What you do with your landscape has a direct effect on the pest population attempting to enter your home. How you build it, and how you maintain it is a huge factor in indoor pest prevention.
Your landscape is an insect and rodent magnet, it will attract them, or it will help to repel them, based on how you manage it.
These are some tips for the homeowner on using landscaping to prevent pest problems.
Avoid climbing vines attached to the home, especially around windows and other openings. Vines are like a highway for pests.
They will work into tiny openings, spreading them wider, and allowing insects and arachnids to piggy back inside.
Shrubs planted too close to the home, or touching the home, allow pests to hide and also provide a roadway to any nearby opening. They should be kept at least one foot from the home, preferably three feet.
The mulch in landscape beds can hide a lot of pests. It also provides food sources for pests as it gets older. It can also be a source of fungus. It should be kept at least a foot from the home, preferably three feet.
Trees should not contact the home in any way. Tree branches in contact with the home provide a roadway for pests onto your home, and eventually into your home. They also may damage gutters and roofs. Poor pruning, or deliberate topping increases pest populations. Bad pruning practices cause the tree to produce unnatural growth that is poorly connected and susceptible to disease and fungus. It opens the tree to pests and disease that feed on the trees juices and provides hiding places for them.
This site is designed to lead naturally from one subject to the next. It can be used without doing this. To follow in sequence, go to Plant Choices As Pest Prevention