Pest Control – Prevention, Suppression, Or Eradication

Pest Control Richmond is the effort to eliminate unwanted pests. This may be achieved by prevention, suppression, or eradication.

Rodents (like rats and mice) are known for their teeth, and they chew on wires, causing fires. They also trigger diseases like hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, leptospirosis, and salmonellosis.

Chemicals are used to kill or repel pests. But they also harm environment and human beings.

Prevention

A pest problem can be a major nuisance and a health hazard. In addition to the physical damage caused by rodents chewing on wires and other structures, their droppings can carry bacteria and parasites that pose a threat to human health. For example, rodents can spread hantavirus, leptospirosis, salmonella, and other diseases. Pests can also cause serious safety hazards such as bee stings, scorpion bites, and spider webs in the home or office. Regular pest control services can protect property values, maintain a healthy indoor environment, and prevent the need for costly repairs or replacements caused by infestations.

Prevention is the goal in most outdoor situations and can be achieved through sanitation, habitat modification, exclusion, eradication, and physical removal or trapping. Sanitation involves maintaining proper food storage, garbage disposal, and water management to remove food sources, shelter, and moisture that attract and encourage pests. Habitat modification may involve trimming trees, bushes, and vegetation to reduce shade and eliminate pathways where pests can hide. Eradication is usually a rare goal in outdoor situations, but is sometimes attempted where specific organisms are considered a nuisance or a threat to public health. For example, the Mediterranean fruit fly and gypsy moth are considered to be a nuisance in some areas.

Preventive measures include sealing cracks and gaps found in walls, foundations, and around windows and doors. These can be done with expanding foam or caulk, and should be inspected periodically to ensure that the sealant has not deteriorated or become compromised. Screens and other devices that keep out certain pests can be installed on windows, doors, and vents. These should be inspected frequently and repaired as needed to prevent the installation of new pests into the house.

Other steps in the preventive process are to regularly clean up garbage and trash around the property to remove attracting materials, to make sure that all waste is disposed of promptly and properly with tightly sealed lids, to reduce clutter where pests can hide, and to conduct routine inspections. Inspecting packages and boxes before bringing them inside is also a good preventive measure against introducing pests into the house.

Suppression

Preventive tactics help keep pests from becoming a problem or limit their damage to an acceptable level. They may involve physical barriers like window screens for preventing bird and other pest entry to homes, greenhouses, or vegetable gardens; trap crops of the pest’s preferred food planted near the crop to be protected; destruction of crop residues that serve as overwintering sites for pests; and other methods such as soil solarization that prevents pests from emerging from the ground.

Biological control uses natural enemies (predators, parasitoids, and pathogens) to reduce pest populations. These organisms are either harvested from the wild and maintained in adequate numbers to maintain a long-term balance with pest populations, or introduced to the landscape and released in sufficient quantities to rapidly reduce pest densities.

Pathogens are disease-causing bacteria, fungi, or viruses that attack the body tissues of insect pests and sometimes kill them. Several strains of Bacillus thuringiensis that produce toxins targeting specific insect pests are available in commercial formulations. They are used in biological control programs to manage insects, weeds, and plant-parasitic nematodes.

In many situations, chemical management is used to quickly reduce pest population levels below damaging thresholds. Insecticides are often used in combination with cultural, mechanical, or biological controls.

Chemical controls are applied after indicators such as pest activity, resistance, failure of netting or screens, or damage to crops or property are detected. The selection and timing of chemical treatments depends on pest biology, behavior, limitations placed on the area where treatment is to occur, tolerance for injury, and the impact of the chemicals on beneficial insects.

Integrated pest management (IPM) is an approach to managing pests that relies on prevention and suppression tactics to achieve satisfactory results with minimal harm to human health, the environment, and the economy. The strategies include monitoring for pests, making decisions on the use of preventive and suppressive tactics, and assessing the success or failure of the tactics. For more information, see the UF/IFAS IPM website. To report pests, please contact your county UF/IFAS Cooperative Extension agent or State land grant university.

Eradication

In pest control, eradication is the goal of eliminating microbes from areas where they occur. This is a difficult task, since the microbes usually have multiple hosts that can generate infections. Achieving eradication requires optimization of intervention tools. In the case of disease eradication, this involves lowering the transmissible rate to zero, which requires effective vaccines and methods for controlling vectors (carriers), intermediary hosts and humans.

The word “eradicate” has its roots in the root words eradicar, which meant “pull up by the roots,” or, more metaphorically, remove something entirely. The word was first used in English in the 16th century. It is a descendant of the Latin verb eradicare, which is also the source of such English words as radical and radish.

Eradication is a common goal in enclosed environments such as dwellings, schools, offices and food preparation, storage and processing facilities. But in outdoor pest situations, eradication is often less of a priority than prevention and suppression. Eradication programs tend to focus on pests that affect human health, but they may include other organisms such as plants, birds and invertebrates such as mites and nematodes.

Biological pest control uses predators, parasites or pathogens to reduce the numbers of unwanted species. Examples of this are using nematodes to kill fleas, or spraying with Bt, a bacterium that produces a toxin that destroys the midgut of caterpillars. There are many strains of this bacterium that target specific insect species, such as the lepidopteran Bt israelensis or the caterpillar Bt kurstaki.

Another type of biological control is the use of beneficial insects to replace pests. This includes releasing or planting predators and parasitoids such as ladybugs to eat pests, or introducing insect-eating nematodes like the roach-eating Steinernema carpocapsae to attack damaging grubs and other plant feeders in lawns and gardens.

Chemical pest control relies on a wide range of chemical sprays to kill or repel insects, rodents and other undesirable organisms. While some are safe for humans and animals, others can be dangerous, especially in long-term exposure to high concentrations or when ingested. In addition, some chemicals can leach into water supplies and pollute the environment.

Treatment

Pests can pose a serious threat to human and animal health. They spread diseases such as hantavirus, leptospirosis, and salmonella and damage property and crops. Pest control is necessary to protect public health, safeguard agriculture and food supplies, preserve natural resources and the environment, and maintain balanced ecosystems. Pests include insects (such as ants, cockroaches, and termites), rodents (such as rats and mice), birds, weeds, and disease-carrying pathogens.

The first step in pest control is suppression. The goal is to reduce the pest population below a level that causes unacceptable harm. Suppression methods can be chemical, biological, or physical.

Before treatment begins, it is important to prepare the area by removing sources of food and water for the pests. This includes regularly removing garbage from your property, fixing leaky plumbing, and covering open containers of food. Also, make sure to remove pets and children from the area before beginning treatment.

If preventative measures fail, or if the problem is severe, then chemical pest control may be needed. This can be done using a variety of liquid and solid chemicals that target specific pests or their habitats. This type of pest control can be used safely and effectively when performed by a professional who is trained in the proper use of these products.

However, even when using chemical pesticides, it is essential to avoid collateral damage. This can occur when the chemicals are misused or improperly handled, and is also possible when the targeted pests become immune to the chemicals. Additionally, chemical pesticides can also negatively impact honey bees, fisheries, groundwater, and other areas and organisms that interact with the treated area.

As a result, when chemical methods are employed, it is critical to monitor and review the results. This can help ensure that the problem is being adequately addressed and that other pests are not able to take advantage of the situation. In addition, it can help identify any additional steps that might be needed to fully resolve the pest problem. Follow-up visits from a pest control technician can be helpful in this regard.