Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
Hello, this is Ben with Ben’s pest control. And this is another episode of The Ben’s Pest Control podcast. And today, our podcast is going to be on getting rid of all of the bugs on your property. Now, in 27 years of doing pest control, I’ve got to tell you, I probably cannot count the number of times I’ve been asked if we can just spray absolutely everything on a person’s property, and and literally get rid of all of the bugs. jokingly, I’ve had people ask me if I get rid of unwanted spouses, in laws, all sorts of stuff. But usually when I get the question about the property, a lot of people will tell me, I have this crazy fear of bugs. And not that it’s crazy. I mean, some bugs rightfully so we should be afraid of. But for these people, it’s I’m afraid of every bug and I just don’t want any bugs on my property. And can you guys do something to get rid of all of the pests in my property. So I’ve got to tell you that, as a person who’s done pest control for 27 years, I’ve actually grown to admire the resilience of bugs, and learned that that is a irrational outcome for for homeowners. In the world, we rely on bugs and bugs serve a essential part of our life and every day, society. So getting rid of all of the bugs, again, does not make sense. I want to just go over a few of the things that bugs are for one bugs are pollinators. People talk all the time about the decline of bees, and that bees are extremely important. Well, bees are definitely one of the best pollinators of all the crops. But, you know, I want people to know that over 75% of all flowering plants and 75% of our crops rely on animals to carry pollen from one flower to another. And most of these pollinators are insects. We think of honey bees when we hear the word pollinator, but it’s not just honey bees. We have moss, butterflies, beetles and other flies that can perform the essential tasks of, of pollinating plants. However, the bees we have pollinate billions of dollars worth of crops every year. And it’s very important that those bugs survive. And when people discuss the decline in bees, there’s really considered to be a few main reasons that the bees have declined, and pesticide use is one of them. So we don’t want to just go out and necessarily be over pesticide applying. Some of the other reasons that there have been decline in bees has habitat loss and pollution. So it’s not just pesticides. But it’s important to understand that these creatures serve a vital role in our life as far as pollinating food. Now, the next part of this is kind of disgusting, but there are insects that clean our world every day, and some of them are ants. You know, you take for example, people throw stuff on the ground garbage all the time. And answer one of the things that come and clean up that garbage. And they will pick food clean and leave behind usually just like the take a banana like the peels or the skin or whatever they can’t eat, but whatever they can consume, they will. One of the examples is just the fact that in our world, things are constantly dying. When we cut grass, the grass that’s cut is it falls down into the thatch layer of the grass and there are insects that consume that grass. And if they weren’t there to consume that grass, we could actually struggle to have beautiful lawns because the thatch layer could get so bad that the grass may even struggled to grow dead plants dead leaves up north when the fall comes. The leaves lay on the ground. I know a lot of people throw their leaves out and they go to plants. They’re picked up by the the you know the garbage company and brought to one spot where they decompose. But these things are usually eaten in most cases by insects.
One of the things that I would say is you take like forests, when dead trees trees die in They fallen to the ground. Insects help break down those trees. And then they a lot of cases, they return that, that material back into stuff that the force used to continue to grow the trees that are there and the plants that are there. And you know, insects actually eat feces. There are insects that that consume animals of dogs, cats, humans, and they help break that down and turn that into an environment that is then recycled and reused for other creatures to survive. One of the things that, I would say is that, you know, it’s, it’s impossible for us to necessarily understand, but when you take an insect and fewer to completely wipe out or eradicate one insect of all kind, you could actually be hurting the circle of life, you could be affecting the food chain, there are creatures that thrive off of eating those insects. And when they eat those insects, they now struggle they talk about things like raccoons and squirrels and things that can that can eat some of the insects and now also, if they don’t have food, they, they’re going to struggle to survive. Snakes and lizards and frogs, fish rely on insects. All of these things use insects. One of the examples I would sell you is we wouldn’t have silk. If it weren’t for silk worms. They are vital to the you know, the silk. Without bees, not only would we struggle with pollinators, but we wouldn’t have honey or beeswax. There are a lot of different things that without those insects, we would struggle to, to survive. And one of the insects that I know I personally have a lot of respect for is termites. Now obviously, we don’t termites in people’s homes, but termites out in nature, they go into the, to the forests and the woods and just wherever the plants and trees are and they can, they can consume a tree and turn it back into food for their colony. And in return, sometimes that food then nurtures the colony. And as the colony dies, that turns into more food for the grass and other the growing plants that that then consumed the the environment, the materials, the the nutrients from the dead insects. So I would tell you, if you if you’re afraid of insects, you know, try to do some research. I would say that, you know, there are definitely some huge benefits insects. And we need to have some respect and appreciation for the role they play in our society. And the fact that they do clean up a lot of our world and the importance of that. And I would say that if you know we as a society can make it so people don’t litter or don’t throw stuff all over the place that they can support these populations of insects, maybe some of them we can help control. Otherwise, that’s part of the reason we have jobs here in pest control is the fact that the insects are numerous. And they’re everywhere. And I like to tell people my number one goal is to try to make sure we keep them out of your home. So that way your home is your sanctuary, and hopefully as bug free as possible. But again, I’m not trying to kill every insect, in your neighborhood, in your home, in your property. We’re trying to keep them in check and keep them under control from your house. So again, this is Ben with Ben’s pest control. And if you’re interested in one of our free 58 point pest surveys and analysis, please give us a call at 772-878-1972
