin—or cucumbers, squash, and other gourds—then you might be familiar w...
Although spiders are a great help in the garden—catching flies and other creepy crawlers—most of us would prefer not ...
Flying ants may seem more formidable than their tiny ant counterparts. Interestingly, though, flying ants—also known ...
Despite having tiny wings and dozens of legs, insects aren’t entirely different from people. They require sleep, food, and shelter to survive—and like you, they m...
Q: Woodpeckers recently swooped in on my property and did a number on my cedar tree, siding, and roof. How do I plug ...
Homeowners with seed-bearing boxelder trees on their property may be all too familiar with the insects that lay eggs ...
As you enjoy outdoor fun this summer, keep family, friends and pets safe from disease-carrying ticks. CM_BVNOTES-1734...
At first glance, mealybugs definitely don’t look like your typical pest. Their 1/16- to 1/8-inch-long bodies are whit...
Fruit flies may be tiny, but they can be a huge pain. If your arms are tired from all that swatting, here's a homemad...
Are your garden plants stunted, shriveled, yellowing, or curling at the leaves, despite your best efforts to keep the...
They may be perceived as sneaky, slimy, and scary, but most snakes are not dangerous to humans. And, to their credit,...
If garden pests are bugging you, but you’d rather not nuke them with toxic chemicals, maybe you should give insectici...
Ticks are a fact of outdoor life throughout the United States. These blood-feeding arachnids become active every year...
Find yourself in a stinky situation? If a skunk strikes close to home (or in your home!), take action against the un...
Deer are delightful romping through the forest but can wreak havoc in a garden, decimating vegetables, fruit trees, l...
While children love big-eared Bugs Bunny chomping on a carrot, gardeners can identify closely with his cartoon nemesi...
When the weather warms up, people spend more time outside. Unfortunately, mosquitoes, flies, and other biting insects have the same idea. These winged pests see y...
Hearing strange scurrying sounds coming from the attic? No, your mind isn't playing tricks on you. The more likely ex...
No horror movie can match the terror of a mouse skitter across the living room floor at night—because where there’s o...
Bugs, like all creatures, have their rightful place on this earth. But nobody wants that place to be in their home. Like it or not, insects and all manner of cree...
Tiny, sap-sucking arachnids known as spider mites can be a problem any time of year, out in your garden and plaguing ...
Day after day, largely unnoticed, gutters perform a critically important role by channeling storm water and snowmelt a safe distance away from your home. At least...
One of the biggest threats to your home can come in the form of small pests—from termites to carpenter ants to beetle...
Q: I keep hearing noise coming from upstairs and am fairly sure that a family of squirrels has taken up residence in ...
You might enjoy their pastoral presence, but there’s no doubt that deer wreak havoc on garden vegetables, plants, and...
A healthy outdoor ladybug population is a good thing. Gardeners appreciate their voracious appetite for the destructi...
Although fire ants are more common in southern states, they can thrive nearly anywhere. Ranging from reddish brown to...
Q: I’ve found not one but multiple wasps hanging out inside my house over the past few days, but no nest. Where could...
No matter how scrupulously you clean your kitchen, you may still open your cabinets one day to find them crawling wit...
If you see an ant or two, chances are you’ll see more—many more—especially if there's something tasty lying around ne...
With Zika and other mosquito-borne illnesses on the rise, it’s a good idea to take a close look at the mosquito contr...
A love of gardening often goes hand in hand with a hatred toward the pests that pervade the fruits of your labor, bot...
When you get back from the grocery store with bags full of juicy strawberries, peaches, and cherries, your kids won’t...
Do you hear suspicious scrabbling behind your walls? Are you finding questionable black pellets in the basement? Does your pantry have a sharp, musky odor? Chance...
Nocturnal and relatively shy, skunks aren’t often seen—but they certainly are smelled! Though the black-and-white cre...
The bald eagle may be our national symbol, but virtually every American has encountered the crow. These highly intell...
They don’t care who you are or where you live. You won’t see them coming, and by the time they make their presence kn...
Their vampire-like tendencies and itchy bites make mosquitoes a nuisance in any setting, but they're especially aggra...
Purchasing a house that needs some TLC can be a good investment—if the needed repairs aren’t too costly. While some fixer-uppers can come together with a coat of ...
It seems like annoying bugs are everywhere this time of year. Whether they're destroying plants in your garden, infesting your kitchen, or buzzing around your ear...
If you’ve never actually seen a vole, it’s not surprising. The 7-inch-long rodent also known as a meadow mouse is rat...
Millions of people and animals are swarmed and stung every year by fire ants. Their burning (hence the name) bites ar...
When most homeowners refer to a "waterbug," they're actually employing a delicate colloquialism for an insect whose m...
The chirping of crickets in the yard: It's a familiar hallmark of summer, and for plenty of homeowners it's a pleasan...
They enter your home in a myriad of ways: hitching rides on cut flowers, clothing, or pets, or simply flying though o...
Even if you’re not an avid cultivator of prized begonias or caretaker of an expensive golf course like Bill Murray’s ...
Though far from pleasant to think about, there’s a good chance your home is ridden with dust mites—microscopic organi...
This winter, you may find yourself with uninvited guests—orange-red Asian ladybugs. Imported to combat garden pests, ...
Notice an inexplicable mass destruction, yellowing, or defoliation in your evergreens? A close and careful look throu...
Although they can't really harm you, gnats are certainly annoying. The mere presence of these pesky insects in your h...
Centipedes, with no shortage of legs and alarming speed, seem to have been designed to make squeamish homeowners shri...
You may not like to think so, but homeowners and household pests share at least one similarity—namely, the need for shelter. In the temperate months, you probably...
Stop! If you encounter an unfamiliar pest in your home, think twice before swatting it with a magazine. If you do any...
Time never seems to be on our side, and it can especially work against us in the case of certain home repairs. A suspicious water spot on the ceiling, a slight cr...
Don't let the name fool you: Silverfish are nothing like the goldfish you nurtured as pets in your childhood bedroom....
Under normal circumstances, I would have hated to give up on something I’d so eagerly anticipated. But I have to admi...
From the return of football on the weekends to the arrival of pumpkin coffee at the local donut shop, there are so ma...
Just because you can do it yourself doesn’t mean you should. Some jobs call for a licensed professional, especially jobs that involve plumbing, electric, and HVAC...
Mention DEET in a crowded room, and you're likely to hear a chorus of different opinions regarding its toxicity and h...
Even the smallest slugs play a big role in the ecosystem, feeding on decomposing matter and in turn providing protein...
Nothing spoils a backyard barbecue faster than a swarm of bugs moving in on the food and beverage stations. For that matter, you probably don’t want creepy-crawli...
Given enough time, carpenter bees can bring down an entire house. The good news: These bees prefer to nest in untreat...
Nothing can ruin a summer barbecue or evening by the pool like the threat of a wasp’s sting. Mind you, wasps aren’t a...
Everyone looks forward to summer vacation, but unwary travelers may get more than they bargain for when checking into a hotel: bed bugs. Though small in size and ...
Ants are one of those annoying pests that seem to pop up everywhere they're unwanted during the summer—picnics, kitch...
It’s inevitable—just as you sit down to enjoy a quiet moment in the garden, the irritating buzz of an insect approaches. Your hopes of enjoying a cup of coffee in...
Drain flies, also known as moth flies, are a common nuisance in many homes. These pests live and breed inside your pl...
Cracking the windows is an effective way to air out your house in the summer—but an open window can also be an open i...
There’s no time like summertime. It’s a season of pool parties with the pattering of chlorine-soaked feet trailing in...
With the official start of summer just days away, we can’t help but think about the coming days of relaxing by the po...
For many homeowners, summer means one thing: spending time outdoors. Whether we're lounging on the porch or entertain...
What’s the best way to keep those persistent squirrels from pigging out at your bird feeder? Here's an assortment of ...
With ancestors tracing back more than 280 million years, cockroaches have been around for an incomprehensibly long time, and they're here to stay. Because no othe...
There's nothing that can stand in the way of your best garden ever—until the pests arrive, that is. Perhaps your harvest is being raiding by tiny aphids, cabbage-...
While insects are important in the chain of life, their buzzing and biting can ruin a backyard picnic. Take note and then take aim using these 10 tips that will h...
As warm weather sweeps in, so does an annual nuisance—houseflies. The small, black, buzzy critters that land on your ...
The blooming flowers, sunny skies, and much-anticipated return of warmer weather across the country are not the only ...
Don't let the bushy tails fool you. They may be cute and and bright-eyed, but if left unchecked, squirrels can do an ...
Different people have different opinions about raccoons. Some think they're terrible pests, while others consider the...
Fleas are irritating—not only for pets but also for people. If you have fleas in the house, you can usually expect so...
You can try to focus on the fact that spiders are theoretically beneficial to the home and garden, being that they sn...
Homes make strange noises on a regular basis, from groaning and creaking to popping and scratching. As a homeowner, you should be able to tell whether that noise ...
Sure, raccoons are sort of cute, but know this: If it feels threatened, a raccoon can be dangerous, particularly if i...
Like their closet-lurking cousins, pantry moths are destructive pests. Act fast before they eat through (and lay eggs...
Tineola bisselliella, the common clothes moth, wreaks havoc on wardrobes, destroying shirts and socks, pants and swea...
The good news: Bats are not aggressive. The bad news: If there are bats in your house, it's only a matter of time bef...
What's keeping you up at night? Basement flooding? Bathroom mold? What about termites?It's possible that among the ma...
Say goodbye to Stuart Little! A mouse infestation can be enough to make anyone skittish. Those pesky critters can carry a plethora of dangerous diseases and cause...
Modern mosquito repellents generally do a pretty good job of keeping the bugs away, but toxic chemicals often top the...
The stench of a skunk attack—it's unmistakable, even when you're in the passenger seat of a car, with the windows clo...
There's no mistaking when a mole or two have invaded your lawn and garden. Though you're not likely to see one above ...
Bedbugs haunt homeowners' nightmares like the bogeyman. These nasty little critters that feast on your blood while yo...
There's great satisfaction in making something you could just as easily purchase ready-made. Besides that special fee...
Springtime and summer are lovely times of year, but they do usher in a host of seasonal hazards, perhaps none more fe...
Summertime, and the livin' is easy—until stinging winged arthropods crash your backyard BBQ. Standard protocol calls for lighting a few citronella candles and rub...
Though deer look innocent, home gardeners know they can be a menace to plants and trees. Gardeners also know that bar...
You're not alone in wanting to get rid of cockroaches. These creepy-crawly insects are a major problem around the cou...
A terrific way to maintain good health is to stick to a diet chock-full of fruits and vegetables. But few things spoi...
Termites and other pests can cause expensive damage. Here's what to look for. The sawdust-like accumulations of fra...
Homes make strange noises. They’re built of many different materials — glass, concrete, wood — that expand and contra...
None of us loves the idea of little Mickeys and Minnies scurrying around our homes. Some people insist they're cute, ...
Here's how you can tell if your house has termite damage. First, examine obvious areas of wood rot for termites. Som...
There are more than 2,000 species of termites, and chances are some of them live in your neighborhood. The most commo...
Fighting pests at home? The best offense is a clean, dry, and air-tight defense. The importance of sanitation cannot ...
The Tick-Borne Disease Alliance reports that as many as three-quarters of all Lyme Disease cases are caused by tick b...
Are you an amateur exterminator? Test your knowledge of these common house pests to find out!
Preventing and treating termite infestations is a top priority for many homeowners. Termite control is not a do-it-yo...
While Ratatouille might have been a runaway blockbuster film, no one wants rats in the house — or mice or squirrels o...
Every creature has its place in nature—I firmly believe that. But if that creature is a rodent, I want its place to b...
Do you suffer from seasonal allergies? A natural remedy waits in your backyard: locally produced honey. To date, scie...
No need to use chemicals—instead, use these herbal, fruity, or soap-laden solutions for problems with pests like ants, mice, and mosquitos.
Living in the city has its perks. But it also has its pests. From mice to roaches to bed bugs, dreaded pests can and ...
The advent of spring is generally welcome, but warmer temperatures also bring out unwanted pests, namely termites. Of...
We’re all drawn to the warmth and shelter of a cozy house, so it’s not surprising that critters like squirrels, oposs...
Most people react to deer, groundhogs, and rabbits with a smile acknowledging their adorableness. But gardeners know ...
It’s the time of year when garden pests become especially irritating. Your ripening harvest might be snacked on by ap...
Late summer’s when you see ‘em, but now’s not actually the best time to mess with a bee or wasp nest. The queen esta...
To control garden pests without using toxic chemicals, work with nature, not against it. LISTENListen to BOB VILA ON ...
Encouraging birds and bats to visit your yard is a great way to keep BUGS down without spraying. LISTENListen to BOB ...
Bob Vila recently contacted me because he had a bee infestation in his attic. I've made several visits to his house s...
Carpenter ants damage wood by hollowing it out for nesting. Unlike termites, wood damaged by carpenter ants does not ...
Carpenters replace a rotted deck, and a rotted porch column is reconstructed with concrete.
Damaged sill is replaced, the house is protected against insects and rot, and sliding doors with custom trim molding are installed.
Ken Micklow and Trent Culleny talk with Bob about native, storm-resistant gardening. Then Carm DiBella shows Bob an environmentally friendly termite protection s...
The restoration of the front porch continues with workers putting the decking down and replacing the old columns. In addition, anti-termite control stations are p...
The front porch is undergoing full restoration, due to excessive water and pest damage to the columns and other structural elements. Demolition begins and repair ...
Bob and contractor Bob Ryley join exterminator Dean Bailey (of Fowler and Sons) to discuss termite control in and around the garage. Also, concrete contractor Sha...
Bob reviews termite damage at the Naples project house and looks on as exterminators cover the home with a tent to enclose the space prior to fumigation.
Bob confers with contractor Al Stouse about the termite and dry rot damage on the roof overhangs. Next, Bob helps build and install new roof brackets, or outriggers.
Rick Kleiner (from the Southern Forest Products Association) joins Bob to talk about using pressure-treated deck members. Such lumber resists fungal growth, termi...
