Pests can damage plants and crops, contaminate water supplies, or spread diseases. In homes and some commercial buildings, they can chew through electrical wires, eat furnishings, or strip insulation.
Accurate identification is the first step in a pest control program. Barriers and exclusion methods work best when predicting a pest’s movements. Contact Pest Control Tarzana now!
The first step in any pest control program is accurate identification of the problem. This includes determining which species are present, their numbers and when they reach threshold levels that indicate the need for control. It is also necessary to identify a pest’s food sources, preferred environmental and shelter conditions and life cycles.
Correct pest identification makes it easier to develop effective preventative strategies that do not involve harmful chemicals or unnecessary risks to people and the environment. Often pest problems are caused by a combination of factors, such as poor housekeeping, improper storage practices and inadequate sanitation, along with unsuitable habitats and climate that attract or sustain certain pest populations. Depending on the type of pest, identification can also help to determine what cultural controls are most appropriate for an infestation.
Identification can be done visually or by collecting a sample for laboratory analysis. For example, insect identification is usually based on shape, color, size and other physical characteristics. In addition, the presence of eggs, frass (excrement), or other signs of pest activity are important clues. Observation of the behavior of the pest, such as the way it moves and where it nests or feeds can also provide important information.
Pests are usually classified into orders or families. Some biological pesticides, like Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), are formulated to be effective against specific insect orders. It is therefore critical to know the order of a pest when selecting a Bt product or other biological control agent. Similarly, some insecticides are formulated to be effective against specific pests or groups of pests.
Many excellent resources exist for aiding in pest identification. For example, Insects Limited has numerous identification aids for pests that infest stored products, museum collections and tobacco around the world. Other good sources of information are the library and reference literature or staff entomologists at your county extension office. UF/IFAS has developed a distance diagnostic and identification system, called DDIS, which allows county Extension faculty, state specialists, clinic and lab diagnosticians and external experts to assist their clientele with rapid pest identification and diagnosis.
Prevention
Prevention is a proactive response to pests, with the goal of keeping them out rather than reacting after they’ve arrived. This is generally achieved by regular inspections of a building and the removal of conditions that attract pests, such as food, water, shelter or breeding sites. In commercial settings, this can include inspecting foodstuffs arriving at a warehouse or facility, sealing cracks in walls and foundations, removing food scraps promptly from the premises, and maintaining good sanitation practices to avoid pest-attracting garbage.
Identifying the early signs of pest problems and reporting them to a pest control operator is also important in preventive maintenance. For example, seeing spider webs in corners, rust-colored staining on mattresses and linen, or small bite marks on exposed skin all indicate pest activity. Regularly checking eaves and attics for signs of wasp or bees’ nests, and regularly emptying trash cans are other indicators that preventive measures are working.
It is generally considered appropriate to control pests when they cause or are expected to cause more harm than is reasonable to accept, taking into account the impact of the pest on wider habitat and food chains. It is also important to consider the risks to human health that pests can pose — some carry disease, while others can sting or bite.
Regular pest management programs will not only provide peace of mind that pests are being controlled, but will also preserve the value of your home or business by minimising damage and repair costs. They’ll help you sleep soundly without being disturbed by the scurry of rodents in the wall or the whining of flies in your ear.
Some people are concerned about the use of pesticides, especially if they’re young children or elderly family members who may be more sensitive to their effects. However, it is possible to reduce the risks of exposure by using fewer and more targeted pesticide applications (e.g. surface sprays used in out-of-the-way places along skirting boards), and by removing or covering food, utensils and personal items before the treatment takes effect. Similarly, it’s important to ensure that any baits or traps are placed in areas where they won’t be accessed by humans and animals.
Suppression
Suppression refers to reducing pest numbers or damage to an acceptable level. It is usually done using a combination of prevention, monitoring, and suppression strategies. Monitoring involves searching for, identifying, and assessing the numbers of insect, insect-like, mollusk, and vertebrate pests as well as weeds. It can also include checking environmental conditions, such as temperature and moisture levels. For example, soil temperature can affect a plant’s ability to absorb nutrients, which can influence its growth rate and resistance to pests.
Suppressive practices can include physical barriers, such as netting over small fruits and screening in greenhouses, and mulch to inhibit weed germination beneath desirable plants. Cultural controls can also be employed, such as plowing to deprive slugs and snails of their hiding places, and changing irrigation schedules to reduce wet, highly humid periods that encourage disease pests.
Biological control includes predators, parasitoids, and pathogens that suppress or destroy pest populations. Ideally, biological control agents should be chosen that are specific to the species of pest that needs controlling. However, this is difficult because of the large number of different species of natural enemies that exist, and also because of the complex interactions between them and the pests they target.
Many bacterial, fungal, and viral pathogens can cause diseases in plants, insects, and other organisms. Some pathogens attack only one organism at a time; others, such as nematodes, can infect multiple organisms simultaneously. Some pathogens cause diseases that are a threat to human health.
A key to successful biological control is the selection and release of effective natural enemies. This requires an extensive understanding of the biology of both the pest and the natural enemy. Biological control is often a more complex strategy than chemical pesticides, and it may take longer to produce results. For example, natural enemy populations must be built up and maintained over a long period of time, so that they can reach a stable population size before they can effectively suppress a pest population. In other cases, biological control agents are released on a more immediate basis, either as a spray or inundatively.
Eradication
Eradication is the effort to totally eliminate a pest species from an area. This is usually done when the damage caused by the pest is so severe that it cannot be tolerated. Examples of this are the removal of bacteria in operating rooms and other sterile areas in health care facilities and the eradication of gypsy moths and other wood-boring beetles. Eradication is often accomplished through spraying of insecticides. Accurate identification is necessary for a successful eradication program. The wrong species of insect may be sprayed, or the timing of the application may affect success. In addition, the presence of non-pest insects in the same area at the time of a spraying can result in the failure of the treatment to control the pest population.
It is important to note that the status of a particular species as a pest can change over time and from place to place. For example, a few Japanese beetles on a grapevine might not be an issue, but an infestation that skeletonizes the leaves and ruins the fruit would not be tolerated. A pest can also be controlled by reducing the availability of its food sources, as in removing or preventing the planting of crops that are attractive to the pest. The occurrence of predators or parasitoids in an environment can also reduce pest populations.
Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is a system of managing pests through the use of natural enemies, cultural practices that reduce pest abundance and damage, and the selective use of chemical controls. The goal is to reduce the need for pesticides, and when they are used, to minimize their negative effects on human health and the environment.
One of the major issues with pest control is the development of resistance to pesticides. This results from the fact that natural enemies are usually eliminated or damaged by pesticides and their residues. Rotating pesticides, and using them in a manner that does not disrupt natural enemies, can reduce the chances of developing resistance.
The word eradicate comes from the Latin root eradicatus, meaning to uproot, as in pulling up an unwanted weed by the roots. It is appropriate, then, that this method of controlling pests should take its name from the literal meaning of the word.