Identifying pests and carefully studying their environment is important in designing effective control measures. Physical or mechanical controls include sticky barriers, traps, nets, radiation, and flooding.

Clutter provides places for pests to breed and hide. If you see flies buzzing around the house or rice grain-sized droppings, that’s a sign of an infestation. For professional assistance, contact Pest Control West Vancouver BC.

The first step in pest control is to accurately identify the pest. This is important because pests can look very similar to non-pest organisms (beneficial plants, beneficial insects, or even people). Accurate identification also allows for the correct application of controls or management strategies, such as avoiding cropping in areas prone to pests, selecting non-host crops, preventing cross pollination by removing flowers, or utilizing natural enemies.

To successfully identify a pest, learn as much as possible about the species and its life cycle. Many books and web resources are available to help with pest identification. You can also consult with a professional pest management company or your State land grant Cooperative Extension agent.

Pest identification is important because it helps you determine if pests need to be controlled, the type of control needed, and the best time to apply controls. Monitoring or “field scouting” can allow you to detect pest problems before they reach damaging levels or spread.

The information you gain about a pest can also help you decide whether or not to tolerate a particular species or plant, and what level of damage is acceptable. It can also help you make decisions about cultural practices, such as adjusting cultivation techniques or incorporating non-host plants, or less-toxic chemical controls.

Regardless of the pest, most have certain windows of vulnerability during their lives that are easier to manage or control than others. For example, insects are typically easiest to control when they are young or immature, weeds are most easily controlled when they are small and new, and diseases are often most easily prevented from spreading or becoming established.

Proper pest identification can help you take advantage of these windows by locating and eliminating breeding sites, such as dead rodents or birds in the yard, pet waste in the garden or compost pile, dirty garbage cans, or crowded bird cages. In addition, identifying a specific insect order can help you select appropriate biological controls such as Bacillus thuringiensis or nuclear polyhedrosis virus products that are species specific. For a more complete list of potential biological controls, see the Pest Control Resources page.

Pest Prevention

Pest prevention is a proactive response that keeps bugs out of your home and business while reducing the impact of existing infestations. It involves practical pest control tips and treatments that are customized for your property. These include routine inspections to identify entry points like gaps in doors and fissures in foundations, as well as pest-proofing such as eliminating a pest’s food sources, shelter and breeding sites. This type of pest control is typically more effective and environmentally friendly than the reactive approach known as treatment.

For outdoor pest situations, eradication is rarely the goal. In fact, the most desirable outcome is to prevent an infestation from occurring in the first place and/or limiting its growth once it has begun. However, in enclosed environments such as homes, schools, offices, health care and food preparation facilities, some pests simply cannot be tolerated.

Preventing pests from damaging wood, linens, wire, clothing and other materials in commercial settings requires a more comprehensive strategy than in homes. Taking preventive steps includes regularly inspecting incoming shipments and maintaining sanitation and cleaning protocols. It also involves instituting maintenance activities that deter pests, such as trimming vegetation and gutters, sealing cracks in walls and foundation, and repairing leaking roofs and pipes.

Keeping kitchen and bathroom areas scrupulously clean is another crucial part of preventive pest control. It’s also important to keep garbage bins tightly closed, and any discarded items outside of buildings are kept away from the building and in a secure area where pests can’t reach them. Lastly, regular gutter and downspout cleaning is vital to avoid standing water that may attract pests.

For many outdoor pests, their presence or abundance can be predicted with reasonable accuracy based on their biology and environmental factors. This information can help decide whether a pest needs to be controlled, as well as what control measures will be most appropriate.

Whenever the use of pesticides is required, it is important to follow product labels closely and to apply them only where they are needed. Using more pesticide than necessary can be dangerous, injure people and animals, and damage the environment. Additionally, it is important to never purchase or use illegal pesticides (often sold by street vendors) as these can be very toxic and can pose serious health risks.

Pesticides

Pesticides are any substance used to prevent or destroy organisms that damage crops, food stores, homes and other properties. Pesticides are usually chemical compounds or biological agents that injure or kill target organisms by disrupting their normal functions or by interacting with their genetic material. Over 5.6 billion pounds of pesticides are used in agriculture and in homes each year. Pesticides include herbicides to destroy weeds, insecticides to kill insects, rodenticides to control mice and rats, fungicides to prevent mildew and mold, and disinfectants to reduce the spread of disease.

EPA regulates pesticides to ensure they are safe for humans and the environment. EPA does this by developing and enforcing regulations, sponsoring partnerships, conducting research, and providing education and information to the public. All pesticides must be reviewed and approved by EPA before they can be sold in the United States. Each state also has its own review and approval process for pesticides.

Before using any pesticide, it is important to consider other methods of pest control. Non-chemical pest controls include physical removal, changing environmental conditions and using lures and baits. Pesticides are useful in some situations, however they can cause injury or death to people and pets if misused.

Read the label and follow directions carefully when mixing, applying and storing pesticides. Avoid spraying in areas that are accessible to children and pets. Wear impermeable gloves, long pants and a long-sleeved shirt when handling pesticides. Wash hands immediately after applying pesticides. Cover or relocate bird cages, fish tanks and other animals before spraying outdoors. Remove shoes before entering the home to minimize tracking of soil or pesticide residues.

When choosing a pesticide, select the lowest toxic option available for the specific problem. Avoid overuse of pesticides. If a pesticide is necessary, use it sparingly and only when other methods are ineffective. Always follow EPA guidelines for pesticide use.

Before purchasing a pesticide, check the EPA website to determine whether it has been registered in your area. If it has not, ask the seller to provide you with an EPA registration number. Before using any pesticide in your home, be sure to read the label and remove foods, dishes, toys and other items from treated areas. Remove clothes that have come into contact with pesticides and wash them before wearing again. Observe any ventilation requirements on the label and open windows to reduce fumes in the house.

IPM

IPM is a comprehensive, systems-based approach to pest control that provides the safest, most effective and environmentally sound remedy for any pest problem. It minimizes risks from pests and their damage as well as risks from the overuse or inappropriate use of hazardous chemical pest-control products.

IPM strategies and tactics include preventive, biological, cultural, physical, mechanical, educational and chemical methods. When pest levels reach economic or aesthetic injury thresholds, monitoring and identification indicate that action is needed, and the proper control method is chosen from a menu of less risky options. Integrated pest management programs are flexible and site, crop or pest-specific.

Pest control is a continuous process that involves ongoing inspections, recordkeeping and scouting of managed areas to identify pests and their damaging activities. Preventive steps may include modifying environmental conditions to make them unfavorable for the pest (e.g. growing a crop in a field with good drainage and fertilization, caulking cracks in buildings), selecting disease-resistant plants or using trapping and pheromones to disrupt pest mating. Pest-proofing and exclusion methods are also useful controls.

If prevention and other less-risk controls fail, action should be taken to reduce pest numbers to acceptable levels. The appropriate control method is determined by the pest type, severity of damage and impact on humans, other organisms or the environment. When less-risky chemicals such as pheromones or baits are used, their effects are evaluated to ensure they are working. If the problem is severe, additional control measures such as targeted spraying of chemical pesticides are employed.

Because pests can become resistant to any control measure, a variety of different methods are utilized in an IPM program. Integrated pest management is designed to manage the pest population without total eradication, as elimination can lead to other problems such as soil erosion and loss of biodiversity. IPM programs are based on the belief that sustainable natural, agricultural and urban environments depend upon maintaining healthy populations of beneficial insects and other organisms that help regulate pest populations.