Pests can pose a serious health risk, carrying diseases and exacerbating allergies or asthma. They can also damage property.
Threshold-based decision-making involves identifying when pest numbers reach an unacceptable level and then deciding what control measures are needed. Preventative steps include removing food sources, sealing cracks, and keeping garbage in sealed containers. Contact Rodent Retreat now!
A pest control strategy must always start with prevention, which means keeping a pest from becoming a problem in the first place. Good hygiene, sealing cracks and gaps, securing trash bins, and other measures all help to keep pests away from homes and businesses. If preventive methods do not work, the focus shifts to suppression or eradication.
Chemical pesticides are often used to combat severe infestations, but this method can be harmful to people and the environment when not handled properly. Other chemicals, such as insecticidal soaps, are an alternative to chemical pesticides and can effectively kill insects, cockroaches, and other common household pests without damaging the surrounding environment.
Biological and physical controls are also used to eliminate pests. These approaches involve introducing organisms that will naturally compete with or prey upon the pest population. These organisms are usually native to the area, and the introduction is often part of a larger landscape or agricultural management plan. This approach may require more monitoring than other pest control tactics.
The goal of pest control is to achieve a balance between crop production, protecting the environment, and safeguarding human health. This is sometimes called Integrated Pest Management (IPM). The main principles of IPM are prevention, monitoring, and suppression. Prevention is achieved by preventing the pest from entering the crop; monitoring is done by identifying and assessing pest populations, and suppressing the population to an acceptable level.
Pests can be anything that can reasonably cause contamination to food or its physical integrity, such as small mammals (black and brown rats, mice), crawling insects (cockroaches, ants, beetles), flying insects (houseflies, blowflies, fruit flies, moths), birds (pigeons and seagulls) and other vertebrates.
Routine pest control services help to preserve property value, as well as providing peace of mind for homeowners and business owners. In addition, pests can carry disease-causing pathogens and allergens that can affect people’s health and safety. Hiring a professional pest control service ensures that these potentially dangerous substances are eradicated in a safe and effective manner. Pests that are left untreated can lead to costly repairs, replacements and cleaning bills.
Suppression
Suppression is the elimination or reduction of pests through the use of chemicals, biological controls, or mechanical or physical methods. Pest control companies offer this service to prevent pest infestations that can result in health issues, damage buildings or environments and contaminate food. Rodents, cockroaches and other pests can carry disease-causing pathogens in their bodies and droppings. They can also cause asthma and allergies in children and adults. In addition, pests can destroy homes and business property and lead to costly repair bills.
A number of natural factors influence the growth of pest populations. For example, weather conditions affect both the growth of plants on which pests feed and their ability to reproduce. In addition, the environment in which a pest lives can limit its numbers by restricting its supply of water, food or shelter. Geographic features such as mountains or bodies of water can also restrict the movement of some pests.
Chemical pest control includes the use of insecticides, fungicides, and other chemical substances to kill or deter pests. This is generally the quickest way to eliminate a pest problem, but it can have negative effects on humans, other animals and the environment. It is important to consider the safety of the pesticide being used before choosing this method.
Organic or non-chemical methods of pest control involve the use of natural enemies, cultural practices, or genetically modified plants to reduce or avoid pest damage. The goal of these methods is to achieve or maintain high yields with the minimum use of chemicals.
Physical or mechanical control methods include trapping, exclusion, and physical removal of pests. Traps may be baited or lured with pheromones, and exclusion techniques involve sealing cracks and gaps to prevent pest entry. Physical removal of pests may be accomplished through hand-picking or vacuuming.
Routine pest control keeps pests at bay and preserves the value of properties. It can also prevent the spread of pathogens and other contaminants, which can negatively impact human and animal health. However, pest control should only be undertaken by trained, certified professionals who have the right equipment and knowledge to ensure a safe application of chemicals.
Biological Control
Biological control is a time honored technique that utilizes predators, parasitoids, and disease organisms to suppress pest insect populations. It can be used in conjunction with other management options including scouting, monitoring, cultural practices, and chemical controls. Because of its low environmental impact, this method is an attractive alternative to chemicals. However, it requires careful planning and implementation and more intensive record-keeping. It also takes longer to be effective than chemical control, often taking several generations for natural enemies to reach desired population levels and control the pest (DeBach 1964).
Unlike chemicals, which kill all species of prey or target the most sensitive parts of a plant, biological control agents are usually highly specific and kill only the target pest. In addition, the timing of pest emergence and development is taken into consideration with biological control, so that the natural enemy will be present at the critical times of its life cycle to suppress the pest population.
The most common form of biocontrol is augmentation. In this approach, the native natural enemy is collected from its country or region of origin and injected into the new environment to establish a population that can control the introduced pest. This can be done in natural settings such as wetlands (purple loosestrife) or in commercial greenhouses (aphid suppression).
Fortuitous biological control is an alternative to augmentation. In this case, native natural enemies are discovered in the new environment and are encouraged to suppress invasive pests through release of predatory insects or other beneficial organisms. This type of biological control is most successful when the invasive pest arrives in the same location as its native counterpart, so that the native natural enemy can readily find and exploit it.
In all cases, it is important to note that biological control does not eliminate the need for a thorough integrated pest management program, including monitoring, scouting, and control with both non-chemical and chemical methods. However, it can reduce reliance on chemicals and can help delay the onset of resistant pests. Educators should encourage students to explore this resource to learn more about the many ways that plants, animals, and microorganisms can be used to control pests.
Mechanical or Physical Controls
Using tools to cut, crush or bury pests, or to exclude them with barriers, is one form of physical control. Other methods include plowing, cultivation, flaming, flooding, dredging, mulching and other forms of planting or covering to deprive pests of light, moisture or heat. This category also includes spraying, sweeping and manually destroying or removing pest eggs, nests or other life stages. Diatomaceous earth, a finely ground skeleton of fossil sea plants that has sharp edges to scratch the waxy coatings of soft-bodied insects, is another physical control.
Many gardeners want to reduce their dependence on chemical controls, especially if they are concerned about potential health or environmental hazards. However, they may be at a loss to know what else they can do to protect their gardens and the sensitive ecosystems in which they live. Fortunately, there are many other effective approaches that fall into the category of mechanical or physical control.
Scouting – the regular searching for, identifying and assessing numbers of pests and damage – is an important part of any control program. The ability to accurately identify a pest can make the difference between success and failure of any treatment. It is particularly important to correctly identify invasive species because they can be so difficult to get rid of once established.
Weather conditions – particularly temperature, day length and humidity – affect pests directly by affecting the growth of their host plants or indirectly by influencing their food sources and shelter. The occurrence of a natural enemy, parasite or disease organism, often can significantly reduce a pest population.
The best way to limit the need for pesticides is through prevention and other control strategies. However, if pesticide treatments are necessary, they should be used only after monitoring indicates that they are needed and in a manner that minimizes risks to human beings, other organisms, beneficial microorganisms, the environment and landscape. Pesticides should be selected and applied carefully, according to label instructions, in order to ensure the most effective use with a minimum of risk. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approaches are commonly employed to achieve this.