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Natural Pest Control
Pest control is a service industry with repeat business and high profit margins. Many pest control companies rely on advertising to build their customer base.
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The goals of pest control are prevention — keeping pests from causing harm — suppression — reducing pest numbers to an acceptable level and eradication — eliminating an entire pest population.
Prevention
Preventing pests can save money and improve the quality of life. Prevention tactics include regularly inspecting facilities, identifying and reporting pest activity to your Pest Control Operator (PCO), and taking preventive measures to deter pests such as keeping buildings well-sealed and preventing waste accumulation that attracts them.
It is important to remember that pest control is a tool to be used only when the cost of controlling a pest exceeds the damage it causes. It is also essential to understand that a pest problem must be controlled at three different levels: prevention, suppression, and eradication.
Pests can cause a variety of problems in facilities such as contamination of products or destruction of equipment, and they can cause serious health issues for employees and customers. Pests such as cockroaches, rodents, fleas and mosquitoes can cause disease, while ants, beetles, flies and hornets can destroy food, produce toxic materials and irritate people’s skin.
The best way to prevent pest problems is to prevent them from entering the facility in the first place. This can be done by repairing cracks in walls, ensuring that doors and windows close tightly, using sweeps and astragals to fill gaps under and between them, and sealing wall and ceiling penetrations. In some cases, environmental controls can be used to alter the temperature, humidity and lighting conditions in storage areas to make them less desirable for pests.
If the pest is causing unacceptable harm, the next step in pest control is to suppress it at the lowest level possible. This can be achieved by using traps and baits, low-toxicity dusts and sprays, and monitoring and scouting. It is important to always read and follow the product label, particularly when applying chemical controls.
It is also advisable to tolerate beneficial insects, and to avoid killing them when possible. When this is not possible, it is important to use insecticides sparingly and to select those that are most effective at each stage of the pest’s life cycle. This will ensure that the minimum number of pesticides is used, reducing both the environmental and human risk.
Suppression
When prevention methods fail to keep pest populations below a damaging threshold and/or eradication is not possible, suppression becomes the goal. Pest suppression tactics can include cultural, mechanical and chemical controls.
Cultural Controls include practices that prevent or delay pest emergence, feeding or movement. Plowing, crop rotation, removal of weeds in greenhouses and field crops, cleaning and washing of tillage and other equipment, fungicide application at the time of planting and managing irrigation schedules to avoid long periods of high relative humidity all work to deprive pests of a favorable habitat or prevent their spread.
Biological Control involves conserving or releasing natural enemies (predators, parasitoids and/or pathogens) that prey on or kill potential pest insects. Examples include the predatory mites that suppress aphids in greenhouses, beneficial nematodes that kill harmful soil grubs and Encarsia formosa wasps that parasitize greenhouse whiteflies. The latter two are commercially available and can be mass-reared and released in greenhouses, nurseries and some fruit and vegetable fields as needed.
Augmentative Biological Control focuses on increasing the number of natural enemies present to a level that will effectively suppress a pest population. This can be done by conserving existing natural enemies, importing and releasing predators and/or parasitoids in large numbers or releasing them inundatively (i.e., overwhelming the pest population with a huge influx of biological control agents).
Chemical Controls use products to kill or inhibit pests’ growth, development and/or reproduction. These can be natural products, synthetic mimics of natural substances or traditional chemicals. When using chemicals, always read and follow product labels and NMSU guidance documents to reduce the risk of personal injury and environmental contamination. Obtain appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE), such as long-sleeved shirts, pants, close-toed shoes, gloves and face and eye protection.
Be sure to monitor and assess the success or failure of any suppression tactic, so that adjustments can be made. This information will help determine when additional or different methods of control are required, and inform future prevention and/or suppression strategies. Always consider health, the environment and economic feasibility when deciding on suppression tactics.
Eradication
Pests destroy property and crops, contaminate food, cause diseases and spread annoyance. Some, such as cockroaches, rats and dust mites, produce allergens that can trigger respiratory conditions like asthma. Others, such as termites, beetles and ants, chew wood or other structures, creating safety hazards.
Pest control is usually a combination of preventive and suppression methods. Preventive measures include keeping indoor and outdoor areas clean and free of rotting debris, sealing cracks and crevices where pests can enter, and taking out trash often to reduce odor and moisture problems. Regular cleaning of floors, countertops and storage spaces can also help deter many pests.
In addition, the use of natural enemies such as parasites, predators and pathogens can be used to control a pest population. This may be supplemented by chemical means such as releasing sterile insect males or using pheromones to disrupt mating patterns.
Eradication of a pest can be difficult and time-consuming. It requires that the pest be identified, mapped and treated, while not affecting any non-target organisms. This is known as threshold-based decision making and it is one of the most challenging aspects of eradication programs.
To eradicate a pest from an area, it must be determined how the infestation began. Observing the pest, whether it is a scurrying mouse or a dripping ant, or looking for evidence of their presence such as droppings, gnawed wood and tattered food containers, can be helpful in pinpointing the point of introduction.
A number of different diagnostic tools have been developed to aid in the detection and identification of pests. These range from simple visual inspection to DNA analysis and chemical assays. These tools need to be sufficiently sensitive and specific, as well as easy to use by non-specialists.
Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is an effective approach to pest control. This method focuses on monitoring the environment, assessing what is needed to prevent pests from entering a site, and then using a mix of physical, biological, and chemical controls to manage the pest population. This keeps the environmental impact of pesticide use low, while still managing the problem effectively.
Natural Forces
Pest control relies on a variety of natural forces — including predators, parasitoids, herbivores, pathogens, competitors and nematodes — to reduce the number or harm caused by pest insects and mites, weeds, vertebrates, fungus and other organisms. This biological control, which may be called “natural” or “organic,” can often provide more effective, less hazardous, and more sustainable pest management than chemical methods. It’s an important component of integrated pest management (IPM).
Preventing pest problems is the best option for controlling them. This includes storing foods in tightly sealed containers, regularly removing garbage, and eliminating places where pests can hide. It also involves monitoring cockroaches, termites, ants, mosquitoes and other insect pests and fungus and plant disease organisms to identify potential pests before they become a problem.
If preventive measures fail or they’re too expensive or labor-intensive, controlling pests through suppression and eradication is an option. Pests that cause unacceptable damage to crops, gardens or landscapes require pest control measures to reduce them to acceptable levels. IPM programs rely on preventive strategies, regular monitoring and record keeping to determine whether and when chemical treatments are needed, and careful use of chemicals with the least amount of risk to beneficial organisms and humans.
Suppression involves reducing pest numbers to an acceptable level using cultural, physical or mechanical controls. Altering the environment by limiting access to food, water and shelter can help reduce pest populations, as can introducing organisms that disrupt the balance between a host pest and its natural enemies. These include bacteria, nematodes, fungus and protozoa that infect or kill pests, as well as pheromones, juvenile hormones and other substances.
Predicting when a pest will reach unacceptable levels requires monitoring the population over time, which is usually done through trapping or scouting. It can be helpful to compare the pest’s population to other pest populations in a given area, or to other areas with similar environmental conditions. Temperature, moisture and other factors can influence pest potential, as can seasonal changes in pest behavior. For example, cockroaches are more active in winter, while mosquitoes are more active during summer.
Animals and Their Importance in Pest Control
Pest Control Bakersfield CA includes preventing and removing unwanted organisms. This can be achieved with physical barriers and pest-proofing, such as traps and netting.
Cultural methods change the environment, reducing food and shelter for pests, such as draining swamps or eliminating standing water. Biological control uses natural enemies to manage pests, such as releasing mosquito-eating fish or nematodes that prey on soil insects.
Insects are the most abundant and important group of animals on land. They occupy every microhabitat, acting as predators or prey, parasites or hosts, herbivores or decomposers. They are a valuable part of any natural environment, serving as pollinators and adding nutrients to the soil.
An insect’s mouthparts determine how it feeds. Some insects chew their food, while others use piercing and sucking mouthparts. Some insect jaws are adapted to extract seeds, while others are able to break down tough cell walls to get at plant juices or blood. The eyes of an insect are its most important sensory organs, but it also has a pair of antennae that can detect sounds, vibrations and other environmental conditions.
In addition to visual recognition, insects communicate with one another by emitting chemicals, odors or sounds. They may arouse mates with a special pheromone, advertise for territory or seek out a mate by releasing a sexual attractant. Some insects are attracted to light, while others hide during the day and emerge at night to hunt.
Less than 1 percent of insects are pests, but they can do expensive damage. Insects can injure plants by chewing leaves, stems or roots, dispersing diseases and transmitting disease agents. They can also interrupt photosynthesis, block moisture, contaminate soil and cause other problems.
When considering insect control, it is important to know the type of insect and its life cycle. Incomplete metamorphosis means that an insect develops through three stages — egg, nymph and adult (Figure VI-2). The immature stage, the nymph, is similar to the adult in appearance and feeding habits. This stage is most vulnerable to insecticides, so it is important that the timing of insecticide applications be accurate.
Insecticides should be used sparingly, when necessary and according to label directions. Sprays are most effective when applied to dry, wilted foliage in the cool of the morning or late afternoon. Dusts should be applied when the wind is calm and plants are dry. Proper crop rotation can help reduce infestations of a particular pest by preventing it from returning to the same field year after year.
Rodents
Rodents are second only to humans as the most successful mammals on the planet, populating every continent except Antarctica, New Zealand and some isolated islands. There are more than 1,500 species of rodents ranging in size from the tiny house mouse to the pig-sized capybara, and they can be found in almost every habitat on Earth, including rainforests, deserts, tundra, swamps, coniferous forests and grasslands. Many rodents, like squirrels, beavers, hamsters and gerbils are herbivorous while others, such as the Norway rat and roof rat, are omnivores. Some, such as the plague and murine typhus, are significant pests, while others are reservoirs for more than 35 diseases, such as plague, leptospirosis, rat-bite fever, cholera and tularemia.
Rodents cause a host of problems, from structural damage to fires, and can also pose health hazards through their urine, droppings and feces. They chew through electrical wires, which can cause power outages and other inconveniences, and they gnaw holes into buildings that result in costly repairs. Rodents also contaminate food with their saliva and feces, which can spread bacteria and other pathogens, such as Salmonella, in a matter of days.
Rats and mice are able to enter homes and other structures through openings as small as 1/4 inch (6 mm). They can burrow in soil, and also build nests in hollow walls, floors and ceilings. They can also gnaw through plumbing pipes and wires, causing expensive repair bills. Their constant gnawing can weaken the structure of a building and lead to its collapse.
The best way to minimize rodent problems is to eliminate the food, shelter and water they need. This includes removing overgrown vegetation, reducing trash and clutter, repairing leaky plumbing, and sealing gaps larger than 8 mm.
Providing public education is another important element of pest control programs, as well as setting up and publicizing a rodent hotline. This can help reduce the number of calls that staff in other city departments have to answer, which can save time and resources. In addition, a hotline can also consolidate inquiries, and ensure that all questions are answered by people familiar with all aspects of the program.
Birds
Birds are often considered a nuisance because they can damage crop plants and property, and they also carry pathogens that can spread disease. However, birds provide valuable ecosystem services (any positive benefit that wildlife provides) such as seed dispersal and pest regulation. They are natural predators of many insect pests, and their presence decreases the need for farmers to use chemical pesticides.
In addition, integrating crop fields with hedgerows, woodlots and streamside habitat can attract native bird species to the area and encourage them to consume unwanted insects. In fact, one study found that birds regulate pest populations and enhance product quality and yield in low intensity agricultural systems.
But the role of birds in pest control can be complex, and they may not always be effective. Some pesticides are extremely toxic to birds and can even kill them in large enough doses. The most common avian poisons include organochlorines, such as DDT and 4,4’-DDE, and organophosphates, including diazinon, phorate, carbaryl and monocrotophos. Neonicotinoids, which are the most popular insecticides used in agriculture, are supposedly less harmful to avian life stages than older chemicals, but growing evidence of adverse effects on farmland bird species raises concerns about their safety.
Some birds are also exposed to pesticides through direct ingestion, such as ingesting seeds coated with pesticides, or by consuming insects that have consumed pesticides and then passed them on to the bird. The pesticides can bioaccumulate in the bird’s body, causing health and developmental problems.
As the population of migratory birds declines, their beneficial effects on ecosystems will likely fade as well. Without birds around, crop-destroying pests have a free pass to munch on our crops. This has led to increased concern of bird-driven food shortages and higher prices for produce.
In order to determine the extent to which birds control pests, researchers place dummy “prey” made of plasticine into the field and monitor the bird’s behavior. They can measure predation rates and identify the target species to a taxonomic level by observing attack marks on the plasticine. In addition, the presence of birds can be assessed by recording the number and size of ant and spider webs in an area.
Other Animals
Some vertebrates that feed on insects are important in pest control. These include birds, amphibians and reptiles that prey on many species of insect. Mammals such as deer and rodents also feed on a variety of insects, but may be more focused on consuming pest species.
Other organisms, such as bacteria, fungi and protozoa, infect insects with diseases that reduce their rate of feeding, slow or stop their reproduction or even kill them. These pathogens can be introduced by humankind into the environment, or they may naturally occur.
Biological control is the intentional introduction of natural enemies into a crop or garden to increase their populations and prevent damage from insect pests. These natural enemies may be predators or parasitoids that attack a pest directly, or they may be pathogens that reduce the ability of the insect to reproduce or survive.
This is a complex process, and requires extensive research into the biology of both the pest and the potential natural enemy. It also involves selecting suitable natural enemies, collecting them carefully from the wild or from other locations where they are abundant, and releasing them in a site where their population will grow and thrive. In annual crops or in other highly disturbed systems, the natural enemy must be reintroduced on a regular basis to maintain populations at levels that suppress pests.