Spring pests in New Hampshire

Springtails are tiny jumping bugs that swarm damp NH sinks, plants, and basements. They aren't fleas and don't bite — drop the humidity and they vanish.

Controlled research found spring queen trapping does not reduce summer wasp numbers. It catches queens, but that doesn't translate into fewer workers later.

The yellow jacket queen is the only colony member to survive a NH winter — late-April emergence, stone-wall overwintering, why spring inspection wins.

Summer in NH is the bite-and-sting peak — mosquitoes breeding all season, tick nymphs at their disease-driving height, and wasps at their aggressive max.

Partly. Some die trying to get out, but most survivors leave outdoors. Spring bugs at your windows are last fall's cohort exiting, not a new infestation.

April is when New Hampshire's outdoors switches on: ants, ticks, mosquitoes and birds turn up, while indoor cockroaches and rats ease off as options open.

August reads like summer, but for the first time this year as many species wind down as turn up. Wasps and fleas peak; the fall shift is starting underneath.

June is New Hampshire's second-busiest pest month: seven species peak at once, from ants to ticks to bats raising pups, while only birds wind down from spring.

Springtails are harmless, moisture-dependent jumpers — usually from an overwatered houseplant. The honest DIY: let soil dry, no pesticide needed at all.