Eradication is rarely the goal in outdoor pest situations. The usual objective is to prevent pests from spreading. Barriers, fences, traps, radiation, and environmental altering can all be useful control measures.
Some pests look frightening or gross (like spiders, earwigs, and silverfish) or bite or sting (such as rodents and bees). Others spoil food or cause diseases like hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, leptospirosis, and salmonella. Click https://pezzpestcontrol.com/ to learn more.
Pests are organisms (insects, fungi, bacteria, viruses, nematodes, weeds, and vertebrates) that damage, degrade, or spoil food, crops, gardens, trees, livestock, buildings, and human structures. They also displace or disrupt native plant species, harming terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Pest control has three goals: prevention, suppression, and eradication. Pest control methods are used to achieve these goals, causing as little harm as possible to humans and the environment.
Prevention is the best method of pest control. It involves assessing the environment to determine what is needed for pests to thrive, and changing the factors that encourage their presence. This includes monitoring for pests, which is done through scouting or trapping. For example, to prevent mosquitoes from breeding in a garden or home, look under leaves, along foundations, and at bait stations for eggs. Monitoring can include checking the environment, such as temperature and moisture levels, to see if there are conditions that favour the growth of a pest population.
Fungicides and bacterium are examples of biocontrol agents that can be introduced to an area to manage pest populations. These microorganisms produce substances that are toxic to pest insects, such as caterpillars, when ingested. Biocontrol agents are a sustainable way to manage pests and have less impact on the environment than chemical pesticides.
Mechanical pest control is the use of traps, barriers, fences and screens to block or limit pest access to an area. These are generally non-toxic and environmentally friendly, but may be more labour intensive than other options. For example, using mulches to suppress weeds or steam sterilizing soil to manage disease are both physical controls for crop diseases.
Physical and biological pest controls kill a pest directly or make their environment unsuitable, such as trapping for rodents or removing nests. This type of control is often referred to as “pest proofing” and can involve a variety of devices, such as traps and bait stations, netting, and barriers like fencing or screens. These are a good option for large pests where chemical or biological options are not as effective. It is important to remember that these types of controls must be monitored and maintained regularly to be effective.
Rodents
Rodents (including squirrels, chipmunks, beavers and mice) are a natural part of grasslands and forest ecosystems and serve as important prey for predators and scavengers. However, they become pests when their populations grow out of control, causing damage to buildings and a variety of other structures and crops. They also carry diseases that pose health risks for humans such as salmonella, leptospirosis and others.
Rats can enter buildings to find food, water and shelter. They have oversized front teeth for gnawing and cheek teeth that are well adapted for chewing on hard materials, which can cause damage in and around structures. They can chew through wood, steel and concrete. They can also create nests by tearing insulation and other soft materials.
The best prevention measures include:
Observing rodent activity and looking for signs of a rat problem, including smudge marks on surfaces that show heavy traffic. Storing non-refrigerated foods, pet foods and birdseed in containers that are chew-proof or have tight lids. Keeping woodpiles, brush and other debris removed to minimize a rat’s hiding places. Removing other material that a rat might use for a nest such as cardboard, paper, hay, straw and soft fabrics.
Placing nontoxic monitoring bait blocks in tamper-resistant stations and checking them often (e.g., custodial closets, laundry rooms, vending areas, garages and crawl spaces). Using glue boards, snap traps, shock traps or live traps to trap rodents where they are active. Clean up droppings and grease marks promptly using a district-approved disinfectant.
Chemical rodenticides are an option for managing a rat infestation, but only when the appropriate precautions are taken to protect children and pets. The most effective and longest-lasting rodenticides contain anticoagulants, which kill the rodents by bleeding them internally. These products are available to licensed pest control professionals. Other rodenticides, called semiochemicals, act as repellents and only last for a few days. They are sprayed on or placed near the infested area and do not need to be reapplied as often as first-generation anticoagulants.
Mosquitoes
Mosquitoes are annoying pests that feed on mammals and other vertebrates, but they also transmit diseases such as encephalitis, West Nile virus and malaria. There are over 3,500 species of mosquitoes, but only about 100 or so infect humans.
Like true flies, mosquitoes are Diptera insects with two wings and scales. They have long, many-segmented antennae and mouthparts that form a piercing-sucking proboscis. The males drink nectar, while the females need blood meals to produce eggs. Mosquitoes are found throughout the world.
Female mosquitoes locate their breeding sites by sensing carbon dioxide exhaled from people and other animals. They then release chemicals that mark their location to swarms of male mosquitoes, which seek out and bite them. The sperm of a male mosquito is stored in the female’s body to fertilize her eggs. The female then lays her eggs in standing water, such as swamps, marshes and the water-filled leaf axils of bromeliad plants.
In order to control the number of mosquitoes that hatch each year, it is important to prevent their development in ponds and other bodies of water. The application of larvicides (killing the larvae) and adulticides (killing the adults) can help.
The use of insecticides to control mosquitoes should always be used carefully. A variety of products are available for homeowner use, including pyrethroids (allethrins, cypermethrins, permethrins, phenothrins, tetremethrins) and organophosphates such as malathion. These can be applied to vegetation and walls where mosquitoes rest as coarse sprays. The use of a mosquito repellent and wearing long clothing that covers arms and legs, putting up screens on doors and windows, and mowing the lawn regularly can also help.
Nematodes
Nematodes (named from the Greek word for thread) are microscopic roundworms that live in the soil or other habitats and feed on bacteria and fungi. Some nematodes are predators, eating other nematodes or other small organisms. Others are parasites that attack and kill other organisms. Most nematodes are also symbiotic, living inside the cells of host plants and sharing resources with them.
Beneficial nematodes are very effective at controlling many different pests. They do not require spray equipment or a high degree of skill to apply. They are very safe to handle, and their small size makes them suitable for use in children’s gardens. Nematodes work by infecting the pests with bacteria. This causes the pests to weaken and die. They are most effective when applied in spring or autumn when the target pests are active.
The most widely used nematode for insect control is Steinernema feltiae, which attacks the larvae of black vine weevil and other soil insects. It is also highly effective against a variety of other fruit tree and ornamental insect pests including strawberry root weevil, graperoot weevil, apple maggot, cranberry maggot, and some lepidopterous larvae such as tulip tree borer and clearwing borer in alder and sycamore. It is a cold-tolerant nematode that maintains infectivity at soil temperatures down to 10 degrees Celsius.
Other entomopathogenic nematodes are being developed and will likely become more widely available. These nematodes are amenable to mass production, and many of them can be delivered in a partially desiccated state with several months of room temperature shelf life. Some nematodes are compatible with certain chemical pesticides; others are not. Ask suppliers for field tests supporting their recommended matching of insect pest target and nematode species.
