Pests are organisms (fungi, bacteria, ants, fleas, mites, nematodes, viruses and vertebrate animals) that damage or spoil crops, property or human possessions. Pest Control Maricopa AZ focuses on eliminating the problem organisms while causing minimum harm to desired plants and structures.
Threshold-based decision making relates to observing and monitoring pest activity to determine when action is needed. Methods of pest control include natural, biological, chemical, mechanical and genetic methods.
Preventive pest control measures are economical and environmentally responsible methods that reduce or eliminate conditions that promote pest infestations. These include regularly cleaning areas where pests live and making them less attractive to them. They may also include eliminating a pest’s breeding ground or stopping its access to food and water. Prevention strategies can be used to control insects, birds and rodents, as well as plant diseases.
The best way to prevent pests is to create an environment that doesn’t support them. This can be done by creating barriers that prevent pests from entering a building or area. These can include installing screens on windows and doors, sealing cracks and crevices and removing any materials that provide hiding places or shelter for pests. Keeping food in sealed containers and in locations that aren’t easily accessible to pests can help prevent them from infesting. It’s also important to keep garbage and compost piles away from buildings.
Sometimes, prevention isn’t feasible. For example, if a plant disease is caused by an insect and it’s a continuous pest in an area, it’s difficult to stop the bug from infesting its host. However, in many cases, the presence of a pest can be controlled by using action thresholds. Thresholds are levels of pest population that require action, usually based on health or economic concerns. In some situations, the threshold is set at zero, for example, in operating rooms and other sterile environments of health care facilities.
When prevention isn’t possible, suppression and eradication methods are available to control the problem. These involve monitoring pest populations to see if they reach harmful levels and taking quick action when they do. Suppression methods restrict the activity of pests and slow their growth, while eradication techniques destroy pests and their eggs.
Biological pest control relies on natural predatory and parasitic organisms to control pest populations, often by interfering with the pests’ ability to reproduce or digest. It is most effective on small-scale, localized infestations and can be combined with preventive and suppression methods. It is usually carried out in partnership with the public, including residents of homes, businesses and institutions, who are responsible for reporting pest problems to owners or maintenance workers and for implementing preventive measures.
Suppression
Using a variety of methods, pest control professionals try to keep the numbers of undesirable organisms (bacteria, insects, nematodes, fungi, rodents and vermin) below harmful levels. This is done by preventing pests from accessing food, water, shelter or breeding sites; destroying their eggs and young; or killing them with chemicals or other means. This form of pest control is used to protect a commercial, agricultural, or residential property from the damage and nuisance caused by the pests.
There are many different ways to achieve pest suppression, and each method works best in its own specific circumstances. Some of the physical methods involve constructing barriers that prevent pests from entering a building or area, while others include creating traps and bait stations for pests. Using a combination of these methods, a pest control professional can usually reduce a pest problem quickly and effectively.
Natural forces, such as climate and natural enemies, influence all organisms’ populations and thereby affect the success of pest control measures. For example, weather conditions such as rain or freezing temperatures may kill pests or affect their growth rate. Natural barriers such as mountains or bodies of water restrict the spread of some pests. The availability of food and water and the quality of habitat may also impact pest population sizes.
Predators and parasites feed on some pests, reducing their numbers. Pheromones, a chemical substance that some organisms emit, can confuse or deter predators and other pests. Some plants and their roots repel or deter pests, as do some soil organisms such as nematodes and fungi.
Chemicals, or pesticides, are a common type of pest control. The chemicals, often poisonous, are used to eliminate or suppress the growth of pests. Pesticides are generally very toxic to humans, and only qualified pest control technicians are allowed to handle and use them. When used correctly, chemical pesticides can be an effective tool in controlling most species of pests. When used incorrectly, however, they can cause health and safety hazards, such as toxicity to pets, children, and wildlife. They can also harm the environment by disrupting the balance of plant and animal life in the treated area.
Biological Control
Biological control is the use of living organisms (such as insects, bacteria or fungi) to manage pests. It’s generally viewed as more environmentally and socially friendly than chemical pesticides. It is a key practice in farming sector, as many of the introduced weeds and insects that threaten natural habitats, taonga species and agricultural production are controlled by natural enemies native to this country. Biological control uses predators, parasitoids, pathogens and herbivores to reduce the numbers of pest organisms in an ecologically sound way. The aim is to establish a self-sustaining population of natural enemies in an area to control the pest.
There are two forms of biological control practiced in agriculture, conservation and augmentation. The latter is more commonly available to the home gardener. Conservation biological control is aimed at promoting the presence of natural enemies in an area through changes in land management practices or creating suitable habitat. For example, introducing bumblebees to an orchard to pollinate the fruit trees may provide a useful benefit by reducing the numbers of stink bugs, which damage the blossoms and fruits.
Augmentation biological control involves the importation and release of natural enemies to control pests in a field or crop. The natural enemy is selected based on its effect on the pest in its native country and the likelihood that it will establish a sustainable population in the new environment. It is then sent through a rigorous quarantine process to ensure it does not carry unwanted organisms, such as hyperparasitoids or diseases, and it is reared and released under permit.
Lady beetles, lacewings and parasitoids are regularly released in the field at rates of thousands, millions or even billions per hectare to control vegetable and field pests such as stink bugs, cabbage maggots, caterpillars and nematodes. Alternatively, entomopathogenic nematodes are injected into soil to kill the pests by attacking their young.
Biological controls are most effective when used in conjunction with other preventive controls, such as cultural, physical and mechanical controls. Careful timing of pesticide application is also important to minimize the impact on the natural enemies, including selection of host-specific chemistry and treatment of only infested areas. The use of less persistent pesticides can further reduce the impact on beneficial insects.
Regulatory Control
The regulation of pests is a key form of pest control. It involves the identification, registration, and enforcement of centrally issued regulations and laws. It includes limiting the types of pesticides allowed to be used, requiring pesticide labels to include appropriate safety precautions, and ensuring that workers are adequately protected from exposure to pesticides (WHO/FAO 2010a).
For example, regulatory controls can require that only licensed pest control operators be permitted to use pesticides on human dwellings. They can also regulate the types of crops grown in a particular area, limit the number of times an agricultural pesticide can be applied to a crop or field, or require a certain type of soil testing before using a pesticide. They can even prohibit the reuse of empty pesticide containers by the public, which can pose a health hazard if the pesticides are improperly stored or handled.
Similarly, regulatory control can help prevent the importation of pests that could cause damage in a country by imposing restrictions on the movement of goods deemed likely to contain the pests. This is a common practice for plants and animal products, but can also be applied to non-plant pests.
In addition, some governments will use eradication as a means of controlling specific pests, especially when those pests can cause serious harm or disease. This is often attempted in indoor environments, such as schools and office buildings, and may involve methods such as exclusion or sterilisation. The eradication of Mediterranean fruit fly and gypsy moth has been successful in the United States through the use of these techniques.
In general, most countries have national and regional legislation to regulate the production, export, and sale of pesticides. However, the ability to enforce these laws varies greatly across regions. For example, only about half of the countries reported that they had a system in place to ensure that pesticide advertisements are correct and clear (WHO/FAO 2010b). Similarly, less than 50% of the countries reported having regulations that prevent the reuse of empty pesticide containers by the general public, which can pose a health risk if the pesticides are incorrectly stored or handled.
