Preventing pests usually involves blocking their food, water, and shelter access. Examples include sealing doors and windows, keeping firewood stacks away from houses, and repairing leaky pipes.
Biological controls, such as the release of natural enemies or sterile insects, are sometimes used to prevent or suppress pests. This is particularly true in enclosed areas, where eradication may be more feasible than outdoors. Contact Pest Control Simi Valley CA now!
Pest control techniques include preventive measures to stop infestations from occurring, and control strategies once a pest is present. Preventative measures include pest proofing, or creating barriers to entry; removing food and water sources and shelter; and destroying nests or other hiding places. Control methods vary by pest and by environment. The most effective approaches combine prevention, suppression and eradication.
Preventive measures are the best way to keep pests out of your home and garden. Some techniques are easy to do, such as using screens in windows and keeping doors closed; cleaning up crumbs and spills immediately; and regularly sweeping the floors and vacuuming carpets.
Other techniques are less obvious but equally important, such as modifying the environment to make it unattractive to pests. For example, keep woodpiles away from the house; trim back bushes and trees to avoid them touching the roof or foundation; and fix leaky pipes or fixtures. In addition, clean up trash and debris often to deprive rodents and other pests of their hiding places.
In gardens, make sure all plantings are healthy and the soil is properly nourished. Avoid over-watering, which can attract fungus, disease and other problems. Incorporate crop rotation to minimize the emergence of new pests and diseases.
Some pests are primarily nuisance pests, and their numbers can be controlled with simple steps to deprive them of food, water or shelter. Other pests are harmful to humans or animals and may need more aggressive controls. Eradication is rarely attempted in outdoor settings, but can be a goal when a certain pest has become established, such as with Mediterranean fruit fly, gypsy moths and fire ants.
Chemicals can be a valuable part of pest control, but only when used correctly. Sprays of any kind should be used sparingly and only in targeted areas where other control methods have failed. Read and follow all instructions and safety warnings on pesticide labels. Use ready-to-use baits or traps whenever possible, and never spray anything that can be reached by children and pets. Also, when using a pesticide, be sure it is diluted appropriately and not applied directly to skin or eyes.
Suppression
In food processing environments, pests may cause a number of problems. These include: biological/physical contamination with faeces and other droppings, damage to equipment and storage areas, introduction of disease-causing organisms (such as intestinal worms and bacterial pathogens) and the direct consumption or damage of the products by rodents, insects and other pests. The presence of pests can also reduce product quality and spoilage. In general, a pest problem is considered unacceptable when it poses an unacceptable risk to human health and/or property. This is why many people will take action to control pests, even if there are only a few of them present. This approach is called responsive prevention.
Suppression techniques are generally aimed at reducing pest numbers to tolerable levels. They can include exclusion, quarantine, repulsion and physical removal, as well as biological controls such as sterile insect release, pheromones and juvenile hormones.
Some pests are able to reproduce at high rates and therefore can quickly reach damaging or intolerable numbers. For example, in many orchards the number of mite pests and greenhouse whitefly is controlled by natural enemies. These natural enemies are either native or imported and conserved, augmented or released to suppress the pest populations. Examples of this are the nematodes that destroy the harmful soil grubs in orchards and the wasp that parasitizes the greenhouse whitefly.
Clutter provides places for pests to breed and hide and can also restrict air flow around and through the area. It is important to remove clutter, especially near buildings and in gardens. This can be done through regular cleaning and weeding, caulking cracks and crevices, and using steel wool to fill spaces in pipes. It is also important to keep garbage and compost bins away from the building and to prevent the movement of firewood that might be infested with tree-killing insects or pathogens.
It is important to consider the costs and benefits of each tactic before implementing it in an IPM system. The goal should be to select the most cost effective strategy that will cause the least harm to people and the environment.
Eradication
Eradication techniques differ from control and suppression in that eradication is meant to be permanent. These efforts require the participation of multiple communities at local, regional and global levels. They may also involve collaboration with the private sector and national and international agencies. Eradication programs are complex and expensive. Their success depends on rigorous evaluation and testing, including monitoring and surveillance, and on identifying and responding to resistance or other problems.
Biological eradication uses natural enemies to kill or inhibit pests by targeting their reproductive, digestive or other life stages. Suitable natural enemies must be identified, studied, and collected in a way that does not harm native species that are not pests or other natural enemies of the target pest. The enemies are then carefully released, with attention to the timing of the enemy and pest cycles and to the habitats in which the enemies can survive. The enemy population must be monitored to make sure it is growing and not being overwhelmed by the target pest.
Physical traps, netting, and other barriers may be used to block a pest’s access to humans or their food sources. The use of traps and netting requires careful consideration since they can cause injuries to people or pets. It is a good idea to contact a professional pest control technician when using these methods.
Chemical pest control uses solutions to destroy or repel pests. These chemicals may be sprayed or injected into the environment. They are usually the fastest method of controlling pests, but they can have damaging effects on the environment and human health if not properly applied and disposed of.
Homeowners can help prevent pest infestations by sealing entry points and repairing damage, storing food in airtight containers, sweeping and vacuuming frequently, wiping down surfaces and using dehumidifiers in damp areas to eliminate water sources that attract pests. In addition, integrated pest management (IPM) strategies combine physical, biological and chemical controls to manage pest populations with the least disturbance to the environment. For example, planting a trap crop like zinnias to lure Japanese beetles makes it easier to find and remove the beetle nest.
Treatment
If preventive measures fail to control pests, or the damage they cause becomes too great, treatment methods may be used. The purpose of treating a pest is to reduce the level of the problem to an acceptable level, without harming other living things. Treatment options include prevention, suppression and eradication.
In general, any living organism that damages or interferes with the availability of food, water, shelter, or other vital resources is considered a pest. This includes plants such as weeds, animals such as rats, and microorganisms such as fungi, bacteria and viruses. Pests can also be a threat to human health, both directly (by transmitting disease) and indirectly (by polluting or spoiling the environment).
Most pest control techniques involve some form of physical contact. This can be mechanical, such as traps or plowing of soil, or chemical, such as sprays and baits. Biological controls, where natural enemies of the pest are introduced to help control them, can also be an important part of pest control. This can be achieved through predation, parasitism, or herbivory, for example by introducing lady beetles, lacewings and wasps to a garden to naturally control aphids, mites, and flies, or by breeding predatory fish in ponds to feed on pests such as crayfish and shrimp.
Chemical controls can be particularly damaging to the environment if the wrong products are used or they are not applied correctly. For example, over 5 million tons of chemical insecticides are used each year worldwide to control pest insects and aphids, but they are often harmful to many non-target invertebrates as well.
To avoid the need for pesticides, make sure that areas to be treated are thoroughly cleaned and free of rubbish. In homes, this may mean removing tin cans, plastic bags and other items that could serve as hiding places for pests, as well as making sure that food is tightly covered. In addition, before applying surface sprays, open windows to clear the air and ensure that children and pets are not in the area. Finally, always read and follow pesticide labels carefully to reduce the risk of exposure.
