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Hello,
My wife and I are still thinking about moving to Greenville/Simpsonville area and have come up with a couple of questions.
My wife thinks because there's lots of trees surrounding certain properties we've looked at there's going to be a lot of bugs inside the house (cicada's, fleas, ticks, carpenter ants, etc.). Any truth to that? I'm thinking the trees will least provide shade in the hot summer months, but I'm concerned mostly about carpenter ants.
We've been strictly looking around the Greenville/Simpsonville area and closer to Woodruff road because my wife likes to cook and there's an abundance of grocery stores, but are there other towns/cities near Greenville County we should consider?
No more bugs than anywhere else I have ever lived and we don't need to use any kind of routine treatment. Keep mulch pulled away from foundation. I do use beneficial nematodes to prevent fleas and ticks and it helps a lot.
The bugs around here are pretty similar to most of the places we've lived in the south. We do not have the giant cockroaches you get further south (i.e. Columbia). We've never had a problem with carpenter ants in the house. We do get some really tiny ants that occasionally find a way inside. We take care of them as we see them and it isn't usually much of a problem. We will occasionally get a moth or other flying critter inside when letting the dogs in or out. One of our dogs loves to chase around moths until she can catch and eat them (yuck).
The place we lived with the biggest bugs was coastal California. It never got down to freezing there so the bugs lived a long life and got huge. The spiders there, in particular, were quite large.
Ticks can be an issue if there's woods nearby and you work in the yard. But, I'm in my yard all the time and I've only gotten 1 tick on me in 7yrs. Thanks to my friend who saw it on me quickly!
Carpenter bees are an issue for me.
Trees around a house for shade are nice, but could have ants drop down off them. I would be much more worried about trees harboring squirrels that can get from tree to house, and the damage they can do.
I have a ton of ant problems, but I'm way out in the country on property that used to be farm/cattle land. They get in the house, they get into the A/C contactor (Replaced that this year with a solid state contactor that seems to have ended the problem)
Leaving a porch light on rarely ends well. I finally upgraded to a Wi-Fi LED light outside so that as i'm pulling up I can turn it on from my phone. If you leave a porch light on, it's like walking into a swarm going in or out the door.
I haven't had problems with the carpenter bees, but I do know some people have real problems with them.
My wife thinks because there's lots of trees surrounding certain properties we've looked at there's going to be a lot of bugs inside the house (cicada's, fleas, ticks, carpenter ants, etc.). Any truth to that? I'm thinking the trees will least provide shade in the hot summer months, but I'm concerned mostly about carpenter ants.
Our house is surrounded on 3 sides by full grown trees/woods. Yes, got to love the shade they provide! Honestly just keeping the grass mowed regularly, keeping clutter from up against the house, and a good long lasting bug spray around the perimeter of the house itself every few months works wonders. At night the porch lights do attract a LOT of bugs flying around but just dart in quickly and you're home free. Carpenter ants and fire ants are around but a general ant repellent/poison on perimeter of yard every so often keeps them all back. The only real thing that gets in the house is the occasional tiny house spider or something like a moth that flies in when you open the door at night. Home is nearing ten years old so being newer-ish construction it may not have as many cracks, etc for bugs to gain access. We also use the window/door screens if ever have the windows open. Fleas ticks are kept out by putting treatments on the pets. One year ticks were noticeably bad but just hooked up a tick spray to water house and sprayed around edge of yard & lower bit of trees, problem solved. Make sure you plug any cracks/holes with expanding foam, have fixed, etc and overall should be fine.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Roddyboyz
We've been strictly looking around the Greenville/Simpsonville area and closer to Woodruff road because my wife likes to cook and there's an abundance of grocery stores, but are there other towns/cities near Greenville County we should consider?
May depend on jobs, other things you want access to, traffic commutes, etc.
The mosquitos are terrible this year because of the wet weather. One landed on me last night that was huge. The black ants are huge too.
Agreed. I emptied my self watering planters due to mosquito's. What (thankfully) isn't so bad do far this year are the black biting gnats. They get my eyes and ears and I swell up something awful, I look like a shar pei!
What works to keep mosquito's and gnats from biting me is SallyAnder's No Bite Me cream. Can't live without this stuff, as I'm in the yard more than I'm not. If i dont use it for some reason, I usually feel the results soon after. Highly recommend!
There are definitely bugs outside of all sorts - mostly harmless, though some of them can damage vegetables and ornamentals. Personally I haven't had a big problem with mosquitoes this year, but of course that depends on a lot of different factors.
As far as inside the house goes, we have an annual contract with Terminix that is separate from our termite bond. A couple of times a year they treat inside (inside of window frames) and around the crawl-space. Then if there are any problems after that then they come out (with no extra charge) and do a more extensive treatment. We had an issue with ants who were seeking water around a shower stall that needed recaulking, and on another occasion we had a wasp nest in the attic. The employees have been great and always take care of the problem.
Last edited by Downtown27; 06-27-2017 at 06:45 PM..
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