MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WTVF) — As temperatures rise, many homeowners are facing an annual challenge: keeping bugs outside where they belong.
Most of us are seeing more webs, ant hills, and nests than we've seen in six to nine months.
Justin Collins, a pest control professional, is thorough. His goal is to limit visits to customers' homes, keeping it to once every season.
"We want to leave the home better than when we found it," Collins said. "No one wants their house looking like a Halloween house in the middle of March and April."
Mean Green Pest Professionals, where Collins is the assistant sales manager, is just one company in Middle Tennessee helping people through this seasonal transition.
"There are a lot of people who think they can take care of it themselves. The do-it-yourselfers, but I can promise you if you mix it wrong, or apply it the wrong way, you can have issues," said Collins.
It is a good idea to schedule an inspection and a spray every spring.
"The wasps have already started making their way out," said Collins.
And just a heads up — cicadas are coming back. You can try to keep this year's Brood away, but be warned, they're stubborn.
"There's nothing that's going to prevent cicadas. They go down and bury themselves in the ground, roots of trees, and you're not going to put enough product down to kill all the cicadas. Just carry a tennis racket when you're trying to mow your grass," Collins said with a chuckle.
Tennessee and Kentucky, as well as some places in the northeast, like Massachusetts, are expecting a potentially large emergence of cicadas, Brood XIV, which last arose 17 years ago.
There are safe family, pet, and environmentally friendly products to treat outdoor pests. Just call a professional.
"Don't think a problem is too small and wait to call somebody," said Collins.
Are you noticing more pests in and around your home this spring? Watch our video to see professional pest control techniques in action. Share your most frustrating pest control experiences or ask questions about the upcoming cicada emergence by emailing hannah.mcdonald@NewsChannel5.com.
This story was reported by Hannah McDonald and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
My friend and colleague Carrie Sharp had a lot of fun last week, on an adventure to a country more than three thousand miles away! She’s back now – sharing her Adventures in Iceland through stories, and incredible images of this remarkably beautiful and unique island nation (kudos to Chief Photographer Catherine Steward)! But did you know Nashville has something very important in common with Iceland? Tourism! Here, Carrie explains how a volcanic eruption decades ago helped save the country’s economy from collapse!
-Rhori Johnston
