What this shows: the highest value prevention task for each month of the valley's pest year, drawn from university extension prevention guidance and the region's climate. Pink marks the month a job pays off most, blue marks months where it is still worth doing. This is the do it yourself companion to our pest activity calendar: that page shows what the pests are doing, this one shows what you should be doing.
The year of jobs at a glance
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Declutter the garage | ||||||||||||
| Weatherstrip doors | ||||||||||||
| Fix drips and leaks | ||||||||||||
| Knock down starter nests | ||||||||||||
| Trim plants off the house | ||||||||||||
| Tune the irrigation | ||||||||||||
| Dump standing water | ||||||||||||
| Seal the exterior | ||||||||||||
| Sweep webs and egg sacs | ||||||||||||
| Set rodent defenses | ||||||||||||
| Clear leaves and firewood | ||||||||||||
| Audit pantry and storage |
The twelve jobs, one line each
- January: declutter the garage. Move cardboard into sealed plastic bins and pull storage off the floor. Winter mice live off garage clutter, and the cleanup shows you any droppings. The full walkthrough is in how to pest proof your garage.
- February: weatherstrip the doors. Cold makes gaps easy to find. Feel for drafts at exterior doors and the garage door bottom, then replace worn sweeps and seals.
- March: fix drips and leaks. Ant scouts wake this month and hunt water first. Dry sink cabinets, a fixed hose bib, and a wiped counter turn your kitchen into a dead end.
- April: knock down starter wasp nests. Right now every nest is one queen and a golf ball of paper under an eave. A pole and five minutes a week beats an August nest fight.
- May: trim plants off the house. A hand's width of daylight between shrubs, mulch, and siding removes the shaded, irrigated runway pests follow to your foundation.
- June: tune the irrigation. Aim heads away from the foundation and let beds dry between waterings. Chronically wet soil against concrete is what drives the valley's earwig and springtail waves. More in moisture control to prevent pests.
- July: dump standing water. Walk the yard weekly: plant saucers, toys, tarps, clogged gutters, the trampoline base. In summer heat a mosquito generation takes about a week.
- August: seal the exterior. The year's most valuable job. Caulk gaps, fix screens, and add a garage door bottom seal before spiders, box elder bugs, and crickets start pushing in. Step by step at how to seal entry points.
- September: sweep webs and egg sacs. A weekly broom pass around eaves, window wells, and the garage during the spider surge removes next spring's generation before it hatches.
- October: set rodent defenses. Check door sweeps, close pipe gaps with steel wool and sealant, and set traps in garage corners before the first hard frost. Details in how to keep mice out.
- November: clear leaves and firewood. Rake leaf litter out of foundation beds and move woodpiles off the house wall. Both shelter overwintering insects and give mice cover.
- December: audit the pantry and storage. Check flour, cereal, and pet food for pantry moths, and inspect boxes coming out of storage for mouse sign before they come inside.
Why the same jobs land in the same months
The Treasure Valley's pest year is unusually predictable: a high desert climate, an irrigation season that runs roughly April through October, and a first frost that lands around mid October give every pest the same cues every year. Extension prevention guidance ranks exclusion, moisture control, and sanitation ahead of any spray a homeowner can buy, so this calendar simply staggers those three kinds of work to land just before each one pays off. Sealing sits in August because the fall push of spiders, box elder bugs, crickets, and mice is the year's main indoor event. Water jobs sit in June and July because irrigation is what makes a desert valley buggy in the first place.
Want the treatment side of the calendar handled for you, on schedule?
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These jobs are the homeowner half of keeping a house quiet. The other half is pressure control: a professional barrier, web and egg sac removal, and nest knockdown, refreshed on schedule. That half is what a quarterly plan does, with visits timed to the same four turning points this calendar is built around. And if you want the complete room by room version of the prevention list rather than one job a month, it lives at the home pest proofing checklist.
Prevention calendar questions
If I only do one month on this calendar, which one should it be?
Seal the exterior in August. The valley's biggest indoor pest event is the fall push, when spiders, box elder bugs, crickets, and the first mice all test your walls between September and October. Sealing a month ahead of it closes the doors while pest pressure is still pointed outward. Second place goes to October's rodent defenses.
Why is sealing scheduled for August instead of spring?
Because of what happens next. Gaps matter most right before the fall push, and caulk applied in August is fresh and unbroken when the September traffic arrives. Spring sealing still helps, but it fights a weaker current, since most pests are heading outdoors in April, not in. If you have time for both, seal in August and touch up in February when drafts are easy to feel.
I am starting in the middle of the year. Where do I begin?
Start with the current month's job, then borrow from the two most valuable squares if you missed them: August's sealing and October's rodent defenses can be done late and still pay off. The calendar is a loop, not a sequence, so there is no penalty for joining it in June.
Can renters use this calendar?
Most of it, yes. Decluttering, moisture fixes, standing water patrol, web sweeping, and the pantry audit need no permission from anyone. Sealing and door hardware usually belong to the landlord, so put those requests in writing around July so the work can land before fall. Who handles treatment itself depends on your lease.
Do I still need the monthly jobs if I am on a quarterly plan?
They do different work. A quarterly visit manages pest pressure with a professional barrier and removes the webs, egg sacs, and nests that restart problems. The monthly jobs control entry points, moisture, and food, which no product replaces. A treated house with sealed doors and dry foundations is the combination that stays quiet.