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For Property Owners: page 18

Practical guidance for homeowners, landlords and facility managers buying pest control services.

Articles

Gloved hands drilling a small hole into a concrete patio edge beside a house wallTermites

Tenting Fell, and the Alternatives Did Not Replace It

California fumigations fell by 24,092 from 2016 to 2023; termite baits quadrupled, but borates, orange oil and termite-only liquids did not grow.

October 4, 2026Family loading bags and a pet carrier into a car, leaving the house for the dayOriginal data

Bug Bombs Caused More Illness Than All Professional Pest Control

California recorded 340 illness cases from bug bombs used at home 2016-2023, vs 135 from all professional pest control. DPR began a fogger review in 2026.

October 3, 2026House covered by a red and grey striped fumigation tent, a neighbour walking a dog pastOriginal data

California Is Tenting Fewer Buildings

California structural fumigations fell from 102,490 in 2016 to 78,398 in 2023 while other pest control grew 33%. County-by-county data.

October 3, 2026Nurse in blue scrubs walking along a busy hospital corridorOriginal data

Who Gets Hurt by Pest Control? Eight Years of Illness Reports

135 pest control illness cases in California 2016-2023; 116 from fumigation: 15.2 per 100,000 fumigations vs 0.015 for all other treatments.

October 3, 2026Plain unmarked white chemical containers on a steel shelf in a clean storage roomOriginal data

How Toxic Is Professional Pest Control? 18 Million California Treatments, Classified by Label

97.2% of 18.3 million California pest control applications used CAUTION-label products; 0.6% DANGER, mostly fumigation; 2.4% restricted-use.

October 2, 2026Suburban California street with one single storey house under a plain fumigation tentOriginal data

Where California Tents Its Houses: Fumigation and Pest Treatment per Home, by County

Santa Barbara recorded 23.1 structural fumigations per 1,000 housing units in 2022, 4x the California rate. All 58 counties, 2022 and 2023.

October 2, 2026Suburban back lawn in early spring with raised soil ridges and a small conical mound of earthWildlife

Moles and Voles: Telling the Lawn Damage Apart

Moles push soil up and eat earthworms; voles eat plants down. Killing grubs does not remove moles, and castor oil is the one repellent with trial...

October 1, 2026Empty bird nest tucked into the soffit and eave of a house exterior seen from belowFleas and biting bugs

Bird Mites: The Problem That Starts When the Birds Leave

Exclude the birds without removing the nest and the starving mites disperse into the building. They bite people but cannot breed on them.

October 1, 2026Dim attic space with exposed rafters and blown insulation lit by a shaft of daylight from a ventFlies, moths and pantry pests

Ground Beetles, Larder Beetles and What They Tell You

A larder beetle usually means something died in the building. A ground beetle means a porch light. A foreign grain beetle means the place is damp.

October 1, 2026Galvanised steel hardware cloth mesh and sheet metal offcuts on a workbenchRats and mice

Steel Wool, Copper Mesh and What Actually Stops a Rodent

A quarter inch is the working standard for mice and juvenile rats alike. Steel wool rusts and fails at the edges, and no gnaw-resistance test data...

October 1, 2026Hand sprayer resting on a potting bench beside leafy green plants in a greenhouseLawn and garden

Does Neem Oil Work? What 153 Field Trials Show

Azadirachtin averaged 46.1 per cent control against 73.9 for spinosad, and many products sold as neem oil have had the active chemistry removed.

October 1, 2026Sunlit pale clapboard wall on the south face of a house in strong low autumn lightAutumn invaders

Asian Lady Beetles: The Ladybugs That Bite and Stain

They bite, their defensive fluid stains permanently, and they are a documented seasonal indoor allergen. The M mark on the white pronotum is the identification.

October 1, 2026