Pest Control Tips with Doug Dufur - Garden America Radio Show [1.18.25] - Garden America - Gardening Podcast & Talk Radio Show

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, welcome back, my friends, to the show that Never ends.
We're glad you could attend. Come inside, Come inside, Welcome
once again to Garden America. Happy weekend to you. The
boys are back in town, back in studio from the
iHeartMedia and Entertainment Studio, San Diego, California. It's John Bgnasco
Tiger Pelafox. I think I'm Brian Main Tiger. Welcome. We've
been talking irrigation this morning before we went on the air.

(00:22):
How about that.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
How much we need it because we don't have any
rain we need?

Speaker 1 (00:26):
Yeah, we need irrigation because of this. No, John, how
is your irrigation?

Speaker 3 (00:31):
Well, Tiger, set it up so it works.

Speaker 2 (00:34):
Mout be right here.

Speaker 4 (00:35):
It works well except for one area because of the wind.

Speaker 1 (00:41):
Oh the wind.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
Okay, well, but but you won't you won't.

Speaker 4 (00:46):
I don't think you can. Guess why the wind made
it not work.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
Guess why the wind made it not.

Speaker 4 (00:52):
Tie us on my roof, Lewis cementile off. The roof
came crashing down right on a sprinkler head and broke.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
All right, wait, but that's the reason why it doesn't work.
There's a broken sprinkler.

Speaker 4 (01:04):
Yeah, not because because the wind knocked the cement shingle.

Speaker 1 (01:11):
Let's back up. The wind knocked off a cement sing
and your home is how old?

Speaker 3 (01:16):
Three years?

Speaker 1 (01:18):
Kind of give any warranty or guarantee on that roof.

Speaker 3 (01:21):
I don't know. I have to look it up.

Speaker 2 (01:24):
Against against tornadoes.

Speaker 1 (01:27):
That's a strong wind.

Speaker 4 (01:29):
Yeah, that's what I was thinking. As a matter of fact,
I have one tree, that Tiger planet, that was my
favorite tree, that is blown over and I haven't stood
back up. And the reason I haven't stood back stood
back up is Tiger says he's going to come over
something he's waiting, can't which, No, the I did have

(01:54):
to stake the bogan via back up. But the one
you planet, the pink trunk, Oh.

Speaker 1 (02:01):
There's no place to tie it to support it. In
the meantime, it just.

Speaker 3 (02:05):
It is tied. But everything's blown over.

Speaker 2 (02:08):
Yeah, there's been some winds out there, like yeah, you
know John saying.

Speaker 4 (02:11):
That area along my driveway everything was planted with a
jack camera, so I think the roots only go down
so far.

Speaker 2 (02:21):
They're in this little.

Speaker 1 (02:22):
Bowl under the jack camera effect.

Speaker 2 (02:25):
You know. And then you know, speaking of wind though,
you know, when we were traveling through Europe and you know,
you see it when you travel kind of everywhere where
they'll have those hedgerows and they're all just leaning. Oh yeah,
because you know whatever wind direction is the most common,
and it just blows the hedge or the tree in
one direction. That's that's amazing, you know, because it takes

(02:50):
a lot, but they'll they'll do it.

Speaker 3 (02:52):
We don't use hedgerows here, but that's everywhere you go
right in Europe.

Speaker 2 (02:57):
Yeah, and set offences. They put up the separation.

Speaker 3 (03:02):
Yeah, and put up fences if they have vegetables.

Speaker 1 (03:08):
How was your week besides things blowing off the roof?

Speaker 5 (03:11):
Now?

Speaker 1 (03:11):
And then.

Speaker 4 (03:14):
I'm trying to think, I you know, I felt like
I was having withdrawals because you had a whole week
where you could not work outside. Oh I mean, what's
the point. Everything's just blowing everywhere?

Speaker 3 (03:26):
Yeah, don't.

Speaker 4 (03:27):
I can't pick things up because the wind just blows
them down again. So yesterday finally the wind stopped blowing,
and I'm trying to assess the damage and help things recover,
stand them back up, started planning again.

Speaker 2 (03:45):
You know those things that come up through your life
with age that all of a sudden you hit things
and you're like, oh, I'm just getting old. I think
this is one of those times for me in the
sense of, you know, outside there's the hot, dry air, right,
and my eyes are just like killing me, Like I

(04:06):
just cannot keep them wet, you know what I.

Speaker 1 (04:09):
Mean, something that had did not occur.

Speaker 2 (04:12):
Yeah, but before, when there would be Santa Ana wins
in San Diego, it didn't really bother me, you know.
I mean, you know, it's just dry air, hot dry air.
And now when I walk outside during a a you know,
Santa Anna or a dry spell, I have I like,
I never bought eye drops before, and now I have
to buy eye drops. Yeah, you know that I cannot survive.

Speaker 1 (04:34):
With that education. I remember, I don't know when it was,
but I would start sneezing and then like a sneeze
again and maybe a dare sool later sneeze, and oh, well,
you're you've got an allergy. You're allergic to something. I go,
I've never had an hour, never been allergic to anything. Well,
you look and to all of a sudden it could
just start. I'm like, well, what is it? You got
to kind of figure it out. It's like, yeah, it's

(04:54):
it's like one of those things the trigger careful about
the eye drops you buy over the counter.

Speaker 4 (04:59):
You want fresh plus, okay, okay, yeah.

Speaker 1 (05:03):
My eye doctor said, do not buy most anything off
the shelf. Really yeah, and John is right, because you know.

Speaker 4 (05:09):
What fresh plus is off the shelf, but it's a
little more expensive.

Speaker 1 (05:13):
And it's a little more I think accepted with doctors.
And uh, okay, because putting any any eye drop in
your eye could be detrimental. Okay, when's last time you
went to the eye doctor?

Speaker 2 (05:24):
While yeah, I need to go back, I guarantee. What
are they going to tell me though, that you need that?

Speaker 1 (05:30):
I yeah, you know, because because it's a slow process
and you don't even realize it. And then so the
day that you do get the glasses, it's it's amazing.
It's an epiphany, you'll say, because I remember I said,
does everyone see like this? They go, yeah, that's normal.

(05:50):
Here's one for you. Do you drive at night at all?

Speaker 2 (05:52):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (05:52):
Okay, the next time you're driving at night and there's
an overpass up ahead of you and there's the green
free ways sign, look at it and see how close
you have to be until you can read.

Speaker 2 (06:02):
It, until I can read it.

Speaker 1 (06:03):
Huh.

Speaker 2 (06:04):
And then I'll go to the eye doctor and then
I'll be able to read it two miles away.

Speaker 1 (06:08):
I guarantee you've got the eye problems. Yeah, yeah, you know.
Don't you think he does?

Speaker 4 (06:15):
You know I missed my ophthalmology class.

Speaker 1 (06:19):
Yeah you do.

Speaker 5 (06:20):
Do you wear it?

Speaker 2 (06:20):
Do you wear glasses or anything?

Speaker 1 (06:22):
Contact? You?

Speaker 4 (06:23):
Not only do I I don't wear contact, but you don't.
I haven't worn context for ten years.

Speaker 1 (06:28):
And you have You have an eye surgery done, didn't you?

Speaker 2 (06:30):
Or do you just have good eyes?

Speaker 3 (06:32):
No?

Speaker 1 (06:32):
No, nobody has good eyes over forty.

Speaker 3 (06:36):
I had lens replacement.

Speaker 2 (06:39):
Okay, so they is that cataract?

Speaker 4 (06:42):
Well, I had a because I needed to have a
cataract operation. They did the lens replacement at the same time.
They said you'll never get cataracts again. And because of that,
I don't need glasses to read, so I can wow
read close.

Speaker 2 (06:56):
So you had a surgery to fix everything. Yeah, so
therefore you no contact? No glasses? And why do you
wear glasses? Over getting a surgery, Brian.

Speaker 1 (07:04):
That's easier. I don't want to get the surgery. I
don't want to poke around my eyes.

Speaker 3 (07:08):
Just him do one eye at a time.

Speaker 1 (07:09):
You know, Dana had it done she had it done
and she works.

Speaker 3 (07:12):
What happens as you become a pigrate.

Speaker 1 (07:14):
Are Yeah, Dana can see far away, she can see
close up. I would say, what does this say? Here?
Read this? Why get glass?

Speaker 2 (07:22):
You know?

Speaker 1 (07:22):
Why do that one? I can have somebody read it
to me, But I just like the glasses put them
on learning.

Speaker 2 (07:29):
Why should I so?

Speaker 1 (07:30):
Any medical questions on our Facebook page here Garden America
America Healthcare, Yeah, health care Share.

Speaker 4 (07:38):
Hopefully the health questions will refer to plants. Plant material
week can help.

Speaker 1 (07:44):
So but what if you have now this time of
the year, I'm not sure how prevalent it is. What
if you have you're dealing with pests? Do we have
an answer for pest problems? Tiger?

Speaker 2 (07:53):
That's why this show exists.

Speaker 1 (07:56):
Because our guest today is going to be.

Speaker 2 (07:58):
Yeah, we're going to be talking with Josh with Josh
Is with Dougs Bugs, a pest control company here in
San Diego. But we're gonna be talking about like critters, sure,
talking about past. We're gonna talking about a lot of things.

Speaker 1 (08:09):
It will relate to almost everybody listening or watching.

Speaker 2 (08:12):
I guarantee. I think John's got the quote of the Week.
Cueued up and ready.

Speaker 4 (08:16):
You ever have the quote of the week, I do
the quotes from garden writer Josephine Noose, and she said,
anyone who thinks that gardening begins in the spring and
ends in the fall, it's missing the best part of
the whole year for gardening begins in January with the dream.

Speaker 1 (08:32):
Yep, well, let's see. The dream for those under six
feet of snow.

Speaker 2 (08:37):
Is to get out and guard those of us out here.

Speaker 1 (08:40):
We can still pitdle around in the garden. I know
you do every day. Well you I try to get
out there and do something, what you know, like my
choice or words. Look, I filter himself.

Speaker 5 (08:52):
Yes he is.

Speaker 2 (08:53):
He totally filters.

Speaker 1 (08:55):
I did you know what it is? He clean? He
never used to clean the filter. I said, it's like
a fish tank, or it's like water. You got to
clean the filter otherwise it's going to go right through.
And you can tell us to his filter is clean.
We got about a minute ago.

Speaker 2 (09:10):
So yeah, no, but yeah, Josh is gonna be talking
about critters. We're gonna talk about past you know, and
how they associate with the garden. Because right, people don't
always think like when they have ants, when they have spiders.
When they have all these things, sometimes we can start
attributing it to what's happening in the yard, and why
then it's happening in your house. So you're gonna be

(09:32):
having a good conversation. So get your questions lined up
in the Facebook chat.

Speaker 1 (09:35):
Right and I want to welcome those on BIS Talk Radio.
Thank you so much for tuning in. Every week we
do it two hours. Hopefully you get at least one hour.
Maybe in your market you get two hours, and that's
that is fantastic. If you do want to watch the show,
catch the show alive, go to our Facebook page Garden
America Radio Show. We kick things off right about eight o'clock,
a little bit after on the West coast, a little
bit after eleven o'clock on the East coast Mountain the

(09:57):
central time. You can do the math, but it is
Gardener America known worldwide these days here not just in
this country, but around the world. And hopefully up your
rally at some point if you don't catch the show.
So with that in mind, we are going to take
a break welcoming you once again BIZ Talk Radio Facebook Live.
I'm Brian Maine, John begnasco Tiger Pelafox. We're going to
take a break, pay some bills. Want to welcome our

(10:18):
sponsor for twenty twenty five, a continuing sponsor, the Big One, Fertilo.
Back after these messages on Guarden America. All right, we
are back after that break here on Guarding America, kicking
off your weekend. Thank you for joining us, taking time
out to talk a little gardening. And right now Tiger
with Josh, we're going to talk about those darn pests.
So Josh is ready to go.

Speaker 2 (10:38):
Yeah, we have Josh joining us with Dougs Bugs. Hey,
san Diego based pest control company servicing all the San
Diego County for your termite, spider ants, critter problems. Josh,
good morning, Thank you for joining us.

Speaker 5 (10:54):
Hey, thank you for having me. It's great to be here.

Speaker 2 (10:56):
Yeah, and so Josh tell us a little bit more
about Doug's Bucks. I mean, you know, I think we
kind of have an idea of what pest control companies
do for the most part, but you know, what are
some other things that people don't always associate with a
pest control company that maybe you can inform us about.

Speaker 5 (11:14):
Well, it's probably easier just to talk about like the
services that we do offer. We do, you know, just
like the general treatments that you're probably familiar with, like
you had said, the ants, spiders, roaches, things like that.
We also do provide both commercial and residential treatments, so
if it's not just your home but your business that's
being affected, we can help you out there. We do

(11:38):
provide full termite treatments. We do like subterranean jobs. We
do the fumigation tenting around homes, and then we also
dabble into some of the more specialized treatments as well,
So that would be things like rodent control, gopher control,
We treat for bed bugs, treat for mosquitoes, some of

(12:00):
those kind of more niche and difficult things to target
as far as like what we specialized in. Though if
I had to, if I had to pick any one
thing that I'd say we stand out at doing, it's
actually just getting the job done right the first time.
I know that might seem kind of shocking to hear
is like a specialty, but I feel like it's it's

(12:23):
actually not that common for companies to really nail that
point right.

Speaker 1 (12:28):
Yeah, Hey, Josh, let me ask you a question, because
you know you talked about all the things you do.
And something that did not come to my mind until
you mentioned it were bedbugs. Now that grosses a lot
of people out. It's very creepy. Is it a big
problem or bed bugs really something that a lot of
people deal with or that you see on a daily basis.

Speaker 5 (12:48):
Definitely not a daily basis. No, So California being a
bit more of a friendly climate outside. You know, things
don't just have to live indoors to survive winters here.
You know, it very rarely dips below freezing and so
a lot of bugs can survive outdoors. Now, bedbugs are
specially adapted to live indoors, but it tends to be

(13:11):
worse in areas where humans are more concentrated, so like
metropolitan areas. Not to name drop a state too hard,
but Baltimore or not. Baltimore, Maryland is apparently like a
haven for for bedbugs, but they are. They are a
very real pests. It's actually kind of unfortunate because the
way that a lot of like sciences and pest control operate,

(13:35):
you know, a lot of funding and efforts and things
go to thwart you know, critters that are bad for us,
like things that spread disease or could destroy your house
or something like that. And bed bugs are a little
bit different in the sense that they actually don't spread
any diseases. There's not a single pathogen that they are
known to spread. And really what's what's terrible about bed

(13:58):
bugs is the impact they have on your mental health.
You know, if you if you can't sleep at night,
you can't function, right.

Speaker 2 (14:06):
Yeah, you're just sitting there and you think these things
are crawling all over you, and you just you're exhausted,
You're starting to so loosen.

Speaker 1 (14:14):
And if all the places to have to deal with that,
your bed is supposed to be safe. Yeah, and that
is that is very creepy. Hey, real quickly, John, and
we do we have questions coming in.

Speaker 3 (14:23):
We we have a lot of questions.

Speaker 2 (14:25):
Yeah, we haven't even really introduced Josh yet, so we Josh,
just to queue you up. A lot of people on
our on our Facebook chat, it just started blowing up
with questions. But I do want to like give us
a little bit of moment to be able to kind
of induce you and a little bit about you and
your background. You have this passion for pest control, which

(14:46):
you know, I mean is really amazing because we need people.
We need people like you to help us, and you know,
help us understand like what you just said. You know, yeah,
you don't want beg bugs, but you know, I mean,
it's not the end of the world when people think
it is you. We can come out, we can help you.
Where did this passion for pest control come from? Josh?

Speaker 5 (15:08):
You know, it's hard to pick any one particular thing
that made me passionate about it. It's kind of more
of just it just checks like every box for me.
And I'm kind of a weird guy where you know,
I don't I can't. I could never imagine sitting behind
a desk eight hours a day typing at a computer,
doing spreadsheets or anything like that. Like I'm the kind

(15:29):
of guy that just needs to be outside doing stuff
with my hands. And that very much is this job.
It's a very very hands on career where you're you know,
you're working directly with animals, You're working directly with like
heavy machinery, chemicals, and most of all this is probably
what surprises most people people it's very much a customer

(15:51):
service job. You are not gonna dodge human conversations by
being in pest control. It's very much about getting along
with pole and you know, getting them to give you
the right information and then providing solutions for them. Yeah,
so all of that just kind of checks every box
for me. Some of my background is I went to

(16:12):
I actually did go to college. I have a bit
of a unique opportunity to have a little bit more
of like an educated perspective when it comes to pest control.
The degree I got was a Bachelor of Science and Biology.
I wanted to study like wildlife sciences and animals and
things like that. I had difficulty getting a job coming
out of college, and lo and behold, pest control is

(16:34):
always hiring. If I actually had to pick one particular
item that made me go into pest control, as funny
as this sounds, it was it was for health insurance.
You know, when you're a broke college student and you
you haven't found work in a year and you need
health insurance, it's kind of like a big, big beacon

(16:55):
attracting you to the job.

Speaker 2 (16:57):
Yeah, exactly, that that is great. Ay, you know, we all,
we all, you know, have our brakes in other ways
or not do what you gotta do. Exactly, So let's
let's jump right in. I know we have a lot
to cover, Josh, but we also, like I said, got
a lot of questions that came in. Yeah, you're gonna
be here for a while, Josh, and Uh and Tanya.
I'm gonna read this question because I think it actually

(17:18):
hits a few different aspects of maybe UH pest and
pest control that we can associate with here. And the
question is, I've lived on my street for sixty years
and never had a problem had this problem before. There
has been an explosion of crickets. When they were outside,
we could deal with them, but lately they've been coming inside.

(17:40):
I have been using cicket sticky traps and getting good results,
but also thinking how bad this would be if I
wasn't catching so many. My question is why so many?
And why are they coming inside now? Any suggestions besides
sticky traps though we have had we're happy with those results.

(18:00):
So so, you know, I think that you know, this
is a great question because you know, yeah, it's dirinted
towards crickets, but I think that this happens with other
varieties of past through the year or or there are
probably big years and bad years associated with these pets.
So you know, kind of oh, Josh and just let
you know, we only have about a minute left to
this spot so we can get started. But I'm going

(18:21):
to cut in and we're going to take a small break.

Speaker 1 (18:24):
Yeah, no, no pressure.

Speaker 4 (18:25):
Josh should probably mention too that Tanyas and San Josh perfect.

Speaker 1 (18:28):
Yeah, I was gonna think, you know what, why don't
we just take that break now? Okay, hey, Josh, hang
in there. As far as the break going to be
a quick break for Facebook Live, a bit longer for
a BIS Talk Radio, we all got to come back
with Josh because again we've touched a very hot topic
with our people on Facebook Live this morning, a lot
of questions, so hang in there. We will get to
your questions. It is a garden America. Brian Main and
John Bagnasco Tiger Pella Fox taking a break for our

(18:49):
friends on BIZ Talk Radio stay with us. Well, welcome
back from that break on BIS Talk Radio Facebook Live.
Thank you for tuning in a lot of people again
the very interested in this topic, because after all, a
touch is most everybody who's tuned in, So again glad
to have Josh on board Tiger. As we continue and
go back to the questions and addressing Josh.

Speaker 2 (19:08):
Yeah, Josh, So our question came from Tanya and San
Jose and had to do with a large population or
a large influx of crickets. So, you know, I think
that you could probably take this topic and run with
it with a few different ways. So Josh, go.

Speaker 5 (19:22):
Ahead, Oh man, I already have so many loads of
Actually I actually first want to kind of segue off
of that because it'll loop back around the same topic.
So you're what you're experiencing right now with the crickets
is actually really widespread in San Diego right now, but
with a slightly different pest. So if you've noticed, especially

(19:45):
over the last few months, the temperature has dropped significantly,
and it is still dropping quite a bit. You know,
it'll be seventy seventy five during the day and then
it's hitting like forty degrees at night. When that happens,
the exterior of your home is no long a suitable
for a lot of living things. And actually, in San
Diego right now, unfortunately, a lot of homeowners are discovering

(20:07):
that they have these issues with their homes where there's
screens missing in their crawl space events or their plumbing
is not perfectly sealed. Off under their kitchen sink. And
actually rodents as of recently have been like the biggest
headache for us. Not headache, I mean, it's business. It's
good for us, but it's almost getting ridiculous where we

(20:29):
are like a very small company. So for us to
get like a new call for business is a bigger
deal than you know, one of these larger brands getting
just a single call for business. But I would say,
on average, I've been getting at least one new account
a day with just rodent issues and nothing else.

Speaker 2 (20:47):
Wow.

Speaker 5 (20:48):
And that's never that's never happened. I mean I've been
I've been in the industry for almost seven years, and
in that time, I've never seen like this this high
of a volume of that issue taking place. But to
circle back around to the crickets, it's kind of the
same thing. You know, bugs are They're not warm blooded

(21:08):
like us. They're cold blooded, so the ambient temperature kind
of directs them. It basically makes their life decisions for them.
If it's too cold outside, they will not survive and
so they need to come in. So for the most part,
the probably the reason why you're seeing crickets. I'm sorry again,
I think you said in your garage and they're starting

(21:29):
to get into your home.

Speaker 2 (21:30):
Yeah. No, they were just outside our home and now
they're actually coming in.

Speaker 5 (21:33):
Yeah right, right, So a lot of that just has
to do with very like rudimentary exclusion issues, things like,
you know, making sure your garage door sits flush across
your driveway, installing like door sweeps and metal skirting at
the bottom of doorframes. Generally speaking, if you can get

(21:54):
things sealed up to about a quarter inch or less,
that will prevent pretty much anything from entering your home.

Speaker 2 (22:00):
Okay. And and you're saying as a general rule, whether
it's crickets or mice or you know, fleas or cockroaches
or any of these things. You're saying, right now, the
temperatures are getting low, they're looking for warmth, they're going
to try to get in your house. There's things you
can do to keep them out. But nonetheless, during this

(22:22):
time of year, you're probably fighting on all those aspects
of it that because they're trying to get in the
house to get away from the cold. Yeah, okay.

Speaker 5 (22:30):
There is a lot though that can be done to
prevent that. It just you know, it requires a lot
of prep work.

Speaker 2 (22:36):
Uh huh. And what about what about some of the
products that maybe you guys use. I mean, is there
is there things designed that are to be almost act
as a barrier outside the home that you know, you
guys can apply and use.

Speaker 5 (22:50):
Oh man, yeah, that is That's also a really funny question,
uh to touch on, because I feel like, uh, chemicals
and really just testicides in general are very misunderstood to
when it comes to pest control. Maybe maybe this will
only touch with a younger audience, but when it comes
to invertebrates, so like bugs, spiders, insects, things like that

(23:13):
excuse me a lot of the times. It it's almost
like you're you're playing Pokemon, where you know these things
have certain behaviors or characteristics, and you just have to
find a product that is going to take advantage of
those behaviors or characteristics. So, for example, you know, if
you have like an ant issue, you would not use

(23:34):
the same products to treat an ant issue as you
would like a scorpion issue, because they're just two radically
different bugs. Ants are more numerous. You're gonna have way
more ants on your property than you are scorpions. I
don't care who you are, where you live, that's that's
just a fact, we hope.

Speaker 2 (23:51):
So if you ever go to a property that has
more score ants, let me know, Josh, because I will
never go there.

Speaker 5 (24:00):
That's great, But it's as far as crickets go, though,
it's I'm not going to lie to you. Crickets are
kind of easy in the sense that they really are
susceptible to most common products. I'm not sure if you
want me to like name drop anything that I would use.
In particular, I'm a big fan of a product called

(24:22):
Alpine WSG. It's not something that's going to be available
to most of the general public. I think, especially in California,
you're not likely to get your hands on it, and
it is a little bit pricier as far as pesticides go.
But there's just so many things that I love about it.
It's a it's a very diverse product. You can use
it for a lot. It has very few use restrictions,

(24:46):
which in California is a really big deal about. The
only thing you don't want to do with it is
spray your plants with it, as it is like a
systemic poison. It will poison like pollinators and anything that
drinks from like the flowers of a plant. But like,
aside from that, it's it's one of the lower impact
products as far as like your own health and safety

(25:06):
is concerned, and it will definitely get rid of some crickets.

Speaker 2 (25:09):
No, I think that's great information to share because you know,
even you know, we have people listening all over the country,
all over the world. Yeah that you know, if you
know they call up a pest control company, that gives
them the ability to say, hey, you know, what are
you going to be using? And you know, if they
say some other product, be like, oh, have you ever
heard of what was it called Alpine WG WSG?

Speaker 5 (25:30):
It's w Alpine water soluble granule.

Speaker 2 (25:32):
Yeah, you'd be like, hey, would you ever consider using this?
And they can go, oh, you know, yeah, you know. So,
so it gives our listeners a little bit of information
on it.

Speaker 1 (25:41):
So cause you know, one of the first questions, Josh,
you know this year for it time and time again,
well is it safe? Can I use it around you know,
my pets and my kids and me? And and that
that's the first question. We deal with that in our
industry in terms of fertilizers and so on and so forth.
Organic versus chemicals as well, so obviously top of mind
with your correct.

Speaker 5 (26:01):
Oh yeah, and actually to help maybe further answer that question,
if you ever ask an exterminator whether or not the
product they're applying is safe, their answer, by law has
to always be no. There. But just by definition, right,
I mean you have to think like a lawyer. Yeah,
I'm sorry.

Speaker 2 (26:20):
Go ahead. No, no, no, you're you're right. I mean,
by definition, the reason why you're using it because it's kills.

Speaker 1 (26:25):
You know, it's like this, is it safe to drive
your car?

Speaker 2 (26:28):
No, it's a little different.

Speaker 1 (26:31):
But yeah, So Josh, just just to piggyback onto the
cricket conversation, if they do get into your homes, what
what are they eating? What are cricket's looking for?

Speaker 2 (26:40):
Yeah, I was gonna say that's one of the questions
that's coming up now. I mean, aside from escaping.

Speaker 5 (26:45):
The every question you're gonna ask me is I'm going
to have like some something to add where I'm like, well,
it could be this or it could be of course,
with with with crickets, it doesn't quite matter as much
with some other bugs, but the species is actually very important.
There are types of crickets that just simply won't invade
your home. They have everything that they need outside and
they're not and they're large, and they're not likely to

(27:07):
come indoors. As far as what most crickets are eating, though,
they typically are just feeding on like grain products. They'll
eat like the seeds from grasses, they'll eat like decaying
plant matter. They kind of think of them as almost
like herbivore scavengers, where they'll just eat whatever kind of
plant material is available to them.

Speaker 2 (27:29):
Got it. And and so when the weather warms up,
is it a natural thing for now the population to
decrease inside your home because now they can be outside
and they don't want to come inside your home. Is
that kind of a natural cycle? Or once they're in there,
you've got to get rid of them because they'll just
keep coming back.

Speaker 5 (27:51):
Again. Man, it's like a yes and no to that.
So with with bugs being cold blooded, what you're going
to notice is in the this is true anywhere, it
actually happens less so here in California because our weather
is more tempered throughout the year. But what you'll notice
is a natural bell curve exists where you know, in
the colder months in the winter, there's very little bug

(28:14):
activity outside, and that's in direct response to the temperature.
When things are colder, bugs actually live longer lives. They
don't need as much food. They live very slow, kind
of methodical lives, and then when he eats up there
that kind of flip flops where they instead become very active.

(28:34):
They consume a lot of resources and they then reproduce
really quickly. So you may end up with fewer crickets
inside your home during the summer, but that's because there's
going to be way more outside your home.

Speaker 2 (28:46):
Got it. Hey, we're gonna have to take another break
right now, Joshua, we get back. We'll continue talking with
Josh from Doug's Bug Company.

Speaker 1 (28:54):
Doug's Bug Company. Thank you Josh for being here. And
again those questions comments keep on coming. We've got to
John and Tiger monitoring those questions. We'll get to as
many as we can, hopefully all of them before the
show's over. Do stay with us, going to take a break.
Thank you or fertile om our major sponsor, biz Talk Radio,
Facebook Life coming back after these messages on biz Talk Radio.
All right, we are back, Thank you boy. Great show

(29:15):
in terms of the interest today, So we'll do our
best to keep you informed with one of our experts,
Josh and again Tiger. We've got questions, we've got comments,
so let's get back to it.

Speaker 2 (29:26):
Yeah, and I think that we could probably go on
hours about one subject, but I do want to keep
Josh moving because we do have a few other things
to touch. So, you know, Josh, you were saying, you know,
wintertime bug population inside, less outside, summertime normally outside, you know,
and less inside. You know, maybe in a few questions

(29:49):
down the road, we'll get back to ants, because ants
in the summertime come inside. Whole nother issue. But we
do have a question from our listener, Lilah, and she
mentioned go for We mentioned gover control, but do you
also do rabbit or squirrel? And if not, why so
you know, what what other pest do you guys? What

(30:10):
other critters do you guys do? Josh?

Speaker 5 (30:14):
Well, actually, so what you're describing is kind of an
offshoot of pest control where there are like there's licensing
and permits that we can get to do what's called
live removal or live trapping, and that would be the
approach with an animal that's considered to not be a
pest and believe it or not. There's actually a large

(30:35):
number of animals that kind of fit that criteria here
in California. One that I know people are never thrilled
to hear about are voles. They're kind of like this
lawn pest that will chew up your grass, and at
least legally speaking, in California, they are not considered to
be pests that you cannot hire us to come out
and remove a bunch of them or kill them or

(30:57):
anything like that. But through the California Fish and Wildlife
you can get what's called a trappers permit, and then
that allows you to do live removal of things like possums, skunks, raccoons,
I don't know, bobcats if you get lucky enough. You know,
there's all sorts of crazy things that can end up
in someone's yard.

Speaker 2 (31:17):
And so do you guys do any of those services
or no?

Speaker 5 (31:23):
Man? That's that is something that actually a lot of
customers have been asking me about for quite a while.
I technically do not have that license yet, and I
keep saying I'm gonna get it, and it just keeps
getting pushed back. That being said, though, you know, I'm
I'm I was born in Florida, so I'm down to
just wrestle any animals that you have. I can always

(31:44):
show up with and just glove up and remove something
from a cross space. That's not an issue. Yeah, I
just currently don't have the licensing to trap anything.

Speaker 1 (31:52):
Well, in Florida, you've got the black panther right.

Speaker 5 (31:56):
Right, And that's why I think I'm not scared of
anything we have here exactly.

Speaker 2 (32:00):
Yeah, I watched uh, what was that Joe Tiger something
Tiger King. Yeah, I don't know what happens down there. So,
but regarding gophers, because we you know, we we've talked
a lot about gophers, gopher John John's what's your count
up to sixty seven? Now sixty four with the gopher

(32:22):
hawk over here. John's been very successful.

Speaker 4 (32:25):
But I'm open to other ideas. You've got any other ideas?

Speaker 2 (32:29):
Yeah, is there is there anything that you've run into,
Josh that maybe is successful and just just the idea
of keeping them away, you know, maybe you know, I
get it like once they're there, trapping, baiting, poisons, whatever
it is. But I mean, is there anything out there
that you're like, Hey, if you start with this, you
just won't ever have the problem.

Speaker 5 (32:50):
Yeah, So that's that is also a little bit of
a difficult question to answer. So everyone always wants a
like an easy solution, right They want to know that
they can just put X y Z outside their home. Uh,
and it's just going to prevent unwanted things from coming
on at the property. But but this is a this
is the way you have to think about it is

(33:11):
you know, these these animals aren't just you know, they
don't just decide, Oh, I'm craving you know, your potatoes
that you're growing in your backyard, So I'm just gonna
decide to kind of waltz on over and eat these
Like these are animals that are very much fighting for
their lives, like they we sometimes forget, you know, because
we get to live in like these nice safe homes
that the world outside is not always so friendly. So

(33:34):
you know, if you were starving to death, like you know,
you're on death's door, you're not gonna make it much longer.
And there's a cheeseburger on a plate right in front
of you, but there's a real nasty smell, you know,
in a perimeter around that that cheeseburger. Are you not
going to eat the cheeseburger.

Speaker 1 (33:48):
Because of that, Yeah, you're gonna take a chance, yeah yeah, yeah.

Speaker 5 (33:55):
Yeah. And so because of that, you know, there's there's
all of these myths that you'll read about, especially on
the Internet, where unfortunately what's happened is misinformation can very
easily spread when it comes to pest control, because it
is entirely possible that you try one of these myths
and your issue goes away. There is always a small
chance that that just occurs. And so when that works

(34:18):
for you, you then think, oh, well, I did this
and I no longer have this issue, so it must
have prevented it or removed it or did something, and
so then you share that. But again it's it's it's
not so much about like creating an unpleasant smell or
something like that, and especially with gophers, a lot of
it is just creating physical barriers. You know, I'm a

(34:41):
big fan of if you have a gopher issue where
they're eating the food in your property, you know, build
some plant beds. If you have the materials and the time,
you can create like a raised plant bed that's on
stilts or is just simply off the ground, or even
is on the ground and just has a wooden bottom
to it. You know, gophers are tough and they can

(35:02):
tunnel through a lot, but they're not going to get
through like four inches of wood.

Speaker 2 (35:06):
Okay, good to know, So do your work beforehand, and yeah,
you know, hopefully, And and you know, it's funny because
when we talk about repellents across the board, because you know,
we talk a lot about you know, you know, gophers,
We talk about rabbits and deer and you know, other
things that eat plants. And you know, when I talk
to people about repellents, I say, you know, repellents are

(35:29):
different for everybody. I mean, you know, like you just said,
if I see a cheeseburger and it smells bad, that
probably isn't going to hold me back from eating a
good cheeseburger, so I'll go after it. But you know,
some people that'll work where you know, if I see
a cheeseburger and there's somebody standing there with like you know,
you know, and in the way associated. Some repellents are

(35:52):
fear based, right where like they put urine or other
things where like animals think that there's these predators in
the area or death and that's gonna scare me a
little bit more, and I might not go for that cheeseburger,
and you know where sometimes these products are you know,
flavor based where they put a spray on top of
a leaf, you know, and you know, yeah, I'm not

(36:13):
gonna eat that because it doesn't taste good when I
when I take in. So, you know, every repellents different.
You just got to figure out the critter that you're
going for. Hey, Josh, we are going to take another break.
We still do have a lot of questions to get through, so.

Speaker 1 (36:27):
We we're going to back up and take them in norder.
I would assume, yeah, yook, ok.

Speaker 2 (36:30):
Yeah, when we get back from the break, Josh, you know,
let's kind of regroup back to the whole ant questions.
I know in southern California during the summertime, that's a
big issue. All right, But we have to take a
break now.

Speaker 1 (36:41):
Yeah, BIS Talk Radio the break especially for you news
coming up top of the hour and hopefully your market
carries our second hour because we came back at six
minutes after no matter what the time zone is. So again,
thank you for joining us. Those on Facebook live questions comments,
keep them coming. We are going to take a break
for Bistalk Radio News coming up. We came back at
six minutes after Facebook Live, coming back quicker. So stay
with us. This is Garden America Brian May and John

(37:03):
Bagnasco Tager Palafox, spending part of our weekend together here
on Garden America. Well, hey there, we are back those
on biz talk radio for you just joining us. We're
talking pest control today. So again, you're not too late
to join us if you did miss the first hour
the rest of us on Facebook Live. We're going to
keep on going and get to your questions, your commons.
So let's re establish things, reconven Tiger and Josh and

(37:26):
here we go again.

Speaker 2 (37:27):
Yeah, so too. You know we're talking with Josh with
Dougs Bug Company. Dougs Bugs is based down here in
San Diego. You know, we've gotten a lot of chatter online.
I did want to hit Carla, you did ask about
the own Joil and Dougs Bugs actually replied to your
question on the Facebook chat. So that's the other thing
for you listeners out there. Yeah, if you are listening

(37:48):
to this and you miss something or you might want
to find more information, go to our Facebook page. Right,
you can see past shows. You could scroll through the chat. Yeah,
some of the questions are answered right there in the chain,
even though we might not answer them here on air.
But Dougs Bugs did have a great answer to your
orange oil question, Carla Josh. Before the break I had

(38:10):
mentioned we also had somebody ask about ants and ants
in the summertime in California are a big issue, and
is it why would they be coming inside in the
summertime now?

Speaker 5 (38:21):
So the ant issue in California is actually one of
our worst problems as far as pests go. The particular
ant that you were likely experiencing is an invasive species
called an Argentina ant. They were shipped over on a
lot of fruit transportation between our country and Argentina, which
is where they originate from. And what's so problematic about

(38:44):
these things is that they are first and foremost, they
have one of the highest rates of reproduction. You know,
instead of there being like one or two queens navigating
the colony, they have a ratio it's something absurd. It's
like one queen to everything workers or five hundred workers
or something like that. So it's not uncommon for there

(39:04):
to be these mega colonies that exist where there's hundreds
and hundreds of queens all reproducing and creating all of
these workers, and these ants they kick out like native
species of ants, we start to see, you know, fewer
of the ants that are less problematic that kind of
fit in with the environment here, because these things are
just so overwhelming and they take over. And another aspect

(39:26):
with that too is they are they're very social with
one another. If you were to relocate a colony that
exists in Argentina and bring it up here to the US,
they would immediately start cooperating with the other Argentine ants
that are already present, right, so when they find each other,
they don't fight over resources. They just grow. But they

(39:47):
do actually have some of their own weaknesses though, as
far as like treating and prevention and removal and all
of that goes. Probably the number one thing that I
can recommend is not overwatering outsid especially during the summer months.
I understand that you know, everyone has sensitive landscaping, and
I'm not gonna I can tell you what will prevent pests,

(40:08):
but I'm not going to tell you like what the plant,
yeah in your yard. But you know, we live in
a desert climate. Water is our most limited resource, and
when you're overwatering, you're basically creating an attractive environment for
these ants, and once they take hold on your property,
you know they're going to hide underneath a stepping stone,
underneath your driveway, under a walkway, something like that, and

(40:32):
they're going to be very hard to notice until they're
already inside your home.

Speaker 2 (40:35):
So they really so this Argentine ants specifically loves these
really cool damp areas where maybe if you had a
desert skate, you might not have as big of an
ants problem because they just wouldn't like the yard at all.
Is that what you're saying?

Speaker 5 (40:50):
Exactly? The two best landscaping products I can recommend, again
not gardening, but just for pest repellent purposes is pea gravel.
It's you actually kind of ironically already touched on the
only pest that will do well in pea gravel, and
that is crickets. But anything else will not do well

(41:10):
down there. And then artificial environments too, like turf, are
also not suitable for most bugs.

Speaker 2 (41:17):
Oh really, so putting down like a synthetic turf, you know,
we're normally in a lawn, you would have an ant colony,
a cricket colony, fleas everything else in a synthetic lawn,
none of those things that are in there, they don't
survive underneath that that black tarp, So you know, it
eliminates some of those issues. Is that what you're saying exactly?

Speaker 5 (41:37):
Maybe to clarify it doesn't mean that you'll never see
a single ane in your yard. You have turf, you know,
they can still safely walk across it, but they're not
likely to create a colony there.

Speaker 2 (41:46):
I was gonna say, I think we're all adults here
and understand that we know that we'll never get rid
of every bug you know in our yard. I mean,
you know so, Josh, I mean, you know, me owning
a landscape maintenance company's probably a little bit like you
guys in your pest management company where people say, hey,
can you do me a favor, and you know, clean

(42:08):
the spider webs off of this stuff? As you guys
are here, I got no qualms about it. Yeah, no problem.
We'll take a broom. We have a we have one
of those webers that we just walk around the property
with and hit the eves and you know, the light
pillars and whatever it is that they want the spider
webs off. And I think that's a great management to
some degree. But you know the next day they're there,
you know, they're they're they're back again. And you know,

(42:30):
so spiders, you know, I mean, you know, as landscape company,
they're just part of the landscape for us. But people
really have this hang up on spiders. But you know what,
what do you what do you think about the spiders
in the landscape, Josh.

Speaker 5 (42:43):
Oh I think spiders are wonderful. I am one of
those exterminators that you know, if it's not a black
widow or well, if it's just not a widow, DC's
in general.

Speaker 1 (42:53):
How about a brown cruse spider? I'm sorry, brown recluse.

Speaker 5 (42:58):
Uh, those don't exist here. We we actually just don't
have those. So that's an interesting topic to kind of
offshoot onto. So if you look up every single documented
brown recluse fight that's ever taken place in San Diego,
it has always been from someone that lived in like Texas, Oklahoma,
you know, somewhere in the South where these things do

(43:18):
live and they thrive. They moved here. They probably moved
packages and boxes out of the basement where these things
are likely to recur, and they get shipped over here
with them and then that's when the bite occurs, is
when they're unpacking into their new home.

Speaker 2 (43:31):
Oh so, like a brown recluse couldn't like live in
San Diego or like reproduced kind of a thing.

Speaker 5 (43:37):
There is no sustained population of brown recluse here. The
closest that we have is if you go way, way
way out to like the border of Arizona. So like
the eastern southern California, there is a desert recluse that
lives out there, but it's it's not medically significant the
way a brown recluses.

Speaker 2 (43:56):
Interesting.

Speaker 1 (43:57):
Good, Yeah, that's good to know.

Speaker 2 (43:59):
But the widows, you do you need to be careful.

Speaker 5 (44:01):
Of, well, it's it's it's specifically black widows. I always
say that. Unfortunately, widows don't get the pass for me
when it comes to relocating, because you know, at the
end of the day, it is my job to you know,
get rid of these things, make sure people feel safe
in their homes and all of that. And I don't want,
you know, to charge someone one hundred dollars for a
treatment and then they walk out the next morning and

(44:23):
there's another spider right there that that looks scary. But
but yeah, pretty much any other spider that's not you know,
a brown, black or false widow. I just chuck it
over the fence.

Speaker 2 (44:34):
Yeah. And and you know, because the spiders are actually
doing they're doing a good good job of some of
these other issues. You know, when people talk about crickets,
when people talk about you know, these other pasts. Spiders
are their natural predator, right so you know, I mean,
don't get me wrong, like you don't got a spider
killing ten thousand ants. But but they're keeping a little

(44:55):
bit of check going out.

Speaker 1 (44:56):
Well, they're doing their own kind of past control service
for you as well. Yeah, a very small degree.

Speaker 4 (45:01):
Yeah, but you mentioned in the landscape. They're fine in
the landscape.

Speaker 1 (45:04):
It's your bathtub. You have our problem with John, No,
my wife.

Speaker 4 (45:07):
Doesn't want them, you know, under these you know, up
by the door jams.

Speaker 2 (45:12):
And yeah, and you know, I hate to say it,
but like some like Janine can't handle a spider. Like
I'll see a spider in our room and I'm like
leave it. Ye I'm not, you know, Jennine's like, no,
it cannot be in this room. And and kind of
like I think Josh kind of like it to what
you kind of hinted with the bed bugs. It gives
her that sense of I cannot be in this room

(45:33):
knowing this is in here, you know kind of a thing.
So so so yeah, so Josh, I think we have
what about a minute before our next break.

Speaker 1 (45:42):
We got about a minute and a half minute, and
make sure we're keeping up on the questions too.

Speaker 2 (45:46):
Yeah, when we get back from the break, Josh, I
kind of want to queue you up because, like I say,
we got these people and it's nice, but I think
Doug is actually monitoring some of the Facebook questions too
and giving some answers, which is really helping us out.
You know, when it comes to the landscape, Josh, what
are some things that people need to consider, like buy

(46:08):
their house to maybe prevent some of these issues from
happening in their home. I mean you mentioned pea gravel,
you know, would you recommend a pea gravel barrier around
the house?

Speaker 1 (46:17):
I mean what.

Speaker 2 (46:18):
About like branches touching the home and things like that,
like are those creating bridges? So when we get back
from the break, I want to hit on some of
the things that you would maybe tell people to watch
out for in terms of the landscape. So the you know,
whatever pests, we can prevent it from coming in.

Speaker 1 (46:34):
Got to get back with Josh after this break, quick
break here on Facebook, live a bit longer on BIZ
Talk Radio. So do stay with us. Thank you so much,
a lot of interest this morning. I want to thank
Josh doing a great job and answering those questions in
terms of past all kinds of pests, whether the rodents, insects, whatever.
So we all going to take a break here in
Garden America. I'm Brian Main and John mcnascar or Tiger Pelafox.

(46:54):
Do stay with us, back with Josh after these messages
with our good friends on BIS talk Radio. All right
back just like that, Thank you and a big thank
you to fertil m our major sponsor here at twenty
twenty five on Garden America. What's bugging you? Let's find
out with more Tiger you and Josh and the rest
of us here in Garden America.

Speaker 2 (47:13):
Yeah, so Josh with Doug's bug is joining us. And
you know, before the break, I was saying, Josh, what
are some things that people can do to their landscapes
surrounding their house that maybe would prevent some bugs from
getting in.

Speaker 5 (47:25):
Yeah, so that is that is also a very potentially
deep question, one of the one of the most important
things that I can think of. You you touched on
this a little bit, but it has to do with
plants touching the exterior of your home. I'm a big
fan of, you know, growing your own food. If you
have an orange tree in your backyard, you know, keep

(47:47):
it alive, feed it, eat the oranges, like things like that.
But there are there's still are wrong ways to go
about that. Like if you have an orange tree that's
growing within a foot of the foundation of your home,
it's inevitably going to have tree branches that reach up
onto the roof. And that's an issue because you know,
you have rodents outside that are looking to eat those oranges,

(48:09):
and if you're putting their food on a ladder that
then gives them access to the interior of your home,
You're kind of just creating your own problem there. But
that issue extends to more than just rodents, because even
if you are paying for a pest service, like we
have some limitations in what we can offer. So like
the paid services that would come to your home, the

(48:30):
service that we actually perform is what's called structural test control.
It's not agricultural We have certain licensing that allows us
to do what are called landscape treatments. But one consistent
limitation that we are all faced with is we cannot
treat anything that can potentially be consumed by people. So
if you have something like herbs growing in a plant

(48:52):
bed around the foundation of your home, or you do
have these fruit trees that are close to your house
and are touching it, if you then have ants, let's
say that a trailing up that tree and into your house,
we basically can't do anything about it other than, you know,
suggest that you cut back the tree branches or maybe
do it ourselves if you'll allow us. But there's there's

(49:12):
a lot of like common sense things like that to
tray and try and keep in mind.

Speaker 2 (49:17):
Yeah, and you know, I mean because like what you
just said, I mean, the answer there for whatever reason,
whether there's scale or mealy bug or some other kind
of pest on the plant, and now you just provided
it to that bridge into your home where now yeah,
now they're looking for the food that's left out, or

(49:38):
you know, the stuff in your teenage daughter's room that's
just stuffed under her bed. Not naming any names to
us no, you know, Like I'm like, you know, why
are there ants in your room? I don't know, Dad,
Let's take a look. Why is this plate left under
your bed? You know? But you know, I mean, but
you gave them that opportunity to get in there. So

(49:58):
if you can prevent that opportunity, they'll stay out side.
They're perfectly find harvesting mealy bugs or whatever it is
that they're on the tree for. You know, don't give
them the chance to come in the house now, now
you mentioned you know also before overwatering, So does moisture
ride up next to the house also create a problem
for anything like termites or any of these other critters.

(50:20):
Should you kind of keep it dry away from the house.

Speaker 5 (50:23):
Oh yes, that is also a very very potentially deep
topic to get into. So one of the more damaging
and significant types of termites that you can get in
your home are what are called subterranean termites. They're most
likely to occur if you have a crawl space under
your house, but even on a slab foundation you can

(50:44):
still end up with them. And there's a lot that
attracts them. I mean, having like mulch around the exterior
of your home. It locks in moisture and it's food
for them, so it's kind of like a double whammy
having molts around the exterior. I'm trying to remember what
the actual number is, but I believe the moisture content
underneath your home needs to remain under thirty percent twenty

(51:07):
eight percent if you're to get like a humidity reader
down there. But anything above that will create a suitable
environment for these termites. And a lot of that does
kind of start and end with how you care for
your lawn and your your garden and you know, just
any soils that exists outside your home.

Speaker 2 (51:26):
Yeah, yeah, so you know, monitoring that right up next
to the house is super important, but it just doesn't
look as pretty, Josh. So we still do have those
people that plant right up next to the house, you know,
we don't. I don't want to see my foundation. So
I'm gonna plant this star jasmine right here and it'll
be okay. But you gotta, hey, then you just got
to be willing to live with the bugs. You know,

(51:48):
you just got to be able to, you know, withstand that. So,
so Josh, tell us a little bit more about how
people can get in touch with dougs bugs. Maybe some
contact information we had. I don't know if I'm listed it.
One of our listeners from Orange County was like, hey,
would you ever you sound amazing and knowledgeable. Would you
ever come up here and help us out in Orange County?

(52:09):
So how do people get ahold of Doug's bugs?

Speaker 5 (52:13):
Well, I hate to say this, but we're not servicing
Orange County right now. It's a little bit of a
stretch for us. We are a very small local company.
We're based off of Rosecrans in Point Loma and that's
actually where I want to stay. Close to seventy eighty
percent of our business is is just in that Point

(52:33):
Loma ob area. We've slowly been expanding and growing north
a little ways, like I know now we go as
far north as like like del Mar sometimes up into
Encinitas are like that, But that's that's still a ways
away from Orange County, and it's it's hard for us

(52:53):
to grow because we are small, a small company. You know,
we can't just like decide to open in another off
this up there. We would need you know, brand new
employees and vehicles and and all of that stuff. But
you know, continuing to use us helps us to slowly
and organically grow. We don't do any of the like
aggressive sales tactics. You know, we're not knocking on your

(53:15):
door telling you to sign a two year contract for
pest control or anything like that. So all of our
growth is just through like word of mouth, you know,
good good opportunities like this and yeah, and you know,
the more that people decide to support the business, the
more that we're able to grow. And maybe one day
we will be servicing Orange County.

Speaker 2 (53:36):
You never know exactly. And and Dougs Bug dot dot
Dougs bug Co. So Dougs Bug Company, but just ceo
dot com is your guys's website. So you know, if
you're looking for more information or looking for an opportunity
for Josh to come out and maybe help you out
with your past problem, visit their website and they have

(53:58):
all the information to get a hold of them. Josh,
thank you for joining us. Lots of great information. Doug,
thank you for joining us on the Facebook chat and answering.
So if you're still on the Facebook chat you don't
see your question answered, you know Doug's right there, He'll
answer it for us.

Speaker 1 (54:14):
Doug's going to hang in and we appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (54:16):
Yeah, So Josh, have a great rest of the weekend.
You take care you well, all right, thank.

Speaker 1 (54:21):
You, Josh. Wow. We you know, you you bring somebody
on or you tease at the newsletter and you'll wonder
how much interest is this going to Gardner safe to
say we hit it out of the park.

Speaker 2 (54:34):
Yeah, And you know, it's it's kind of like a
gardening thing where there I hate to put people on
the spot like that, but it is like, oh, is
my plant being underwatered or overwatered? It's like, well, I mean,
you got to tell me some more information. Kind of depends,
you know, and that's a bit about pest control. But
it sounds like he's such an expert that if if
you have an opportunity to meet someone like him to

(54:55):
come out and help you, he's going to give you
the solution.

Speaker 1 (54:58):
That's correct, you know, especially because they're small company compared
to a huge company coming out, there's a little more
intimacy involved. You almost feel like I got a good
one on one with him. Chances are I'm going to
see the same guy come back again if I need
to use them. Yeah, you know, we talked about the
water and so on and so forth with ants, which
we can talk about more, but we got to take
a break, so I'm gonna take a break for biz
Talk Radio after that. Two more segments. Whatever's on your mind?

(55:20):
Here we go, big thank you to Josh and Doug
and again taking a break Bistalk Radio, Garden America back
after these messages. All right, batteries not included. We are
back in his Garden America. We've got two more segments. This,
by the way, is the longer segment of the next
two coming up. So do stay with us quickly on
the ant thing in the summertime. What's the first thing

(55:41):
that you hear Normally when we see ants in the house,
somebody says, ah, you know, whether they're here, they're looking
for water.

Speaker 4 (55:46):
You know what my problem is with ants at home
because of all the roses and containers during the summer,
occasionally a colony will get in one of those containers
because oh, those are being watered every day.

Speaker 2 (55:59):
And it's it's soft soil that you know what I mean?
You would you rather dig through hard dg and clay
or happy frog exactly?

Speaker 1 (56:07):
Happy frog? Really?

Speaker 2 (56:09):
Yeah, you know it's funny. Those answers just all they
have to do is push out their little cavern in
their hole where you know, your native soil. They got
little jackhammers and you know, going to work.

Speaker 3 (56:21):
Tarot granules work real really well.

Speaker 2 (56:23):
I've always loved the tarot product, right, yes, yeah, I
mean you know, and you know what they mentioned in
terms of if you can find where they're coming in,
and you put that tarot bait station in your home
right there, they just go to that and then they
never go anywhere else in your house, which is wonderful.
You just kind of control it, you know, from coming in.
Sometimes it's kind of hard to find the source though,

(56:44):
so you got to kind of keep You put it
one place and then you see where the trails coming from,
then you move it closer to the.

Speaker 1 (56:50):
You know, you talked about Janine and spiders, not I
can't live with the spider's knocking whatever. I'm kind of
the swim. Same way with ants when we have them,
even if they're in the house and Dana's like freaking
out and no, they cannot stay here. We have to
get rid of them. And I'm just I guess because
when I grew up it was very common to have
ants in the house.

Speaker 4 (57:10):
And I still have them in your pants right occasionally.
But I'm like, no, I can't tolerate ants. I mean,
I'm not saying I'm on inside, no problem.

Speaker 1 (57:19):
I'm not saying that I'm not going to get rid
of them. It's just to me, it's like, well, if
I don't do it now, I'll do it later in
the afternoon or whatever. And she's like, no, right now,
we have to get rid of them.

Speaker 2 (57:27):
I think. I think the I think the worst thing
about ants in the house is that you just have
to constantly be cleaning up after yourself if you have
them in your house, meaning meaning like if you don't
have ants in your house and you leave that dish
on the counter, you know, and you go to bed
at night.

Speaker 3 (57:45):
Yeah, you come up in the morning and they're going
to be.

Speaker 2 (57:47):
All over it, all over it, and that's you know.

Speaker 1 (57:49):
It's another one. Make sure the lid's tight if you
open the honey.

Speaker 2 (57:56):
Yeah. So that's my biggest thing with the ants is
like I like to be able to go to bed
and I put a plate near the sink and then
just like when I get up in the morning, I'll
throw it in the dishwasher, I'll wash it or whatever
it is. But when you have ants, you you cannot
leave any of that stuff out.

Speaker 1 (58:11):
I'm glad we don't have fire ants.

Speaker 2 (58:13):
Yeah right, Oh my gosh.

Speaker 1 (58:15):
And they actually hurt they would did they come in?
They came in like south right, Louisiana down south. They
moved into Texas.

Speaker 4 (58:22):
They started in Florida, Florida, Yeah, and then started to move.
As a matter of fact, that was a big chapter
in Rachel Carson's book in Silent Spring in nineteen sixty.

Speaker 1 (58:36):
One, way back in sixty one.

Speaker 4 (58:38):
Yeah, And they had started and the government decided that
they were going to start a campaign to eradicate fire
ants before they moved or west. And they started aerial
spraying of either die aldrin or aldron, one of the
chlorinated hydrocarbons. And they went over entire landscapes and neighborhoods.

Speaker 2 (59:06):
They had birds dropping dead out of trees, lizards and everything.

Speaker 3 (59:10):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (59:11):
And it wasn't until they realized how many things were
being killed that somebody checked and saw the chemicals they
sprayed did not kill fire ants.

Speaker 2 (59:20):
Oh my goodness.

Speaker 1 (59:21):
You know, it's just some of the things that had
been done. Yeah, just so ridiculous and stupid.

Speaker 2 (59:27):
That's how we evolve. That's how we learned.

Speaker 1 (59:29):
Well, the strongest survived that kind of thing.

Speaker 2 (59:32):
Yeah, I mean, I hate to say it, but it's true.
I mean, I was just talking. I was at a
meeting this week, and just by weird coincidence, they brought
up the idea of you know, when cigarettes were were
removed from advertisements.

Speaker 1 (59:45):
In nineteen seventy one.

Speaker 2 (59:46):
Correct, good, good job, you didn't even it was a
little trivia section of this meeting, nineteen seventy one, exactly
what it was, you know. But then the person posted
there were cigarette ads before that that it was like
doctor recommended, like you know, health, you know, you know,
if you have these issues, this will help you.

Speaker 3 (01:00:06):
You go to a doctor's office.

Speaker 1 (01:00:10):
I can go to Google right now and show you
one of those ads. You know, nine out of ten
doctors preferred chester Field. Yeah, exactly, you know. Yeah, And
there was everybody was smoking.

Speaker 2 (01:00:18):
And I mean, I don't know if it was ignorance,
I don't know if it was people lying to us,
but it was just they didn't you know, to some
degree they didn't know. And so then you learn and.

Speaker 4 (01:00:31):
They you know, people were more trusting bick then too.
Now I think there's a lot more skeptical.

Speaker 2 (01:00:36):
Yes, because of those laws.

Speaker 1 (01:00:39):
And you know what to prove that point, because you know,
you know, pop culture says a lot about where you
are and what the reality is at any given time.
You go back to watching any old TV show, movie, whatever.
Everybody smoking, everybody it was like you you had a cigarette.
Everybody was smoking and drinking.

Speaker 2 (01:00:58):
But but it goes back to kind of what we're
talking about with the products that people use in their gardens.
You know, because you're told it works. You know, miracle growth,
you're told it works. You're you know, you know, all
these products you're told they work, that you trust that
they're looking out for the best. You trust that you're
gonna work and they're gonna, you know, be effective. But
sometimes we have to, you know, do worry about the

(01:01:19):
repercussions overall. That's what I like that. I like the
direction our industry is moving into where you know, we're
more specific as far as whether the problem is the
fertilizers were more focused on feeding the soil, not just
the plant anymore. We're more willing to just let bugs
coexist with our plants. I like that because I think

(01:01:42):
that we're going to see a better landscape overall in general.

Speaker 1 (01:01:46):
The one thing that that John's story about the fire
ants that just sent me off was, Oh, then they
they discovered that it doesn't really kill them at all. Yeah, okay,
so what do they do beforehand? Wouldn't you want to
take a group of fire ants in a contry?

Speaker 2 (01:02:01):
But I think they probably just assumed because it killed
everything else.

Speaker 3 (01:02:04):
Yeah, yeah, that's the strongest thing we have.

Speaker 1 (01:02:06):
Yeah, is that kind of like the DDT experience that
we went through, but did did kill everything?

Speaker 4 (01:02:12):
Well, DDT was very effective against mosquitoes and that's what
they originally started for malaria control. But again back to
Rachel Carson's book DDT, the main problem with it was
humans stored it in their fats for thirty forty years.

Speaker 3 (01:02:33):
So if food you ate had.

Speaker 4 (01:02:35):
D DT in it, it was there, you know, virgins
there all the way over and it just accumulated.

Speaker 2 (01:02:41):
Kind of like they talk about the fish, the fish
in the ocean, it's.

Speaker 3 (01:02:44):
The food, the mercury, the mercury.

Speaker 2 (01:02:45):
Yeah, you know, the higher on the food chain are
the fish is the higher content to mercury. And that's
the thing thing with the DDT. You just kept getting
it and if you kept getting it. Next thing, you know,
you're sixty years old and you know it's not doing well.

Speaker 1 (01:02:58):
Getting back to the cigarette thing for a second, nineteen
seventy one all advertising radio TV for the most part,
I believe, But for the next couple of two or
three years, you could still have like a sign or
a poster like at the stadium after nineteen s like
a billboard or it was a billboard the Marlborough Man
that for some reason was okay for a while, and
they gradually phased that out as well. But two people

(01:03:21):
on a beach smoking cigarettes and playing volleyball, Yeah you didn't.
You didn't see that anymore.

Speaker 2 (01:03:25):
I love the lifestyle that they like. Thought that, hey,
if you smoke, you're you're definitely going to be playing volleyball.

Speaker 1 (01:03:34):
Yeah, your life's going to be so much better.

Speaker 4 (01:03:37):
Pay quickly back to the DDT thing there, the USDA
outlawed DDT residue in milk because they felt milk was
going to children, and you know, you don't want to
be giving children, you know, who have have much smaller
bodies are going to be more affected by poisons. So

(01:04:00):
outlawed and then there was no more milk that did
not have d so they put a limit on what
it could be.

Speaker 3 (01:04:07):
Then there was no more under that.

Speaker 2 (01:04:10):
Limit, my goodness.

Speaker 4 (01:04:11):
And they raised it three or four times before they
actually could have milk. And then finally they came out
with the statement that said it's not important to check
for DDT.

Speaker 2 (01:04:20):
You know, they're like, oh goodness, we dug ourselves a
hole in Now.

Speaker 4 (01:04:25):
We're intro And as they were doing doing tests, they
wanted to find I have control subjects.

Speaker 3 (01:04:32):
They could not find anyone.

Speaker 2 (01:04:33):
We didn't have it.

Speaker 3 (01:04:34):
It didn't have DDT.

Speaker 2 (01:04:35):
Except eskimosh, my goodness.

Speaker 4 (01:04:37):
So they brought eskimos down from Alaska and used them,
but they lived. I think they went through a three
month testing period down here. They did their tests, and
they found out when the Eskimos left they had DDT.

Speaker 3 (01:04:50):
Residents started their faths.

Speaker 1 (01:04:52):
So, you know, speaking of advertising, it used to be
in radio the first twenty years I was in radio,
but it goes back a lot further than that. You
can only advertise beer and wine. You could not mention bars,
couldn't mention happy hour, couldn't mention well drinks, couldn't do
any of that. And of course that went by the wayside.
Now now it's all fair game. But you couldn't. It
was beer and wine, that was it. Don't promote hard liquor.

Speaker 2 (01:05:15):
Whoa, yeah, I mean it's funny, funny the way things
we evolve as a society and move in different directions.
But I do like the direction that we are moving
into with with our industry because I think we've learned.
You know, we've learned. We've got to take care of soil. Right, plants,
you know, plants in plants need bugs just like we

(01:05:37):
need plants.

Speaker 1 (01:05:39):
Well, got to take a break here, right right, and
one more segment. Don't mean to catch off. If you
can reward one more, say well that Doug, you know
what that Doug's past control. Goosh made time. Goodbye really quick,
We're going to take a break. Biz Talk Radio, Brian Main,
John Bagnasco, Tuget Palafox here on Guard in America. All right,
ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls. This is the final segment.
Already flew right by.

Speaker 3 (01:06:00):
There's so much we could talk about it.

Speaker 1 (01:06:02):
There's a lot to talk about. Now let me ask you.

Speaker 3 (01:06:04):
To bite my tongue several times.

Speaker 1 (01:06:05):
Of course, the filter is working. You changed the filter
last night? Was it last night you changed?

Speaker 3 (01:06:09):
Yeah, the old one was clogged up.

Speaker 1 (01:06:12):
Yeah, well it was clogged, but still the old filter
allows certain things to get through.

Speaker 3 (01:06:15):
Yeah, there are a lot of holes.

Speaker 1 (01:06:16):
That that you don't want to get through. So besides gophers, John,
it's your place. What what's your other biggest pest that
you have to deal with?

Speaker 4 (01:06:25):
Well, you know, we mentioned dance, but taro is a
sure sure control for them. As I replant a uh
plant into a larger pot, now I put soil on
the bottom of the pot, then I put it sprinkle
in tarot granules, and then I put in more soil
and then put the put the plant in there. And

(01:06:45):
I find that's a great job.

Speaker 2 (01:06:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:06:47):
I do it on every single plant.

Speaker 2 (01:06:50):
Yeah, because they they love living up in those pots. Yeah,
I mean sometimes not sometimes when you when you buy
a plant from a nursery and you take it, you
just see the colony. Yeahs.

Speaker 4 (01:07:02):
Since I've been doing the taro, I also do not
have troubles with saw bugs and earwigs the way they
were because they were huge too.

Speaker 2 (01:07:10):
Yeah, and so it lists those on the packaging as well,
which is really nice. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:07:16):
So I like taro for you know, in Taro.

Speaker 4 (01:07:19):
I'm trying to think now it I think the chemical
used to be delta metherren, and I'm not sure if
it still is. But that was a synthetic pyrethrite. And
you know, pyrethrins come from mums, chrysanthemums, so they were
organic pesticides, and this is a synthetic organic.

Speaker 3 (01:07:39):
Yeah, it makes sense.

Speaker 4 (01:07:41):
But so it's a little safer, but still the most
effective thing I've ever found.

Speaker 2 (01:07:46):
Corn syrup.

Speaker 1 (01:07:47):
No, that's good for you. Basically, John and I have
talked about this before. I remember remember as a kid
in the garage. Okay, first of all, I'm a kid.
I'm going to get into things, you know. Yeah. Yeah,
of course, five six, seven, eight, nine years old. I
can't tell you how many bottles we had, probably fertilizer,
probably you know, rat poison, mouse poison, brown bottles with
a skull and crossbone. Man, just take the lid off

(01:08:09):
and use it.

Speaker 2 (01:08:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:08:10):
And it's like really.

Speaker 2 (01:08:12):
Living down in PB you guys probably had a pretty
good rodent pro pop problem.

Speaker 1 (01:08:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:08:16):
And Sami Beach is one of those areas where you know,
dense population, a lot of like you know.

Speaker 1 (01:08:21):
You kind of learn to live with it too. After
a while, you know it's saying, yeah, whatever, what is,
let's have sandfleet. Just brush it off, you'll be back
in the day. It's like, you know, brush it off,
you'll be okay. It was my head, Yeah, you know what,
shake it off, You're fine.

Speaker 2 (01:08:31):
There was a YouTube video recently and I think it
was somewhere in Europe, and it was a police officer
and a grocery store. They were in the like cheese
aisle or something, and they were called in there because
there was a critter, but they couldn't tell what the
critter was. It was up in the fridge. So the
police officer is pulling on this critter and you see
it pulling tail. It came out it was a coyote

(01:08:55):
in the refriger It was inter refrigerator in the cheese
out of a grocery store. And then police they didn't
know what they were pulling on, but until it came
out it was a coyote that when running through the
whole grocery store. Now, but you know, then this person
came on who was a critter.

Speaker 4 (01:09:10):
Accpert coyotes in Europe, I don't again, I don't, aren't
they North American man.

Speaker 2 (01:09:15):
It's probably then somewhere. But it wasn't then a wolf. No,
it wasn't a wolf.

Speaker 1 (01:09:19):
It was a canine.

Speaker 2 (01:09:21):
But but here was the thing. The critter experts said,
there is like a ninety nine percent chance that a
coyote will never bite you in the sense of like
they just they're more scared. They're a skittish creature.

Speaker 3 (01:09:32):
But if you're pulling on their tails.

Speaker 2 (01:09:33):
Well, but no, this coyote, even with this guy pulling
on a seal, it got pulled out and then it
ran away. It did not try to fight at the person.
My dog bites me more than this coyote did. But
but it was just an amazing thing that, Like I
was like, if I see a fluffy tail and I
can't see the head, you don't know what it is.
It was pulling on its tail.

Speaker 1 (01:09:53):
No, no way.

Speaker 4 (01:09:55):
Ever, I like coyotes personally, yeah, because they helped get
rid of some of the population of well.

Speaker 3 (01:10:01):
Squirrels and wrappings. They are horrible.

Speaker 2 (01:10:04):
They just have you know, they just can't do a
road runner though, I can't get them.

Speaker 1 (01:10:08):
What are you gonna I thought you were going to
start a zoo at some point up there. You're gonna
build cages and put some animals on display.

Speaker 4 (01:10:14):
I wish the fur coats were still popular because you
got a gopher, gopher, I would think they'd be Yeah,
they'd be rare, right, Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:10:22):
Is that a gopher coat that is? That's fabulous. You
get the colors in there that.

Speaker 2 (01:10:28):
We had a big Nosco original.

Speaker 3 (01:10:30):
Yeah, they make them in Fallbrooks. Yeah, exactly, it's the
only place get.

Speaker 2 (01:10:34):
Them farmed, a table, farmed, a closet. Uh, you know,
clothing right there?

Speaker 4 (01:10:40):
Oh my gosh, gophers are you know?

Speaker 2 (01:10:45):
I think animals take them away for you, Like you
don't even put them in your trash? Can you just
leave the.

Speaker 4 (01:10:51):
Oh no, no, that would be mean. I think to
just kill a gopher and then just trying to survive.
But if you're using it to feed another animal.

Speaker 2 (01:10:59):
And I love that, you lead it and then it's
gone the next day.

Speaker 4 (01:11:02):
After every single day, it's never once left over.

Speaker 1 (01:11:06):
Now, I would imagine some well, how many species of
snakes do you have? I know you have rattlesnakes, right,
but I'm just thinking some snakes three that I know
of snakes would eat it off. Yeah, you have wild
hogs up there?

Speaker 2 (01:11:21):
Hawks?

Speaker 3 (01:11:23):
Oh you know what I had a picture.

Speaker 1 (01:11:26):
But yeah, the predatory, yes, exactly.

Speaker 4 (01:11:27):
I should have shared with you had a video of
in the chicken coop. Jesse called me and he says,
you know, I need help. I got to get something
out of the chicken coop. So I went down there.
He wouldn't tell me what it was. He says, I
just want you to see. And it was a falcon
in the chicken coop, in the chicken cook very really
a beautiful bird.

Speaker 2 (01:11:48):
They are pretty.

Speaker 4 (01:11:48):
But I said, you know, all right, hold the door open.
Let's feed the chicken so that they'll be They're not
going to run out when you open the door. So
they were preoccupied and we sent them over to one
corner of the coop. And then I said, I'll go
around and chase the hawk this way or the falcon
this way, and you open the door and a lit'll
fly out. Well, my first attempt, instead of going the

(01:12:12):
other way, it came right at me, which.

Speaker 3 (01:12:15):
Can be scary.

Speaker 4 (01:12:16):
Oh yeah, So I just stuck down and then I
got a broom and pushed it a little bit and
it ended up going out.

Speaker 2 (01:12:24):
Did it get one of your chickens?

Speaker 3 (01:12:26):
Though?

Speaker 4 (01:12:26):
No, No, it was a falcon. How did it get
in there?

Speaker 3 (01:12:29):
They were about this big. I guess they could get
a chicken, But so.

Speaker 2 (01:12:32):
It was going for the food of the chickens probably,
I would think. So it wasn't going for the chicken.

Speaker 1 (01:12:37):
But how did it get in? It was a small enoughty.

Speaker 3 (01:12:39):
Well see that's another question. How did it get in?

Speaker 4 (01:12:42):
Because we've had bobcats out there, and if a hawk
can get in, you would think bobcat could get in.

Speaker 1 (01:12:50):
Wow, look at we have to say bye bye, YadA yo,
sayanara and all those other waves to say goodbye, hey,
thank you so much. Want to thank Doug's pass control.

Speaker 4 (01:13:00):
Think you know, Veronica wondered if that was a fox,
if it was Europe, brother than a No.

Speaker 2 (01:13:04):
It was a coyote, so it must have not been Europe.

Speaker 1 (01:13:06):
All right, all right, well we're going to figure this out.
We come back next week. We'll spend a whole week
thinking about that. Thank you for joining us. We do
appreciate it. Have yourself a good rest of your weekend,
a great weekend. We'll do it again next week. We
will reconvene, as we'd like to say here on behalf
of the entire crew. I'm Brian Main Tiger Pelafox, John
Begnasco Fertilo on Thank you all, great listeners on BizTalk Radio,

(01:13:27):
Facebook Life, enjoy yourself. We'll do it again next week
right here on Guard in America. Take care,

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Pest Control Tips with Doug Dufur - Garden America Radio Show [1.18.25]

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Pest Control Tips with Doug Dufur - Garden America Radio Show [1.18.25]