Ultimate Grilling Secret to Keep the Bugs Away

A family barbeque outside in the summer - keep pests away from your home with Johnson Pest Control in TN

With this weekend’s festivities surrounding the July 4th holiday upcoming there a few things that you can bet on happening; fireworks, grilling, and bug bites.

We at Johnson Pest Control do not know much about fireworks, other than that we like them. However, we do have a grilling secret to keep the bugs away that you can implement this weekend (or anytime really). Be your next party’s ultimate grill master & leave your guests bug free. It is a win win!

The Secret is In the Herbs

The secret is simple and yet awesome. Yes, you can put herbs onto your grilled meats to make them taste spectacular, but more magic happens when throw those herbs onto the grill by themselves.

Here is how:

  • When you go on your grocery food run pick up some Rosemary and Sage herbs in their raw form.
  • Bundle the sage and rosemary together and soak them in water. A few minutes of soaking can work just fine.
  • Start your grill or charcoal
  • Once you have that initial burn phase crossed put the bundle of herbs on charcoal or the grill. The water will help to ‘smoke’ the herbs.
  • The smoke and scent of the herbs will smell amazing and your guests will think you are a totally awesome grill master.
  • The smoke and the scent will actually help to repel some mosquitoes and other insects that otherwise would be attracted to the area.
  • Proceed with your regular grill awesomeness after that knowing that you secretly set up your party for an ultimate outdoor food experience.

We hope you all enjoy and a safe and joyful 4th of July weekend. And we hope that our little grill trick helps you enjoy things even more.

How to Prevent Mosquitoes at Home

West Nile Virus | Johnson Pest ControlIt is that time of year again, mosquito season is upon us and in full biting force. In East Tennessee you can find some 49 different mosquito species. Many species are relatively harmless, but some of them  do have the ability to transmit diseases. There are roughly 17 species cause the most problems for humans.

Mosquitoes can spread West Nile Virus, Encephalitis, several other diseases, most recently diagnosed in Tennessee is ‘chickungunya’. Mosquitoes can also bite and affect animals, transmitting things like heartworm in dogs or eastern equine encephalitis in horses.

Protecting your home from mosquitoes is a best practice to protect your family from bites and potential diseases.

Prevention is Proactive

Get rid of the water. Mosquitoes use standing water to breed and create more blood sucking pests. If you can do regular assessments of your home and property to get rid of any standing water (dog bowls, drainage pooling, trash cans (lids), buckets, gutters, kids toys, etc. Getting rid of the breeding grounds will go a long way in ridding your yard of mosquitoes. Talking to your neighbors about doing similar will help your home as  well. Mosquitoes do not know to stay out of your yard if they were born in someone else’s yard. It’s a mutual benefit for everyone to keep standing water at bay in your yards.

If you have a pond or pooling area that is not going to go away any time soon, or lingers around after a rain, then utilize a larvicide to kill off any mosquito activity.

Building some garden areas around the house using some mosquito preventative plants will help to dissuade the blood suckers from making your house their home.

  • Citronella: Yes, you can buy the citronella candle at the store, but did you know that it is a plant you can grow. There are few different types of plants, leafy and grass, to try out. But putting in a bunch of citronella plants will help start your mosquito free garden zone.
  • Rosemary: Thinking of starting an herb garden? Put a bunch of rosemary into that plan. Rosemary has a number of methods to keep out the mosquitoes. Grow the plant and you can also put the leaves on the grill to create an aromatic smoke to fend off mosquitoes in the area.
  • Catnip: Plant some catnip around the deck or patio for some added protection. You can get hundreds of seeds for next to nothing and put catnip plants around the house.
  • Geraniums: Looking for some color to this mosquito free zone? Geraniums can bring in the color in hanging baskets or ground planters. You can find all types of colors to match this organic mosquito repellent.
  • Basil, Lavender, Lemon grass, Mint are also helpful organic mosquito repellents

Invite some bats. Yes, this might seem a bit freaky, but mosquitoes will make up a large portion of a bat’s diet. If you put a ‘bat house’ (think birdhouse, but for bats) on the perimeter of your property then a few bats will eat a few thousand insects (mosquitoes included) in the course of a night.

Be Prepared

Do not forget to use insect repellents containing DEET when going outside. Wearing long-sleeved shirts and long pants when you are outside working or lounging around is a good idea. This way you are not a standing target for mosquitoes to feed on. Avoiding wearing perfumes, lotions, or hair spray while outside many of those scents will actually attracts mosquitoes.

Fix It

This might seem common sense, but keep mosquitoes outside of the house. When checking your house for standing water take a few more moments to check your window and door screens for any holes. Even the smallest hole can give access to your home for a mosquito. Screen patches do not cost a lot of money and are easily applied.

Keep Informed

Our local government agencies will routinely spray for mosquitoes. In particular they will spray in areas where mosquitoes have tested positive for West Nile Virus. For more information on these practices or current concerns you can contact TVA’s Mosquito Management Team at 1-800-288-2483 or the local health department.

Get Treatment

If you have tried and tried and still have concerns over the mosquito population in your home then feel free to give us a call. We will do a thorough inspection and apply a residual mosquito treatment to ward off those adult biting mosquitoes. 

How Do They Find West Nile Virus?

West Nile Virus | Johnson Pest ControlSpring is here and with spring comes mosquitoes. With mosquitoes comes the inevitable news of some mosquito being found to have West Nile Virus. West Nile Virus is a mosquito born illness that was isolated, for a time, to the Nile river of Eastern Africa. In recent decades though the WNV has gone completely global. In cases the WNV has been known to be fatal if left untreated.

How Do They Find West Nile Virus?

If you watch the news you will hear a few times a year that ‘authorities have found a mosquito positive for west nile virus’. If you are like me you immediately wonder, ‘How in the world did they find that one mosquito which had the West Nile Virus?’

Come to find out, the process is not that complicated.

  1. First you grab a good sized sample of mosquitoes from a particular area. Biologists, entomologists, wildlife professionals will use a ovitrap, carbon dioxide, light, or other trap to collect a large sample of mosquitoes in a particular area. If there are dead animals, namely birds, in the area the experts might test the animals/birds for west nile virus to tip them off that the virus is in the area.
  2. The mosquito sample collected will then be tested through a reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction test, know as RT-PCR for short (we had to look it up). This will help scientists to spot the west nile virus in a mosquito or other animal.
  3. Authorities will then report their findings to local entities as well as the Center for Disease Control, which keeps some pretty solid data on the movements of west nile virus.

So when the news says that biologists found a mosquito that tested positive for West Nile Virus you can tell everyone at the party that it was this big process of catching a bunch of mosquitoes and then testing them to determine the presence of west nile in your area.

Keeping Mosquitoes Away

To keep mosquitoes away local authorities will put resources into minimizing the mosquito populations. Sprays or water treatments to ponds or reservoirs are areas that officials will focus on. Around your home you can do similar things to prevent the growth of mosquitoes as well. Eliminating standing water, having a professional spray treatment done as well as protecting yourself and family with DEET or permethrin on your body or clothes respectively will help to keep mosquitoes and West Nile Virus exposure at minimums.

Currently there is no direct treatment for West Nile Virus. Medical professionals will utilize a host of options for replacing fluids, rest, and other ailments. However there still is no cure or vaccination.

Keep current with the CDC website and the information they list for local and national trends.