SS: Clover Mites!

[Cubsfan]

Argh! They're back!

Last year, I had a bunch of clover mites on the outside (and the inside!) of my house. I figured that they wouldn't come back this year, but I was wrong.

It's irritating because they don't cause ANY harm to humans (don't bite, no disease, don't get into food, etc...), but they can come in the house literally in the hundreds. No real way to stop them because of their size.

Here they are:
http://entomology.unl.edu/turfent/documnts/clovmite.jpg (http://entomology.unl.edu/turfent/documnts/clovmite.jpg)

Which seems bad, but here's the size of them:

http://www.ppdl.purdue.edu/ppdl/images/clover_mite.jpeg

Last year I found that rolling up tape and putting it around the inside of the windows caught most of them, but I don't want to deal with it for another two months. I'm trying to decide if I want to get a contract with Orkin, or find a local place that'll do a couple of applications of miticide.

I hate these things in my house!

[nickel]

do they really feed on clover?

[MikeD]

You'll find that many pest control places offer "annual contracts", where they will come and treat your home quarterly (at least) for a package fee. We have one, and it's around $200/year. IMO, it's money well spent. No creepie crawlies makes it worth the cost alone.

Good luck with getting rid of them!

[Cubsfan]

They feed more on grass than they do on clover, which makes sense because I don't have any clover.

Is that a local or national service you use? I called Terminex, and their yearly contract is something like $600. If it was $200 I'd jump on it.

[nickel]

get some artificial turf ftw! :P

have you tried any natural remedies to rid yourself of them? i am leary of spraying chemicals all over a place i have to live, eat and breathe.

[Cubsfan]

Nope, haven't tried anything "natural", but then again, I haven't seen anything that's natural that would work against them either. They're tough little guys.

I was thinking that pouring gasoline on my grass and then applying a match would work, but I think I'll hold off on that for now :D

[guiseppewv]

Napalm or defoliant like agent orange would work better. :P

[Paymaster]

Scott makes an "insect control" fertilizer. If they are primarily feeding on the lawn, then that may be the best place to battle them.

I've found that the insect control fertilizer helps reduce the number of ants around my house...

[dbax791]

I called Terminex

Just my $0.02, but I was not happy with my Terminex service.

I had a great Mom&Pop exterminator that kept my house free of scorpions, but then they got bought out by Terminex, and whatever pesticides they use didn't work and the scorps came back. (FWIW I only have the exterior of my house sprayed). So I switched to a local company and problem gone.

Now I know you probably don't have scorpions, but the reason I bring it up is that there is no pesticide that is effective in killing scorpions directly, the pesticide needs to kill all the other little bugs that scorpions feed on so there is no "food path" to your house, and instead they go to your neighbors house.

Have you asked any neighbors what exterminator they use and if they have had success?