Tag Archives: wood-destroying insects

Spring has Sprung

Spring is here, which means so is everything (or everyone) that comes with it. We’ve mentioned these months being the mating season for various wildlife, but we have yet to touch on the creepy-crawlies that decide to make their way out of hiding as the snow dissipates.

When pests wake up in spring, they’re hungry, thirsty, and ready to find mates. To make up for their long winter’s nap, they tend to enthusiastically pursue these activities. Their valiant pursuits create problems that are all-too-common this time every year. Here are the most common pests you’re bound to encounter this spring, what they’re up to, and the challenges they cause.

Brown Marmorated Stink Bugs (BMSB)

During the fall, BMSB’s desperately seek out any warm place where they can hunker down for the winter. Once they find their spot, they become dormant until temperatures rise back up to survivable levels. Once this happens, they wake up with a one-track mind: mating. In their earnest attempts to get back outdoors, however, they tend to get trapped inside.Luckily for homeowners, BMSB’s don’t nest or reproduce indoors, bite, or spread disease. True to their name, however, they do stink. When threatened, BMSB’s secrete a foul-smelling substance from a particular scent gland. The scent is reminiscent of rotten vegetables. These smelly secretions can also leave behind a dark yellow stain on carpets, furniture, and window sills.

Boxelder Bugs

Starting in the early fall, boxelder bugs seek out warm, dry places where they can wait out the winter months. Unfortunately, those ideal places often include homes. When spring makes its appearance, boxelders become active again to reproduce and find newly rejuvenated food sources. When this happens, they vacate their winter hideaways in droves. If they were overwintering in your home, you’re going to run into them again in spring.

Boxelder bugs are a nuisance, but like BMSB’s, they’re not dangerous. Boxelders spread disease, don’t bite, lay eggs indoors, or eat fabrics or stored foods. Instead, they vacate the premises to seek flowers and the seeds of trees such as, you guessed it, the boxelder. The nuisance part comes from the quantity you may notice as they vacate. Boxelder excretions can also stain window ledges and other favored areas.

Pavement Ants

The short but very active pavement ant mating season begins in late spring. During which you may notice swarms of larger-than-average, reddish-black ants moving in alarmingly large groups, called clusters. After mating, the ants lay eggs in the tight crevices of pavement (aptly named). When young pavement ants emerge, they begin to look for a food source almost immediately.

In the home, pavement ants are most often encountered in swarms in your kitchen. They break down and carry off many types of stored food, especially sugars and grains. When food is available, they tend to linger. It’s not uncommon to find an ant infestation in pantries, cabinets, cupboards—anywhere food is readily available. They indeed will attack whatever they can get their mandibles on. Unlike other pests on this list, they tend to stay active as long as they’re warm and have food.

Carpenter Ants

During spring, these infamous wood-infesting ants come marching in to nest and search for water. Carpenter ant infestations tend to be the most noticeable at the beginning of the season. Starting in mid-spring, the reproductive carpenter ant castes swarm to seek mates and start new colonies. After mating, queen ants find ideal places to lay eggs. These eggs hatch into worker ants, and the infestation begins.

Carpenter ants are a problem because they colonize in wood. The tunnels they bore can compromise the structural integrity of wood products. Carpenter ants don’t eat the wood they infest like termites. Instead, they hunt for sources of sugar and protein. You may find forager ants in your basement, kitchen, or garden. Keep a close eye out for swarmers (winged) in particular. If you notice these flying ants in your home, chances are their nest is also inside your home.

Spring is always a lovely, refreshing time of year–, especially after the brutal Michigan winters. Don’t let any of these pests ruin that new-season bliss for you. If you need any help combating an infestation so you can enjoy the beautiful parts of spring, give us a call. We can deal with the dirty work so you can enjoy the rest.

Busy Bees

When many picture a bee, the first species that comes to mind is often the bumblebee. The same goes for wood-boring insects; many assume them to be termites. What many do not expect is that there is a species of bee that bores into wood. Carpenter bees, like their relative the bumblebee, are large, black and yellow insects whose life only spans up to a year. Female carpenter bees rarely sting, only when provoked, and males completely lack the ability to. They are, however, quite territorial and are typically the gender that most people come into contact. Males will hover closely to people and structures, especially attracted to sudden movements, but do no more than create unnecessary fear. Though not particularly harmful to humans, carpenter bees can be a significant threat to wooden structures, affecting their integrity.

Found throughout the US, bees bore into raw wood and deck timbers, especially if it is weathered or has starter holes. As a result, a large number of bees can cause damage to log and wood-sided structures. In the case of thinner wood, such as siding, this damage can be severe. Contrary to popular belief, these bees do not eat the wood; they chew and live within it. Since they do not actually eat the wood they bore into, nectar from flowering plants is their primary food source. Some say that painting or staining wood will help to deter them, but they are known to damage that on occasion as well. The first signs of carpenter bee damage include small, smooth holes. A more advanced infestation may also include physically seeing bees hovering around the wood.

Carpenter Bee Nests

Unlike other common bees, such as honeybees, that live in colonies, carpenter bees are not social and build individual nests into trees or into the eaves, frames, or sides of buildings. Adult carpenter bees will overwinter in abandoned tunnels where they have stored pollen. The bees that survive the cold months will emerge when the temperatures warm up to feed on nectar, mate and make new nests, called galleries. Reused galleries expand every year, and some have been known to grow up to 10 ft in length.

The female makes large, open rooms to lay her eggs in off of the main gallery, called cells. She will ensure that each cell has enough pollen and regurgitated nectar for her developing young to feed. She will lay one egg in each gallery and seal off the entrance with wood pulp. The eggs take approximately 36 days to develop to an adult where they will then excavate themselves from the cell and into the gallery. Furthermore, the developing larvae, especially in homes, can oftentimes be attractive to woodpeckers that will seek out developing carpenter bees and create more extensive damage to the existing holes.

Eradicating Carpenter Bees

In order to keep carpenter bees out of the home, it is essential always to inspect the perimeter. Seal any cracks and crevices you jay see along the foundation and walls with caulk; repair holes in screens on windows or doors, and keep the doors closed unless in use. Professional treatment is vital if you have an active infestation. Dusting in entrance holes and an exterior pesticide treatment on affected wood is the most effective method for control. Carpenter bees typically require multiple treatments throughout a season. To prevent re-infestation, caulk and seal off holes, refinishing, or replacement of wood is necessary.

If you believe to be experiencing problems associated with carpenter bees, it is crucial to call licensed wildlife professionals. We have been keeping structures free from carpenter ants for over 25 years and are eager to help today!

Understanding Carpenter Ants

Identifying Carpenter Ants

Carpenter ants are one of the largest types of ants and are usually fairly easy to identify. They can start as small as 1/16 of an inch and quickly grow to a 1/2 inch in size. The queen is much larger and can easily grow up to an inch in size. Swarming and flying carpenter ants are often mistaken for termites. Termites are somewhat uncommon in Northern Michigan and it is almost always carpenter ants that clients are finding.

They can be found in the home and swarm towards windows to get out. Swarmers, as we like to call them, are the reproductive ants. They attempt to access the outside to produce satellite nests. After approximately a week they can exhaust themselves trying to get outside and die. There is no treatment to get ride of the swarming and flying carpenter ants, however this indicates that there is a working nest in your home or structure that does need to be treated by a pest control professional.

Will They Harm Me?

Carpenter ants can bite on contact, however they are not venomous. They prefer to eat things with protein and sugar, including honeydew, jelly, and meats they come across within the home. Carpenter ants can travel up to 1,000 ft. away from their colony to forage their food, and depending on the weather, can be seen both inside or outside the home. On nice sunny days, typically from late March to mid-June, carpenter ants nests can be “woken up” and the ants may suddenly start appearing in and around your home looking for food.

Homeowners can do their own inspection to identify a carpenter ant issue. Carps are typically the most active in the afternoons on warm, sunny days. It is easy to find the ants the outside corners of your homes. If you identify a carpenter ant infestation, it is very important to have Hogarth’s Pest Control treat the issue. Carpenter ants can cause an extensive amount of structural damage to your home by chewing and destroying wood, similar to termites. Clients sometimes go years without realizing they have a carpenter ant nest.

Treating for Carpenter Ants

If carpenter ants become overwhelming, you may wash the countertops or use over-the-counter gel baits. DO NOT SPRAY OR USE GRANULES under any circumstances. If you had previously had another company treat or if you used any type of over-the-counter spray or granule, it will effect the outcome and how long it can take for our treatment to work. Gel baits can help to kill off some of the ants for the time being, but sprays and granules may only make the situation worse. Carpenter ants are EXTREMELY smart and can tell when their fellow ants are dying off. Carpenter ants can detect when a product has been put down and may avoid the area all together.

They may work to avoid being seen by moving outside or relocating their nest. Gel baits will not kill off the nest. Hogarth’s Pest Control uses an un-detectable product that works by using the ants to take the product from outside to the nest itself, killing off the nest and the colony within 14-21 days of treatment. Once the carpenter ants have been treated for and the nest has been killed off, Hogarth’s can do an exterior preventative spray for all crawling insects, bees, wasps, and hornets. It is important to know that these are two different treatments and must be done at separate times.

Discovering A Nest

Occasionally, clients are unaware that they have carpenter ants until after their yearly spring treatment has been done. A typical exterior preventative treatment works to keep all crawling insects, bees, wasps, and hornets from getting inside the structure. However, this can trap carpenter ants inside the walls if not identified before-hand. If this is the case, Hogarth’s will need to do an interior ant treatment to rid your home of the ants. The interior treatment is non-invasive; we treat the baseboards, cracks and crevices.

Within the 21 days after treating for carpenter ants, it’s extremely important not to kill the ants as you see them. It is imperative for the ants to cross the product and transfer it back to the nest. Hogarth’s Pest Control guarantees your home to be carpenter ant free until the snow flies in the fall, however they can return to the structure in the following spring. It is very important to have Hogarth’s do a preventative spray every spring to avoid re-infestation.

Avoiding Carpenter Ant Infestations

Carpenter ants seek out moisture and food. The homeowner can prevent against carpenter ant infestations by correcting moisture problems and trimming tree branches to avoid touching the roof. Be sure to clean gutters regularly to avoid water run-off onto decking and other parts of the structure.

If you suspect a carpenter ant issue, be sure to consult Hogarth’s Pest Control for a professional treatment and to avoid re-infestation.