Identify beneficial insects and insect pests, and how to encourage or control them in your yard and garden.
Preventing pests in your yard and garden
Many yard and garden pests can be controlled successfully without pesticides.
Household insects
Find research-based information on both helpful and harmful insects, spiders, and other insect relatives.
Learn how to identify insect damage on plants, prevent and control common household insect infestations, and tolerate beneficial insects.
Guides for identifying and controlling household insects
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These insects live in walls and crawl spaces and generally infest places where people live. Some can cause real damage and may need professional help to control them.
Carpenter ants are usually seen in homes in the spring. If you see carpenter ants indoors during winter, that means there is a nest inside your home.
Cockroaches can be major pests in restaurants, hospitals, warehouses, offices and buildings with food-handling areas.
Household ants — Ants are some of the most common pests in and around homes in the North Central states.
Termites are pretty rare in Minnesota. Here's how to tell the difference between a carpenter ant and a termite.
You'll find these pests in cupboards and closets, on plants and in cold, damp corners. They infest flour, cereal, pet food, clothing, books and other materials.
Flies, moths, wasps and hornets are just some of the insects that can be found flying inside and near the home. This list does not include insects with no obvious wings or that have them only when mating, such as carpenter ants.
- Filth flies
- Fall nuisance flies
- Fungus gnats are common indoor flies found in buildings with houseplants.
Pollinators
- Solitary wasps are beneficial insects that should be tolerated. Only control when necessary.
- Wasps and bees – Some wasps can be a nuisance around homes, but they are beneficial insects that should be tolerated.
Some insects enter homes in the fall to stay over the winter. They may seem intolerable, but they are generally just nuisances.
We offer strategies to keep them from getting into your home and how to deal with them if they do get in.
- Boxelder bugs are a nuisance because they enter homes and other buildings, often in large numbers.
- Sowbugs, millipedes and centipedes are not actually insects, but are arthropods related to insects. They are not harmful to people, food, clothes, furniture, or other items within homes.
- Springtails are common insects in the environment, but do not damage food products, clothes, furniture, or property.
- Masked hunters do not attack people and are more of a nuisance when found in homes.
- Multicolored Asian lady beetles can be a nuisance when they occur in large numbers.
Arachnids
- Mites – Each species of mite has a different feeding pattern. If you have any doubt about the mite species found in and around your home, contact a professional pest control service for the best advice.
- Pseudoscorpions – Also known as false scorpions, there are over 3,300 species known in the world and about 200 species in North America.
- Spiders – Spiders are closely related to mites, ticks and scorpions.
Arthropods
- Sowbugs, millipedes and centipedes are arthropods found in moist, decaying leaf litter or other organic material found around building foundations.
Found in and around homes and on humans and pets
- Bed bugs
- Bird mites
- Fleas
- Head lice
- Ticks
- — How to treat fleas, lice and scabies from the Minnesota Department of Health
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