If you choose to hire a professional, prioritize companies with tenured legacies and pesticide licenses verified by the State Departments of Agriculture. They will know how to fortify your home or garden against pests by eliminating food, water, and shelter sources.
Preventive methods include trap crops such as zinnia, which lure and kill Japanese beetles, and biological controls such as nematodes, which prey on harmful soil insects. Physical or mechanical control methods such as barriers, traps, and nets also help. Contact Pest Control Simi Valley CA now!
Correct identification of a pest is the first step in any pest management program. Accurate pest identification allows the determination of basic information such as food sources, habitat and harborage preferences, environmental conditions that facilitate development or spread, and optimum control tactics. Identification also enables you to distinguish between continuous pests, sporadic pests and potential pests.
Incorrect pest identification can result in improper control tactics, waste of time and money, and unnecessary risks to people or the environment. To prevent this, you should always check that you are accurately identifying the pest and that the information used to support your identification is appropriate and accurate.
A number of resources are available to assist you with pest identification. Several on-line and printed guides are available, many of which are provided by state, university and private industry experts. These include pest identification books, field guides, and reference materials. Many of these publications can be found at your local library or Cooperative Extension office. You can also find them at major book stores and some online retailers.
For the homeowner, accurate pest identification is an important part of any pest control strategy. Incorrect pest identification may result in the use of inappropriate chemicals, or insufficient or excessive applications of pesticides.
To prevent pest problems, make sure your home is well-sealed against entry by removing possible points of entrance. Store firewood away from your house and keep shrubbery trimmed and well-groomed. Regularly inspect doors, windows and vents for cracks and other openings. Seal any gaps or cracks with caulk, and repair torn window screens. Store pet food and garbage in sealed containers. Remove garbage regularly and avoid leaving it out overnight.
When pests become a nuisance, it is often necessary to contact a pest management professional. These professionals can help you identify a pest, determine what steps to take next and recommend specific treatments. They can also provide advice on how to keep pests from entering your property in the future. Whether you are dealing with a common household pest, such as fleas or ticks, or a more serious pest problem, such as termites or bed bugs, a professional can offer the expertise and solutions to get rid of the pests and restore your peace of mind.
Prevention
Pests can cause a number of problems that affect human and animal health. They can contaminate food, damage facilities, and spoil products. They can also introduce diseases including hantavirus, leptospirosis and Salmonella. Pest control attempts to reduce these adverse impacts by excluding, destroying or repelling pests.
Sanitation is a key element of preventive pest control and the foundation for creating an inhospitable environment for pests. Keeping areas clean eliminates feeding and breeding sites and makes it more difficult for them to hide in places like cracks. It is important to regularly inspect the inside and outside of buildings, removing food sources from the premises when necessary. Garbage should be securely stored and disposed of promptly to reduce the attracting potential of decomposing food waste. Cracks should be sealed to limit entry of pests. Screens should be fitted to windows, vents and doors, inspected regularly for holes or gaps and repaired as needed.
Moisture control is another important element in preventing pests, as they are attracted to moist environments. To control moisture, repairing leaky pipes, installing fans and using dehumidifiers can help. It is also important to frequently check and clean areas where water can collect.
Prevention also includes limiting the use of chemicals. In many situations, non-chemical pest control methods such as traps and baits can be sufficient to keep pest populations below unacceptable levels. Pesticides should be used sparingly and only when required.
Developing and Implementing a Pest Management Program
A preventive approach to pest control requires regular monitoring, inspections, trend analysis, risk assessment and the application of effective cultural, mechanical and environmental controls. It also includes training and monitoring programs to ensure that pests are not introduced to a facility by staff or customers. For example, it might be helpful to identify who on staff is responsible for inspecting incoming product shipments or determining whether operating rooms and other sterile areas should be wet washed rather than dry washed to reduce the introduction of bacteria.
A preventive approach to pest control can save money, improve production and help ensure compliance with FSMA regulations. It can also help to avoid costly product recalls and the loss of brand reputation. Plant and QA managers, along with upper management, want to see a return on their investment in prevention programs that can help them achieve these goals.
Suppression
The objective of suppression is to reduce pest populations to an acceptable level, usually by using chemical means. It may also involve other control techniques. Suppression is a necessary step when prevention has failed or can’t be used and when eradication is impossible. It is important to remember that suppression will still cause some damage and should be used as a last resort.
Preventive measures include choosing pest-free seeds or transplants, scheduling irrigation to avoid conditions conducive to disease development, cleaning tillage and harvest equipment between fields or operations, field sanitation procedures and eliminating alternate hosts or sites for pest organisms. The weather also affects pest populations, with hot or cold temperatures, heavy rain or windy conditions suppressing insect activity and allowing plant-eating predators to kill or reduce their numbers.
Chemical controls include weed-killing agents, fertilizers and herbicides. These are often used in combination with biological or mechanical control methods to achieve the best results.
Insect-spreading nematodes, fungi, parasitoids and viruses are used to replace harmful insects or to increase the efficiency of pesticides. These biological control agents are released in small amounts, usually diluted in water or other liquids, and spread over large areas to control pests that have escaped from a protected area.
Mechanical or physical controls include traps, screens, barriers, fences, radiation and electricity to alter the environment, killing or deterring pests. A device that emits a smell, taste or sound that repels or disturbs pests is called a pheromone.
There are several reasons why a pesticide might fail to control the target pest, such as insect resistance, choosing the wrong pesticide, misidentification or applying the pesticide incorrectly. The effectiveness of a pesticide also decreases over time, so periodic reapplication is often necessary.
In integrated pest management, the goal is to use all available methods in a plan to keep pests at an acceptably low level without harming people, property or the environment. It is a good idea to discuss all of the options with your farm manager or extension agent. A comprehensive approach to pest control is usually the best strategy.
Biological Control
In the wake of consumer concern over pesticide use, particularly the toxicity to pollinators caused by neonicotinoids, many growers and green industry professionals are seeking alternative methods of controlling undesirable insects, mites, weeds, or diseases on ornamental plants, turfgrasses, fruits, and vegetables. These techniques include biological control (Table 1). Biological controls employ natural organisms, called “natural enemies,” to reduce or eliminate pest populations. These may be predators, parasitoids, or pathogens that infect the host plant or attack the pest at some point in its life cycle. Parasites and pathogens generally target a limited number of closely related species, while predators are usually highly specific, attacking only their intended host.
Importation of natural enemy organisms is a key aspect of biological control. This is referred to as classical biological control. Classical biological control involves the importing of natural enemies from their native locations, often from far away countries or continents. The organisms are usually selected for their ability to control a particular pest species.
For example, the parasitoid fungus Encarsia formosa has been used to control greenhouse whiteflies in Europe for over 50 years effectively. Similarly, the predacious mite Phytoseiulus persimilis has been used to effectively control two-spotted spider mite in greenhouses. Several other natural enemy microorganisms are commercially available as biocontrol agents, including the bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis or Bt, entomopathogenic nematodes, protozoa, and bacteriophages.
Biological controls can be effective when used in combination with cultural, mechanical, or selective chemical management. However, be careful not to kill the natural enemies you are trying to promote. Broad-spectrum insecticides such as carbamates, organophosphates, and pyrethroids can poison the natural enemies at the time of spraying and for days or weeks afterwards. Additionally, systemic insecticides that translocate into the blossoms of the plant (e.g., imidacloprid) can also harm them.
The best way to preserve natural enemies is to avoid introducing non-native organisms to the environment. For example, if a plant is not suited to its new habitat, it can quickly become an invasive species that threatens local ecosystems. This is not the case with native species, which are well-adapted to their environments.