Reclaiming Your Home from Pests: DIY and Eco-Friendly Strategies

Join Laura and Jim as they explore the trenches of DIY pest control, equipping you with the mightiest of strategies to reclaim your kingdom from the tiniest of foes. We discuss the power of knowing your enemy – whether it's termites, carpenter ants, or the elusive beetles. Especially for those in the Buckeye State, we've got tailored advice for Ohio's notorious home invaders that will save your sanity and your structures. And for the real estate pros, we're serving up tips to ensure your clients' new abodes are pest-free paradises.

This episode isn't just about the battle, it's about the harmony of coexistence with nature. Discover how food-grade diatomaceous earth can be your pet's best friend and your parasite's worst nightmare, all while keeping Mother Nature's balance in check. We'll dive into the microscopic warfare that beneficial nematodes wage in our gardens, protecting our roses without harming the ladybugs. Laura and I reminisce on our personal victories using these eco-friendly warriors and guide you on when to wear the pest control cape yourself or when to pass the torch to the pros. From home care to real estate deals, we've got the blueprint for a pest-free life, naturally.

Here is a place for nematodes Beneficial Nematodes - Organic Control, Inc.

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:02

Welcome to the Standing Out in Ohio podcast, where we discuss topics, upcoming events, news and predictions with real estate professionals and entrepreneurs. Listen and learn what makes their companies and themselves stand out and gain advantages over the competition and gain market share. Subscribe for the latest news and discussion on what it takes to stand out from the crowd. Now here's your host, jim.

Speaker 2 0:39

Hey everybody, welcome to the Standing Out and how podcast. This is Jim, and with me, of course, is Laura, the office goddess.

Speaker 3 0:47

Hello everyone.

Speaker 2 0:47

All right, we had a question the other day and really nothing to do with the home inspection. We will have past clients contact us. Hey, do you know a painter who you recommend for plumbing? What do you do about this that they look at it for a long-term source? Yeah, assistance with their home. We had somebody ask about pest control, so that is going to be the topic today is do-it-yourself pest control for the homeowner or, if you're an agent, this is good information for you to relay to your current homeowners or future homeowners. But first let's listen to this.

Speaker 4 1:31

Habitation investigation is the way to go for a home inspection in Ohio. Trusted licensed home inspectors for your needs from radon to mold to warranties, for a great home inspection, you really can't go wrong. Visit homeinspectionsinohiocom.

Speaker 2 1:55

All right, laura. So pest. When people think about pest, what kind of things are they normally thinking about? Do you think?

Speaker 3 2:05

Bugs, raccoons, squirrels.

Speaker 2 2:10

The whole gamut. The whole gamut, from little tiny things to big things, little tiny, itty bitty things to big things that need traps to get out.

Speaker 2 2:16

All right. Well, if it's a big thing, we'll say, well, I don't know. If it's a rodent, we'll say, like mouse or bigger. Probably the best thing to do would be contact an animal control company to get that. Yes, if it's just mice and this is common Get cats. Keep the cats a little hungry. Even that doesn't work. Some cats are lazy. But anyway, you could take care of that yourself easily. I don't like those glue traps. I do not like those.

Speaker 3 2:48

No, I don't like them.

Speaker 2 2:49

If you're going to kill the mouse, kill it quickly, don't make it suffer.

Speaker 3 2:54

And don't poison it, because if something else eats it you're poisoning that animal. So I don't like poison either.

Speaker 2 3:01

Correct. So get the traps, get those, make it quick. The best thing to get rid of those is don't leave food for them to get. That's the big issue for mice, so mouse size are bigger, unless it's a really small issue.

Speaker 3 3:16

Call an extermination company.

Speaker 2 3:18

Call an extermination company to take care of that. But here in Ohio there are. You gotta be licensed to do pesticide application like a termite treatment treating for carpenter ants, carpenter bees. You have to be licensed to do that to somebody else's house.

Speaker 3 3:39

Right or for a real estate transaction.

Speaker 2 3:42

For a real estate transaction? Well, yes, for a real estate transaction. Or for a real estate transaction For a real estate transaction? Well, yes, for a real estate transaction. If you're the homeowner, you can treat your home, your own house yourself, with professional grade treatments.

Speaker 3 4:07

Now if it's involved in a real estate transaction, no, the loan company is going to want verification from the professional licensed company that yes, this was, we'll say, termites. Plus, they also offer warranties, usually for like six months to a year. After they treat that says, hey, we've treated, you, should be good for this period of time. That's important in a real estate transaction. If just the homeowner does it, you're not going to have that.

Speaker 2 4:23

Correct, so you could get it. We'll say termites. You see one tube somewhere and you want to get that treated. You could do that yourself as the homeowner.

Speaker 3 4:32

So how would I do that as a homeowner if I have no clue and I've never done that before?

Speaker 2 4:37

First, proper identification. You need to be absolutely certain what you're treating, because there's four woody-stranded insects recognized here in Ohio and those are termites, carpenter ants, carpenter bees and powder post beetles. Carpenter ants and termites make those tubes.

Speaker 4 4:58

Right.

Speaker 2 4:58

That's probably the easiest thing to find is the termite tubes on the outside of the wood. So you have that, but so now you gotta go get some pesticide for it.

Speaker 3 5:09

There is a place in columbus I think it's columbus pest control but they uh help homeowners treat their own place and they will help you identify what bug it is or what the what situation is so take a clear jar, clear glass jar, whatever the bug or critter is, take that into them and they will walk you through the steps of what it is, what you need to get and then how to actually treat your own house correct or or they can do it Correct, or they can do it for you.

Speaker 3 5:45

Or they can do it for you.

Speaker 2 5:47

But their website. They are really geared to helping people identify the issue and then help them take care of it.

Speaker 3 5:55

Well, it's like if you give somebody fish, you feed them for a day. If you teach them how to fish, they've got food the rest of their life, correct? Or, in this case, they've got the ability to take care of their house. They've got food, the rest of their life Correct, or, in this case, they've got the ability to take care of their house.

Speaker 2 6:06

They've got the skills and knowledge to treat this forever. So you being part hippie, you for regular ants in your house, regular bugs, little bugs, not the wood-destroying insect type. You have some ways to where homeowners can treat that and does not involve harsh chemicals at all no, because I don't like the chemicals.

Speaker 3 6:32

And yeah, okay, so maybe I am part hippie you are part hippie, yes, so what?

Speaker 2 6:37

what are some of those things?

Speaker 3 6:40

so one of the things that you can do is put out cornmeal um.

Speaker 2 6:46

For what?

Speaker 3 6:47

for ants? Okay, ants will take the cornmeal and ingest it, but ultimately they end up starving to death. So they can't digest it and they can't get any more food in their stomach because they've got the cornmeal. So they end up dying.

Speaker 2 7:04

Okay, that sounds painful, but it's ants, but it's an ant Okay.

Speaker 3 7:08

Yeah, so that's one way. Another way I've done is I've taken honey and I've mixed borax in it and I put it in an area where I make sure other little critters can't get to it and I let the little ants eat it, and that is essentially killing the the nest. Then they take that back to the nest and they ingest the borax and the borax kills them is there a ratio for that?

Speaker 2 7:33

can you have too much borax? I know termites. If you. This is why you do yourself pest treatment. If you're treating termites, you have to follow the instructions, because if you put too much of the pesticide, the termites are gonna go. Nope, I ain't touching that. There's something funky with it. I'm leaving alone. Is there a ratio with the borax?

Speaker 3 7:52

I just sprinkle a little bit in. There probably is a recipe somewhere online. Just look up honey, borax, treatment for ants, and that'll probably get it to you. I just put a little bit in. I I mean I don't make a huge amount, like it's barely enough to heat up on the stove, and I put the borax in and just just enough to to melt it in the honey, and then you put a little bit of borax in and I make sure it's all right, I see, I think I've seen it.

Speaker 2 8:20

It's like maybe a quarter cup of honey if that, and maybe just like maybe half a teaspoon of borax if that. So it's not much now there's. There's nothing diatomaceous earth I love diatomaceous earth. This is your favorite one this is well, there's two.

Speaker 3 8:35

There's two that are my favorite and I've used them in conjunction for years. So the first one is diatomaceous earth and basically what that is is ground up seashells. So it's very small, almost sand like, but it has very jagged edges because it's seashells and basically what that does is the bug will crawl across it and it puts a crack in their exoskeleton and they basically just dehydrate.

Speaker 2 9:01

So that's what was like a microscopic little critter and that's the exoskeleton of like little, tiny sea creature.

Speaker 3 9:08

Yep Right and it just puts a hole in their exoskeleton.

Using Nematodes and Diatomaceous Earth

Speaker 2 9:14

Interesting Diatomaceous earth. You don't want to breathe in the powder because it will irritate your lungs, but you can touch it, you can eat. They make it food grade. You can eat it. They're now supposed to be healthy for you to consume.

Speaker 3 9:27

I buy food grade and I sprinkle it on cat food and it helps treat worms, because it does the same thing in the intestines.

Speaker 2 9:33

It puts a cut in the critter's system yeah and they end up dying and dehydrating so it'd be a good preventative as well as well and then another thing I use is um nematodes.

Speaker 3 9:48

now I know you're all thinking spongebob and the nematodes. Now I know you're all thinking Spongebob and the nematodes come running through and eat everything I do remember the Girls Are Little.

Speaker 2 9:55

There was a Spongebob episode where nematodes came across Bikini Bottom and just see like little. They look like little worms just bouncing and just consuming everything in their pathway. Yes, so what really are nematodes? Do they look like little worm-like?

Speaker 3 10:13

I don't know. They're like micro, so I get it in like a powder and I get three different kinds of nematodes, because each kind of nematode but they're microscopic.

Speaker 2 10:24

Yeah, they're microscopic. There's no way we can see them. They're microscopic.

Speaker 3 10:26

They're in like a powder, and then you mix the powder with water and then you spray it over the area. So what? Each nematode? Wait, wait, wait, directly on the ground.

Speaker 2 10:33

But what? Each nematode? Wait, wait, wait. Directly on the ground. Yeah, directly on the ground You're talking about soil, not inside the house.

Speaker 3 10:38

No on the soil Okay. So what you do is you've got three different types of nematodes and you can go on Amazon and you can look this up and I always get the one that has all three in it. We used to have a horrible problem with Japanese beetles and we also have cats outside so we had problems with fleas. So I have treated using the nematodes. For years now. I haven't seen a japanese beetle. What five years, maybe it's been a long time since we've had. It's been a long time so the nematode?

Speaker 2 11:12

what do they do in the soil?

Speaker 3 11:13

they will attack the larva in the soil and basically kill them as they're gestating and growing and then that way they don't become bugs and it breaks the life cycle so nematodes go against fleas ticks, japanese beetles, what pretty much name it.

Speaker 2 11:35

What else but?

Speaker 3 11:36

each. Each type of nematode goes after specific types of bugs, so that's why you need to look and see what each type of nematode does and what you want it for. I get all three because we have a bunch of different bugs around here and especially at our property. I've been doing all three because we want to take care of fleas, we want to take care of ticks, we want to take care of you know, there's a bunch of ants. There's been a bunch of other things that we've tried to get rid of.

Speaker 2 12:06

It's the woods, it's the woods, but we don't want those next to the house or the campsites, but we don't want them next to the house.

Speaker 3 12:11

We don't want them next to the campsites. I've kind of been concentrating them and there's been a difference.

Speaker 2 12:16

Oh yeah, now my understanding is you can treat with the nematodes and and they spread each year.

Speaker 3 12:21

They don't die.

Speaker 2 12:23

But they last several years.

Speaker 3 12:25

Oh, they multiply. Like once you put them in, they will continue to multiply. But what I do is each year I'll go and I'll seed out farther from where I did the year before and I kind of give them a little boost and I let them expand their territory and it's worked great.

Speaker 2 12:43

Now the nematodes. Do they harm any beneficial bugs?

Speaker 3 12:48

I would imagine that they would not be able to distinguish between the two.

Speaker 2 12:51

Okay, so you may want to be careful.

Speaker 3 13:02

So that's why I said you need to make sure that when you read, you read what they attack and what they're going to eat. And do you want that particular bug gone or do you want to keep that? And if that's the case, then don't get that kind of nematode, get the other ones.

Speaker 2 13:10

Yeah, I know you got the ones that target the fleas and ticks and.

Speaker 3 13:14

I get the ones that target the fleas and the ticks.

Speaker 2 13:19

And it's made a huge difference. I don't know any benefit to the world for fleas and ticks. Ticks just all need to die.

Speaker 2 13:28

I hate them. They are nasty. But anyway, it is legal for homeowners to treat their own house for, you know, any kind of wood-distorted insect, rare insects, pests you can treat yourself. You don't need to get professional if you want to save the money, but if you have a big job it could be worth hiring somebody to do it. Go to that. I think it's Columbus Pest Control. They're out there in West Broad, 1015 or 1510 West Broad For some of you that don't remember that. They're out there in West Broad, 10-15 or 15-10 West Broad For some of you that don't remember that.

Speaker 3 14:00

Well, and here's another idea.

Speaker 2 14:02

They can tell you you might want to do this yourself. It's small enough. Or they can help you also, or they can sell you the equipment. But if it's your house and say you're going to need to put the pesticide into the ground on the of the house, that equipment is probably not super cheap and they may go hey, we'll do it for you and here's the feed.

Speaker 3 14:21

you don't have to buy this stuff well, and another thought I have is at least have them come out, maybe the first time, and show you how to treat and then, from there on out, you know what they did and how they did it. Maybe you could rent equipment, maybe you could you know, whatever, but they would be able to help you work that out.

Speaker 2 14:39

Yeah, there probably are other places you can get your pesticides or treatment equipment from, I'm sure of it, but they're just the one that I'm aware of here in Columbus, my Columbus area, ohio. So so I think that's about it on this one.

Speaker 3 14:53

Yeah, all right. Nematodes and diatomaceous earth are the best two.

Speaker 2 14:57

Yeah, and I am Before our new house, before they put the drywall up, I'm going to take the diatomaceous earth and I'm going to put that all along within the framing of the walls Right on the outside. I'm going to frame all that in. So if you ever get ants, start finding little cracks, start coming underneath they got to go across that.

Speaker 4 15:19

Barrier that barrier.

Speaker 2 15:20

And they're not going to like that and they'll hopefully just back up and go a different direction and it won't work out for them.

Speaker 3 15:25

Yeah, I have some left down there now.

Speaker 2 15:26

But I am going to be doing that down there as a preventative. That's just one of the things like a builder's not going to do that for you.

Speaker 3 15:32

No, and I wouldn't expect him to no. No, but we are going to do that and we're going to tell our builder we are dead, that we were going to be treating for stuff beforehand, but we're going to remind him.

Speaker 2 15:42

He's learned all kinds of things.

Speaker 3 15:44

Yeah, I'm sure he's having a blast.

Speaker 2 15:46

Oh yeah, so all right, that's it, everybody. Thank you, have a great week, bye-bye, bye.

Speaker 1 15:53

You've been listening to the Standing Out in Ohio podcast. Be sure to subscribe on Spotify or Google Podcasts to get new, fresh episodes. For more, please follow us on Instagram, twitter and Facebook, or visit the website of the best Ohio home inspection company at homeinspectionsinohiocom or jimtroffcom. That's J-I-M-T-R-O-T-H and click on podcast. Until next time, learn and go do stuff.