As we have seen lately, there are some major trends in lawn care and landscaping that appeal to the most homeowners. Building outdoor spaces as extensions to the house is a popular approach and usually people jump at the opportunity. Moreover, the tendency to use more natural elements like wood and stone is getting more and more popular, especially since such structures take the shape of open kitchen and bars, dining areas, party areas, pantries, storage rooms and so on. However, the downside of all this is that when you put together people, food and organic matter you are more likely to meet the mighty cockroach, a pervasive scavenger that pays no heed to anything but itself. Today, our pest control Frisco, TX pros want to offer you some advice on how to keep cockroaches from infesting your outdoor structures and spread fear and diseases on your property.

1. Why Are Roaches so Harmful to Outdoor Structures?

Let’s start with the facts: cockroaches are omnivores, so they will find joy in feeding with food leftovers, organic debris, other dead insects and, if hunger really strikes, paper, wood, manure, organic waste and so on. Your outdoor structures are luxury restaurants for cockroaches, especially if you store food in them. Moreover, roaches are attracted to paper and books, wood, textiles, shoes, compost piles, pest feces and so on. They are also very fond of people’s shed skin cells or nails or hair. This time of year, your outdoor structures are the best places where they thrive: minimal activity and supervision, organic debris, moist, darkness and nothing to bother them.

As you probably know, roaches won’t harm your plants, as they rarely feed on living things, but beware of the fact that they can hide inside wooden structures and have the time of their life unnoticed.  Given their multiplication rates and the fact that your outdoor rooms are probably very close to the house – even connected – a home invasion is possible.

2. What Can You Do to Keep Roaches Away?

The main prevention method is to keep everything clean, neat and tidy and leave no debris, food scraps or organic waste no where near the outdoor rooms. Make sure every jar or can is sealed, the trash is out and no wood, brush or rock pile is in the vicinity. Collect pets’ waste regularly, clean the area of fallen fruit or leaves and install organic traps inside and around the outdoor structures.

Some organic preventative and controlling measures seem to have better effects on roaches, especially if the infestation is caught in its early stage. Our pest control Frisco, TX specialists recommend organic control instead of chemical one especially in those areas related to cooking, food, children and pets’ play and activities and so on. Here are some home products you can use

  • Mixtures of soap or ammonia
  • Boric acid baits
  • Solutions with sugar and baking soda
  • Solutions made with pepper, garlic and onion
  • Cucumber traps set in aluminum cans

Before panicking and spraying insecticides all over the place, have your local pest control Frisco, TX specialists come down your house and make an evaluation. Depending on the seriousness of the infestation they will tailor a roach-control program to eradicate the infestation and prevent reinfestation.