Identify the pest to determine options for controlling it. Remove food sources (store garbage in tightly closed containers), shelter (keep vegetation trimmed away from the house), and water sources such as leaky plumbing.
Scout regularly and monitor pest numbers. A few ants or flies may not warrant action but a steady increase in their numbers might indicate that an exclusion strategy is needed. Contact Bridgewater Pest Control now!
Pest control is the attempt to prevent pests from damaging people’s homes, businesses or crops. It can also help protect the health and safety of the occupants. Pest control methods include prevention, suppression and eradication. Prevention is the most desirable method of pest control as it reduces the need for chemical treatments and minimizes environmental harm. Prevention is usually accomplished by keeping pests away or by removing conditions that attract them. This may involve sanitary practices, sanitation, removal of food debris or storing food in containers with tight-fitting lids. It may also be achieved by using barriers, screens, traps and fences. Other techniques, such as modifying the environment through watering, soil amendments, light and temperature changes, can be used to alter pest behavior or suppress their numbers.
Some pests are continuous and require ongoing control, while others are sporadic or migratory and require periodic treatment. Predicting which pests will be a problem can often be done by evaluating their history and current circumstances.
Rodents, insects, plant diseases and other pests can damage the appearance, value or utility of buildings, crops, livestock and human beings. Some pests are especially threatening because they spread disease or cause other serious health problems. For example, cockroaches are a significant health concern because they carry allergens that can trigger asthma attacks in people. Several common insect pests, such as ants, ticks and fleas, are known to transmit diseases that affect humans or pets. In addition, rats and mice can gnaw through electrical wires, creating a fire hazard and damaging the structure of buildings.
Properly managing pests can greatly improve the quality of life for a community or business’s occupants. For example, eliminating an infestation of cockroaches can significantly lower the risk of food poisoning, and maintaining a pest-free facility can save time and money by reducing cleaning and repair costs.
Pests such as wood-eating pests, termites and rodents can wreak havoc on the structural integrity of buildings, leading to costly repairs. Likewise, pests such as moths and carpet beetles can destroy furnishings and clothing, while burrowing pests such as rats and ground squirrels can damage foundations and create underground tunnels that pose a fire hazard.
Suppression
Pests can cause serious health risks, damage property and threaten food supply. They can also spread diseases, contaminate the environment and affect the quality of indoor air in residential and commercial buildings. While we must tolerate a certain level of pests, our tolerance for them should never be zero.
Controlling a pest population requires understanding its size, life cycle and behavior. This will determine how and when to use control methods. There are different pest control techniques for each type of pest. Some require the use of chemicals while others are more natural and can be used without damaging the surrounding ecosystem. For example, a baiting system might be more effective for cockroaches while trapping is a good method for mice.
Monitoring is important for determining whether or not a pest problem exists and is getting out of hand. This can be done through trapping, scouting or visual inspection. For example, insect, insect-like, mollusk and vertebrate pests can be monitored by trapping or scouting while weed and plant pests are usually surveyed by manually inspecting sites. Monitoring can be seasonal, with a threshold limit set in advance, or continuous. The latter is especially common in hospitals, where there is a zero tolerance for the presence of bacteria in operating rooms and other sterile areas.
Many pests have natural enemies that can control their numbers through predation, parasitism and herbivory. This approach is called biological control. It can also include releasing more natural enemies than occur naturally, either in small, repeated batches or in a single large-scale release. Pheromones, juvenile hormones and other substances can be used to augment the effects of these natural organisms.
Some devices and machines can alter the environment enough to suppress pests, such as traps, screens, fences, radiation and netting. Altering the amount of water and modifying light levels can also be helpful. In some cases, pheromones can be used to confuse male pests and prevent them from mating with females, which can reduce populations quickly. In addition, fungicides and other chemicals can be used to kill or sterilize pests.
Eradication
Eradication is the permanent removal of a pest species to an extent that prevents it from recolonizing the area. Examples of eradication include the eradication of screwworms from cattle and of gypsy moth from trees. Eradication methods are more expensive than prevention and suppression, and they require ongoing monitoring and treatment. Eradication is not always feasible or desirable, especially if the target species is a threat to human health, welfare or economic interests. Eradication should be performed only when other management strategies have failed, and even then it is a risky strategy.
Preventive measures are economical and environmentally responsible and reduce the conditions that promote pest infestations. Frequently cleaning areas where pests are likely to live and promptly applying control measures while pest numbers are low reduce the potential for new infestations. Suppression methods reduce pest activity and population growth by controlling the conditions that favor them, while control measures kill or suppress the pests themselves. Eradication is most effective on a small scale and requires ongoing preventive measures to ensure that the targeted pest does not reestablish itself in the area.
Chemical pest control uses a variety of substances, often called active ingredients, applied to pests or their food to kill or disrupt them. These substances are in the broad category of pesticides, which also includes herbicides, fungicides, rodenticides and larvicides. They must be studied and approved for use by federal and state agencies to ensure that they are safe for humans, plants and animals. Proper application, equipment cleaning and environmental disposal techniques are vital for limiting the adverse effects of pesticides.
Biological pest control utilizes predators, parasites and disease organisms that ordinarily occur in nature to reduce or eliminate pest species. For example, the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis produces a toxin that destroys caterpillars. Biological pest control relies on the natural enemies of the pest to reduce its numbers, and it generally does not achieve eradication.
Mechanical and physical pest control methods modify or remove the conditions that promote infestations, such as digging weeds, sterilizing soil and blocking access to plant roots by removing or modifying barriers. These methods are usually less expensive than chemical controls and can be more ecologically sound. They can also be used in combination with chemical and biological controls to achieve optimum results.
Natural Forces
Various natural forces act on all organisms, raising and lowering their populations. These forces include climate, availability of food and water, barriers and competition for these resources. It is not always possible to control the action of these forces, but their effect should be taken into account in pest management decisions.
Several different methods of natural control can be used to reduce or eliminate pests. These methods may be applied in combination with one another or independently of each other. Some examples of these controls are natural enemies (predators, parasitoids and pathogens), habitat manipulation, cultural practices and mechanical and physical control.
Natural enemies injure or consume pests to reduce their population size. These natural enemies are found throughout the environment and are adapted to the pests they target. They are a critical part of the biological control system, but can be disrupted by broad-spectrum pesticides or other types of chemicals that kill beneficial organisms as well as the pests.
The presence of natural enemies in the garden can be enhanced by providing them with adequate food, water and shelter. For example, a garden planted with flowers and vegetables that attract predatory insects and hover flies can provide a great natural control to pests in the vegetable garden. Fern-leaf yarrow (Achillea filipendulina), dill (Anthemis nobilis) and carrots are plants that attract a wide variety of predatory insects to the garden. Other natural enemies include birds, toads and spiders that prey on insect pests.
Habitat manipulation can also be a natural control method by making it difficult for pests to live and thrive in the environment. This includes removing debris and reducing access to food, water and shelter for them. It also means repairing leaky pipes and reducing the amount of moisture in crawl spaces and basements that can attract certain pests such as roaches and mosquitoes.
Cultural controls are the practices used to limit or alter environmental factors that support pest infestations. These practices can be used in combination with other natural or organic pest control measures. Examples of cultural controls include changing soil cultivation practices, using resistant varieties and incorporating biological control agents.