Port wine, dried fruit, hot dusty summers and Route 62 traffic. In Calitzdorp, the things that make the village special are exactly the things pests are looking for: sugar, shelter and stored food.
Calitzdorp's pest problems tend to follow its produce: fruit flies around cellars, tasting rooms and fruit stores, rats and mice in barns, sheds and old houses, weevils and moths in stored grain, dried fruit and nuts, scorpions on hot nights, and bees in old walls. We treat homes, cellars, guest houses, shops and farms, plan our trips from George in advance, and treat as much as possible on one visit. House treatments are odour-free, safe for children and pets once they've dried, and guaranteed for 3 months.
The port wine village
Calitzdorp lies on Route 62 west of Oudtshoorn, in the hot, dry heart of the Klein Karoo, and it's known as South Africa's port wine capital. Vineyards and orchards line the river valleys, cellars and tasting rooms draw visitors, and there are guest houses, farm stalls and old village houses with deep verandas. Summers are fierce, winters cold and dry.
Fruit flies in cellars and tasting rooms
Wherever there's fermentation, fruit flies find it. Spilt wine, must, grape skins, the drip tray under a tap, a mop that's never quite dry, the bottom of a recycling bin full of bottles: all of these breed fruit flies, and a tasting room with a cloud of them over the glasses is not the image anyone wants. The fix is mostly finding and cleaning the breeding sites: drains, bins, spill areas, fruit waste and anything fermenting. Then a treatment of the surfaces where adult flies rest helps clear what's left. See fly control and our flies profile.
Rats and mice in cellars, barns and sheds
Cellars, barrel rooms, barns, packing sheds and old outbuildings give rodents shelter, and grain, dried fruit, feed and the occasional bag of nuts give them food. They chew labels, cartons, pipes and wiring and leave droppings where food is handled. Tamper-resistant bait stations along walls and in storerooms, traps where bait isn't suitable, and finding the gaps they use deal with them. See rodent control.
Stored produce
Dried fruit, nuts, grain, seed and animal feed attract stored product insects: weevils, beetles and meal moths that breed inside the product. For a farm or business, that's lost stock. Good stock rotation, clean storage and sealed containers help, and for bulk stock that's already infested, fumigation under gas-tight sheets reaches the insects inside. The store must stay closed until it's cleared. See stored product insects.
Scorpions and spiders
On hot Klein Karoo nights, scorpions leave their shelter under stones, bark and rubble and wander into houses. Watch for thick-tailed scorpions in particular. Clearing rubble and rock edging from the walls, fitting door seals and a barrier treatment around the house keep them out. See scorpion and spider control and scorpion safety in the Klein Karoo.
Bees and wasps
Old walls, roof spaces and hollow trees attract bee swarms, and paper wasps nest under verandas and eaves. Around a tasting room or a guest house pool, both need dealing with before the busy season. See bee removal and wasp removal in Oudtshoorn.
Old village houses
Calitzdorp's old houses, with thick walls, high ceilings, timber floors and corrugated iron roofs, are beautiful and full of places for pests to hide. Rats and mice get in between the roof sheets and the walls, especially in winter. Bees find cavities in thick walls and chimneys. Old yellowwood and pine floors can carry wood borer. Cracks in the plaster at ground level let in scorpions on hot nights. A visit to an old house always starts with a careful walk around and through the roof space, because the way in is usually more important than what's already inside.
Guest houses and restaurants
Guests remember the scorpion in the bathroom and the cockroach in the breakfast room. A treatment before each busy season, plus a quick response when something turns up, keeps hospitality businesses out of trouble. Our commercial pest control contracts suit guest houses, restaurants and cellars.
Planning your visit
From George, Calitzdorp is a trip over the mountains, so we book visits ahead and combine jobs where we can. If several properties in the village need attention, we'll plan them for the same day.
Orchards and the river
Orchards along the river bring fruit waste, and fallen fruit left under the trees in late summer feeds rodents and breeds fruit flies and wasps. Clearing fallen fruit regularly, and composting it well away from houses and cellars, cuts all three down. Irrigation dams and furrows can also breed mosquitoes on still summer evenings.
What it costs
Home, cellar, guest house or farm; the size of the buildings; the pests; any stored produce involved; and the drive over the mountains. Those set the price. A barrier treatment on a village house is modest. A cellar and barn programme, or fumigating stored produce, is bigger. We'll quote before we start.
We also work in Oudtshoorn and Ladismith. From Calitzdorp, call 044 012 5011 or send us your details for a quote.
Frequently asked questions
Do you service Calitzdorp?
Yes, homes, cellars, guest houses, shops and farms, booked in advance so we can combine visits.
How do I get rid of fruit flies in the cellar or tasting room?
Find where they're breeding: spills, drains, bins, pressings and anything fermenting. Clean those, and a treatment of the surfaces they rest on clears the adults.
Can you fumigate dried fruit or nuts?
Yes. Phosphine fumigation under gas-tight sheets gets to insects inside the produce. The store stays sealed until it's cleared.
Scorpions keep turning up in the bathroom. Why there?
They come in looking for moisture and shelter, under doors and through gaps around pipes. Seal those gaps and have the outside walls treated.
Do you offer contracts for cellars and guest houses?
Yes. Regular visits before the busy seasons, and a call-out when something turns up, keep problems away from guests.
Are the rats in the barn coming from the orchards?
They may be. Fallen fruit draws rats, so clear the windfalls and let us put bait stations around the barn.