Pests are organisms that cause unacceptable harm, such as destroying crops or spreading diseases. Pest control goals are prevention, suppression, and, if necessary, eradication.

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Pest infestations can cause significant damage to property or create health concerns for building occupants. Even when facilities and janitorial crews are vigilant, it is possible for pests to enter buildings in large enough numbers to disrupt operations and pose a threat to people or products.

A comprehensive pest prevention program is one of the best ways to protect your property and reputation from costly infestations. Preventive measures include educating employees about pests and options for their control, keeping up with regular cleaning audits and employing preventive techniques such as sealing entry points into structures to keep out pests and storing food in containers that prevent pests from accessing them.

Prevention is the first step in the pest management process and requires commitment by all parties. It starts with a thorough pest risk assessment that includes identifying specific pests and their impact on property, human health and the environment. A pest management plan that integrates all aspects of prevention is then created and monitored. An IPM plan typically uses natural, biological, cultural and chemical controls to manage pests.

Natural controls, such as weather and topography, limit pest populations by making the environment unfavorable for them. Biological pest controls, including parasites, predators and pathogens, injure or kill unwanted organisms to reduce their numbers. Cultural practices affect the environmental conditions that support pest infestations and are used in combination with other control methods.

Chemical pest control involves solutions designed to eliminate pests, such as repellents and insecticides. These are typically easier to find and use than biological pest control products and deliver results immediately. However, they can also pose a health and safety risk upon exposure and may require ongoing application to be effective.

Structural pest control includes barriers and alterations that prevent the passage of pests from one area to another, such as screens, fences and caulking. It also includes barriers that allow air to circulate freely while preventing the entry of pests, such as fly screens and doors.

Regulatory pest control uses government-sanctioned methods to limit or regulate the growth and spread of unwanted organisms. This can be achieved by improving agricultural practices, developing new products and implementing quarantine or eradication programs.

Suppression

Pests are creatures that infest buildings, spoil food or otherwise damage the environment. They are a nuisance, like rats, bed bugs, cockroaches and termites; they pose health hazards, such as rat-borne hantavirus, leptospirosis and Salmonella; they cause structural damage, as in the case of termites or wood-destroying bees; and they often carry or spread diseases, such as rabies or tuberculosis.

Suppression methods include baiting, trapping, spraying, and the use of chemicals, such as insecticides and herbicides. Pest control technicians are able to identify and apply the appropriate method for each situation. In order to reduce the need for harsh chemicals, integrated pest management (IPM) is also employed. This strategy combines prevention, suppression and other techniques to keep pest populations below harmful levels.

IPM is a more environmentally friendly method than chemical pesticides, which may be toxic to humans and animals. It aims to achieve the goals of both pest management and conservation of natural resources, such as soil quality, water availability, biodiversity, and plant productivity. It is an important component of organic farming, as it relies on the balance between organisms to sustain and enrich the environment.

Many pests can be controlled through the use of predators and parasites. For example, if a gardener releases red weaver ants to eat the eggs of invasive Japanese beetles, the beetles will eventually be eliminated from the area. This is a form of biological control, which has been used for centuries.

Other methods include cultural practices, which alter the environment or condition of the host plant to make it less favorable for pests; they may also include changing the time or method of planting or harvesting, or introducing different varieties of plants. Some examples of cultural controls are adjusting the size or spacing of the plants, using resistant plants, and reducing disease stress by applying mulches or compost.

Sometimes the use of a cultural or physical control is enough to reduce a pest population, and a pesticide might not be needed at all. If a pesticide does not control the pests, it may be because the pests have developed resistance, the pesticide was applied incorrectly or not at all, or it was used in too small an area. Rotating pesticides can help prevent resistance, as does varying the type and amount of pesticide used.

Eradication

The word eradicate means “to pull up or out by the roots” (literally) or to extirpate. Its root is the Latin eradicare, which stems from the verb eradere, to uproot or upheave. Eradication implies complete destruction of a pest to the point where it is unlikely ever to recolonize an area. It’s an ambitious goal that can be hampered by many factors. For example, cost-benefit analyses may skew costs and benefits to favor eradication over ongoing area-wide control. Also, eradication programs may be delayed or disrupted by civil strife and insufficient program priority (a problem for guinea worm eradication). And the tools of eradication, such as insecticides or vaccines, might develop resistance (a threat facing yellow fever eradication efforts).

When a pesticide is used over a wide area or repeated in the same field over a long period, the chances for developing resistance increase. To reduce the likelihood of resistant pests, farmers should rotate their use of chemicals to prevent selection for resistance and keep one type of pesticide from building up in the environment.

Some pesticides may also be ineffective against the target pest, or they might fail to control a pest at an improper stage of development. Such failures are sometimes caused by a wrong identification or incorrect dosage. In addition, a pesticide might fail to kill or harm the target insect because it was in an unfavorable life cycle stage or location at the time of application.

The more pesticides a farmer uses, the more problems emerge and the more pesticides he has to use to control them. To reduce this dependency, researchers are exploring methods of controlling pests that do not involve chemical sprays. Some of these methods are based on the manipulation of the predatory insects and parasitoids that naturally control insect pests. These methods can be effective in reducing pest damage without the need for toxic chemicals. They can also be cheaper and less labor intensive than the use of pesticides. Examples of biological pest control include nematodes that attack potato tuber moths and wasps that prey on eggplant insects.

Natural Forces

In the natural environment, pest populations are limited by available food, water, shelter, and space. The presence of predators, parasites, or competitors can also restrict a pest population. Physical features such as mountains and bodies of water can prevent the spread of some pests, and overwintering sites and places for nests can affect others. Moreover, pests are undesirable because they can damage or devalue crops, landscapes, and natural resources; displace desirable plants and animals; and alter the soil, water, and air.

Threshold-based decision-making relates to monitoring and scouting. It involves seeing how many insects or weeds you need to consider them a problem and then determining what control method(s) will most effectively address the problem while causing the least harm to non-target organisms. For example, a few wasps scouting around the garden may not require any action; but a large infestation should prompt an insecticide application.

Biological control or biocontrol is the use of organisms to manage pests, typically by predation, parasitism, or herbivory. This method is often used as part of an integrated pest management (IPM) program.

In IPM programs, natural enemies are usually released into an area at a rate greater than what would occur naturally. Lady beetles, lacewings, and parasitized aphid mummies are commonly found in vegetable and field crops to control aphids. Entomopathogenic nematodes are sometimes released in large numbers into an area to control certain soil-dwelling pests.

Other methods of enhancing the activity of natural enemies include habitat or environmental manipulations. For instance, releasing more cover crops or hedgerows to provide places for beneficial insects to hide can help keep pests at bay. Also, introducing other species of plants or animals that are natural predators or parasites can help keep pest populations low.

Another way to augment the activity of natural enemies is through the use of pheromones or juvenile hormones. For example, a pheromone emitted by female insects can confuse males and prevent them from mating. Juvenile hormones are chemical substances that can be applied to an area to keep immature pests from maturing into their normal adult form.