When I first started this business, over thirty years ago, (ouch!), I had a mentor who trained me in the business. He was old school and did things a bit differently than we do today. A big part of his business was the pest control division.  I ran a route for him and he paid me for the new clients I was able to develop.I still remember to this day what he told me.  He said, “Blair, Every tree needs to be sprayed”. And then he said, “Every yard needs a service at least every three months!” Being the young man that I was, I believed him.  I sold route after route and made good money.  But this started to bother me because in a lot of cases, I didn’t really see that many insect problems. I also felt uneasy about killing off all the insects! In effect, I was mass cleansing all insect life from that yard.

So I asked him, “What about the beneficial insects?” “Doesn’t matter” he said, “we kill 'em all.”  I quit doing pest control because I saw it as a racket.  It did not seem honest to me and it seemed like I was messing up a balance that was greater than I realized.

Not all pest companies are like this one, and there are a lot of very reputable and honest firms.

There are also a lot of firms who do not care!

These are my thoughts on pest control.
Spray only if you have a problem to spray for. Don’t spray as a preventative service unless you really know about what your problem is. There are plenty of good reasons to spray.  Tulip trees for instance are hit by aphids in our area and create a terrible mess every year. Oak trees sometimes get oak moth larvae or fruit leaf rollers but don’t spray in anticipation of maybe getting them. If your tree is in decline and you absolutely need to protect the new growth, then go ahead and spray to protect that tree. Learn to accept a certain amount of leaf damage especially in deciduous trees. Remember, there are good insects out there that help to take care of the damaging insects.  Sometimes we must intervene if things are out of control but be careful not to upset that delicate balance of nature that is really much greater than all of us.