How will all of this rain affect my lawn???

This has been the wettest start to a year I can remember. Since we got the snow and ice in January, I don’t think we’ve been able to work but one full week. I’m hoping for better weather, and I know most of you are too. Monday and Tuesday this week were perfect. High’s in the 60’s and sunny. Looking at the forecast we have more of that on the way.

I know many of you are concerned about how all this rain will affect your lawn, and rightfully so. As of right now, it will not have much of a negative impact other than the fact that you can’t get out there and enjoy it.

Basically the way rain impacts your lawn (and more specifically your lawn treatments) is that it can wash out the pre-emergent. Weather like this is a good example of why we split our applications of pre-emerge. You see if we put all of the pre-emergent down at one time, all this rain would be washing it out and you wouldn’t get the longevity of the treatment. But since we put down roughly half of the pre-emerge needed, and we will get the second half down in the spring, you will still get a full season of control out of it.  Now, if it continues to rain like this throughout the spring, then we might be in trouble. But hopefully, we are going to settle into a more consistent weather pattern and not have to worry about that.

You might be wondering about insects, and how the rain affects them too. It really depends on the type of insect we are talking about. If we are talking about mosquitoes, then all of this rain is giving them more places to breed. So you will probably have more mosquitoes earlier in the year than normal. Mosquitoes start to come out when the temperature reach 55 degrees Fahrenheit. We’ve been above that for quite some time, and our phones at Mosquito Joe have been busy with people wanting to get put on the list to spray.

All of this rain will also affect ants. Most ants typically live and build their nests in the soil, but when the ground becomes saturated, they have to look for somewhere else to live because they can’t get air to breath. We typically get a lot more calls about ant problems when it’s really wet, because they usually go inside people’s homes for refuge from all of the water. We’ve been using a fantastic product for ants and our perimeter pest control clients have been enjoying ant free homes even with all of the rain.

I think overall things will get more normal and we will be able to get back to spraying lawns and killing bugs soon. I’ll admit, it is frustrating not being able to work, but God’s ways are higher than our ways, and He knows what’s best for us. I have to keep reminding myself of that during times like these. If you are ready for your next lawn or pest treatment, just hang in there with us. We are working as hard as we can possibly work when the weather lets us.

Until next time, stay safe and dry.