Omaha Pest Control Provides Clover Mite Services
Omaha, Bellevue, Papillion, LaVista, Gretna, Elkhorn, Blair, and Council Bluffs, IA are several of the cities included in the service area.
Omaha Pest Control has years of experience controlling pests such as clover mites, a common nuisance in and around Nebraska houses.
Although most noticeable in the fall and again in the spring, they also may be troublesome on calm, sunny days in the winter. This pest is not an insect but a true mite, slightly smaller than the head of a pin with a reddish or reddish-brown body. When mites are crushed, they leave blood-red spots.
Clover mites actually do not damage a house, its furnishings, or even humans or animals. They feed primarily on the lawn where they suck sap from grasses, clover, and other plants. In the fall they sometimes gather in tremendous numbers on walls, windows, tree trunks, and other outside surfaces where they seek protected hiding places. They crawl into cracks around windows or in foundation walls and under siding, shingles, or shakes. This activity often leads many of the mites into houses where they can be seen on window sills, walls, tables, etc.—often in great numbers. But whether indoors or out, most of the mites will congregate on the sunny side of the house.
Cold weather tends to slow down or stop the mites’ activity, which resumes again in the spring; however, on especially sunny days, they may be seen even in the winter. With the advent of warm weather, the mites become active again and ultimately return to the lawns to feed.
Clover Mite Control Measures
Mites in the house are very difficult to control with any of the chemicals that are safe to use in houses. Vacuuming or wiping them up with a damp cloth is probably the simplest way to clean them up. A pyrethrum aerosol bomb will kill those mites hit directly by the spray but will give no residual action. Household insecticides applied around doors and windows may also help reduce the number of mites in the house.
The best answer to the problem is to prevent the mites from entering the house by spraying the outside walls and the lawn with an effective miticide and to use a barrier of cultivated soil next to the foundation. Mites do not readily cross loose, clean cultivated soil; therefore, a band approximately 18–24 inches wide all around the house, kept free of grass, would be an excellent deterrent. For decorative purposes, this strip may be planted to annuals, perennials, or shrubs, but in such a way that mites cannot bridge across the barrier. The soil around such plantings should be kept cultivated-free of grass, weeds, and fallen leaves. Landscape rock will not act as a barrier to clover mites.
There are a number of miticides now available that will help control the clover mite problem. Any one of the sprays recommended here may be applied to the outside walls, foundations, and lawns all around the house. The best time to apply the spray is in the fall to prevent the movement of the mites to the house. Spraying should be done during the warmest part of the day when the mites are most active. Spray thoroughly around doors, windows, and foundations.
See the Omaha Pest Control library: https://omahapestcontrol.com/pest-library/#mites