Pests are unwanted organisms such as insects, rodents, nematodes, weeds, or diseases that damage crops, plants, or soil. They also displace native species and alter environmental factors such as nutrient content and available moisture.
Keeping your home clean can help keep pests away. Clutter, wood piles, and overgrown weeds provide hiding spots for pests and can lead to entry points. Contact Pest Control Ballwin MO now!
Preventive pest control involves foreseeing potential pest problems and taking steps to mitigate them before they become serious infestations. This includes removing the pests’ breeding grounds and food sources. It also involves preventing them from entering by caulking cracks, sealing holes, and reducing the number of places they can hide.
Vertebrate pests such as mice and rats carry dangerous bacteria that can be spread to surfaces and foods. Birds and mammals that frequent commercial properties can damage structures and leave droppings that are a health hazard if inhaled. Pests like ants, bees, and flies also transmit disease, contaminate food, and deteriorate buildings and lawns.
The climate can directly affect pests, as some species require certain environmental conditions for survival or growth. Rain, freezing temperatures and droughts kill or suppress some pests. Precipitation and weather can also indirectly affect pests by affecting the growth of their host plants, causing them to reproduce rapidly or have a decreased ability to sustain themselves.
Physical methods are those that physically block or trap pests, such as nets, barriers, traps and drenching. They may also include modifying the environment to make it less desirable, such as altering the amount of moisture, temperature or light that exists in a space.
Chemicals and natural repellents can help keep pests away, but they need to be used correctly. A pest control operator should always instruct property owners on how to use these products safely and effectively.
Structural preventive measures include eliminating the entry points for pests, such as repairing and caulking openings, keeping garbage cans tightly closed and removing trash regularly from outdoor spaces. It’s also important to keep yards, gardens and outdoor spaces tidy, as overgrowth can serve as hiding spots for many pests.
Cleaning food storage areas and removing clutter can further deter pests from infesting homes and businesses. Stored food should be kept in airtight containers. Counters, sinks and other surfaces should be wiped down regularly to prevent spilled food from becoming pest feeding grounds. Trash should be disposed of regularly, and property owners should be sure to know their waste collection day so that trash does not build up.
Suppression
The goal of suppression is to reduce pest numbers or damage to an acceptable level. Achieving this can be done through preventive methods or by implementing control strategies when the pest populations are already high. Control methods include natural, biological, chemical and cultural, as well as mechanical and physical controls.
Preventive measures reduce the environmental conditions that promote pest problems. These may include removing hospitable habitat, frequently cleaning areas where pests are likely to live, or introducing natural enemies that will feed on or kill target species to keep population sizes low. Chemicals can also be used to prevent pests from reaching threshold levels, such as by introducing a parasite that will kill the pest or by using a pesticide that is toxic to only the targeted pest.
When prevention or suppression fails, regulatory control is necessary. This involves the use of federal and state laws to improve management practices and prevent or prohibit pest spread. These laws usually require that the pest be identified and that the underlying conditions that lead to it be examined. For example, scouting or trapping may be needed to identify insect, vertebrate, and mollusk pests; plant diseases; and weeds.
Eradication is a rare goal in outdoor pest situations but is possible in certain enclosed environments such as homes, schools, offices, or food establishments. It is the aim when new invasive pests are introduced, such as Mediterranean fruit fly or gypsy moth in Florida citrus groves. This is usually done by regulatory agencies.
Biological, genetic, and mechanical controls can be implemented to help manage or reduce pests without the use of synthetic chemicals. Some examples of these are the use of pheromones (such as a manufactured copy of the pheromone that female insects release to attract males for mating) to interrupt reproduction, and the introduction of predators or other organisms that will feed on the pest. A simple example of a mechanical control is the addition of Boron to insulation, which will repel many common pests, including ants. This is a low-risk, EPA-registered pesticide that can be applied by licensed pest control professionals.
Eradication
While pest control focuses on killing the bugs that are currently infesting a house or business, eradication deals with preventing these insects and other critters from coming back. In order to do that, it is important to identify the pests’ entry points and eliminate their habitats. This can be done by regularly performing interior and exterior inspections for cracks, crevices and holes where pests might enter a home or business. It is also a good idea to replace loose-fitting door and window screens with new, tight ones, as well as patch any holes in foundations, roofs, weatherstripping, and spots where pipes and electrical lines enter buildings.
In addition to these preventive measures, it is important to clean areas that are often the site of pest problems. For example, indoor garbage containers should be lined with tightly fitting trash bags and washed out frequently to prevent pests from taking refuge in the bins’ contents. Outdoor trash receptacles should be stored away from building walls, and if possible, should be fitted with self-closing lids. In addition, all compost and recycling bins should be cleaned on a weekly basis to prevent pests from finding shelter and food in these materials.
For any eradication effort to be successful, the microbe’s reproductive rate must be controlled to below 1.0 and all independent reservoirs eliminated. This goal is easier said than done, since the biology of the microbe and the ecology of vectors, intermediary hosts, and human hosts are highly complex and vary widely throughout the world.
The word eradicate, which first appeared in English in the 16th century, is derived from the Latin verb eradicare, meaning “to uproot.” It may seem appropriate that the word has a root in uprooting, as it suggests a complete and permanent elimination of a problem, like yanking an unwanted weed out by its roots.
A key step in a successful eradication program is certification, whereby independent, respected parties verify the absence of disease transmission and the destruction of any microbe-infected human or animal host. This process is especially difficult for eradication programs that involve human populations, because the virus or bacteria must be tested and verified in people of all ages and from a variety of backgrounds and locations.
Treatment
Identifying and treating pest problems as they occur can prevent damage, limit health risks and minimize the need for expensive repairs. This is called proactive pest control.
Preventative treatments include caulking cracks, sealing windows and doors, and disposing of food and water sources that attract pests. Physical barriers such as fences, traps and baits can also be used to keep pests away.
Chemical controls are designed to kill or repel pests using substances such as insecticides, fungicides and herbicides. They can be sprayed or applied directly to plants or structures. Chemicals may be used in conjunction with other management methods, such as habitat modification or biological controls.
Other natural means of controlling pests involve enhancing or augmenting the activities of the pest’s natural enemies, such as parasites, predators and herbivores. This is called biocontrol. It can be accomplished by introducing more of the pest’s enemies into an area, or it can be achieved through genetically modifying the enemy organism to make it more effective at controlling the pest.
Pests such as rodents, cockroaches and mosquitoes can carry harmful bacteria, viruses and pathogens that cause illness in people and animals. Eliminating them from homes and preventing them from breeding in the garden can reduce these hazards to human and animal health.
Moreover, pests often leave behind a dirty environment. Cockroach droppings, feces and saliva can worsen indoor air quality, triggering asthma and other respiratory conditions. Dust mites and cockroach dander can also trigger allergic reactions in susceptible individuals.
There are many other ways that pests can affect our lives, whether they annoy or disturb us physically, such as a fierce or scary appearance (like spiders and silverfish) or biting or stinging behaviour (like mud dauber wasps and yellowjackets). They also spoil or stain items (like wood-boring beetles and carpenter ants) or cause diseases or eat or destroy plants and crops.
The most common way that we deal with pests is by killing or relocating them. This is called treatment. It can be done by using chemicals, physical controls or mechanical and biological means. Physical controls are things like removing rubbish, cleaning up debris and sealing entry points into buildings. Mechanical controls include things like traps, rodenticides and pheromones. The most drastic form of treatment is gassing, which involves pumping a building or room full of specialized pesticide gases.