Springtime Is Near, and the Bugs Are Preparing to Move In

The single highest-value thing a Colorado homeowner can do in spring is deal with wasp queens in April and May. One queen removed before she establishes prevents the nest that would otherwise hold hundreds of workers by August. Spring pest control is cheap and quiet; the same problems in August are neither.

Spring pest control gets less attention than fall, yet spring decides how bad August is going to be.

Along the Front Range the season turns on a few weeks in April and May, when overwintering insects emerge and the year's colonies get founded. That window sets the ceiling on everything after it.

Pests that spent the winter here wake up in roughly this order as the soil and air warm. Each behaves differently and has its own short window when action is cheap.

• Box elder bugs and other overwintering insects. They spent the winter in the hollow spaces inside walls and attics. On the first warm days they head for the light, which is why they appear indoors in spring rather than arriving from outside. Finding them inside in March is evidence of a gap you never sealed in the fall.
• Wasp and hornet queens. The most important item on this list. A single fertilised queen emerges, finds a site, and starts a nest alone. In April that nest is the size of a golf ball with one insect in it.
• Ants. Foraging resumes as the ground warms, and the first trails appear at slab edges and along foundations. Spring is when colonies are locating food sources they will exploit all summer.
• Spiders. Egg sacs laid the previous season hatch, which is why the spiders you notice in August seem to appear from nowhere.
• Mosquitoes. Later, once standing water persists. Spring is when the containers that breed them all summer start collecting water.

In April you are dealing with one insect, and in August you are dealing with her colony. A wasp queen starts a nest alone in spring, so removing it then is a two-minute job, with no workers to fight back. By late summer the same nest can hold hundreds of workers that will defend it. By then it is often inside a wall or roof, where treating it is dangerous.

A queen removed in April costs almost nothing. The mature nest she would have built means a service call and a real risk of stings. That risk peaks in August and September, when people are outdoors. If you find a nest you cannot reach safely, call Guardian Pest Management at (303) 346-7087.

Where to look in April and May: under eaves and soffits, inside hollow metal railings, and under deck stairs and railings. Also check shed and garage corners, inside grills and outdoor furniture that has not moved, and around playsets. A queen prospecting for a site will investigate all of them.

Spring pest control is mostly inspecting the house and sealing gaps, and most of it costs nothing.

• Walk the exterior on a warm day, checking soffits, eaves, railings, and stairs for early nest starts. A golf-ball nest is easy to miss and easy to deal with.
• Seal what fall exposed. If overwintering insects appeared indoors during winter, they came from a gap. Find it and close it now, while nothing is nesting in it.
• Check screens, door sweeps, and weather stripping, all of which winter is hard on.
• Clear gutters and check drainage. Water sitting anywhere in April is a mosquito site by June, and moisture at the foundation draws ants indoors.
• Pull mulch, soil, and plantings back from the foundation while you are already doing spring landscaping.
• Move firewood off the ground and away from the house before spring rain makes it a habitat.

Know where to stop before you spray. Leave a nest alone if it is already inside a wall, a soffit, or a hollow railing. Do the same with any nest if someone in your household has a sting allergy. Those are not spray-can jobs, even when the nest is small. Call Guardian Pest Management at (303) 346-7087.

They do different jobs, and skipping either shows up later. Spring pest control prevents: queens intercepted, gaps closed, moisture fixed before it produces anything. Fall protects: rodents and spiders move toward the structure and the work is keeping them out.

If you can only do one, fall is more urgent, because rodents entering a house cause damage spring insects generally do not. But spring pest control is cheaper, and it is why a fall season is manageable rather than severe.

The seasonal pattern is why recurring service exists. Whether your property needs it is a separate question, answered in our article on whether quarterly pest control is necessary.

Guardian Pest Management is family owned. Sean and Michelle Meade have run it since 2000. We serve Highlands Ranch, Littleton, Castle Rock, Parker, Centennial, Lone Tree, Castle Pines, Greenwood Village, Roxborough, and Cherry Hills. Sean and Michelle personally bring more than 30 years of pest control industry experience, earned before Guardian was founded. That was earned before Guardian opened. We hold a 5.0-star Google rating in South Metro Denver.

A spring pest control visit is more inspection than treatment. We look for early nest starts and for entry points that opened over winter. We also check for the damp spots that bring ants in over the summer, then treat only what needs it.

Home service does not require a long-term contract, and if pests come back between visits, ask and we will come out again at no charge.

Ready to get spring pest control on the calendar? Call Guardian Pest Management at (303) 346-7087, or start at myguardianpest.com.

Related reading: Identifying and stopping ants; What to do about spiders in a Colorado home; Reducing mosquitoes around the yard; What a summer barrier treatment does.