Pests are organisms that damage, devalue, or spoil crops, lawns, buildings, homes, and other structures. They may also spread diseases such as typhus, plague, and flea-borne spotted fever through bites.
Pest Control Westlake Village is a set of practices intended to reduce the number of pests. Methods include suppression, prevention, and exclusion.
Correct identification is essential to effective control, whether pests are plants, animals, or microbes. Identification relates to the type and number of organisms present, their damage, and what management strategies are needed. Monitoring identifies pests and their activity over time to assess the need for control. Incorrect pest identification results in improper control tactics that may not work or could be harmful to people or the environment.
Identifying pests can be difficult because they often look different at various life cycle stages or other times of the year. For example, a weed seedling can look very different from a mature weed. An insect species can also look very different as it develops from an egg to an immature caterpillar or worm and finally to a fully developed adult. Many crop specific printed or online guides exist to help you accurately identify pests.
There are three goals for controlling pests: prevention, suppression and eradication. Prevention involves not letting a pest become a problem in the first place. Suppression is the goal of reducing a pest population to an acceptable level with cultural or physical controls. Eradication is rarely attempted in outdoor situations but is possible for invasive species such as Mediterranean fruit fly, gypsy moth and fire ants. In closed environments, eradication is more common and is the goal of eliminating an entire population of a pest, such as in hospitals and food processing facilities.
A preventative pest control strategy includes removing the food, water and shelter that attracts pests and creating a physically inhospitable environment. This can be done by removing the host plant species or variety, ensuring adequate soil moisture levels and preventing water logging, maintaining good air circulation, fixing leaky plumbing, and storing food in sealed containers.
A good scouting program allows growers to identify and monitor pests regularly in their fields, landscapes and buildings. This information enables them to decide when to take preventative pest control measures. It also helps them select the most effective controls by identifying which pests are most likely to be controlled by various methods and at what stage of their development. This is especially important when using biological control agents that require identification to order.
Pesticides
A pesticide is any substance or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying or controlling pests, including unwanted plants (weeds), animals or microorganisms such as viruses, bacteria or fungi. Pesticides can be made of natural materials or synthetic. They may be biodegradable, which means they can be broken down by microbes and other living beings into harmless compounds, or persistent, which means they can take months or even years to break down.
Pesticides can be applied in a variety of ways, including sprayed directly on the target plant, poured into the soil or water, or absorbed through the leaves. They can also be used as fumigant gases, or sprayed in the air to cover a large area. Some types of pesticides are designed to kill a specific pest, while others are designed to modify the growth of a plant, control disease or act as a desiccant.
While pesticides are effective at killing pests, they can also harm the environment and human beings. The chemicals in pesticides can be absorbed through the skin or ingested by humans, and they can contaminate water and air. They can also poison wildlife that doesn’t fit the description of the target, and they can pollute soil by killing the microorganisms that make it fertile for growing plants.
The effect of a pesticide depends on the type and concentration, as well as how long and often people are exposed to it. Small children, the elderly and people with health conditions are more likely to have problems from exposure. Pesticides can cause health impacts such as headaches, dizziness, muscular twitching and weakness, and nausea. They can also interfere with the body’s hormone system and lead to reproductive problems.
People can reduce their exposure to pesticides by working in a garden or yard only when necessary, and by using the least toxic products available. They should also avoid mixing pesticides, as this can result in an unexpected chemical reaction. Finally, they should wear gloves when handling pesticides, and wash their hands and clothing after using them. If they are unsure about safe handling procedures, they can contact local environmental or public safety groups.
Barriers
Pests often require large quantities of food, water, or shelter to survive. The availability of these items can be reduced through pest management techniques such as removal, suppression and exclusion. Removal involves physically removing or eliminating the pests and their habitats. Suppression is the use of chemicals to reduce the number or impact of pests without destroying the entire population. Exclusion is the creation of barriers to prevent pests from accessing desirable plants, animals or structures.
Many of these barriers are natural, but others are products or devices that have been designed to control pests. Physical controls include traps, screens, fences and nets. Chemicals such as sprays, baits, traps and pheromones can also be used to control pests. Some of these chemicals have the potential to create resistance in pests. Using multiple types of control methods or rotating them over time can help limit the development of resistant pests.
Biological controls are natural enemies of pests such as parasites, predators, and pathogens that can be supplemented or replaced to improve pest control efficiency. In some cases, biological controls can provide more effective control than chemical pesticides.
Some barriers are very simple and affordable, such as a tight-fitting screen for fruit trees or deer netting for vegetable gardens. Other barriers are more complex and specialized. For example, a particle barrier can be installed on new construction to exclude subterranean termites from the soil and concrete slab. This product can be applied during the construction process or afterward as part of an integrated pest management program.
When possible, the goal of a pest control strategy should be prevention rather than eradication or destruction. Preventing the pest from reaching the threshold at which it becomes unacceptable is a more economical and safer option than trying to destroy a fully grown and reproducing pest. Thresholds may be based on esthetic, health or economic concerns. For example, rodent sightings in homes generally compel action. Even a few house centipedes or spiders in the yard can be considered unacceptable and can often be prevented by cleaning up obvious messes and by ensuring that doors and windows are well-sealed.
Traps
Insect traps are key tools in a pest control program. They facilitate the identification of pests, establishment of action thresholds, and development of targeted treatments. They also contribute to monitoring pest populations over time and help balance ecological and economic considerations when choosing management actions.
The effectiveness of traps depends on how the device is used. For example, pheromone traps must be placed in the habitat of the target insect and oriented correctly to capture it. In addition, the trap must be kept clean. Insects in traps are often dead before they reach the collecting container; thus, it is important to inspect and replace traps regularly.
Sticky traps can be useful for some outdoor pests but are generally too slow and unreliable in the presence of other insects, including beneficial species. Therefore, use them only in enclosed areas such as greenhouses and garages. Also, keep children and pets away from traps to avoid disrupting them or attracting them with food. Trade out sticky traps that are full of dust or that look too dirty for a new clean one.
Glue traps should be checked frequently. Those with significant numbers of insect captures may need to be cleaned more frequently, particularly if the weather is windy or rainy. When the traps are refilled with bait, they should be reset to ensure that all of the insects have been trapped. It is especially important to keep track of the number of each type of pest captured to facilitate comparisons over time.
Pitfall traps are best for catching insects that crawl over the ground (e.g., caterpillars of the African armyworm). They must be positioned so that the insect cannot escape, but not so close to plants that they collect soil from the growing medium and discolour it. In some cases, a screen-covered funnel or system of separators is added to the collecting container to guide beetles and other heavy, hard-bodied insects into a separate collection chamber from moths and other delicate specimens.
Plastic pitfall traps can be arranged on the ground to catch surface pests or in stored grain bins to monitor insect infestations. The number and species of insects collected should be recorded and charts constructed to show changes over time. Depending on the species and habitat, pheromone traps might be more effective than black light or sticky traps.