That Makes Ten!

 On this day, one decade ago, Z Pest Control LLC was formed by me, Paul E. Zimmerman, the sole owner and operator of the business ever since. 

What a ride it has been...

Seven out of ten small businesses in the U.S. are typically gone by this point, so for Z Pest to still be around and going as strong as ever, that means there's something good going on here. This must be the case, because here on the 10th anniversary of the business, there are monthly and quarterly clients on the Z Pest roster who have been there from the very beginning. Clients don't stick around for a decade if they're not getting results. 

A special thanks is in order to those Z Pest long timers, as they've not only been a foundation upon which the business has been built, but often are the ones who have helped it to grow through word-of-mouth referrals. 

Also thanks to these folks and those that have followed, the Z Pest roster is quite tight these days! A persistent challenge the business has faced over this past decade is expansion, which for lack of the right people looking for an opportunity at the right time has proven insurmountable thus far. When it comes down to it, pest control is a so-called "dirty job" and frequently visits numerous discomforts throughout the working day upon those of us who provide these services. It's hard to blame people for taking a look at what this entails and then pursuing other careers! Pest control is about as recession proof as an industry can get, however, which I experienced during the 2008-2009 financial crisis, and then recently during the virus-induced turbulence of 2020. During both periods, things just chugged right along regardless; as we say in this industry: "pests don't do recessions". For competent, talented, honest and motivated people, in this industry work will always be there. If you're looking for opportunity and you're not afraid of a little dirt and sweat (and spiders...), maybe you're the person that could join this now decade-old brand and help Z Pest expand.

For all of you just looking to get some of these time-tested and proven services, again thanks to the Z Pest clients who have opted for regularly scheduled, repeat services, and the above, it's actually fairly difficult to get scheduled these days. The reason for this is that those seeking one-off services have to wait until monthly and quarterly clients have been serviced first, and all of us have to contend with nature and the fact that there are only so many hours in a day. Those with reserved spots on the Z Pest calendar get serviced first, period, and they keep their places in line when weather or other events push everyones' appointments back. This isn't to say that it's impossible for those needing just one or two things done one time to get in the door, but it is increasingly difficult as the years go by and both old and new customers remain loyal to Z Pest. All that said, for potential new clients reading this, your best bet is to join the folks who opted for regularly scheduled services, which is handled without burdensome, expensive contracts.

Thanks for stopping by and reading, and again, thanks to all who have supported Z Pest on the path to this milestone! Onward into year eleven!

Winter?

Here it is, the middle of January, and many days we've experienced this month in the Walla Walla Valley could fairly fool one into thinking it's October. 

No complaints here! Snow is ok... if it's depicted in a photo, on television, something like that. 

(I'd rather be here, where "snow" is something
they put in a paper cone and douse with fruit
flavorings!)

Several pests that Z Pest Control LLC remedies are nonetheless dormant and out-of-sight right now, but there are several that are not. Calls, texts, and emails continue to come in through this period for ants, mice, spiders, burrowing pests (gophers, voles, and moles), an occasional opossum, and a dash of bats. 

Appointment availability for new and infrequent clients is better right now than in the April-to-October busy season when scheduling becomes extremely tight. If however you are looking for regularly scheduled services, this is a great time to request a reserved spot on the Z Pest calendar. No contracts, you just have your spot on the roster until you decide you don't want it any longer. That way you've already beat the rush and don't have to worry about finding an available provider when pests are already upon you (most summers the schedule becomes so full that new and infrequent clients cannot be taken on - there is only so much time in each day and lots of demand for Z Pest services!).

Services are invoiced on 30 day payment terms; payment methods accepted are cash, check, charge (via Square, so this method is available if you wish to pay at the time of service), Zelle, Google Pay, and Bitcoin.

Thanks for stopping by! If you need anything, please call or text (509) 540-7946, or send an email to help@zpestcontrol.com. 

Z Pest Control Is Operating During "Stay At Home"

Washington State's "Stay At Home" order going into effect for two weeks as of Wednesday, March 25th WILL NOT halt Z Pest Control LLC operations.

Per the memo released by Olympia, under the section entitled, "Essential Workforce - Public Works," it includes this:

"Workers such as plumbers, electricians, exterminators, and other service providers who provide services that are necessary to maintaining the safety, sanitation, and essential operation of residences"

Z Pest Control LLC will keep right on going through this event. If you have a pest problem, be that at your home or your business, you do not have to just tolerate it until these restriction pass. Z Pest Control LLC will be available to respond all throughout. 

If you are worried about paying for the service, please know that all invoices are given "net 30" terms (you have thirty days to pay the balance due). Credit cards are accepted, too.

If you are an existing Z Pest Control LLC customer with an outstanding invoice and you are facing financial hardship, please just get in touch and something can be worked out.

---

You can read the memo listing essential businesses by clicking here.

Z Pest Invoices Can Be Paid With Zelle

There's a new way to pay your outstanding Z Pest invoices:

If Zelle is available through your banking institution, you can now use it to send payments on your invoices electronically and (almost) instantly!

Simply add payments@zpestcontrol.com to your Zelle contacts.

When sending payments through Zelle, be sure to include your invoice number by entering it on the "What's this for?" line of the Zelle payment screen (the screen that appears after you click "review").

Bringing 2016 To A Frozen Close

It's been some time since I last updated the Z Pest website, and I have all of my customers to thank for that: you've all kept me so busy that there wasn't much time left for anything else!

2016 marked five years in business for me under the Z Pest banner (nine years working in this industry), and it turned out to be the strongest year for the business so far.

Going into 2017, I will be making some new offerings available, things not currently provided by other operators in this area, so please keep checking back to see what's happening!

Snow is nice to look at... in photos... when they're not mine.

As for now, despite the heavy blanket of snow that we're under, some pests are still making themselves known in people's homes around the Walla Walla valley, and as such I'm still available if you need help. You may have a few spiders living with you as refugees from the cold (they may even hitch a ride on your fresh Christmas tree!), and it's not at all uncommon for ants to suddenly show up inside your house in the dead of winter, as I wrote about here around this time last year. Lately the Z Pest phone has been ringing quite a bit more than usual with calls about mice turning up in places where they're not wanted, too. These are pretty common occurrences in this region during this part of the year, so I'm well versed in getting them sorted out.

You can get in touch with me by phone, email, or text message if you need help (for texting, please provide some identifying information so I know if you're a new or returning customer). Invoicing and receipts can be handled paperlessly if you would like, and payments are accepted by cash, check, charge, and Bitcoin, whichever one or several of those methods is most convenient for you.

Z Pest Control LLC

509-540-7946

(Call or text!)

paul@zpestcontrol.com

The Grasshoppers Are Away, So The Ants Will Play

The Ant and the Grasshopper, one of Aesop's Fables, tells the story of the perils of failing to plan and prepare for hard times in the future. As the story goes, during the summer months when times are good and life is easy, Grasshopper spends all of his time playing on his fiddle and enjoying himself. Grasshopper teases Ant when he sees him working hard at laying up stores for the winter months ahead rather than playing. Inevitably, winter comes, and Grasshopper finds himself starving. He goes to Ant to beg for food, but Ant refuses him, in some versions of the tale telling Grasshopper to, "dance the winter away now."

Aesop's tale was a cautionary one for humans, warning us against allowing opportunity to slip past in times of plenty, especially when we know that it will not last. As for the insect characters Aesop used to deliver his message, I suspect that his choice of ants and grasshoppers was based on something close to home: despite the coming of winter, Aesop must have noticed that his house still had ants in it.

Summer's grasshoppers are long gone, as are the wasps, boxelder bugs, flies, many spiders, etc. Ants, however, are still in abundance during this time of the year indoors. When outdoor temperatures dropped to freezing, many folks around the Walla Walla valley suddenly found themselves with little black ants inside their house, whereas only a day before they had none. This is typically what will happen when over the summer a nest of Odorous House Ants (and sometimes Pavement Ants) established themselves within the structure. Foraging outdoors all summer unnoticed, the freezing temperatures outside force the nest to begin foraging indoors, the only option the ants have due to the limits of their biology.

If you are having this issue now and you are looking for help, please give me a call! For a typical house around the Walla Walla valley, I treat this problem for $40-$45, which includes touch-up visits over a 30 day period. The treatment methods I use do not require people or pets to leave during the application, and because the ant colonies are essentially trapped indoors at this time of the year, eliminating them is frequently easier than during the summer since it is too cold for new colonies to travel overland to the structure and invade again.

Z Pest Control LLC

509-540-7946

(Call or text!)

paul@zpestcontrol.com

How Often Should Pest Control Be Done?

The busy season for pest control in the Walla Walla valley is in full swing now, with just about every variety of pest that Z Pest Control remedies making themselves known in our homes and yards.

The markedly increased activity that comes around at this time of the year has been putting me into touch with lots of new customers almost daily. A question that comes up frequently when I meet a client for the first time is:

 "When should this treatment be done again?" 

I decided to write a little about that topic since I've never covered it on my site before.

The short answer: pest control treatments should be repeated as often as necessary to reduce pests to the level you're comfortable with.

That's how I do it: you tell me when you're feeling good about the number of pests that are around (if any), and then the service(s) can be stopped if you want. I don't do contracts, so you're never on the hook for services you may not need any longer once your pests are gone.

There is a minimum amount of time that I must wait before some treatments can be repeated, which is basically once per month. Some of my clients, the ones who feel the most uncomfortable when insects and spiders are around, generally select this frequency. Several of those clients purchase monthly service only during the months of April through October. Others are fine with quarterly visits, and a handful of clients I only see once per year. All others I help out if and when a pest problem arises, and that's all. Everyone's situation is different, so I accommodate that as best I can.

The type of pest being treated also determines how often treatments need to be done for the best results, and when. Some examples:

European paper wasps on a Z Pest client's mail box.
I bet the mail carrier prefers mean dogs to this!

European Paper Wasps: treatments during early to late spring, typically at least two spaced one month apart, do a lot to suppress paper wasp numbers for the rest of the season. This is because at the start of their nesting cycle, the only wasps out and about are queens. If they die, an entire nest will never exist. A maintenance application a few months later in the summer can help to keep them away, and a final fall application can potentially kill off newly hatched queens that come around your house looking for places to hibernate.

A cluster of boxelder bugs. A small cluster...

Boxelder bugs: keep hitting them until they're gone, starting around April and continuing through October. The earlier they are treated, the better, but it's never too late in the season to begin attacking them. Boxelder bugs are simply everywhere around here, so more will arrive in the treatment area all the time. Removing things like leaf litter, bark, gravel, etc. can reduce their harborage and thereby their numbers locally, but generally it takes a couple of insecticide applications spaced roughly one month apart to really knock them down.

Odorous House ants feeding on something sweet.

Ants: it depends on the type of ant, how long the infestation has been present, and what kinds of remedies someone may have tried in the past to deal with them. Generally, control of ants can be brought about in a month or two, as long as any conditions that might be favoring the ants are corrected (things like plants touching the outside of your house, exposed food inside, etc.). Ants can be active all year long, depending on where their nests are located, meaning that addressing them is in part a matter of adjusting treatment sites seasonally.

Don't worry, we don't have these around
the Walla Walla valley. :)

Spiders: monthly treatments go a long way toward keeping spiders down, with exterior applications providing the most benefit from April through October, and interior treatments being typically all that's necessary from November through March. Crawl spaces can also be "dusted" with dry formulation insecticides to kill spiders and keep them out, a treatment that's typically effective for six to eight months. If nothing else, have the outside of your home treated in the fall, which will kill off many spiders attempting to come inside to snuggle with you during the winter.

A mouse that ate its last meal
 in the Z Pest office.

Mice: rodents are a year-round pest, potentially becoming somewhat more bothersome in and around structures during the winter months. Treating them is a matter of placing baits and traps and keeping them up for as long as mice continue to get caught and nibble the baits. Sometimes a mouse issue will end quickly (such as the handful of times I've trapped a single male mouse for a client, which ended all of their problems), and other times the presence of rodents is an on-going issue, necessitating a regular monthly service. If their activity begins to slow down, but not quite stop, visits can be spaced out to every-other month, quarterly, etc., which reduces your cost for the service.

Buckhorn plantain in the Dixie, Washington cemetery
before I began volunteering to treat the weeds there.

Weeds: there are two weed cycles that are important to address early on to keep a given area relatively weed-free all year long: the spring annual and perennial weed cycles, and the fall annual weed cycle. The first type begin growing in the spring and complete their life cycle before fall. The latter type begin growing in the fall, sit dormant for the winter, and then complete their life cycle in the spring. Any kind of weed is best treated when it first begins to grow, meaning that the most effective weed control is achieved with a properly-timed spring application, and then another application in the fall. This is true of selective weed control in lawns, or total weed control in places like driveways, gravel parking lots, etc. Along with your weed control, I can do some fertilizing if you would like, too.

These are just a few examples of the pest services that I offer. If you need help with something, give me a call and ask about it. There's a pretty good chance that what is bothering you is something that I do work on.

So then, to sum up:

Pest Control Frequency: When you're ready for it.

Time of the Year: Depends on the pest.

Termination of Services: When you want to.

Contract Commitments: NONE.

Sound good? Give me a call!

Z PEST CONTROL LLC

509-540-7946

paul@zpestcontrol.com

Walla Walla Valley Current Pest Features and 2014 Previews

Over the last couple of days, the Z Pest phone has been ringing more and more as we haltingly move closer to spring time. Here's a short list of the things you can expect to see in the coming weeks that most often bother Z Pest customers, most of which can be dealt with at prices ranging from $40-$65 (plus tax), in rough order:

Odorous House Ants

Though on most days it's still a bit on the cold side as far as ants are concerned (and me, for that matter), the recent retreat of the snow we had around the Walla Walla valley has been followed by waves of ants emerging indoors from hiding places; specifically, it's everybody's tiny friends, the Odorous House ant ("OHA" for short). Or maybe it's just that ants get cabin fever, too. In any case, they're in your home and/or office and you're probably thinking that they have to go.

I can definitely help. But before I head on over, there are a few things you can do to help yourself and me:

1. Don't spray the ants! Most over-the-counter insecticide sprays, even the ones labeled for ants, contain what are known as "repellent" insecticides. They will kill whatever ants you can see, but it's the ants you don't see that matter the most: the queens (unfortunately, that's plural because OHA can have multiple queens in each colony). The surviving worker ants will smell the repellent insecticide and simply avoid that area, and the unaffected queens will continue to crank out eggs. What's worse, sometimes the ants will react by splitting up their colony and spreading out all over your house! Leave any spraying to me, as I use non-repellent, slow-acting products that will reach into their nests.

If the bait you're using works, this is how OHA will react.

2. Baits are ok! Not all baits are equal when it comes to OHA, as some are definitely better than others. What I tell people as a rule of thumb is that if the bait comes in a solid form, the ants are probably going to ignore it. Generally, a liquid form bait will perform better, and as far as over-the-counter baits go, Terro is the one I recommend you use for minor ant incursions. I use something different that avoids some of the flaws of baits like Terro, but it will at least get the ball rolling in the right direction for you.

3. Don't worry about cleaning! I know this can be a difficult thing for some to do, especially when a guest is going to be visiting your home. Let me assure you that after witnessing the chaos generally referred to as the "freshman dorm experience" at Washington State U., seeing a bit of clutter doesn't phase me. That said, I'm not saying that mountains of belongings and trash don't matter, as that would negatively affect my results, but your kitchen counter tops do not need to be squeaky clean just because I'm coming over. The reason cleaning can actually make things a bit harder for me when I come to treat your ants is that you may inadvertently remove the thing the ants were interested in, which in the case of OHA will cause them to go back into hiding. That doesn't make treating them impossible, but it can make it a longer process.

Ready to get rid of your ants? I can be reached at 509-540-7946!

Spiders

Spiders maintain both an indoor and and outdoor presence, and some species live up to a couple of years, which prompts them to spend winter indoors with us. The vast majority of spiders that you encounter in your home, office, and yard are NOT potentially harmful (physically, that is), and the species folks around here most commonly fear, the dreaded brown recluse spider, doesn't even live in this part of the United States!

This is a mother wolf spider that briefly lived with me, with
her newly hatched babies riding on her back.

Spiders you will commonly see around here are brown house spiders, jumping spiders, various types of orb weaving spiders, and swift little grass spiders. On occasion, you may encounter black widow spiders, but these shy, non-aggressive spiders will typically stay as far away as they can from you as you will from them.

During the winter months, I can help you reduce or eliminate populations of spiders inside your home or office with some simple crack, crevice, and spot spraying with appropriate pesticides. During the spring, summer, and fall, I mostly address spiders with exterior treatments (which can reduce or eliminate the presence of spiders indoors the following winter). If your home or office has a crawl space, I can also treat those spaces with insecticidal dusts that will provide even more long-term control of spiders (typically for six to eight months).

Boxelder Bugs

It's still a little on the cold side most days for our local six-legged sunbathers, but they are already making occasional appearances (as of the date of this writing, I've already performed one boxelder bug treatment for a customer this year).

Boxelder bugs sunning themselves on the side of
a building belonging to one of my clients.

Though harmless to humans and pets, boxelder bugs are nonetheless extremely annoying as they mass in the hundreds or even thousands on the sides of our homes and offices. During the winter months, they wedge themselves into whatever cracks and crevices they can find (under siding, behind rocks, even into the cracks of old telephone poles!) where they wait for the return of spring. They can also commonly be found under gravel, bark beds, piles of leaves, etc.

Treating boxelder bugs is a simple matter of placing residual insecticides on the spots where they are likely to hang out, with emphasis on their preferred harborage areas. To get an early start on them, I can do a crack and crevice treatment around your home and a landscape spray on certain areas of your yard with long-lasting insecticides that will reduce their numbers early on in the season. If it gets to be later in the season before you decide you've had enough of them, no problem, as they can be addressed after they've emerged, too.

Weeds

This is my front yard a few weeks after I treated it.
 I use the same stuff around my own home
and yard as I would around yours!

As soil temperatures slowly trend upward, several weed species will begin putting down roots and pushing up shoots. Others that began their life cycle in the fall months will come out of their slumber and finish up before summer sets in by producing the seeds that will restart their cycle when fall comes again.

Depending on the type of weeds you want controlled, be they in your lawn or your driveway, generally they can be stopped in advance with an application of "pre-emergent" herbicide products. If the weeds have already begun growing, such products can be combined with "post-emergent" herbicides to stop them in their tracks and help prevent more from following.

Z Pest is equipped to handle both large and small weed control jobs with hand-held and truck-mounted equipment. In many cases, these services can be scheduled along with other offered pest control services, which can potentially save you some money.

European Paper Wasps

These terrors of the eaves of your home are still a few months away from becoming a nuisance, but when their time does come again, they can be most effectively dealt with in the early days of their spring and summer life cycle.

These are hibernating European paper wasps
that I found in a crate belonging to one of
my clients last winter. These wasps were
destroyed before they ever had a chance
to become a problem!

An invasive species from overseas that arrived in the United States in the early 1980's, the European paper wasp begins each season with the establishment of new nests by fertile queens that were hatched the previous year. They've spent the winter tucked away in sheltered places, waiting for warmer weather to come out and seek nesting sites.

Generally, these new queens are going to seek out eastern and southern-facing locations that offer solid surfaces to anchor a nest to. They do this to maximize their exposure to sunlight, which they require to warm their bodies. They will also tend to favor locations with accessible building materials (untreated wood - fence posts are a commonly used resource), water (your lawn sprinklers will provide plenty), and soft-bodied insect foods for their larva (any plants in your yard that harbor aphids will attract these wasps, for example).

Because the existence of entire future nests of European paper wasps depends on the success of these awakened queens, that is the ideal time to strike. Treatments around your home with long-term residual insecticides will kill these queens as they investigate your property as a potential nesting site, ensuring that dozens more wasps that each of them would have produced will never exist over the following months. As soon as you spot the young queens taking to the air, it's time to hit them. Give me a call when they do, I'll be ready.

There are plenty of other pests that Z Pest control can address for you in addition to these: earwigs, fleas, mice, birds, etc. Whatever it is that's giving you trouble, give me a call and I'll help you with it as best I can!

Z Pest Control LLC

509-540-7946

paul@zpestcontrol.com

Pests in Christmas Trees: The Gift That Keeps On Crawling

Photo credit: Iron Oak Farm

Winter is a pretty quiet time for pest control operators. There's not as much for us to do for people because when it's cold and the days are short, a lot of pests are hibernating and not bothering anyone.

Every now and then, however, people do things that wake the bugs up, and then it can seem like July in January.

Did you decorate your home for Christmas with a real tree this holiday season?

I was out and about doing a little pest control work the other day and caught this bit of news on the radio:

International Business Times: Christmas Trees 'Harbour Thousands of Bugs'

"Christmas trees could be hiding up to 25,000 bugs and insects, new research reveals.

According to a scientific study by researchers at the University Museum of Bergen in Norway, thousands of lice, mites, moths and spiders lurk in Christmas trees, where they hibernate in the winter.

When trees are brought indoors from the cold, the bugs believe that spring has arrived and awaken to take their place among the tinsel and other Christmas decorations."

If you're seeing some uninvited holiday party guests that are overstaying their welcome around your house, and if you brought a real tree into your home, the two things could be related.

There's a simple solution for that: just give me a call. Some basic interior crack, crevice, and spot treatments with people and pet-safe specialty insecticides will mop up your lingering Yuletide invaders in short order, and for a price that won't bust a strained post-holiday budget. For most homes in the Walla Walla valley area, the price averages $40 plus the applicable sales tax.

509-540-7946

 paul@zpestcontrol.com

Ants on the march!

Featured in this post - read
on to discover why!

In the last couple of days, calls for ant control have ticked upward significantly. This is no surprise after the recent heavy rains we've experienced here in the Walla Walla valley. The types making themselves known are our two most common pest ants here, the Odorous House ant and the Pavement ant. Look at it from their perspective: if you were only about a millimeter in height and had a home at or below ground level, you would probably be looking to set up shop on higher ground now, too.

This isn't the only time that these ants will make their appearance in your home or business, however, as there are plenty of other reasons for them to do so. Narrowing down those reasons and finding an extermination solution is first a matter of answering one simple question: did the ants begin turning up after the weather warmed up, or have they been present inside your home when it was cold outside (roughly 50º F or below)?

The answer to that question helps to determine if your ants are living primarily outside in the soil and wandering in looking for a snack, or if they and their queens (that's right -- plural) have made their home in the walls of your home. It doesn't make much of a difference in terms of how the ants will be treated (that's mainly a question of climate conditions at the time), but it does help to determine how intense the inside vs. outside effort should likely be.

The method is a two-part method, exclude, and sabotage:

Exclude: excluding these pests from a structure is a matter of treating the outside of it such that it's not possible for the ants to gain a foothold inside. This is done with spray applications that are not detectable by the ants, that kill the ants slowly, and that the individual ants can spread to each other through physical contact. A spray of this type "excludes" ants from a structure in that it becomes an environment that will destroy an entire colony, not just individual ants. All common over-the-counter sprays lack virtually all of these features. As such, they are the opposite, and will tend to produce the opposite of the desired result (in fact, many of these sprays can prompt the ants to defend themselves by spreading their colonies out all over your house - the problem actually gets worse!).

Sabotage: ants love a free meal. Using ant baits is the best way to deal with them indoors; it's the Trojan Horse of ant control. The advantage of a bait over a spray is that a spray will only work if the ants are in the treated spot (and only if the spray matches the characteristics I described above), but a bait will go to where the ants are because the ants themselves will take it there! Further, the ants you can see are only workers, which if killed will be rapidly replaced by the queens. Those queens are your true targets, and it is with bait ferried to them by their workers that they can be most easily attacked and destroyed. Not all baits are created equal, however. As a rule of thumb of using bait for ants, if the ants don't respond to your bait like these ants did to mine...

...then your bait does not work. Those little plastic domes with solid form baits inside that people constantly buy, they're garbage. Throw them out, or better yet return them for a refund if you can. The reason those "work" is typically that someone sees some ants feeding on something, they run to the grocery/hardware store and spend their money on little plastic domes, they put those domes out... and then they clean. Suddenly, the ants are gone and they credit the little plastic domes. What actually happened is that cleaning took away whatever it was that was of interest to the ants, so the ants hid away again. The next time one of their scouts finds a dropped crumb, however, they'll come back out in full force as they were never really gone.

There is one kind of over-the-counter bait that works. It's a liquid bait, not a solid: Terro Liquid Ant Bait: 

  This is the only OTC ant bait product I recommend to my clients as a stop-gap measure for those times I can't get to them right away, or for clearing up small ant incursions that may not warrant the cost of a full treatment. Terro is not as good as the products I use in my work, but it is adequate for keeping an ant issue down to a dull roar until the cavalry arrives.  If you are dealing with a new or on-going ant infestation, you can try the product I'm recommending, or if you would like my help getting you ahead of the ants' game, give me a call! Treatments typically run around $60 to treat an average house inside and out in the Walla Walla valley area (more if the structure is larger, of course), dropping to $40 for follow-on 30 day periods if additional maintenance is necessary. I will also point out things in and around your home or place of business that may be encouraging ants to constantly invite themselves over for a picnic. My help is just a phone call or an email away!

509-540-7946 paul@zpestcontrol.com

Wasp Season!

Finally warm weather is here in the Walla Walla valley! It's time to get outside and enjoy it.

Unfortunately, we humans won't be the only ones doing so.

Calls are coming in daily now for control of paper wasps, the flying-stinging variety of nastiness that seeks out the eaves of our homes, decks and railings, the gaps between panels of parked vehicles, even our mailboxes:

If you have these around your house and yard, you're not alone. Many Z Pest customers, both old and new, are seeking and receiving assistance with these critters currently. This is a great time of the year to do it, too, as attacking the wasps now prevents them from establishing quite so many nests, breeding, and multiplying. Done correctly and with residual insecticide treatments, one treatment can kill off established wasp nests and continue to kill newly-arrived wasps for potentially four to six weeks after.

If you're new to Z Pest and you would like help with these or other creatures, here's a little something to say welcome and to sweeten the deal for you:

Simply click on the coupon, print it out, give Z Pest a call, save some money, and save yourself from some stings!

Z PEST CONTROL LLC - 509-540-7946

Veteran-owned, locally operated

Boxelder Bugs: They're Back!

As our daytime temperatures in the Walla Walla valley have steadily risen recently, so, too, has the presence of these little guys and gals:

Boxelder bugs!

I took this photo the other day outside of a client's place of business. Though largely harmless (boxelder bugs don't bite, sting, or cause significant damage to plants), these insects are exhibiting the part of their behavior that makes them a nuisance: boxelder bugs are dedicated sun bathers! This pic shows what looks like a lot of boxelder bugs, but the truth is that this is only the beginning. As anyone who has experience with this pest can tell you, if they decide that your home is a nice place to soak up some rays, they'll be there to do it by the hundreds or even thousands. They'll be on your stuff, in your way, and flying at your face. 

Here's another photo from a different client's home that shows how bad even a "moderate" number of boxelder bugs can be:

Ordinary insecticides can knock a boxelder bug infestation back some, but unless the product is persistent and applied correctly, it won't do a lot of good. The Z Pest boxelder bug mix takes into account not only the boxleder bug's daily movement habits, but it also attacks their reproductive strategy, making it harder for them to repopulate a treated area. The result is highly effective, longer term control than what is typically possible using common off-the-shelf products.

This treatment will also affect other common outdoor pests, such as ants, spiders, and wasps, so you get more for your money. If you're seeing boxelder bugs around your home now, chances are the population is only going to get larger (worse) as summer gets closer. This is a great time to nip the problem in the bud! You'll find that my prices are very hard to beat, so please give me a call!

509-540-7946

"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds."

-- Motto of the U.S. Postal Service

Nothing in that motto about killing paper wasps!

For that, Z Pest delivers. 

Ants, Spiders, Mice, Weeds - Z Pest Control LLC, Walla Walla, WA

European Paper Wasps: The Battle for Your Backyard!

It is once again the time of the year when these unwelcome guests begin to make themselves known around your home or business:

This is the European Paper Wasp, an invasive species in these parts that really puts the "invasive" in the term.  Right now they're flying around all over the place, looking for suitable sites to build nests. Their preference is for eastern/southern exposed areas with nearby food (shrubs and trees that harbor aphids are a favorite), water (yours and your neighbor's sprinkler systems), and a nearby source of raw wood they can take strips from to make paper (got a wooden fence?). These things put together ping this wasp's instinctual radar, and you will find them calling your home their home year after year.

Before you completely tear down your home and reorganize it to make it less appealing to these wasps, try giving me a call! Well-timed and properly placed insecticide treatments can greatly reduce the presence of these pests in your yard, restoring it to its proper function: your enjoyment. I've been ruining the party for these wasps for years, and it's something that I enjoy doing. Give me a call at 509-540-7946 and ask me to come by for a free quote. You won't regret it, but the wasps will!

The Dreaded Brown Recluse Spider

I saw this article this morning and wanted to share it. I get questions from folks around here all the time about the dreaded brown recluse spider. They can be somewhat of a problem, except for one major detail: in our part of the country, except for very rare cases probably explained by modern motor and/or air shipping, we don't have them. The key piece of information, from the article, entitled, Deadly Brown Recluse Spider Coming to a Town Near You?:

"The spider's habitat is limited to the Southeast and Midwest, stretching from Kansas east to the Appalachian states."

Why then the persistent myth that we have these spiders living around us? It's generally thought that the assumption is due to the similarities between the wound a brown recluse bite can produce (but not always) and other conditions. An infection of the skin by MRSA bacteria, for example, can produce lesions that appear similar, sometimes leading physicians to reach a hasty conclusion about what they're looking at and diagnose it as a recluse bite. There are also a few species of spiders that exist locally that have a similar appearance to the brown recluse. The media frequently doesn't help the situation either, hence this excellent quote by Rick Vetter, an entomologist who works at the University of California, Riverside:

"These are distorted reports ... hyperbolic media crap."

That isn't to say that brown recluse spiders never injure people, but the truth is that the extreme injuries are relatively rare. Around here, it's all but impossible.

That still leaves us with our local varieties, most of which are not dangerous. That does not mean that they're enjoyable, however. Even a physically harmless spider in your house is harmful if it causes you distress. It's your house, after all, and you get to say what is acceptable and what is not. I can help you get the spiders you do have out of your home (which at this time of the year you may be seeing more of), but hopefully you'll feel a bit more at ease knowing that among the spiders you have seen lately, the brown recluse is not one of them.

Call me at 509-540-7946 if you have more spiders than you want, inside or outside, and I'll help you get them sorted out.

New Radio Ad, 1490 KTEL Walla Walla

Just did this one on Tuesday the 6th and it hit the air the following day:



There's a primary focus on weed issues in this one, but like the ad says, I take care of insect, rodent, and other issues, too. The weather is FINALLY turning nice again, and that's when the kinds of problems I handle start to appear more often, too. Give me a call, let me help you sort them out, and your home and yard will be for your enjoyment, not some pest's. 

Here they come!

With the ice and snow seemingly behind us, it's getting closer to the time of the year where various creatures spring back into action! Already there are ants on the march, spiders on patrol, and soon various flying insect pests will make themselves known. This is also the point in the year where the retreating snow sometimes reveals that gophers, moles, and voles have been hard at work destroying your lawn under all of that white stuff.

That's all OK though, because this is also the time of the year that I start stirring again, too. I've been active all winter long (mainly ant and rodent stuff), but as the days slowly grow longer and the temperature outside gradually climbs back up toward nice, I start unpacking all of my gear to get it ready for the busy season.

If you're here after hearing about me for the first time on KTEL 1490, welcome! If you need my help with a pest issue, just let me know if you heard the radio ad and I'll knock 10% off of your first pest control service (cannot be combined with other offers).

Fall Spider Control

Why should you get your home treated for spiders in the Fall?

If you don't, you might have to share your bathroom with some new roommates:

As it gets colder out, some spiders will want to come indoors. Z Pest can help you prevent most of them from getting inside. With some simple treatments applied to the exterior and certain interior areas of your home, most spiders will not survive. Then you'll only have a cold toilet seat to worry about this Fall and Winter. Please call 509-540-7946 to schedule an appointment.

New gear!

A recent addition to the Z Pest tool kit:

With the addition of this spray skid to the Z Pest operation, nearly all types of insect pest treatments can be performed. If what's bugging you is up high, no problem! With this piece of equipment, I can treat it. If you need help with something that's just out of reach, but still too close for comfort, give me a call at 509-540-7946.