CHAPTER 11 - The Best Control 2

silicone sealant) is a good idea. Be particularly careful to seal around exterior plumbing and electrical outlets.Make sure that door thresholds have good weather stripping under them and that the door and windows seal wellwhen shut. Check that screens on windows, crawl space vents, and attic vents are intact and sealed around theedges. Remember 80-90% of all insect infestations migrate from the outside into your structure. Only 4types of pests are generally carried inside buildings to create infestation; they are German cockroaches,fleas, stored product pests and Pharaoh ants, so inspect for them.Use screens: Window screens are excellent for keeping insects out of a house, but screen doors are not veryeffective. This is because flies and mosquitoes are attracted to people or food odors so they hang aroundoutside screen doors and whisk inside every time the door is opened. Try to ventilate the house adequatelywithout screen doors, at least on heavily used entrances. If screen doors are used, they should have strongspring closures that shut the door quickly and tightly.Use glueboards and repellents: Prevent many pest invasions by properly using glueboards and by sprinklingdry Tide laundry soap powder and/or talcum powder or medicated body powder as a barrier inside and outside.Manage lights: Good design and management of exterior lighting is important to prevent insect problems.• Avoid leaving porch lights on all evening to collect a cloud of moths and other insects and/or predators,e.g., bats. Every time the door is opened, the insects swirling around the light are swept into the house.Minimize the attraction time by turning porch lights on only when they are needed. Sensor lights thatswitch on in response to motion are ideal because they light the area for arriving guests, but switch offafter a few minutes (saves energy too).• When designing the lighting around the exterior of a new home, don’t put light fixtures directly above thedoors, especially over doors to decks or patios that might be used a lot in the evening. Place flood or spotlights a few feet away from the door and direct the light onto porches and stairs. This illuminates themsafely, while keeping the mesmerized insects away from the door.• Use yellow bulbs in yard light fixtures; flies and moths are not as attracted to yellow as they are to ordinarywhite light bulbs, or try sodium vapor lighting.Manage garbage: Keep garbage in sturdy, tightly covered containers and wash them out regularly with enzymecleaners and borax. This prevents flies from breeding and reduces the attraction for ants, yellowjackets andother insects. If the kitchen food garbage can be composted daily, the trash will contain little that is attractive toinsects. Where composting is not possible, tightly wrap up kitchen garbage, take it out frequently to a coveredtrash can, and dispose of it in sealed plastic bags. Avoid letting old clothes, newspapers, paper bags, cardboard,empty cans, and other trash accumulate in storage rooms, garages, etc., as these provide breeding sites formany household pests.Manage soil: Healthy soil prevents many pest and weed problems.A FEW OF THE AUTHOR’S FAVORITE OFFENSIVE WEAPONS OR PEST CONTROL “TOOLS” OR PESTISAFES ® !Before beginniung, please note that just because something is natural does not mean it is safe. Rhubarband oleander leaves are very toxic to people and pets, especially small children. Even foods like peanutscan cause severe poisoning symptoms in some people. ALWAYS USE THE SAFEST ALTERNATIVE(PREFERABLY FOOD-GRADE MATERIALS) YOU CAN! ANY MIXTURES YOU MAKE AND USE SHOULDBE CLEARLY MARKED AND PROPERLY STORED.If the Author asked you to roll around and/or climb on concertina (razor) barb wire - you would think the requestabsurd - yet ants can climb all over it without harm - you can powder your baby’s bottom with talcum powder, butants will leave an area where talcum is sprinkled. Volatile, synthetic pesticide poisons were basically invented tokill man - why try using them on insects? Unlike the “professional” pest control industry that only has one “tool”to control pest problems -volatile, synthetic pesticide poisons - the Author wants you to begin to understand his“tool box”. The following are only a few of his favorite things or “tools” or Pestisafes ® to control or repel even theregistered pesticide resistant insects that annoy man and the 1,000 or so insect pests that damage his cropsand/or the other nuisance wildlife that “bug” him. The industry and “some” regulating people want to make thesePestisafes ® “pesticides” because they kill, repel and/or control pests better than “their” registered economic353