Pest Control is diminishing the damage and deterioration caused by unwelcome organisms. Routine pest control helps preserve property values, maintain a safe environment, and protect health by eliminating pathogens and allergens.
Whenever possible, choose low-toxicity pesticides. Always follow the label instructions and safety warnings. Never mix different types of pesticides or apply them excessively. Visit Our Website to learn more.
The best pest control is preventive, which involves practices and methods that keep bugs from entering an establishment. Preventive methods typically use less chemicals than reactive solutions to pest infestations, and they’re usually safer for employees, customers, and the environment. They also tend to be more cost-effective than reactive treatments, such as fumigation.
Prevention includes general building maintenance with specific enhancements that shut down entry points for pests, such as caulking cracks, securing loose vents, and using steel wool to fill spaces around pipes. It can also involve removing food, water and shelter sources that attract pests, such as stacks of newspapers, paper and cardboard, or overflowing garbage. It can also mean regularly cleaning, sanitizing and sweeping areas where pests might seek refuge or breed.
Regular inspections by an experienced pest control professional can help identify potential issues before they become full-scale infestations. During these inspections, an expert will look for entry points, assess conditions that might draw pests (like moisture or food), and close off hiding places and nesting sites.
Pests that attack crops or other plants are known as agricultural pests. These include weeds, diseases, and insects that destroy or stress desirable plants. They can also include viruses, bacteria and fungi that transfer between plants or from one plant to humans or animals.
Agricultural pests can cause serious harm to the economy and even threaten human life, especially in cases of disease and food borne illnesses. They can also damage the environment by competing with desirable plants for resources and reducing yield and quality.
Other pests, such as rodents and birds, can be a significant health risk. They can spread fleas and ticks that carry dangerous diseases, and they can gnaw on wires and other materials in commercial and residential buildings, creating fire hazards and affecting energy efficiency.
Pest control is a complex matter that requires the cooperation of many individuals and organizations. Its three main goals are prevention, suppression and eradication. Prevention is all about keeping a pest from ever becoming a problem in the first place, while suppression reduces the population to an acceptable level and eradication destroys the entire pest population.
Suppression
When pest numbers reach a point that they threaten economic damage, control measures are needed to reduce the problem. Control options are varied and include cultural, biological, and chemical controls. Chemicals can be used alone or in combination with other control methods, and they may be applied in ways that minimize their impact on the environment. When all control methods are used in a coordinated manner, they can minimize the risk of damaging ecosystems and achieve satisfactory levels of pest control. This approach is called integrated pest management or IPM.
In most situations, pests can be controlled without applying chemicals or other harmful substances. Often, the key is to change the environment in which the pest lives and thrives. This can be done by reducing food or water sources, closing access to shelter or building materials, or altering temperature or light conditions. Physical controls can also be helpful and are often the most cost effective means of controlling pests. Traps, screens, barriers, fences, and radiation can help limit the movement of pests and keep them away from areas where they are unwanted.
Clutter provides hiding places for pests and makes it difficult for them to escape or to be removed. Remove debris and clutter, seal containers, and make sure garbage is regularly picked up. Caulking cracks and crevices can help prevent pests from entering structures. Screening windows and doors can be important, especially for homes that are open during the day. Steel wool can be used to fill gaps around pipes and vents, preventing rodents from chewing through them.
Monitoring is the process of periodically searching for and identifying pests. This can be done by scouting or trapping insect, mite, mollusk, and vertebrate pests, or checking on weeds and fungus pests. It also can be done by watching for signs of pests, such as feeding damage or the presence of eggs and nymphs.
Observing natural forces that influence pest populations can provide clues about when pest control is needed. These forces include climate, natural enemies and barriers to pests, and availability of food and water for pests and their offspring.
Eradication
Pest control is the management of undesirable organisms that interfere with human activities or negatively affect terrestrial or aquatic ecosystems. Organisms that are considered pests include insects, bacteria, nematodes, viruses, fungi and vertebrate animals. In addition to causing economic loss, some pests can pose health risks to humans and cause damage or destruction to buildings, crops, gardens, lawns, parks and other natural areas. Pests can also displace native plants and disrupt soil quality, nutrient content and water supply.
Eradication is a rare goal in outdoor pest situations, as it is difficult to completely eliminate pest populations. Eradication can be achieved through prevention and suppression, as well as by modifying the environment to make it less favorable to pests (biological control).
Preventive methods include frequent cleaning of areas where pests are likely to live and quick application of treatment when the conditions are right for pest infestation to develop. Suppression techniques limit pest activity and prevent pest populations from growing, as in the case of weed removal and insect trapping.
Biological controls use organisms that are naturally enemies of a pest to reduce or kill it. This may include releasing more of the pest’s natural enemies into an area to increase their numbers or introducing enemies that have not previously existed in the environment, such as sterile males or use of pheromones.
Chemical pesticides are used to kill or reduce pests and include herbicides, insecticides, fungicides and rodenticides. Before pesticides are sold and used, they must undergo a rigorous review and approval process by the Environmental Protection Agency and state and local pesticide control boards to ensure safety, effectiveness and proper handling. Federal, state and local pesticide laws set standards for personal protective equipment, proper application procedures, container disposal, spray drift and other factors that impact human health and the environment.
Eradication efforts may occur at community, regional or global levels and can involve many different groups of people. The eradication of diseases such as yellow fever, malaria and guinea worm, for example, requires extensive surveillance and the identification and treatment of infected persons. Other challenges to eradication include civil strife, which prevents an eradication campaign from being executed in critical areas where the disease is making its last stand, and vaccine strain reversion, as in the case of poliomyelitis.
Treatment
Once pests have been detected, a control strategy should be developed. In the case of plants, this is usually based on prevention or suppression; in the case of animals and wood-destroying pests, it may be based on eradication. Treatments include physical, cultural, biological, and chemical controls. Physical controls include traps, screens, barriers, and fences. These are often combined with sanitation practices. Sanitation involves reducing food, water, and shelter availability to pests. This can be done by improving garbage collection and storage, increasing the frequency of manure pickup, and removing potential pest harborage. It also includes using pest-resistant varieties of plants, seeds, and transplants, and by modifying building construction to reduce access and shelter for pests.
Biological control uses natural enemies — predators, parasitoids, and disease organisms — to reduce pest populations. There is sometimes a lag between the increase in pest numbers and the corresponding increase in the number of natural enemies that can be effective in controlling them. Biological controls may also include the use of pheromones and juvenile hormones.
Chemical control uses synthetic chemicals to kill or repel specific pests. When used correctly, pesticides can be very effective. However, they can also harm non-target species. In addition, some pesticides can be dangerous to humans and pets if they are inhaled or ingested. Care should be taken when applying any pesticide, whether it is a commercial product or something made in the home. Wearing protective clothing, such as gloves and a mask, and following label instructions should help to minimize risks.
The best way to keep pests under control is to prevent them from entering the area in the first place. But this is not always possible. Therefore, once a pest infestation is found, steps should be taken to eradicate it as quickly as possible. Pests that are allowed to multiply can cause significant damage and disruption. The goal of pest control is to cause as little harm as possible to the environment, other plants, or people. This can be achieved by preventing pests from becoming a problem in the first place, or by reducing their numbers to an acceptable level.