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.