We recently relocated and purchased a great home in a great neighborhood. One of our search criteria included having a big yard for the kids to play. We were thrilled to get 1.5 acres, with about half of that actual usable yard (the rest is just woods).
The bug problem is unbelievable! We have to run to our car to avoid getting them stuck in our eyelashes! My kids are afraid to go outside. We really love this house, and i know the bug problem will diminish when it gets colder, but is there anything I can do to get rid of them?
Gnats, mosquitoes, bees, spiders, you name it, we've got them. Our home does back up to woods, so I guess it makes sense that we have alot. We are on the CT shoreline, and just moved here from NJ. But I've lived in plenty of places near woods and I never noticed a bug problem.
It's just really disappointing to not be able to use our yard. We do have a screened in porch and tonight we talked about expanding it to the full length of our house. We are also planning on cleaning out the garage this weekend so that we can park our cars their and avoid the bugs.
I've had one too many mornings of my 4 yo shreiking "AHHHHHH! BUGS!!!! GET THEM OUT OF MY EYES, MOMMY HEEEEELLLLPPP!!!"
You need to attract wildlife to your yard to help you with the bug problem. I'm by no means an expert, but you might try finding out what eats these bugs, and then try to make your yard hospitable to the predators. For example, attracting birds will help keep certain bug populations down, so feed the birds, provide housing for them, plant attractive shrubs and flowers for their food (and they will also eat bugs). Bats eat a tremendous amount of bugs - so putting up a bat house might help. Also, look around your property for spots of standing water - mosquitos breed there - if there's anything you can do to remove the standing water (provided you're not near protected wetlands (?), that would probably also help.
Any of those things sound like a possibility? (Or perhaps you're already doing these things?)
The previous owners of our home had a rather ornate bird feeding area near the driveway. Not knowing much about birds, we let the feed run out. I made a half-hearted attempt at finding birdfeed at Walmart, but I could only find parakeet feed. I am heading out to Petsmart tomorrow.
Come to think of it, when we closed on the house we never noticed a bug problem. In retrowpect, we started noticing right about the time the birdfeed ran out.
You have water, too? Water and woods... yeah, you'll have bugs. We have water and woods, and bugs are a way of life. Spiders, too. But I love the spiders since they eat the bugs.
You'll find plenty of wild bird food at Walmart, but it's kept with the outside stuff, not the pet supplies. I get my bird seed from Agway.
We live in Florida and our backyard is a cypress swamp so we have trees and standing water most of the year. Surprisingly though, we don't have a real problem with bugs other than at dusk. Ever since we moved here six years ago we had a pest control company spray the outside of the house once a month and also installed a termite deterrant system. In addition to that we have a lawn service spray our lawn every other month for bugs. DH does look for wasp nests on a regular basis and has them removed when he finds one.
What about adding a bat house? We have a huge mosquito issue and find that the bats come out at dusk and help us out.
Also, this works for my child/pet free home, but not sure about yours. Spectracide granules, sprinkled liberally around the perimeter of the house and through the yard. Works wonders.
Anything I can do about bugs in our yard?
Reply With Quote
