Identify the pest to determine what controls are available. Natural forces (climate, natural enemies) influence pest populations and may help or hinder control efforts.
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Pests can be a nuisance, damaging property and potentially posing health risks. The best way to control them is through prevention. Practicing preventative measures, such as regular inspections and preventing access to food, water, shelter and other necessary elements, can help to keep pest numbers low.
Preventative measures should be used in conjunction with eradication treatments, as both will contribute to keeping pest populations low. It’s important to know what pests are present and their habits, as this can help to determine the most effective preventative actions to take.
It is also helpful to be aware of the life cycle of a particular pest, as this can indicate whether it will require eradication treatment or if suppression may be sufficient. Knowing the lifespan and habits of a pest can also help to identify when they are most vulnerable.
Pests are attracted to a variety of things, including food, water, shelter and the presence of other pests that can serve as predators or competitors. Pests often enter buildings in search of these things, and this is why a preventative program should focus on reducing attractants.
This is possible by caulking cracks, sealing entry points and removing a variety of items that may serve as hiding places for pests, such as stacks of paper, cardboard and trash. In addition, it’s a good idea to regularly inspect and clean areas that are likely to be pest habitats, such as cafeterias and classrooms.
Clutter can also provide pests with breeding and breeding sites, so a routine cleaning program should be implemented to get rid of unnecessary items. It’s also a good idea to have a well-maintained landscaping program, to remove or trim tree limbs and other debris that can serve as entry points for pests.
It’s important to be aware that some pests are migratory and seasonal, so prevention measures will need to be adjusted accordingly. Taking advantage of seasonal preventive methods, such as installing screens, caulking gaps and removing leaf litter, can help to reduce the risk of pests throughout the year. However, even with the most robust preventative measures in place, it’s still common for pests to invade homes and businesses from time to time. This is where a combination of a prevention plan with an expertly conducted eradication treatment can offer the most effective solution.
Suppression
Pests must be controlled when they are present at unacceptable levels to protect the health, safety, and welfare of people and property. Control strategies focus on preventing pests from establishing an infestation, reducing the number of pests to an acceptable level, or eradicating an entire population. Preventive controls include avoiding or eliminating conditions that encourage pest infestations. Inspections and sanitation practices, such as cleaning areas where food is prepared and storing foods in sealed containers, can help prevent pests from entering buildings or yards.
Cultural pest control methods alter the environment or condition of cultivated plants to make them less attractive or desirable to pests. These include rotating crops, cultivating soil, varying times of planting or harvesting, and pruning, thinning, and fertilizing cultivated plants. The use of trap crops, pheromones, juvenile hormones, and other chemical manipulations can also reduce pest populations.
Mechanical or physical controls involve devices that physically trap or exclude pests, such as nets, barriers, and fences. Radiation, electricity, and changes in the amount of water or humidity can also control some pests.
Natural enemies, such as parasites and predators, sometimes control pests directly by attacking them or by competing with them for resources, limiting their growth or reproduction. Controlling the number or variety of these natural enemies can increase the effectiveness of biological pest control.
Chemicals, including herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides, can be used to kill or affect the life cycle of pests. These chemicals are usually applied to plants or their food sources and must be carefully selected and applied to achieve desired results with minimal damage to other organisms. Federal, state, and local pesticide laws and regulations help ensure that these chemicals are used responsibly and effectively.
Monitoring pests helps identify and predict when the pest population is increasing to unacceptable levels. Monitoring pests may be done by observing their behavior or through scientific methods, such as counting the number of eggs or larvae in an infestation or measuring the size of the damage caused to a plant or crop. Often, a threshold of damage or injury is established at which control measures are instituted.
Eradication
The goal of eradication is to reduce pest numbers to an acceptable level where they will not cause damage. Eradication is seldom a goal in outdoor pest control situations, but can be a realistic objective in some indoor settings, such as operating rooms and other sterile areas of health care facilities.
Eradication is based on accurate pest identification and understanding of the life cycle, damage potential, natural enemies, effects of weather, and other factors that influence pest activity. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is an approach that takes all these factors into account when developing a pest control program.
IPM combines preventive, suppression, and eradication strategies in an attempt to keep pest populations at or below damaging levels. This is a realistic goal for outdoor landscapes that are not continuously infested with continuous or sporadic pests; for example, a lawn that is periodically invaded by a weed such as Queen Anne’s lace (Daucus carota) can tolerate a few patches and still be considered healthy and attractive.
For invasive plants, IPM programs aim to deny them the food, shelter, and moisture they need to thrive. For example, mulching garden beds and placing shrubs where they can receive full sun deprives weed seeds of their needed nutrients and forces them to compete with desirable plants for space and sunlight.
IPM is also aimed at encouraging the growth of predators, parasitoids, or disease organisms that naturally control pests. For example, introducing the bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis to an environment where caterpillars are problematic can help control them by killing or reducing their population. The bacterium produces a toxin that destroys the caterpillar’s midgut, which kills or disables the insect and keeps its numbers down.
When modern pesticides were first developed, they were widely used for eradication of many insects and weeds. However, overuse of these chemicals resulted in the evolution of resistant pests, and it became clear that other methods of controlling pests were needed.
As an alternative to using more and more chemical pesticides, scientists began to develop IPM programs that incorporate all types of controls, including mechanical, cultural, biological, and chemical methods. These approaches are called “integrated” because they all work together to manage pests, not eradicate them. The goal is to cause as little harm as possible to landscape plants, other insects, and wildlife, and the environment in general.
Natural Forces
Natural forces, including predators, parasites, and pathogens, control pest populations to some extent. They are usually regulated by biotic (living) factors such as competition and food availability, and abiotic (non-living) factors such as weather and soil conditions. In general, the number of pests is reduced to an unacceptable level when a balance is achieved between them and their natural enemies.
The balance of nature can be disrupted, however, by human intervention. This may take the form of releasing natural enemies into an area to help reduce the numbers of pests, or introducing new enemies. Some examples of biological control include predatory birds, amphibians and reptiles that feed on insects; herbivorous weeds that damage the crop; and parasitoids and disease agents that kill the pests.
Most of these organisms are already in the environment, and they can have a great impact on pest numbers. They can be supplemented by releasing more of them (augmentation). Inundative releases of lady beetles, lacewings or parasitoids are recommended in many vegetable and field crops, and entomopathogenic nematodes are released at rates of millions and even billions per acre to control insect pests of grain and legumes.
Biological controls should be used only when the pest population is above an action threshold, when the harm caused by the pests exceeds what is acceptable, or when the occurrence of pests cannot be tolerated despite efforts to use cultural and physical methods that reduce their abundance and damage. These methods should be designed to avoid harm to other plants and animals, minimize the use of chemicals, and to allow the populations of natural enemies to catch up with the pests.
The goal of prevention is to keep pests from developing to the point where they cause economic damage or become a nuisance. This is accomplished through monitoring, establishing an action threshold and using a treatment strategy to reduce pest numbers below the threshold when possible. Pests should be controlled only when the cost of control is less than the cost of losing profits or the cost of repairing or replacing damaged goods.