Pests contaminate food and water, destroy property, pose health risks to people and animals, and interfere with agricultural production and food processing.
Some natural forces affect pest populations, such as climate, the availability of food and water, barriers to travel, overwintering sites, and shelter. Other natural controls include landscaping to restrict pest movement and the use of resistant varieties of plants, animals, or structures. Contact Pest Control Springfield MO now!
Taking preventative steps to stop pest problems before they occur is the best way to protect your home or business. However, no building is immune to infestation. Even buildings that receive regular maintenance from a professional pest control company can fall victim to a problem due to factors outside their control. This is especially true of outdoor environments where pests such as birds, rodents, and insects are often attracted to buildings. These pests can cause serious damage and health risks if not controlled.
Preventing a pest infestation starts with identifying and blocking potential entry points for the pests. This includes sealing cracks and crevices, keeping trash cans tightly closed, and ensuring that food is kept in sealed containers both inside and out. It also means cleaning up crumbs, trash and other attractants around the property. The yard should be cleared of brush, overgrown weeds and other hiding spots that can provide shelter for the pests.
In addition, the location of water and food sources should be moved away from the building to deter pests from coming near them. This can include putting in an enclosed compost area, moving bird feeders and baths away from the house, and ensuring that all irrigation water is gathered in the morning instead of at night when nocturnal pests tend to be active.
Pests can spread diseases and contaminate food when they come into contact with it. They can also interfere with agricultural production by eating crops or destroying the crops’ seeds. This can lead to a loss of income for the farmers and reduced food supplies for consumers.
The three goals of pest control are prevention, suppression and eradication. Prevention is the most desirable goal because it is the only one that does not require a direct cost to achieve it. This is particularly true of outdoor pest control where the goal is to stop the pests before they become a problem. The other two goals are more costly and involve reducing the amount of harm caused by the pests to an acceptable level.
Suppression
Pests are organisms that damage plants or animals and may also injure people and pets. The goal of pest control is to prevent or reduce their numbers to an acceptable level. Pest control methods include prevention, suppression, eradication, and quarantine. Pests can be insects, rodents, or birds, and may damage crops, livestock, and property or spoil food and other supplies.
In addition to physical and chemical control measures, natural controls (e.g., weather or topography) limit the distribution of pests. Biological controls use predators and parasites to reduce pest populations. Chemical controls include fungicides, herbicides, insecticides, and other compounds. Cultural and behavioral controls make the environment less suitable for pests by changing food sources, shelter, or water availability. Physical and mechanical controls include traps, barriers, and caulking cracks. Regulatory controls, such as quarantine or eradication programs, require knowledge of local and state laws.
Threshold-based decision-making involves assessing the pest problem and environmental conditions to determine whether or not it requires action. For example, a few bees flying around the house infrequently do not usually warrant action, but a large infestation of Japanese beetles destroying a garden would be an indication that control is necessary.
Control methods should be used sparingly and carefully to reduce toxicity risks to people, pets, and the environment. Physical and behavioral techniques can be effective for small problems, and chemical controls can eliminate or suppress larger infestations. Preventive steps can include removing food sources, cleaning up trash and clutter, sealing cracks, and eliminating standing water.
Some pests, such as aphids, caterpillars, and beetles, are continuous pests that need regular attention. Others, such as mosquitoes and fleas, are sporadic or migratory and need only occasional control.
Climate affects pest populations directly by influencing the growth of their host plants and indirectly by affecting other factors that influence plant and animal behavior. Predators, parasites, and pathogens also affect pest populations. For example, nematodes attack aphids and other insects, and some fungi infect and kill plant diseases. Plant hormones such as juvenile hormones and pheromones also affect insect development. Understanding these forces and how they relate to pest management can help you develop and implement an effective control strategy.
Eradication
Using methods like traps, poisons or fumigation, pest control involves getting rid of a pest infestation. However, eradicating a pest problem goes beyond simply killing the current pests to keep them from coming back. To do this, you must find and eliminate the source of the problem. For example, if you have an infestation of mice, you must get to the root cause by finding and eliminating the rodents’ food supply, water or shelter in your home. Look for droppings, gnaw marks and nesting materials in drawers or other off-the-ground spaces. Mouse infestations can also pose a health risk, causing asthma attacks and other health problems, as well as doing significant damage to structures. Rodents can carry hantavirus, salmonella leptospirosis and other diseases and chew through drywall and other materials in your home.
A good pest management program will use prevention, suppression, and eradication methods in the right sequence for a particular situation. The goal is to maintain a balance between the benefits and costs of each type of control.
Pest control methods include cultural, biological, chemical and mechanical techniques. These may be applied on a local or regional basis. Cultural and biological control are generally less costly than chemical controls. However, they may not be as effective as chemical treatments.
When selecting a pest control service, be sure the company is licensed and insured. Also, make sure to read customer reviews and ask for references. The best pest control services will use integrated pest management methods, which are safer for people and the environment than standard chemical controls.
Keeping your property clean is the number one way to prevent pests from entering the house. Remove scraps of food from the outside of the house, and seal any cracks or holes that pests can enter through. Store foods in Tupperware or other containers that pests can’t access.
The term ‘eradicate’ means to drive out or destroy a pest infestation completely. Exterminate implies total extinction of the pest population by eliminating all living individuals of the species (as in ‘terminate’ rat extermination). Eradicate can also refer to the destruction of an entire area, for example, in removing weeds or brush from fields.
Monitoring
Pest monitoring involves checking a field, garden, forest, building or farm to determine what pests are present, how many of them there are and how much damage they are doing. This information allows you to decide whether or not a particular pest should be controlled, which control methods are best, and when to start using them. It also lets you know if you have reached the action threshold or the point at which control is required to prevent unacceptable damage or injury.
The identification of pests is the first step in developing an effective integrated pest management (IPM) strategy. It is done by scouting the land or facility, trapping or checking for insect-like pests, and inspecting weeds and vertebrate or mollusk pests. It can also be done by looking at the damage caused by a pest, and by recording observations on a chart or spreadsheet.
IPM programs focus on prevention, suppression and eradication of pests rather than reliance on chemical controls. However, some pests are considered a serious health hazard and must be controlled immediately, such as rodents in food facilities and flies or cockroaches in hospitals or other health care settings. In these situations, a zero tolerance policy is implemented and immediate, aggressive pest control measures are taken.
In many cases, IPM programs are used for routine pest control in commercial facilities and agricultural crops. They are also used to manage invasive plants and natural enemies of pests such as birds, earthworms, bees and dragonflies. They are based on an ecosystem approach that focuses on changing environmental conditions, using biological control and other non-chemical means to prevent pests from becoming a problem.
The best way to monitor a pest problem is to eliminate all possible entry points that insects, rodents and other pests can exploit. This includes making sure that doors, windows and vents close tightly and are well-sealed. It also means removing anything that might provide hiding places or attract pests, such as loose garbage, compost piles, or bird feeders. Eliminating these potential entry points can greatly reduce the need for regular, intensive pest control.