Category Archives for Pests, Diseases & Weed Control

As a small farmer, managing pests can be one of the biggest challenges you face. Insects, rodents and other critters can wreak havoc on your crops and endanger the health of your livestock. While chemical pesticides are an option, they're not always practical or desirable for smaller operations.

Pests come in all shapes and sizes, from the tiniest bed bug to the largest rat. They can cause many problems for homeowners, from contamination of food supplies to destruction of property. Knowing the most common household pest and how to prevent them from entering your home can help keep you and your family safe.

When you see a rat scuttering across the floor of your kitchen, the first thing on your mind definitely won’t be how to make this experience more pleasant for the rodent. We get that. What you will be thinking most probably will be somewhere along the lines of how can I get that thing out of here the quickest?

A lot of people have a deep, and very serious terror of cockroaches, interestingly enough, some of them even more so than they do of spiders, or other potentially more dangerous critters. To be fair, there’s something thoroughly unpleasant about cockroaches to justify this fear.

Humans are not the only creatures that love warmer months. Many annoying bugs that invade our homes and our gardens thrive in the summer. Although sometimes they are only a nuisance, dealing with an infestation can be draining.

Like any of the small critters that can often be found in residential areas, squirrels can often be a nuisance. They spend most of their time foraging for food and a fully stocked garden makes that process a lot easier. Squirrels often target fresh fruits, vegetables, and flowers, causing trouble for many home gardeners.

Skunks are troublesome animals you do not want in the garden. As a nocturnal species, they will steal your produce and dig holes in the yard while you are fast asleep. What’s worse is they will cause a terrible stink that lasts for days at a time if they get scared.

Hogweed or Heracleum Mantegazzianum as it is officially known, is a plant that is commonly found on riverbanks. It is a non-native plant which means that it was brought into the UK. It is a plant that thrives on moist and fertile ground and is also found in allotments, woodland and even railway embankments.

It’s easy to let the battle against weeds become all-consuming if you aren’t careful! Many a gardener spends hours of their life obsessively tracking down weeds and rooting them out, only to become enraged when they grow back again.

Did you know that termites can cause more damage to property than fire or floods? Termites are small enough that you may not notice them at first, but rest assured, once you have a termite infestation in your home you could be looking at thousands of dollars’ worth of damage and possibly damage enough to make your home unsafe to live in until it’s been repaired.