My guest today is Michael Piacenza, Owner, Certified Operator and K9 Handler of Advantage Pest Control in Clearwater, Florida. We’ll be talking about natural pest controls offered by professionals, and simple natural pest controls you can do yourself in your home and garden. His business uses many green and natural approaches, including Integrated Pest Management (IPM); natural products such as minerals, oils, and biopesticides (botanically based); a mix of minimal risk (a classification for some of the safest products) and reduced risk pesticides (many are classified like essential oils) as the primary tool and then synthetics only where and when needed for a specific pest; and baiting wherever possible. Many types of baits are very safe and effective. This would include products that are boron based (think boric acid) and growth regulators (disrupts the molting process). Both are very effective in the battle against subterranean termites; compared to chemical trenching and drilling to create a toxic vapor barrier around the home. Michael is the Author of many articles in local papers and magazines on safer/eco-friendly pest control, education on pest behavior and control, use of K9s in termite detection, and more. In addition he is a licensed ship pilot and captain, he has held multiple senior level positions in multinational data and telecommunications equipment companies, and is an experienced public speaker. www.PestControlNaturally.com
TOXIC FREE TALK RADIO
Natural Pest Control by Professionals
Host: Debra Lynn Dadd
Guest: Michael Piacenza
Date of Broadcast: February 19, 2015
DEBRA: Hi, I’m Debra Lynn Dadd and this is Toxic Free Talk Radio where we talk about how to thrive in a toxic world and live toxic-free. It’s Thursday, February 19th, 2015. We’re getting some of that cold, winter wind down here in Florida, but we’re all surviving. We’re bringing out our sweaters instead of our shorts although I have seen people still wearing shorts in this cold weather. But I like it cold. I grew up in northern California and we had some coldness in winters. I kind of miss it when we have warm, palmy Florida winters.
But anyway, my guest today, we’re going to be talking about natural pest controls. My guest today is an owner of a natural pest control company here in Clearwater, Florida. So he helps people control their pests without using toxic chemicals, toxic pesticides. We’re going to be talking about if you have a pest problem, how you can have a professional come and use natural methods of pest control, non-toxic method pest control to control those pests and how you can do some of these things at home yourself too.
But I just wanted you to be aware that you can call a professional to come help you in a toxic-free way with your pest control, that that is available and we’ll find out about that today.
My guest is Michael Piacenza. He is the owner, certified operator and canine handler of Advantage Pest Control in Clearwater, Florida. Hi, Michael.
MICHAEL PIACENZA: Hello! How are you today?
Debra: I’m great! How are you?
MICHAEL PIACENZA: Marvelous, darling. I’ve always grown enjoying a little bit of a cool weather.
Debra: Yes. It’s probably easier for you to do your pest control when it’s cooler rather than 90°.
MICHAEL PIACENZA: Yeah.
Debra: Well Michael, I was looking at your bio and you’ve been a ship captain and all kinds of other things. How did you get to being the owner of a non-toxic pest control service?
MICHAEL PIACENZA: Well, I wish it was a more exciting story than it is. I was actually just having dinner with a friend of mine who was the founder of this company back in 1989. We were just talking and he said, “You know, I’m looking to retire in a few years. Why don’t you come onboard with me and take over the company in a few years.” I was, “Man! I don’t want to be around all those toxic chemicals.” He said, “Well, take a look at it.”
Well, I did. I did a little research and I found out that there were plenty of ways to do professional pest control without damaging the environment and the customer. So I took down the challenge and that was about eight years ago.
Debra: You’ve been doing this for eight years, so you must have customers who are interested in it. Do you find that it’s easy to make the sale or are people skeptical? How popular is it?
MICHAEL PIACENZA: Well, it’s become very, very popular surprisingly enough. Over the eight years, it has changed considerably. Eight years ago, I would show up and it might be that the lady of the house would say, “I want it to be safe in the house,” then they’d call me off to the side and say, “But I want it deadly. Bring out the good stuff.”
I would put a little bit of Pyrethrum. The smell is terrible, the smell is toxic (but it’s really quite safe) and use that and they’d be happy.
And now, I show up and it might be the man of the house. Here he is, he looks like he just got off of a Harley and he says, “Well, it’d better darn be safe for my dog.”
It’s become a norm and everybody is becoming aware of the fact at we have to live in this environment that we create.
Debra: That’s right. And it needs to be safe so that we can be healthy. So there’s so many things that we can talk about, and we’re going to talk about a lot of things today. But let’s start with the canine unit. So what do dogs have to do with pest control.
MICHAEL PIACENZA: That’s Buddy. Buddy is a termite-seeking dog. There’s been a lot of research over the last decade or so that that is the best ways to detect subterranean termites. And they are the most destructive. They are the kinds that may [inaudible 00:05:53] and trying to find them is problematic. They don’t show themselves when they’re inside the wall eating. They stay inside the wall until that wall gives way and crack unlike drywood termites, the type that people [inaudible 00:06:13] sometimes. They will make a little hole and [inaudible 00:06:17]. So it’s a way of finding the termites before the damage is already done.
Research at the University of Gainesville, the test studies done with some beagles is that they can detect as little as termites.
Debra: Wow!
MICHAEL PIACENZA: They had them go head to head with methane gas meters and the dogs outperformed the professional meters. The methane is basically looking for termite, the blunt part. Termites give up more methane gas than any other creature on the planet earth.
Debra: Wow. So what you do is you go in with the dog and they sniff and find if someone has termites or not? So why would someone call you in the first place? What would be some evidence that would give them reason to call you?
MICHAEL PIACENZA: Well, most of the calls we get are people that are buying a new home. They just want to know ahead of time whether they have a problem before they buy it. There’s an inspection that everybody calls the ‘termite inspection’. The technical name is the ‘wood-destroying organism inspection/report’. That’s for termites, [inaudible 00:07:54], wood decay and that kind of stuff. You’ve got to basically go up and crawl around in an attic and take a screw driver and punch around on the baseboard looking for a hollow spot.
That’s really how you’re looking for the termites. If you can get underneath the house, you’ll look for mud tunnels and something like that. That’s it! It’s pretty primitive.
I was then using something like a methane meter. Not many people use that. We actually have a radar designed for detecting termites on the wall and it can pick up on movement, but it’s a very, very simple piece of equipment and it’s really only good for isolating a small spot.
But having a dog, you could walk around the perimeter of the house and take them into the bathrooms and sniff behind the shower and that kind of stuff, he’s like having an x-ray for termites. If he finds them, he just turns around and sits as close as he can to wherever they are.
Debra: Wow! That’s pretty amazing, that they have that ability to do it and then that they can be trained and tell you where it is. Nature is so interesting.
MICHAEL PIACENZA: It’s amazing, yeah. It’s the same with bloodhounds, drug dogs or anything else because it’s getting him to pick up on a particular scent – in this case, live termites (not dead termites, not the molds that they leave behind or anything like that, just live termites).
Debra: That’s amazing. We’re coming up on break very shortly, but I’ll ask you. So then, if termites are detected, what kind of natural solutions that you have?
MICHAEL PIACENZA: Oh, okay. Well, the traditional approach is then to build a trench around the outside of the house, drill into the driveway and around the pool deck and inside the locks and then pour or inject into the ground these noxious chemicals – the most popular one is Ciprinol, which I believe is banned in China. It’s that bad.
And the natural ways of doing it would be to put in a baiting system around the house and get the termites eating on the baiting system that they take down to the colony and disrupt the colony with something like an insect growth regulator or a neurotoxin or something like that. Even though we’re using toxic, if you use them just as a bait, you’re not expecting hundreds of gallons of it per house.
Debra: Right, right. We need to go to break. That’s what that music. And when we come back, we’ll talk more about termites and other natural pest controls. You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. My guest today is Michael Piacenza. He’s the owner, certified operator and canine handler of Advantage Pest Control. Their website is PestControlNaturally.com. We’ll be right back!
= COMMERCIAL BREAK =
Debra: You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. My guest today is Michael Piacenz. He’s the owner, certified operator and canine handler of Advantage Pest Control in Clearwater, Florida and his website is PestControlNaturally.com.
He tells me that they sell some of the things that we’re going to be talking about on the website. So if you’re in need of some natural pest controls, you can order them online if you can’t get them in your local area or if you don’t have a professional –
Actually, before we finish talking about termites, Michael, if somebody wanted to hire a professional natural pest control person, is there a website where everyone across the country is listed. Is there an association of natural pest controllers or something like that?
MICHAEL PIACENZA: No, I wish there was. There are sites out there that will reference people to local companies, but there’s not a national site. I actually was considering starting something like that up. But business has been too good and I have been too busy.
Debra: Well, you know, Michael, that’s just the kind of thing I should do, so let’s talk.
MICHAEL PIACENZA: Yeah, there you go. Yeah!
Debra: Yeah, I mean, that would fit right into the work that I’m already doing. So let’s go back to termites. So what would you do if your dog found termites in the wall?
MICHAEL PIACENZA: Well, the first thing I would do is he pinpoints exactly where they’re at. He’ll pick up an activity area, but they live down in the ground. So the main colony could be 50 feet away, it could be underneath the next door neighbor’s house. So the best thing you can do is put in a monitoring system or a baiting system around the house and they’ll start eating that.
The way that the colony spreads, there are three ways. They’ll either swarm and start a whole new colony or they’ll send out foragers. They’re always sending foragers out looking for new wood. And once they find some new wood and they report back, they’ll build a tunnel to that. So the baiting system around the perimeter of the house is the best way to go.
We actually have apartment complexes that we monitor from north Florida down to southern west coast of Florida. So we use the baiting system and when we find activity, then we’ll swap it out with another type of a bait that has an insect growth regulator. They’ll take it down to the colony and eliminate it that way.
If it’s a really, really bad infestation, then we may need to inject into the wall in the area where they’re actively eating to get a quick [inaudible 00:16:52]. But then we’re using a couple of gallons of products instead of a 100 or 150 gallons on a house.
But we’re only talking here about subterranean termites. There’s an entirely different type of termite, which is called drywood. They’re in the south. And all across the southern part of the country, drywood termites are prevalent. And those are the kind where you see a tent over the house and they fumigate it, gas it out. That’s some pretty toxic stuff there.
Debra: It is, it is. Well, you’ve mentioned the couple of different kinds of methods. One of the things that I’d like to do on the show today is talk about – I know that you take multifacet approach. I know there’s several different areas of types of alternatives. I’d like us to cover those just so that our listeners can get an idea of when they go to a professional, the kinds of tools they have available to them.
And as you’ve already pointed out, just because somebody is doing it green or non-toxic, it doesn’t mean that you’re necessarily only using plant-based materials or things that are completely non-toxic, some of it has to do with the way that they’re used – as you said, putting things in very specific spots instead of spraying them all over the place.
So let’s just start with integrated pest management or IPM because that’s something that a lot of companies use. Could you explain what that is and what the basic philosophy is behind there?
MICHAEL PIACENZA: Well, your standard pest control company, the philosophy is come in, hit it hard and hope you don’t have to come back. So they’ll use the most toxic stuff that they can legally use and hopes that this straightens out any problems and not get a call back.
At the other end of the spectrum is you’ve seen a variety of approaches like integrated pest management. Integrated pest management is you’re working with the homeowner to find points of entry and get those sealed up, educating the customer on what the pests eat – maybe not putting the dog bowl or cat bowl out overnight, so the ants don’t find it and in the morning, they’ve got an infestation. Put it down when they’re going to be there to eat and then, put it away, keeping thing sealed up.
Now, some companies, they claim to be safe and use an integrated pest management. They’ll go in and do those types of things. And then if they do have a problem, they hit it with toxic pesticides and they say, “Well, we use them more judiciously” and there’s some validity there. Our approach is to educate the customer and then use eco-friendly products that are either botanically-based.
Some of the safest things that we’ve used are inorganic minerals like lauric acid made from boron and born is half as toxic as table salt where we try to come in a regular basis (we do like a quarterly pest control) and using the safer products. And then we only go to a more toxic product if we have to – and then very judiciously and very targeted for a pest.
So it’s a little bit more time-consuming on our part, but it’s really what our customers are looking for.
Debra: It is! And sometimes, things do take more time. Toxic chemicals are usually like ‘hit it hard’ and have it be done with, but that doesn’t necessarily support life as a whole. It does require more care and more time.
One thing I want to ask you about, I actually don’t have a lot of pest problems because I do a lot of what you’ve mentioned like sealing up holes and things – oh, we need to go to break. I’m so glad I have this music. Sometimes, I get absorbed in talking and I forget to look at the clock.
You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. My guest today is Michael Piacenza. He’s the owner, certified operator and canine handler of Advantage Pest Control in Clearwater, Florida. His website is PestControlNaturally.com. We’ll be right back.
= COMMERCIAL BREAK =
Debra: You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. My guest today is Michael Piacenza. He is the owner, certified operator and canine handler of Advantage Pest Control in Clearwater, Florida. His website is PestControlNaturally.com.
Now, Michael, during the break, I was looking on your website because I was about to ask you a question, but I found the answer on the website.
MICHAEL PIACENZA: I’m glad to hear it.
Debra: Yeah! So just for our listeners to know this, in addition to being a professional (so he could come to your house here in the local Tampa Bay area), he also has a lot of products and information on the website. And if you look on the menu across the top, it says ‘Tips & Tricks’ and you can find out how to control fleas, roaches, ticks, bugs, flying insects, spiders, bed bugs and ants.
I was just looking at roaches because the thing that I have the most problem with is what we call here in Florida ‘palm meadow bugs’. The first night that we moved here (we don’t have those in California), I walked into my kitchen in the middle of the night, there were these big, brown bugs all over the kitchen. It was just horrible and I screamed because I had never seen so many bugs like that and they’re big. They’re not real pretty.
So what I found was what we really needed to do was fill in the cracks. They were just coming in the cracks. It was just maintenance. The house maintenance wasn’t good.
But then they found their way. And again, I remember, there was a time – I’ve been in this house for 13 years and this is some years ago – they somehow got into the hall closet where I was storing a lot of things like soap with little additives in it, little flower petals and stuff and they were eating the soap because it had the flower petals in it. So they were nesting all over my hall closet.
And I know this sounds terrible. I’m sure I’m not the only person that puts stuff in the hall closet and starts packing it in and you never go in there, you never move things around. It just becomes this storage area. And then, one day, you go in there and you find that it’s full of bugs.
Once, I took everything out, we vacuumed everything out, we took all the bugs out and too away anything like flower petals and soap that would be a food source and I’ve never had that problem again. It totally handled it.
MICHAEL PIACENZA: That’s integrated pest management too. Part of it is eliminating food sources and harborages for the pest.
Debra: Right! So you want to eliminate the food source, you want to eliminate dripping water pipes that give them water and you want to eliminate things like piles of papers and stuff that provide shelter. And you also want to put screens on windows. And if you do those kinds of things, fill up cracks, if you just do that short list of things to make your house impermeable like that and nothing to attract them, that handles many, many pest problems, doesn’t it, just that short list of things?
MICHAEL PIACENZA: I’m sorry, I couldn’t hear the last word you said.
Debra: Just that short list of things, doesn’t that handle many pest problems?
MICHAEL PIACENZA: Yeah, yeah. it does. I’ve tried to tell people, you got to think of pest control in a couple of different ways. It’s called ‘pest control’, not ‘pest annihilation’. It’s not like you can eliminate every single bug. You just want to make sure that you’ve got it under control, so that you don’t have a full-fledge bloom of something in there.
You get one little cockroach in your house, well you probably don’t like that, but they’re going to die of old age, but they’re going to die of old age before they find another one to mate with. So if you can keep things clean and tight without anything for them to eat, you’re better off.
The other way of looking at pest control, professional pest control, I tell people, “Well, think of it like getting your teeth cleaned.” You don’t wait until you have a cavity to go get your teeth cleaned, you have to get your teeth cleaned, so you don’t get cavities.
Debra: That’s right, that’s right. I want to just add (and this may seem like off the subject, but it’s related. I assure you). I recently read a little book. This book is actually is one of those life-changing books. It’s called – oh, I forgot. It’s called the Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up or something like that. It’s written by a Japanese woman for women in Japan who live in very tiny spaces (not like people here who live in very big spaces).
What this book showed me was a different way of looking at how we handle objects in our homes. She was talking about how she goes into people’s homes and she helps them eliminate things – her criteria is only have in your home what you’re using and what you love. Everything else goes unless you store it in the proper way (if you even need to be storing). I started looking at my house in a whole different way.
There are so many things that just sit there and we never touch them. They’re just things that we think we should keep. And that’s where the pests want to live. They want to live behind those books and all those hidden places. And if you only just do the simple thing of having pure possessions and moving them around (because you’re using them) and cleaning the shelf and things like that, that’s a really big thing.
I can really see spiders and things like that that I don’t even see until I started moving things and deciding if I wanted all these stuff in my house even.
MICHAEL PIACENZA: Yeah, I have a philosophy of ‘one in, one out’.
Debra: Yeah.
MICHAEL PIACENZA: If I bring in something, I make sure that it replaces something I’ve already used or I get rid of one or two things now. That’s the way I try to keep things to a minimum.
I’ll tell you, I get calls periodically from people saying, “My pantry is overrun with little, tiny bugs” and usually, it turns out to be weevils that have hatched out of a box of doggie biscuits in the back of the pantry that they bought three years ago that the dog didn’t like. They should’ve thrown it away.
Debra: That’s exactly the point. We buy something. And then we think, “Well, I don’t like this, so I’m going to put it in a cabinet.” And then it just sits there causing problems. It should go immediately out even if you have to lose $10 or whatever you paid for it. It’s better to not have it in the house. I’m finding things and I go, “Why did I even keep this?” It’s because I couldn’t bear to part with something that I had paid good money for. I don’t know where this comes from, but it’s much better to let things go.
Anyway, we need to go to – no, I thought I heard the music, but we need to go in 20 seconds, so I won’t ask you the next question. But to see something else on the website, PestControlNaturally.com, Tips & Tricks and there’s a promotion about services and – wow! There’s just so much information here.
We’ll talk more with Michael when we come back. You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. My guest today is Michael Piacenza, owner, certified operator and canine handler of Advantage Pest Control in Clearwater, Florida. His website is PestControlNaturally.com and we’ll be right back.
= COMMERCIAL BREAK =
Debra: You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. My guest today is Michael Piacenza, owner, certified operator and canine handler of Advantage Pest Control. His website is PestControlNaturally.com. It’s got a lot of information there. If you are looking for how to control a pest around the house naturally, this is a good place to look.
So Michael, we talked about integrated pest management, we talked about baiting. So if you’ve done all those things to remove the things that attract the pest inside your home, but you still need to use something like a powder or a spray or something in order to kill the pest, talk to us about natural products.
And also, I know that you also talk about using minimal risk and reduced ris pesticides. Let’s talk about those classifications of risks as well.
MICHAEL PIACENZA: Alrightee! Well, the first thing I’d like to say is that a lot of people, when they’re trying to go safer and more natural, the first thing they want to jump to is a repellant. A repellant can be beneficial. We sell a snake repellant. And that’s great. You just sprinkle water in the outside of your house and it’ll repel snakes. It’s cinnamon and things like that. It overpowers the snake’s sense of smell.
But if you start using repellants in your house, you may just be moving the bugs from one place to another and exacerbating your problem. Most of the time, what you want to do is you want to use something that the bugs aren’t even going to notice like simple boric acid.
We sell BorActin, it’s called. It’s just a very safe boric acid. You sprinkle it very lightly. The bugs walk through it. They get it on their feet and their antennas like cockroaches or ants. And then they grew themselves and all that does is it shuts down their digestive enzymes or protozoas and then they just starve to death. It’s made out of salt and boron and boron is in your one-a-day vitamin with minerals. So it’s pretty safe stuff.
Then there are other products that are neurotoxins. And as soon as I say that, everybody’s hair on the back of their neck will stand up, I’m sure.
Debra: Yes!
MICHAEL PIACENZA: But there are different types of neurotoxins. There are some that will affect humans that don’t have long-term negative effects. Pyrethrum are not very bad for people. You wouldn’t want to just keep breathing it in all the time, but used lightly and in certain areas, it works pretty good. And it actually has a little bit of repellant in it.
But there are other neurotoxins that are plant-based that only affect neurons that are in insects. There’s some really good patented products by EcoSmart and [inaudible 00:42:07] – I can’t remember the name of that company off the top of my head. Essentria is one of the products. And that’s still safe. It falls into the classification of ‘minimal risk’. That’s a new a classification that it’s like the safest products. It’s so safe that it’s exempt from the EPA regulations.
Debra: Oh!
MICHAEL PIACENZA: Mm-hmmm… the EcoSmart product used to have a product line called the Exempt product line and that’s what it is. The Exempt products are in that minimal risk.
And then one step above that is what is called the ‘reduced risk’. That falls into the category very much like essential oils. Our essential oils are found super, super safe, but there are some natural products out there that can kill you too. You know what I’m saying?
Debra: That’s true.
MICHAEL PIACENZA: But it reduce the risk. They call up and they say, “Do you do all-organic?” I’m like, “Well, my safest products are inorganic minerals, but let’s get together and have a cup of organic hemlock tea and talk about it.”
Debra: That’s right.
MICHAEL PIACENZA: They’ll be like, “Hemp?”
Debra: Even water, even if it’s the purest water, you can drown in water, you can eat too much salt. Toxicity is a relative thing.
MICHAEL PIACENZA: So it’s just finding the proper gradient. What level do you need to take care of the problem and is the problem going to be – is the pest problem more toxic than the cure? These roaches and rodents, it can transmit all kinds of different diseases.
Debra: Yes, they can. And that’s actually a very interesting point because there are some insects, which are beneficial bugs and other insects which are toxic in and of themselves. You don’t want to have pests around your house that would cause you to get sick any more than you would want to have toxic chemicals around in your house. You don’t want to get sick.
So what are some of the household pests that people really do need to be concerned about controlling because you don’t want them to harm you?
MICHAEL PIACENZA: I get calls all the time from people saying, “I’ve got this terrible, terrible bug. It has these big claw thing in the back of it.” It’s just called an earwig. It looks really nasty. But they are very beneficial bug. An adult earwig can eat up to a hundred pinch bugs in one day. And pinch bugs are what kills off a lot of the grass here in the late spring and early summer by piercing the grass and sucking the juices out of it.
So you’re going to come in and put pesticide down on the lawn to kill of the pinch bugs because somebody put pesticides down too early and killed off all of the earwigs that would’ve eaten them anyway!
Debra: That’s a really good point because in our culture as a whole, we’re so ignorant of all these relationships in nature. We should know that earwigs eat pinch bugs and we should know how those cycles of life work and use them as part of our pest controls and not be destroying them. We end up destroying those cycles and then we want to spray toxic chemicals because we’ve destroyed the cycle.
If you’re moving away from using toxic substances in every area of life, there’s so much to learn on the other side about the possibilities of how we can do things better.
MICHAEL PIACENZA: It’s just a very delicate balance. People try to do things around the house themselves and I’ve got to give them a lot of credit for the attempt, but a lot of times, they end up doing more harm than good. They go out and they cut their grass too low. And now that they’ve cut it too low, so the sun can hit down to the soil. It dries out the soil, they need more water. Weeds could get in there and get germinated, so now you’ve got to spray it with herbicides. The grass is now [inaudible 00:46:45]. It’s susceptible to a few grubs, mole crickets or pinch bugs eating at it or if it was thick and lush and healthy and it’s got lots of good nutrients, it would be able to withstand that attack without having pesticides on it. And it all started with just cutting your grass too short.
Debra: Yeah. And those are the kinds of things that we don’t know in our culture. Those are like the wisdom things that we don’t carry around with us. We just have this other way of just spraying toxic chemicals on everything.
Having those points of wisdom of knowing the actions that we should take that give a result that leads to life-thriving is part of what’s so fascinating about the work that I do because it’s not all about just identifying toxic chemicals. It’s finding what the other solutions are. I think that as more people can see this different way of viewing life, then we’ll all be healthier and the planet will be healthier and all that.
You’ve done such a great job of putting all these information together. I know I’ve known you for a while, some years and I see more information. They’re well-presented and everything. I just think you’re doing a fantastic job.
MICHAEL PIACENZA: Oh, thank you.
Debra: So we’ve got about a little less than two minutes left. Any final words you want to give us?
MICHAEL PIACENZA: I would tell people, I would elaborate on what I was saying, try to do it yourself is very honorable, but you’ve got to do a lot of research. You might just be better off to hire a professional. Spend your time doing the research to get the right professional.
There are a few little things that you want to look for. When you call up and you are looking for a new pest control company, ask them lots of questions. If they’re not going to spend the time on the phone to answer these questions, they offer to come out and meet with you and discuss things, you’ve probably got the wrong people. They’re probably just going to throw toxic pesticides at it and just go for the bat.
If you’ve got a company that advertises once-a-year pest control, I’ll bet a dollar to a donut (that’s what my dad used to say) that they’re not using the eco-friendly stuff.
Debra: Yeah, yeah. Well, thank you so much for being on the show. If people want to call you up who live in other places – I mean, you’re my local natural pest control operator, if people want to call you for advice from other places, is that okay for them to do that?
MICHAEL PIACENZA: Yeah, I would say, first check out our website. There are many, many how-to videos on there that answers a lot of the frequently asked questions. And sometimes, after launching the video, they’ll see different products and they can actually buy the product right there on the website and be able to take care of the stuff themselves.
Debra: Thank you. We’re running out of time now. Thank you so much. You’re listening to Toxic Free Talk Radio. I’m Debra Lynn Dadd. Be well!
