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Preventing pests from entering a space is the best way to reduce damage. Control methods can include suppression, eradication, and biological processes like sterilization programs. Contact Rodent Retreat now!

Pests cause harm by contaminating food, spreading disease, damaging property, or destroying plants. Some pests, such as rodents and roaches, carry bacteria and viruses that can make people sick. Others, like beetles and termites, can damage buildings or wood products. Pests also rob the soil of nutrients and can reduce crop yields. Preventing pests involves keeping them out and off, or at least reducing their numbers. This can be done through scouting and monitoring, using cultural methods, physical means, or chemical treatments.

Prevention is often the first step in pest control, because it reduces the need for more-intensive approaches. For example, telling customers to remove clutter from their homes can prevent rodents and insects from breeding in those spaces. Similarly, caulking cracks and crevices and eliminating places where pests can hide can help prevent them from getting inside. Proper storage of food can also prevent pests from finding it. Storing foods in containers with tight seals can stop ants and other pests from getting to leftovers on a counter or in a pantry. And regularly wiping down surfaces can eliminate sticky residues that attract pests.

Monitoring means observing and identifying pests, and recording what they do. This information is used to decide whether to take action. The goal of control is to reduce the number of pests to an acceptable level, with as little disturbance of the environment as possible. Threshold-based decision making refers to scouting and monitoring: a few flies or wasps around a home or business probably don’t warrant action, but seeing them every day or in increasing numbers may indicate that they need to be controlled.

Observing and monitoring helps determine what type of control is needed, and how and when to implement it. This process is known as integrated pest management (IPM).

IPM emphasizes preventing or limiting the use of toxic chemicals. It includes inspection, identification, monitoring, and scouting of pests. It also encourages using physical, cultural, and chemical controls that are the most environmentally responsible. It is important to know about a pest’s biology and ecology when designing a control strategy, because this knowledge can help reduce the potential for off-target effects.

Suppression

In some cases, the pest problem is so severe that immediate action is needed to prevent damage or spread. Control tactics may involve killing the pests directly or making the environment unsuitable for them. For example, traps for rodents and screens in greenhouses can prevent insect pests from damaging plants. Mulches and steam sterilization of soil can inhibit weed growth. Physical barriers such as netting or grid wires can also be used for termite, house fly and vertebrate pest control. Sanitation practices can also prevent the spread of pests. For example, removing food debris from fields and gardens reduces attractants; frequent garbage pickup prevents mice from living in or near buildings; and careful transport of firewood eliminates carryover of tree-killing insects.

Some plant-eating insects have natural enemies such as predators, parasitoids and pathogens that limit their numbers. It is sometimes possible to increase the population of these natural enemies by introducing them from other locations where they occur, but this requires careful consideration of the biology of the pest and the potential for unintended consequences (e.g. negative impact on native species that are not pests, or the effect of the introduced enemies on other populations of natural enemies).

Predictive models can help determine when an introduction of new natural enemies is warranted. Biological control is usually not eradication; rather it is the stabilization of pest populations to below damaging levels.

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is an approach that takes advantage of all available techniques to reduce pest problems as much as possible while limiting damage and hazards. IPM includes prevention, monitoring, threshold-based decision-making and resistance management.

Pesticides are usually only used when other controls are not effective. However, the use of pesticides must be judicious to avoid excessive and unnecessary application. The most important principle of IPM is the use of “threshold-based decision-making”. For example, a few wasps hovering around your home are not a pest problem that requires any intervention; but hundreds of wasps invading your yard are a nuisance that does require action.

Preventive tactics include scouting and monitoring, habitat manipulation, modification of cultural practices, and the use of resistant varieties. Monitoring involves checking the intensity and frequency of pest infestations, signs of pest resistance, and the effectiveness of netting or other barriers. The goal is to develop an integrated pest management strategy that will reduce the need for pesticides.

Eradication

Pests can cause serious damage to buildings, crops, and the environment. They also pose health risks and can contaminate food. Therefore, it is important to take steps to eliminate them. There are a number of different pest control methods, including eradication, suppression, and prevention. In addition, there are biological pest control methods that do not require the use of chemicals.

Physical methods include denying the pests shelter, food, or water. For example, removing leaf litter can prevent rodents from burrowing under it to nest. Sealing cracks and crevices can help keep cockroaches and other insects from entering the home. Replacing rotting floorboards can help prevent termites from infesting them. And putting up barriers can stop mosquitoes from breeding around the house and attacking people.

If physical methods do not stop pests from invading a home, business, or garden, the next step is to use traps and baits to kill them. These are generally safer than sprays, and they are usually targeted at specific pest species instead of indiscriminately killing everything in sight. Examples of these include using sticky traps around windowsills to catch ants; spreading diatomaceous earth along baseboards to dehydrate roaches; and spraying vinegar solutions on ant trails.

Another option for controlling pests is to introduce beneficial organisms that can replace or supplement natural predators and parasites. Biological pest control is usually less expensive than chemical treatment, and it does not leave harmful residues in the environment. It can also be used in gardens, where it is not a threat to pollinating insects that are necessary for plant production.

While many pests carry diseases that can be spread to humans, pathogens are typically bacteria or viruses that can deteriorate plants or make people sick. Pathogens can be introduced to the environment through pests like rats and cockroaches, or they may travel from person to person. For example, a rat can carry dangerous bacteria from rotting garbage to surfaces in homes, and viruses can be transmitted through flies or mosquitoes. Eradicating the pests that carry these pathogens is essential to protect human health.

Integrated Pest Management (IPM)

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is an approach that uses traditional and non-traditional methods to control pests. Its long term goal is to reduce the use of pesticides and achieve better yields, while preserving natural resources such as soil and water.

IPM incorporates scientific research to help determine the causes of pest infestation, and then develops long-term prevention methods. This can include the changing of cultural practices, the addition of beneficial insects, and a reduction in the amount of water that is applied to crops. IPM also utilizes a wide range of controls including physical or mechanical, biological, and chemical control.

The first step in an IPM program is problem assessment or scouting to find out whether the current pest population is damaging the crop. This is important because not every pest should be controlled. A threshold level is established, and enhanced control measures are used when it is reached. IPM programs also focus on the introduction of natural enemies to the environment, such as nematodes or predators, which are more effective at controlling pests than synthetic insecticides.

Other preventative techniques include the planting of resistant plant varieties, crop rotation, mowing and mulching to reduce habitat, and introducing plants that attract beneficial organisms. In addition, a variety of practical physical controls can be employed, such as stretching netting over berry bushes to prevent birds from plucking your bounty, or simply putting out baits such as Amdro Gopher Traps to stop destructive rodents.

In addition to these methods, IPM programs use a number of traditional or synthetic pesticides. These include Sevin brand insecticides, which have been trusted by generations of gardeners to provide reliable, safe, and effective control of many common pests.

IPM programs are ongoing and reevaluated as conditions change. For example, the weather and the plant population will alter how well a particular IPM plan works, so it is important to check back in on the situation on a regular basis. It is also a good idea to keep records of previous treatments to make future decisions easier.