 | Michael Patton is President of Patton Termite & Pest Control, Inc., one of the most progressive pest management companies in the state. Patton has been actively involved in pest management industry since 1978.
He currently serves on the Board of Directors for Kansas Pest Control Association and recently became President-Elect of the KPCA. With a background in communications, Patton received a degree in marketing and public relations from Wichita State University’s Elliott School of Communication. He holds a Commercial Applicator’s license from the Kansas Department of Agriculture in four categories 7A – wood-destroying organisms, 7D health related pests, 7E structural pests, 1B animal pest control. Patton has been on the front edge of the green pest control movement by being a founding company in the QualityPro GreenPro organization. Additionally, PTPC was named as one of the top 87 top companies in the nation for being a founding member of the National Pest Management Association’s QualityPro organization.
Patton knows Wichita-metro and its surrounding counties. He has grown up on the plains of Kansas and knows the special challenges of our prairie ecology…brown recluse spiders, odorous house ants, bedbugs, the 5 different kinds of local cockroaches, just to mention a few of the numerous pests. With over 30 years of experience with local pest issues, he is uniquely qualified to understand and write about our local pest issues. |
Pest Control
2010-11-01 13:31:00
Spiders – part two
Question: If I don’t treat the spiders around my home now, will they come back next year?
Answer: Spiders will always be back in large numbers during the late summer and fall months, particularly, in areas with a lot of trees and lush landscaping or homes around lakes. When the first hard freeze arrives, most spiders hibernate, while others die. Spiders like garden orb weavers and black widows, only live one season. They leave behind an egg sac which survives the winter. When spring arrives, spiderlings emerge and grow to the adult stage in late summer, showing up in large numbers in early fall.
Other spiders, like brown recluse and tarantulas, hibernate during the winter. They spend the winter in the cold weather under tree bark, rocks, cellars, basements and attics. These spiders survive by preparing a winter nest of silken webbing in an area insulated from the cold. In several species, young hatch out during the winter and remain in a communal web through the winter.
The brown recluse seems to disappear in early November only to reappear in late winter or early spring. If they are living in your home, they tend to go to the attic or basement and overwinter around the floor joists and rafters. The female brown recluse spiders breed and hatch a brood of young. Because the breeding female is in a fairly predictable spot, winter is a great time to attack brown recluse infestations by treating the areas where the females nest in the winter. If you hunt the females down in the winter you can increase your chances of eliminating brown recluse problems.
Controlling spider problems in and around the house requires regular attention. It’s a process, not an event. If a homeowner works on the problem regularly or has a routine pest service program that targets spiders, the numbers of can be greatly reduced. Most homeowners do not have the discipline to attend to a habitual treatment so a professional service if often a good response to a spider problem.
A thorough service for spiders involves several important elements, the most important one being a complete exterior service. This type of treatment targets the spiders living primarily on the outside of the home. Additionally, it can provide a treatment zone to help prevent spiders from entering the home from outside. Practically all Kansas spiders come in from the out-of-doors and should be discouraged from entering the home from by either mechanical or pesticidal means.
The preferred method of spider prevention is excluding the spiders through mechanical means. Caulk and other sealants need to be used to block the areas where they enter the home. Openings where utilities enter the house should be caulked shut. Openings around window and doors are other points that should be examined and sealed. Not only will these methods help keep spiders out of the home, but they also help with the energy efficiency of a structure.
The winter is a great time to work on brown recluse problems by treating attics and sealing up the exterior. Most people forget about them when they hibernate of less noticeable areas of the home. They’re out of sight and out of mind. However, a person concerned about brown recluse infestations should continue to work in the problem even in the winter.
