Learning about the pests you have and your options for controlling them is a good start. Also, ask friends and family about their experiences with pest control companies.
Threshold-based decision-making is a useful approach to managing pests. For example, a few wasps visiting the garden every day may not require action. Click https://www.highrockpestcontrol.com/ to learn more.
Identification is the first step in any pest control program. It provides important information about a particular pest, including what it eats, how often, what environmental and harborage conditions it prefers, how long it lives and when it is most susceptible to being controlled. Without accurate pest identification, many attempts to control a pest will fail because the wrong treatment or approach will be used.
Accurate pest identification requires close observation of the problem and careful attention to detail. This is why field scouting (observing a crop at different stages of development to identify weed, insect and disease problems) is an essential practice in integrated pest management. Insects must be identified to species level in order to select an appropriate biological insecticide, such as Bacillus thuringiensis. It is also necessary to determine if a pest is continuous, sporadic or a potential future problem in order to develop a pest monitoring and detection strategy and to decide on the most effective control methods to use.
In addition, the correct identification of a pest allows the selection of an effective control tactic that will cause the least disruption to living organisms and nonliving surroundings at the treatment site. Using an inappropriate control tactic or overusing one will likely lead to increased resistance in the target organism or other unintended impacts.
The simplest way to begin pest identification is to carefully examine the pest and note its characteristics, such as shape, color, size, number of legs or wings and whether it has an antennae. Then, using an insect or weed guide, compare the pest’s characteristics to those of the various species identified in the guide and click on the category that most closely matches the pest. Using this method of identification, the pest can be quickly and accurately determined. Several good insect and weed identification guides are available online. Also, your county Extension office or university may have reference materials.
Pest Control Methods
Integrated Pest Management, or IPM, is a process that allows you to control pests in a manner that minimizes risk to people, property and the environment. This is accomplished through a combination of physical, biological and chemical methods.
The first step in IPM is to identify the pest that’s causing problems. This is done by scouting or trapping. This will give you a good idea of the number of pests and how they’re spreading. It will also help you determine the best course of action to take.
Physical pest control involves removing the food and water sources that make a place attractive to the pest. This can include putting screens on windows to keep insects out of houses, erecting fences to keep rodents away from gardens and removing waste material that provides nesting sites.
Chemical pest control uses substances that kill or inhibit the growth of a pest, and may be natural products, synthetic mimics of natural products or chemicals designed specifically for the pest at hand. Examples of chemicals used in pest control are insecticides, herbicides and rodenticides. Insecticides are used to kill flying insects, such as mosquitoes and other biting flies. Rodenticides are used to kill rats, mice and other rodents. Fogging with special ULV (Ultra Low Volume) machines can be used to disperse insecticide over large areas, killing many adult insects.
Biological pest control is the use of organisms that naturally control pests through predation, parasitism or herbivory. Often, these organisms are bred in the laboratory and then released into the field to augment natural enemies that occur there. This is a sustainable form of pest control, and can be very effective against resistant pests.
Using trap crops, such as zinnias for Japanese beetles, is another way to manage pests. By concentrating the pests in one area, they can be killed more easily with a small amount of insecticide. Monitoring a field, garden or other site means checking for and identifying pests on a regular basis, and assessing the numbers of them and any damage they’ve caused. Monitoring can also involve observing weather conditions, such as temperature and moisture levels, which might affect pest populations.
Pest Prevention
Pests can cause many problems for humans and other creatures. They can also damage property and contaminate food and water sources. They can also spread diseases such as hantavirus, leptospirosis, and Salmonella. So it’s important to identify and control them. The most effective way is to use preventative methods. This involves eliminating the conditions that attract pests and preventing them from accessing your home or business.
Look for and seal cracks and crevices that can serve as entry points for pests. Also be sure to caulk around the bottom of doors and windows. It’s also a good idea to put door sweeps on all interior and exterior doors to make sure they seal tightly against thresholds. Inspect window screens and replace worn sections to eliminate openings. Be sure to double-seal all cable, heating and plumbing passages through walls with caulk and foam, too.
Keep your yard clean and trimmed to remove roosting places and food sources for pests such as rodents and wildlife. Store piles of firewood away from your home, as these can attract termites. Trim and prune tree limbs that touch your house to eliminate easy highways of access to the roofline and other parts of your home.
Eliminate the water that pests thrive in by draining and cleaning up puddles. This will also help to reduce the risk of mold and mildew. Also, ensure all leaking pipes are promptly repaired.
Inspect and Clean Storage Areas – Be sure to periodically clean out closets, attics, and other storage areas that are rarely used. This can prevent spiders and other pests from building nests in these inconspicuous locations.
Be sure to regularly vacuum, sweep and mop your floors to remove crumbs and spills that can attract pests. Clean your garbage bins on a regular basis to eliminate the food sources that pests are drawn to.
Integrated pest management, or IPM, is the best approach to managing pests in urban, agricultural and wildland and natural areas. It relies on monitoring and removing environmental conditions that encourage pests to live near your property, such as water, food, shelter, and structure access.
Pest Eradication
When pests threaten human health, damage plants or destroy buildings, eradication may be required. This involves the systematic destruction of all stages of a pest’s life cycle to stop it from growing or reproducing, and usually requires monitoring and follow-up treatment to ensure that the pest has indeed been eliminated.
The decision to eradicate a pest should be taken only when the benefits of eradication exceed the costs. The first step in determining the feasibility of an eradication programme is to identify the pest. This identification should be based on the evidence available at the time of the decision, and should consider the biology of the pest, its capacity to spread, the impact it will have and how phytosanitary measures could limit its movement.
Eradication programmes can be either reactive (to eliminate a pest that is already established in an area) or proactive (to establish a pest-free zone). The decision to initiate a reactionary eradication programme should be based on the evidence that the pest poses a significant threat to humans, animals, property or the environment. This information should be derived from surveillance, general or specific surveys and reports to NPPOs (see ISPM 6).
Contingency plans should be in place to address pests with the potential to enter areas where an eradication programme is not feasible or desirable, such as those that have been introduced into areas with similar ecological features to the host country where they originated. These plans should be reviewed and updated as appropriate, taking into consideration changes in the biology of the pest, changes in phytosanitary management and in the costs and benefits of eradication.
Physical and biological methods are often preferred to chemical control. These include animal traps, sticky cards, removing or spraying plants with water to knock off pests such as aphids and mites, mulching, or installing physical barriers like fences or nets to exclude pests from areas where they are not wanted.
Biological control involves the use of a pest’s natural enemies such as parasites, predators or pathogens. This can be done by releasing more of the enemy to control the population or by introducing new enemies that were not previously present. Biological control also includes methods that are genetically modified, such as the production and release of sterile males or the use of pheromones to disrupt a pest’s breeding process.