Pests are more than just a nuisance. They can carry dangerous germs and cause structural damage to your home.
Prevention is the best way to deal with pests. Keep food in sealed containers, remove trash from the home regularly, and sanitize all surfaces that pests might use as hiding or nesting areas. Contact Pest Control North Vancouver BC now!
The goal of pest control is to prevent pests from damaging people, property, or crops. Prevention techniques focus on avoiding conditions that favor pests or their activity, such as providing adequate food or shelter. It also focuses on blocking entry points into the home or building. Other preventive techniques include removing clutter that provides hiding places for pests, sealing containers, cleaning and storing items outside the house and disposing of waste properly.
Pests are more than just an annoyance; they can spread diseases like hantavirus and salmonella, contaminate food, spoil clothing, and damage homes and businesses. Proper pest control can reduce the need for costly repairs, clean-ups, and replacements. It also protects personal and public health by reducing exposure to disease-causing agents and irritating chemicals, especially those used in some pesticides.
Preventive strategies are more effective for continuous pests, such as rodents and cockroaches, than for sporadic or seasonal ones, such as plant diseases. However, even these can be prevented by removing things that attract them, such as piles of leaves or garbage and keeping food in containers with tight lids. Caulking cracks and crevices can also help to keep out pests.
It is important to remember that pests are a natural part of the environment. Many species of plants, animals and insects, as well as invertebrates and microorganisms, play important roles in the ecosystems they inhabit. Consequently, eliminating pests completely is often not feasible or desirable. Control measures aim to reduce pest numbers to a level that is acceptable or manageable.
There are a number of factors that affect how pest populations rise and fall, including climate, natural enemies, the availability of food and water and barriers to their movement. Many pests are also affected by the growth of their host plants, so that a sudden change in weather conditions can lead to increased or decreased pest populations.
Prevention is a joint responsibility of both property owners and residents of commercial or residential buildings. Building residents can assist by reporting maintenance problems to the owner or manager, and maintaining their living spaces in a manner that discourages pests.
Suppression
Pest control involves preventing or eliminating unwanted creatures, such as rodents, ants and cockroaches. These creatures can contaminate food and damage homes, and they can also spread diseases like hantavirus, leptospirosis and salmonella. Pest control strategies range from tolerance, through deterrence and management, to attempts to eradicate them entirely. Integrated Pest Management is the most common approach to pest control in residential, commercial and agricultural settings.
Biological control is the use of natural enemies (predators, parasitoids or pathogens) to reduce pest populations. This technique requires extensive research into the biology of the target pest and its potential natural enemies, including their life cycles. Then suitable natural enemies are raised in sufficient numbers to have a significant impact on the pest population, often on a seasonal basis or through inundative releases.
In most outdoor pest situations, the goal is suppression rather than eradication. However, eradication may be attempted when the presence of a pest is unacceptable, as in the case of the Mediterranean fruit fly, gypsy moth or fire ant. Eradication is more likely in indoor situations, where it can be a more specific and feasible objective.
Chemicals and insecticides can be used to kill pests, but they must always be used responsibly and in accordance with label instructions. They should never be sprayed on or near food, and should only be applied in areas where there is a clear need.
Cultural Controls are those that disrupt the pest’s environment or prevent movement. Plowing, crop rotation, removal of infested plant material, cleaning greenhouse and tillage equipment and managing irrigation schedules to avoid long periods of high humidity are some of the most important cultural controls.
Resistant varieties of plants, animals and wood are available for many species of pests. They can be grown, bought and used to keep pest populations below harmful levels. Resistant plants and trees also help to reduce the need for chemicals in some situations. Chemicals that repel pests or interfere with their development can be used in conjunction with other control methods, such as traps and baits. The choice of pesticide will depend on the type of pest, the severity of the infestation and the desired outcome.
Eradication
The goal of eradication is to destroy or otherwise get rid of pests, such as disease-causing microbes. Eradication techniques include spraying the area with a chemical or removing the pests from the environment. In the case of a pesticide, the chemicals may be poisonous to humans and pets if ingested or inhaled, which is why only qualified pest control technicians should be allowed to use these products in a home.
Eradication is rarely the goal in outdoor pest situations, where prevention and suppression are more commonly employed. However, indoor environments such as apartments, schools, hospitals and office buildings may require eradication strategies for pest control. Such methods may involve sealing the space and filling it with pesticide to annihilate any pests inside. For example, a gypsy moth or Mediterranean fruit fly infestation might be controlled with ultra-low volume (ULV) fogging and pesticide treatment of cracks and crevices.
Biological
Natural or organic pest control methods are alternatives to traditional chemical solutions and may work more quickly than chemicals. Examples of these techniques are repellents, which deter pests by creating an unpleasant or toxic environment, and parasitic nematodes, which kill insects by injecting them with harmful bacteria that break down their internal tissues. However, many of these methods are only feasible for small pest invasions and require time to take effect.
Chemical
Chemical pest control is generally the most effective solution, but it is also the most dangerous. Chemical pesticides, which include insecticides and herbicides, are toxins that are designed to kill or deter particular pests. They can be delivered via sprays, baits or crack and crevice treatments. Only qualified pest control technicians should be allowed to use chemical controls, and the labels on these products should always be carefully read to determine proper application techniques, health and safety hazards, and the appropriate environmental and regulatory guidelines for use. Some pests develop resistance to certain pesticides, which is why it is important to monitor the situation and change treatment methods as needed. Alternatively, the target pests may have moved into a habitat or life cycle stage that isn’t susceptible to the chemical.
Mechanical or Physical Controls
Natural forces control pest populations and damage, often without human intervention. Climate conditions influence pest activity, and the growth and development of their host plants. Pest populations may also be affected by predatory and parasitic insects and plant-like organisms, and by pathogens that kill or debilitate them. Other factors that affect pests include their roosting sites, available water supplies, and shelter from predators and the elements.
Preventing a pest problem is the best way to reduce damage to people and property. This can be done by identifying the pest, learning about its life cycle and biology, and finding out what kinds of preventive or nonchemical management strategies are available.
When pests do occur, monitoring helps to determine how quickly action should be taken. For example, a few wasps in a garden do not warrant any action; however, many wasps seen every day in a business or residence need to be controlled. In general, monitoring and scouting should be done on a regular basis to allow managers to take actions before a pest problem becomes serious.
Physical and mechanical controls either kill the pest or make its environment unsuitable. Traps for rodents and barriers such as screens to keep birds and insects out are examples of physical control methods. Chemicals are also used as pest control agents, but these often have harmful effects on humans and the environment when misused. Overuse of pesticides can result in the development of resistant pests.
Biological or ecological control techniques use predators, parasites, pathogens, and other natural organisms to reduce pest populations and damage. These organisms may be introduced or encouraged to live in an area by planting crops that attract them or by placing traps to lure them. Examples of biological control agents are nematodes, which destroy weeds, and bacteria that kill caterpillars and other Lepidopteran pests (such as Bacillus thuringiensis).
Cultural or environmental control methods reduce the attractiveness or ability of a location to support pests, such as by changing irrigation practices to reduce weed growth or by adding mulches to suppress fungi. Some of these are also used to improve plant health or limit the spread of disease.
