Bed Bug Prevention

Its often better to prevent infestation than deal with the costs of treating an infestation after the fact. Treatment includes products, dry cleaning and laundry bills, replaced furniture, loss of sleep and even prolonged psychological impacts. There are several steps you can take to drastically reduce the likelihood of getting infested with bed bugs:




Seal your Apartment or House
If you live in an apartment building, sealing your apartment from migrating bed bugs will help eliminate the possible intruders. It is very common to have bed bugs migrate into your apartment from a neighboring apartment. To seal your apartment you can use silicone caulk and spray foam. Seal the baseboards, and cracks and crevices with the silicone caulk. You can use the spray foam around pipes and radiators to seal the larger gaps.

Treat your home with effective residual insecticides
We sell 2 specially designed residual insecticides for bed bugs. The first, which we recommend for most residual treatments is our organic Diatomaceous earth. The product should be applied along all perimeter walls of your home. In an infested building, the baseboards of exterior walls are the number one entry point for bed bugs into your home. The second product is Garden.com Residual Bed Bug Killer (quart) This is typically recommended for commercial applications as it is not visible. Again, it would be applied to the exterior walls of the infested home as well.

Treat your luggage before travel
We carry an exclusive product that is the only one of its kind designed to be put on luggage before you travel. The specially formulated insecticide will deter bed bugs from crawling onto your luggage and you taking them back home with you. You can see more on this product here.

Be cautious while staying in hotels
Inspect any hotel room for signs of bed bugs before settling in. Search the seams of the mattress and box spring as well as the headboard for signs of bed bugs. Look for bed bugs themselves along with dark streaks or spots that could indicate the presence of bed bugs. Keep your luggage as far away from the bed as possible and do not put luggage where previous visitors would have most likely put theirs. You can also spray the sidewalls of the mattress with our Bed Bug Luggage Spray to kill any visible or non-visible bed bugs as well as deter them from biting.

Disinfect luggage and clothes upon returning home
Unpack your luggage outside of the home or far from living spaces. Immediately put clothes into a washing machine with water or straight into a dryer on high for about 30 minutes. Vacuum all surfaces of your luggage and spray with our with our Contact Killer Spray. Make sure you seal the vacuum bag or vacuum contents in a ziploc bag once complete.

Wash All Linens in Extremely Hot Water

Turn the washing machine to its hottest water setting. For a really bad case run the bedding in the hot water wash twice. Take bedding out of the washing machine and place in the dryer. Make sure that the dryer is on the hottest setting.

Encase your Mattress and Box Spring

Shortly after bed bugs enter your home, they will find their human feed source and infest as near them as possible. This typically means bed bugs will infest in and on our mattress and box spring. Because of the structure of the mattress and box spring bed bugs can often live in them undetected. They will infest along a seam or deep within the mattress/box spring, where you may never see them. Encasing your mattress and box spring will prevent bed bugs from penetrating them and limit any potential places of infestation. Not only will this deter infestation, but it makes for quick and easy inspection of infestations. Also, encasing your mattress and box spring will protect your investment from possibly having to be thrown out in the future.

Be aware and educate Yourself

Knowledge can go a long way in your efforts to prevent and infestation. Learn what bed bugs look like and how to identify an infestation . Be cautious of any incoming packages, luggage, laundry, bundles, etc. Don't place items on the ground in common areas of apartment buildings, including hallways. Be extra cautious in common areas such as the lobby, elevators, and laundry room. Inspect any shared washer and dryer before use.

It Doesn't Take an Army to Fend off Army Worms!

Armyworms are running rampant this time of year. If your lawn appears to be dry and thinning, you could have armyworms... and the damage could get considerably worse very quickly. The worms prefer fescue lawns and will then move into hybrid Bermudagrasses, saving zoysiagrasses for last. Fescue lawns can be wiped out in a day, and the damage is severe. If you think you have them, look down onto a thinning area of lawn for the worms. They are about an inch and a half long and like to climb to the tip of the grass plant and work their way down. They have an inverted "Y" on their face. Fortunately, armyworms are easy to control with Sevin Insecticide. It can be applied with a fertilizer spreader, and it should be very effective for control. Because the armyworms are here so early this year, I suggest that you go ahead and buy some Sevin and be ready to apply as soon as you see them. Or, tell your lawn contractor to go ahead and apply an insecticide for them. As an advance indicator, watch for the armyworm moths flying around your lawn at night as your car headlights shine across your lawn. At my house, there are so many that it looks like a light snow. This is a dead giveaway that they are laying eggs which soon will hatch into the voracious eating larvae

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Pre-Emergent Weed Control

Garden.com offers a product called Amaze Pre-Emergence Herbicide. It has been tested to keep your flowerbeds Weed Free for 6-8 Months. Green Light Amaze is a selective, pre-emergence herbicide that is a surface applied (non-incorporated) treatment. Amaze Granules will remain stable on the soil surface; however, rainfall or irrigation is needed to move the product into the weed seed germinating layer of the soil Weeds Controlled: Grasses such as Barnyardgrass, Crabgrass, Goosegrass, Johnsongrass (seedling), Panicum, and Sandbur. Broadleaf weeds such as Chickweed, Henbit, Lambsquarters, Pigweed, Purslane, Spurge, and Woodsorrel. Turf: Use Amaze Granules for control of Sandbur (Grassbur) in warm season turf. Application to established St. Augustine, Bermuda, Centipede, and Zoysia grasses should be made prior to seed germination (early spring). Apply at the rate of 2.5 to 3.5 pounds per 1,000 square feet. One 8 lb. bag covers 2,000 square feet for control of Sandbur (Grassbur) in established turf. Ornamentals: Amaze Granules can be used on Abelias, Azaleas, Boxwood, Chrysanthemums, Euonymus, Gardenias, Geraniums, Hibiscus, Holly, Honeysuckle, Ice Plants, Impatiens, Junipers, Marigolds, Nandinas, Pansies, Periwinkles, Petunias, Photinias, Rhododendrons, Roses, Viburnums, Zinnias, and others.

What is Sexual Propagation?

Sexual propagation is the creation of a seed through the pollination of the female part of the flower by the pollen of the male flower. The most common and least expensive method of propagating plants by far is from the seed. Flowers are beautiful to look at but their ultimate purpose is to produce seed to perpetuate their species. Seeds become fertilized embryos when the male pollen from the stamen pollinates the female pistil part of the flower. When the right conditions for light, oxygen and temperature are met, the seed will come out of dormancy and begin to grow. Not all seedlings are exact duplicates of their parents, but variations might be able to adapt and survive better. To propagate a seed successfully it is essential that the conditions be right. Temperature, humidity, light and oxygen and carbon dioxide supply must be favourable to ensure germination. Each kind of seed has specific requirements for germination. Some seeds must be frozen prior to planting, some like a very moist environment while others prefer very dry conditions. For most common seeds the growing medium, in which propagation is to take place, should be sterile and supply plenty of oxygen while retaining moisture. As the temperature gradually warms and spring officially arrives, you will probably be spending as much time outdoors as possible enjoying time with your new plants. Whether they were born from seed or vegetative clones, there is nothing more satisfying than playing a part in the procreation of the very thing that makes gardening possible, the plant