Pest control is the action taken to protect plants, animals, and structures from unwanted organisms. It can involve a range of physical, biological, and chemical methods.
Biological pest control relies on natural enemies such as predation, herbivory, parasitism, and nematodes to reduce pest populations below damaging levels. Helpful nematodes, such as the roach-eating Steinernema carpocapsae, can be sprayed onto soil and are effective against pests that live underground. Click https://pezzpestcontrol.com/ to learn more.
Pests cause a wide range of problems that affect our homes, businesses, and health. Preventing pest infestations is the best way to prevent them from causing damage and creating health and safety risks. Talk to a pest control specialist about taking preventative steps in your home or business.
Preventive measures may be as simple as eliminating food and water sources for pests or blocking access to these resources. Pests also require moisture to thrive, so fixing leaky pipes and keeping outdoor areas free of standing water can help reduce their numbers. Clutter provides places for pests to hide and breed, so clean counters, floors and other surfaces regularly to remove crumbs and spills that could attract them. Regular sweeping and vacuuming also help keep pests away from areas that they could invade.
Natural barriers, such as mountains and large bodies of water, restrict the movement of some pests, while other environmental conditions limit their growth or decrease their abundance. For example, certain plant diseases only affect plants under particular circumstances. By avoiding those circumstances, you can prevent the disease organisms from harming your desirable plants.
Physical Pest control methods include traps, bait stations, and spraying pesticides to prevent or destroy pest populations. These steps can be effective for a range of pests, including insects and rodents. Traps and bait stations should be monitored regularly to ensure that they are working, and sprayed pesticides should be applied sparingly and carefully. Always follow the manufacturer’s instructions for use and keep children and pets away from areas where pesticides are used.
Eradication is rare for outdoor pests because it usually requires significant efforts by humans and other animals to deplete the pest population of its food, shelter and water supply. However, eradication can be the goal for some indoor pests, such as Mediterranean fruit fly and gypsy moth. In enclosed environments, such as buildings or greenhouses, eradication is a more feasible goal than prevention or suppression because it is easier to eliminate the habitat and other food supplies of these pests. It is important to know the goals of your pest management program so that you can determine the right method of control for each situation.
Suppression
Often, the goal of pest control is not to eradicate an entire pest population but to reduce it to a level that can be tolerated. This is especially true in outdoor pest situations where eliminating all pests would be difficult and expensive. Generally, people want to cause as little harm as possible to humans and non-target organisms. A threshold level, usually set by esthetic or health considerations, is established below which a pest is considered to cause unacceptable harm. This threshold triggers action, whether through preventing a new infestation or controlling an existing one.
Preventive methods include actions that prevent pests from entering an area, such as frequently cleaning areas where they are likely to live or stopping the movement of firewood infested with wood-eating insects and pathogens. Physical controls such as traps, screens, fences, barriers, and nets can help prevent pests. Chemicals can also be used to deter or kill pests, such as fungicides and herbicides.
Weather conditions can directly affect pests by limiting their growth or killing them, as with cool temperatures in growing plants, rain, and drought. Pests also can be suppressed by the presence of natural enemies, such as birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish that prey on pests; nematodes that kill or displace plant-eating worms; and parasitic plants and other organisms that attach to and feed on pests, including their early stages.
Biological control agents include bacteria, viruses, fungi, nematodes, and hymenopterans that attack specific pests or their eggs. Some of these control agents are introduced into an area to provide natural suppression; others are created in a lab and released into the environment to destroy or displace pests. The best biological control agents are adapted to their host pests. They must be compatible with soil, climate, and other factors that support their life cycles, so they can compete with and replace the pests without adversely affecting these environmental factors. Some biological control agents are sterile, and some use “juvenile hormones” or other chemicals to interfere with normal reproduction. All of these strategies can work well, but a careful assessment of the situation and desired outcomes is essential before selecting a particular method.
Eradication
While pests are often seen as a nuisance, they can also be a threat to human health. Fleas and mosquitoes spread disease by biting people; rodents chew electrical wires, spreading fire hazards; and insects contaminate food with dangerous bacteria or destroy plants. In addition, they can aggravate allergies and asthma. To avoid pests, maintain a clean and dry environment. This includes regularly cleaning up garbage and storing foods in airtight containers. In the yard, trim bushes and trees to reduce hiding places for pests and eliminate standing water sources. Also, decluttering the house and limiting access to food, garbage, or water will help prevent infestations.
To eradicate a pest, the biological system must be controlled at all levels to interrupt transmission. This is not easy. For example, the reproductive rate (R) of the microbes in the vector, intermediary, and human hosts must be reduced to zero for the disease to be eliminated. In order to achieve this, the host environment must be made inhospitable, with all reservoirs of the infectious agent being eliminated. This is a very difficult goal to reach and requires large-scale control efforts in many countries around the world.
Integrated Pest Management (IPM) involves the use of biological, physical, and chemical controls to manage pests and their damage to homes, crops, and livestock. The key to IPM is recognizing that pests are part of a natural balance and that eliminating them completely can upset the ecosystem, creating an imbalance that may result in new problems. Therefore, the first step is to assess the tolerance level of the pest.
After determining the threshold, a control method must be selected. The selection process should take into account the effects of control on beneficial organisms, environmental conditions, and economic factors. Biological controls, such as the use of predators or parasites to control pests, are eco-friendly and can provide effective solutions to insect, arachnid, and rodent problems. Home remedies, such as peppermint oil to repel spiders or vinegar to kill ants, are also effective and offer an alternative to harsh chemicals. Pesticides should be used only when other control methods are ineffective or unavailable. The most effective pesticides are those that target specific stages in a pest’s life cycle and do not affect other species, as well as humans and pets.
Monitoring
Pest monitoring is a key element of an integrated pest management program. It allows a trained professional to detect pests and assess their damaging levels before they cause significant crop loss. By regularly inspecting fields and structures, a pest manager can determine the best time to treat the pests to avoid damage, track population levels and environmental conditions that might influence the population. This information functions as an early warning system for a pest outbreak, and allows the pest control professional to predict future problems and develop tactics to prevent them.
A number of different tools can be used to monitor pests, from simple home-made traps to sophisticated digital monitoring and decision-making systems. Regardless of the tool, good record-keeping is essential. The date, specific location, and type of pest found should be recorded along with any other relevant data. Spreadsheets or other digital tracking systems can work for this, but specialized software designed to support scout-centric workflows (see Resources) is often preferred by IPM professionals.
Some pests hide in dark, secluded places, making them difficult to detect. This makes it critical to use inspection tools that allow a thorough, complete inspection. A flashlight is one such inspection tool, as it illuminates corners and crevices. An extendable mirror also works well, allowing easy inspection behind and beneath equipment and furniture. Keeping a magnifier handy is helpful for identification of pest parts and frass, which can provide valuable clues as to their identity.
In addition to identifying pests, monitoring also helps identify the presence of natural enemies that can keep pest populations in check. These organisms can be anything from beneficial nematodes to parasitic wasps or entomopathogenic fungi. Tracking the presence of these natural predators, and observing their interactions with pests, is another crucial part of monitoring.
Biological methods are usually geared towards managing pests that carry diseases and contaminate food, water or soil. They may involve releasing the pest’s natural predator into an environment, or they can be more hands-on approaches such as removing and killing pests. This includes physical and mechanical removal, or repelling pests by placing unattractive substances near the pests.