Pest Control in Parlier, CA

Parlier is a small, densely farmed city where irrigated peach and nectarine orchards press against the residential streets, and that constant moisture at the fence line is what drives its signature pests. Earwigs thrive in the damp mulch, leaf litter and irrigation-soaked soil the orchards and yards share, then migrate into garages, bathrooms and ground-floor rooms in large numbers on summer nights, squeezing under doors and through weep screens. Ants do the same on a bigger scale: the irrigated orchard ground feeds enormous Argentine ant colonies that trail indoors toward kitchens and water whenever the heat climbs.

The moisture and insect life also sustain spiders — black widows in the block walls, garages and woodpiles, and webbing spiders that the orchard insects feed. When the stone-fruit harvest ends and the orchard floor is disked, field mice lose their cover and work toward the nearest homes, so fall adds a rodent push to the mix. Parlier is also home to UC’s Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center, a reminder of how thoroughly farming defines the town; the flip side is that orchards on three sides mean the pressure never really lets up, and treatment here has to account for the yard, the fence line and the field beyond it.