Pest Control in Alva, FL

Old buildings and open land on the Caloosahatchee

Alva is one of the oldest communities in Lee County, and it still shows. The library dates to 1909 and the chapel to 1901, both sitting on the south bank of the Caloosahatchee River, and homes are spread out on parcels measured in acres rather than lots. Old framing plus open land is a combination that termites, snakes and rodents all take advantage of.

Because Alva is rural, pest control there is a property wide job. Barns, tack rooms, equipment sheds and detached garages all hold moisture and shelter, and each one is a separate structure to inspect. State Road 80 is the main artery, so Alva also catches pressure from the groves and cattle land that runs north toward Fort Denaud.

Alva sits on the south bank of the Caloosahatchee, and the settlement pattern still follows the river. Houses front the water or sit on parcels set back off State Road 80, and the land between them is grove, pasture and low hammock rather than subdivision. Two buildings anchor the old core: the 1909 library, the first in what is now Lee County, and the 1901 chapel, both still standing and both wood frame.

Also, the natural ground around Alva is wet and slow draining. Hickey Creek and the Alva Scrub Preserve cover hundreds of acres of flatwoods and cypress on the north and east sides, and the Caloosahatchee floodplain along the river bottoms out for a mile in places. Water sits in the low spots long after the rain stops. This is why equestrian properties here grade their paddocks and why barns get built on fill.

Pasture edges and yard care on Alva acreage

Alva yards are usually a small island of turf around the house, with pasture beyond it. We keep that turf thick on a schedule that fits sandy river soil, treat chinch bugs and mole crickets in the soil rather than spraying the canopy, and handle weeds in the ornamental beds. Pasture itself is a different job. Also, we will tell you plainly when land is beyond what a lawn program should cover.

Alva, property by property

Broadway Street and the old settlement core

The 1901 chapel, the 1909 library and a scatter of older frame houses. Carpenter ants and termites in original timber, plus roaches in the outbuildings that go with properties of this age.

The State Road 80 frontage

Small commercial, fuel stops and a mix of houses set back off the highway. Fire ants along the road shoulder, rodents in the storage buildings, and mosquitoes from the ditches that run beside the road.

Alva Road and the riverfront lanes

Also, docks, boathouses, screened porches and houses raised for flood. Salt air and river humidity together. That means exterior seals fail early and ants and roaches stay busy at the slab edge and the dock posts.

Hickey Creek and the scrub preserve side

Conservation land on three sides of some parcels. Ticks and mosquitoes from the brush, snakes working the edges, and rodents moving toward any structure within a few hundred feet.

Olga and the Buckingham corridor

Larger parcels with horse paddocks, barns and equipment sheds. Pole barn posts in the ground, feed storage that draws rodents, and yellow jackets under every barn eave by late summer.

Cemetery Road and the western river bend

Older houses on the higher ground above the floodplain, with outbuildings and citrus remnants. Termites in the older timber and rats in the barns once the fields are worked.

The river, the outbuildings and the road through town

Alva sits on a working stretch of the Caloosahatchee. The W.P. Franklin Lock and Dam at Olga is a short drive west. Also, it marks the point where the tidal river ends and the freshwater canal begins, so the water level through Alva is managed rather than natural. Managed water still means damp ground. The banks stay saturated, the drainage ditches along the pastures hold water after every storm, and the low ground behind the riverfront lots is where mosquitoes breed through the whole wet season rather than in a short pulse.

Wells, septic and the moisture they add

Properties on wells and septic systems have a second consideration. The fields and the drain lines keep soil moist well away from the house. Also, that moisture is what draws termites up out of the ground in the first place.

A rural Alva property is usually more than one building, and each building brings its own pest list. Pole barns with posts set into the ground put timber in direct soil contact. That is the closest thing to an open invitation a subterranean colony can get, and the same posts are where carpenter ants hollow out soft wood after a leak. Tack rooms and feed storage hold grain and hay. That draws mice, which draw rat snakes in behind them. Equipment sheds give yellow jackets and mud daubers a roof to nest under. They also give black widows the dark corners they prefer. Boathouses and screened porches down at the water keep wooden framing damp all year. Hay barns and paddocks keep fire ants moving between mounds whenever a field is mowed or a hay bale is opened.

The park, the river access and the roads

The roads organise the work. In addition, state Road 80 runs the length of the community between Fort Myers and LaBelle. Meanwhile, broadway Street leads into the old settlement core, Alva Road and Cemetery Road take you to the riverfront lanes, and the residences that back onto Hickey Creek and the Alva Scrub Preserve sit against conservation land that will never be treated. Caloosahatchee Regional Park and the Alva dog park keep maintained ground and public water access on the north side. That puts foot traffic, picnic waste and standing water in one place. Fort Denaud and LaBelle are a bridge away across the river. Olga, Buckingham and the Palm Beach Boulevard corridor to the west share the same rural character and the same pest pressure.

Alva properties we work

Alva runs along State Road 80 between Fort Myers and LaBelle. Crews work river lots off Alva Road and Broadway Street, the acreage around Hickey Creek and the Alva Scrub Preserve, and the horse properties toward Fort Denaud on the north bank.

Alva work runs along State Road 80 and Broadway Street, the river lots off Alva Road and Cemetery Road, the acreage around Hickey Creek and the Alva Scrub Preserve, and the horse properties between Alva and Olga to the west. Fort Denaud across the river is on the same route, which helps clients who own paddocks on both banks.

Every Alva property gets a free inspection before any work, and then one of six services takes over:

• residential pest control for river front homes→
• termite control for outbuildings and barns→
• rodent removal and exclusion on acreage→
• bed bug treatment for Alva homes→
• lawn and ornamental care around the house→
• commercial pest control for rural businesses→

The riverfront farm town

Alva is Lee County’s riverfront farm town: one bridge over the Caloosahatchee, the old Broadway Street quarter with its 1900s schoolhouse museum, and cattle pastures that run to the river’s oxbow bends. North of State Road 78 the ground rises into the Telegraph Creek hillocks. There, oak and cabbage palm shade some of the county’s oldest citrus groves. Alva’s housing mixes century homesteads, mobile homes on acreage and new ranchettes. So a single day’s inspection route can cover a metal barn, a raised wood frame cottage and a stucco ranch house in the same afternoon. The W.P. Franklin lock and recreation area east of town holds the river channel at a constant level. That steady water level keeps the riverbank soils moist through spring, so subterranean termites along the riverfront stay active about four weeks longer than they do in the dry interior streets and the citrus blocks.

Alva property owners on our crews