Pest control aims to reduce pest numbers to acceptable levels with minimal harm to other organisms. The main approaches are prevention, suppression, and eradication.
Monitoring is the key to effective pest management. It helps you determine whether a pest is causing damage that requires control and what control method to use. Click https://seasidepest.ca/ to learn more.
Preventing pests is easier than getting rid of them once they appear, so it’s important to focus on preventative methods. Sealing cracks, repairing screens, and keeping storage areas clean are all great ways to keep pests at bay.
Eliminate the Attractants
Many pests are drawn to retail or hospitality environments primarily for food, water, and shelter. When pests are present, the result can be physical contamination of foodstuffs by rodent droppings and insect parts, microbial pathogens carried in the pests’ bodies or on their external surfaces, and damage to facilities.
Food crumbs, dirty dishes, and clogged garbage cans are common attractants. Keep these items away from the building and use tightly fitting lids on garbage cans. Clean storage areas regularly and eliminate hiding places such as stacks of books or newspapers.
Moisture attracts pests as well. Leaky pipes, overflowing gutters, and sagging basements are all sources of moisture that should be corrected. Dehumidifiers can also help remove excess humidity.
Clutter creates more hiding places for pests and gives them more opportunities to breed and nest. Get rid of stacks of paper and cardboard, keep trash containers sealed and vacuum frequently.
The right plants can also help to keep pests at bay. Certain varieties are resistant to specific pests or can be helpful in deterring them, such as nematodes that target grubs and other soil-dwelling insects.
IPM is an ecosystem-based strategy that emphasizes prevention of pests or their damage through a combination of biological control, habitat manipulation and modification of cultural practices. It uses monitoring to determine when pesticides are needed, and when they are applied, it’s done so with the goal of removing only the pest species and not beneficial organisms as well.
A pest problem that starts out small can quickly become out of hand. It’s a good idea to consult a pest management professional at the first sign of an infestation. An expert can help you identify the best control strategy and recommend nonchemical approaches that will keep pests at bay without putting your staff or customers at risk of exposure to harmful chemicals.
Suppression
When prevention measures are not effective, or conditions do not allow for preventive controls, pest suppression tactics are employed. Suppression is typically a short-term measure, unless the pest poses a health or safety risk, as with rodents chewing insulation in homes and hospitals or mosquitoes spreading disease. In such cases, corrective actions must be taken quickly to reduce the threat. Suppression tactics include cultural practices, physical controls and the use of biological controls or pesticides.
Cultural and physical controls kill or block a pest, or make the environment unsuitable for it. Examples include traps for rodents, mulches for weed management or barriers such as screens. These can be used alone or in combination with other control methods.
Biological pest control uses natural enemies to reduce pest populations through predation, parasitism or herbivory. It involves careful selection and testing of natural enemies, usually in a laboratory setting, for their ability to attack the target pest before they are released into the wild. This process is very labor intensive and must be carefully synchronized with the target pest’s life cycle and environmental factors to ensure success.
Chemical pest controls use synthetic substances to kill or repel a pest or alter the pest’s behavior or physiology. These are usually formulated as a spray, bait, or gel and can be applied in a variety of ways. Most pesticides are classified as either non-selective or selective, and they can harm beneficial organisms as well as pests. Selective pesticides are often more environmentally responsible than general purpose chemicals, as they target the specific pest species rather than other plants or animals.
Pesticides should be used sparingly and only when necessary. In the home, the most effective approach is to remove food, water and shelter sources by storing foods in sealed containers and removing garbage on a regular basis with tightly-fitting lids. It is also important to keep gardens and landscapes free of debris that can provide hiding places for pests.
Many pests can be prevented with regular inspections of the garden, landscape or home. Look for entry points where pests may enter and block them, such as caulking cracks and crevices or using wire mesh to cover holes around pipes, drains or foundation. Regularly inspect the garden or landscape for plant diseases and take steps to eliminate them when they are found.
Eradication
The goal of eradication is to eliminate a pest population to the point that it can no longer survive. Eradication is rare in outdoor pest situations, and it is generally impossible to achieve without substantial government support (see Mediterranean fruit fly, gypsy moth, and fire ant control programs). In enclosed environments such as homes, schools, office buildings, and food processing and preparation facilities, however, eradication is often a realistic goal.
Typically, chemical pest control methods provide faster and more consistent results than biological controls. They include sprays and aerosols that deter or kill pests, as well as solutions designed to alter the environment or habitat that the pest inhabits. Some of these chemicals are toxic to people and pets, so only licensed pest control technicians should handle them.
Physical methods involve removing or blocking access points, using temperature control to kill pests, and setting traps or other devices to catch and remove pests from the area. Examples of these techniques include removing or securing nests, blocking holes in walls or doors, and sealing cracks and crevices with caulk or plaster. Putting up netting or screens can also help to block access. Some physical pest control methods also use odors to repel or poison.
Another common method of preventing pest infestations is cleaning up the yard to reduce attractants. This includes removing any leaf debris or woodpiles where pests may hide, and keeping grass and shrubbery trimmed back to prevent overgrowth that can create hiding places for pests. Eliminating weeds and other plants that provide shelter or food for pests can also help to reduce pest populations.
Biological pest control involves introducing natural enemies to the environment to reduce pest populations to less damaging levels. Examples of these are parasites, predators, and pathogens. In addition to these, some biocontrol methods involve genetically modifying organisms so that they can function as natural enemies with minimal impact on the environment.
IPM
IPM (Integrated Pest Management) is an ecosystem-based approach to combating herbivores, pathogens and weeds that uses several methods simultaneously to control them while minimizing the use of chemical pesticides. It is sometimes illustrated as a pyramid, with preventive and curative non-chemical methods at the base of the pyramid, with chemical controls used only when monitoring indicates they are needed. IPM incorporates entomology, plant pathology, nematology and weed science with cultural manipulation of the environment to reduce pest damage.
IPM is often cheaper than conventional pest control in the long run because it reduces a school or day care center’s need for pesticide applications. It is also safer because it limits the amount of chemicals that are applied and minimizes exposure to children and staff. A well-developed IPM program can help a gardener, home gardener or landscaper reduce the need for fungicides as it increases the presence of beneficial insects and other natural predators that keep pest populations low.
The first step in an IPM plan is to identify the pest problem. This is done by observing plants, looking for signs of pest activity and keeping a pest sighting log. This helps to determine when to take action and the size of that action. For example, rats and cockroaches can cause structural damage but require control only when their population reaches intolerable levels, whereas Japanese beetles or sowbugs do not.
Once the pest level is determined, the gardener or grower can develop a treatment strategy. In the garden, this might include removing shelter from the area to discourage pests, mulching, avoiding overhead watering to reduce fungal disease and using a product such as Daconil Fungicide to prevent or control leaf diseases like botrytis blight or black spot in roses. In the field, this might include using a combination of mechanical and physical controls such as stretch netting to stop marauding birds and gopher traps for destructive rodents or tillage to disrupt breeding.
When the need for pesticides is indicated by monitoring, the use of chemicals is limited as much as possible to avoid the development of resistance. This may be accomplished by varying the IPM techniques used within an area and over time, or through the use of different chemicals with the same target organism.