Pests are organisms that harm plants, animals or people. Bakersfield Pest Control program aims to reduce the number of pests to a level that does not cause unacceptable harm.
Preventive measures include removing food, water and shelter sources; caulking cracks; preventing moisture; and keeping facilities clean. When preventive measures fail, controlling pests may require the use of chemicals.
There are preventive measures that can be taken to keep pests out, which is a proactive form of pest control. These include keeping buildings and food storage areas clean, storing trash in tightly closed containers, and removing waste from the area regularly. These preventive measures, when combined with treatments, will provide a more effective pest control program that saves money in the long run and is safer for workers and family members.
Prevention can also involve the use of traps, screens, barriers and physical controls that enclose or alter the pests’ environment. This includes blocking holes and crevices in walls, caulking cracks, and filling holes with steel wool or wire mesh. Devices that are powered by electricity, radiation or heat can also be used to disrupt the pests’ normal activities and prevent them from breeding or spreading.
A pest infestation can not only cause damage to the property, but it may also put humans and pets at risk for disease. Pests such as cockroaches and rodents are known to spread bacteria that can cause illness, while carpenter ants and termites are capable of damaging the structure of homes and businesses. Pest infestations can be costly to repair and can present safety hazards.
When a pest is spotted, it is sometimes necessary to control the problem immediately. Suppression involves controlling the pests to reduce their numbers to an acceptable level and to minimize harm they are causing. Control tactics are selected to ensure that they will do the least harm to living organisms and nonliving things at the treatment site.
The Integrated Pest Management approach to pest control combines preventive and suppression strategies to achieve the desired outcome with the smallest impact on living organisms, nonliving things and the environment. The most effective way to manage pests is to prevent them from getting into the building or growing in the crop in the first place. When this is not possible, it is important to inspect and maintain the facility regularly, patch holes and cracks in walls, and to store food properly and store trash in sealed containers.
Suppression
Pest control is the practice of managing or minimizing unwanted organisms such as plants, animals and microorganisms (like pathogens) that harm crops, landscapes, or the environment. Pest control methods include prevention, monitoring, suppression and eradication. Prevention involves keeping pests from damaging plants or structures; this is often achieved by removing their food, water and shelter.
Monitoring is the regular observation of pest populations to determine whether they are growing or declining. This can be done in fields, forests, gardens, greenhouses, or buildings. Monitoring can help you decide whether a particular pest needs to be controlled, or which control method is best to use. Monitoring also provides valuable information about the life cycle of a pest, its damage to the environment and human health, and the effect that natural enemies or other factors may have on the population.
Threshold-based decision-making relates to scouting and monitoring: observing a few insects does not usually require action, but seeing them more frequently or in greater numbers might indicate that the threshold has been crossed and that control measures are warranted. For example, a few mice in an open field does not need traps or other rodent controls, but a mouse problem in an operating room or other sterile area of a health care facility would require immediate intervention to keep the mouse out.
Natural barriers, including mountains or large bodies of water, restrict the movement of many pests; natural enemies are another important factor in controlling pest populations. The availability of shelter is a critical factor for some pests, and overwintering sites can be important to other species. The natural environment can also influence pest populations by changing the environment in which they live, such as by reducing humidity or altering water availability.
Cultural practices, or cultural controls, are ways to change the environment in which a pest lives, either by making it less suitable for them or more suitable for other organisms. For example, mulches or changes in irrigation practices can reduce weeds or diseases; physical barriers such as screens or traps can prevent pests from entering greenhouses; and planting disease-resistant varieties can reduce plant disease problems.
Biological Control
Biological control uses natural predators, parasites and disease organisms to keep pests at manageable levels. It’s a sustainable option that avoids reliance on chemical pesticides and reduces the risk of pesticide resistance. It’s a key element of Integrated Pest Management (IPM).
A biological control agent must be highly specific to the target pest organism. This means it can only feed or parasitize one or a very small number of species within the pest. For example, the mite Amblysieus swirskii is effective against a wide variety of plant pests, while the beetle Bacillus thuringiensis is a very narrowly targeted predator that is able to kill caterpillars and whiteflies (table 1). Because of this, biological control requires extensive research into the biology of the target pest and potential natural enemies, and careful selection and quarantine to prevent any negative interactions with native species that are not pests.
There are three main types of biological control: conservation, classical and augmentation. Conservation biological control involves enhancing the presence of native natural enemies and fostering their population size through changes to landscape management. It’s an effective way to prevent pest problems from arising, especially in urban environments where habitat can be difficult for natural enemies to find.
Classical or importation biological control is a more direct approach to managing pests. Many of the insects, fungi and pathogens that are used as biological control agents have originated in other countries and have been introduced to the United States on purpose or by accident. Because these “introduced” organisms often come without their natural enemies back home, they can explode in population and cause damage. Governments sometimes sponsor expeditions to the country of origin to search out and bring back natural enemies to control these invasive organisms.
Augmentative biological control combines elements of conservation and classical biocontrol to manage pests on an as needed basis. This method is most commonly used when a crop has a critical period of development, such as bud burst or flowering. It consists of adding natural enemies to a pest population with the intention of controlling it temporarily until the critical phase has passed.
Chemical Control
Chemical pest control involves using chemicals to destroy or alter a harmful organism. This is an extremely broad category and includes tactics such as fungicides that kill fungi, herbicides that kill plants, insecticides that kill insects, and rodenticides that kill rodents. These chemical agents may also be used to attract and repel pests. They are often the fastest and easiest way to gain control of an infestation, but they can be problematic in many ways. Heavy and frequent use can lead to resistance, reducing their effectiveness over time. They can also be damaging to the environment, and they are usually not as effective as preventive techniques.
Some of the oldest known chemical pest control methods include arsenic and sulfur, which were used by Sumerians to get rid of insects and other vermin. Today, we have much more advanced options. These can be as simple as a trap crop to lure and kill specific pests, or they can involve a complex mix of physical, biological, and chemical strategies.
The most common chemical treatments are liquids, granules, and powders. These are typically applied directly to a pest, or into the soil around it. Some of these chemicals are residual, meaning that they remain in the soil to keep killing or deterring pests after you apply them. Others are non-residual, such as aerosol sprays and contact insecticides that work in one application and disperse quickly.
A number of natural and organic chemicals can be used to kill or inhibit a pest, including nematodes, bacteria, viruses, and fungi. Bacillus thuringiensis, which is found in more than 130 pesticide products, is an example of a bacteria that has been engineered to target particular insect species.
These and other natural controls can be highly effective, especially when they are combined with scouting and threshold-based decision making. If a few wasps appear at a picnic, for instance, they probably don’t warrant action; however, if their numbers quickly increase over the course of a week, that’s an indication that their presence demands a response. A balanced approach with meticulous attention to safety ensures the best results with a minimum of disruption.