Pests are annoying and destructive, and they threaten our health and well-being. Pest control aims to reduce their numbers to an acceptable level with the least harm to people, property, or the environment.

Physical pest control methods use traps, baits, and other devices to capture or kill unwanted insects or rodents. Biological pest control uses microorganisms such as bacteria and nematodes to destroy harmful insects or their eggs. Contact St Charles Pest Control now!

A common saying is that “prevention is better than cure,” especially when it comes to pest control. Inspecting incoming food deliveries, sealing cracks and holes in buildings, keeping garbage cans tightly closed, and disposing of waste properly are just a few preventative measures that can reduce the amount of pest control chemicals needed to eradicate an infestation once it occurs.

Scouting and monitoring should also be part of any preventative strategy. A scouting team can assess the environment for several factors that may be attracting pests, and then take steps to address them, such as planting pest-resistant varieties or placing bait stations around the property. Threshold-based decision-making is important – noticing a few wasps here and there doesn’t warrant immediate action, but if they are appearing every day or in increasing numbers, it’s time to locate and remove their nest.

Biological Methods

Natural predators and parasites can play an essential role in pest control, as can certain plant disease organisms. Using these natural enemies, in conjunction with cultural practices, can help suppress pest populations without the use of chemical controls. This can be done by introducing natural enemy species into an ecosystem, or through the use of pheromones and juvenile hormones (the latter are chemical messengers that interfere with the normal life cycle of the target pest).

Chemical Controls

Integrated Pest Management, or IPM, is a prevention-focused approach that integrates physical, mechanical, biological, and chemical techniques to minimize risk to human health and the environment. IPM prioritizes minimizing the use of pesticides, and those that are used are selected according to their mode of action, their environmental persistence, and their potential for resistance development, as well as their impact on beneficial insects and non-target plants.

Other methods include modifying the environment to make it less attractive to pests by changing moisture levels, soil nutrients, and air movement, or by implementing landscaping that discourages pests’ habitation. Lastly, spot treatment and strategic spraying can be used to limit the spread of pesticides in the environment by targeting areas where the pests are most prevalent.

Suppression

In general, the goal of suppression is to reduce a pest population to levels that do not cause economic damage. The use of natural enemies is often the most effective way to suppress pests. Natural enemies are predators, parasites, and pathogens that kill or limit the growth of unwanted organisms. In many cases, natural enemies are more effective than pesticides, and the use of natural enemies is often a key part of integrated pest management (IPM) approaches to control pests.

Suppression may be achieved through cultural, physical, or chemical controls. Traps, screens, fences, barriers, and other devices may be used to physically keep pests away from crops. Devices that alter the environment also can be used to suppress some pests, such as radiation, heat, or electricity.

Many landscape features, such as mountains and lakes, restrict the spread of pest populations by limiting their food supply or their ability to find shelter. Likewise, the availability of water can influence pest populations by affecting their survival and reproduction. In addition, some habitats are not suitable for the life cycle of certain pest species, and this can prevent their introduction to new areas.

Natural enemies are most effective at suppressing pests when their populations are large enough to compete effectively with the target pest. However, in some situations, natural enemy populations cannot reach this level, especially when the host or prey of the natural enemy is limited or unavailable. In these cases, a “boom and bust” population dynamics may occur, with the natural enemy first raising pest densities to a level that requires intervention, and then dropping back to lower levels.

Genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, can also be used to manipulate the population dynamics of some pests. For example, gene drives can be designed to suppress pests by inactivating their reproductive genes. In wasps, for instance, knockdown of the gene bol can cause them to produce only female offspring, and the gene dna-shredder can reduce their ability to transmit their male-only X chromosome to offspring (Bier, 2022). These types of interventions are likely to play an important role in the future of pest control.

Eradication

Getting rid of pests is more than just killing them. You also need to get rid of the places they hide and breed. A good pest control technician will be able to find the most effective way to do this. They will use a combination of methods, including baits, traps, and crack and crevice treatments. Make sure to ask them about the chemicals they are using, and always read the label before applying any chemical in your home. If possible, hire a professional who uses natural methods of pest control. This will prevent you from exposing your family to harmful chemicals.

Biological pest control refers to the use of natural enemies (predators, parasites, pathogens, and competitors) to reduce pest damage. This can be supplemented with cultural controls, which are practices that reduce the risk of pests by limiting their ability to reproduce or survive. Examples of cultural controls include changing irrigation practices, which can reduce root disease; changing cultivation techniques, which can reduce weed problems; and avoiding habitats that support pest species.

Achieving eradication is rarely a goal in outdoor pest situations, because it is usually easier to focus on prevention and suppression. Eradication is a more realistic goal in enclosed environments such as homes, schools, and health care or food preparation facilities. Eradication may also be an option for invasive species that have not yet established themselves in a particular region, such as the Mediterranean fruit fly, the gypsy moth, or fire ants.

Because the balance of organisms in a habitat is so delicate, any disruption can have profound effects. Pest control strategies often disrupt this delicate balance, and as a result, some pests escape control and begin to thrive. Some of these “escaped” pests can be so aggressive that they become a major nuisance in an area, such as the small hive beetle that recently invaded the US from Mexico. Efforts to eradicate these pests are difficult and costly, but they can be successful. Nevertheless, they are still a threat to bees and human health. As a result, these pests are not considered to be “non-target” species.

Monitoring

Whether you have an in-house pest management team or you contract with a third party, most facilities will use monitoring to identify problems. Having monitors around the facility that detect allergens, metal contaminants, or even biological contamination is important to help prevent issues before they become larger. But it’s also important that those monitoring devices are set up properly and paired with the proper bait or trap to catch the pest you want to keep out.

Pests can be hard to detect without the proper knowledge and training, so it’s vital that your team has a solid plan for identifying them. Using a monitor that has a built in lure or attractant is often the easiest way to do this, especially with some types of traps. Many glueboards have a pheromone added, for example, to increase capture rates and effectiveness. It’s not only German cockroaches and stored product pests that benefit from this, but rodents and ILTs as well.

The reason why monitoring is so important to pest control is that it provides valuable information on the occurrence of pests, what damage they’re doing, and how their population is trending. Monitoring also helps you determine thresholds, which are the levels of pest populations above which you need to take action.

Thresholds are based on a number of factors, including population size, survival rate and geographical distribution; crop nutrient and water status; and temperature. These factors can cause shifts in how and where pests behave, increasing their threat to crops and food production.

By reducing the amount of pesticides used, improved monitoring systems can enable food production to continue with lower environmental impacts. They also help to improve the sustainability of agricultural production, which in turn leads to increased local economic and employment opportunities. This is why it is important that we continue to invest in research and development into these technologies, bringing them closer to commercialisation.