Exterminators combat cockroaches by using gel bait stations containing slow-acting poison, sprays with residual pesticides and dust like boric acid or diatomaceous earth to dehydrate and kill them. They also employ preventive measures, including sealing crevices and improving sanitation. Contact Olathe Pest Control for professional help.
Identifying the pest is the first step in any pest control program. It allows you to determine basic information about the pest, such as its life cycle and the time of year it is most susceptible to being controlled. Accurate pest identification also contributes to safer, more effective treatments and prevention methods. Pests differ in biology and behavior, and they require different treatment methods. If a pest is misidentified, the correct treatment may not be used or could even be counterproductive.
Monitoring pests means checking your field, garden, landscape, or building for pests and determining whether they need to be controlled. Monitoring gives you important information about which pests are present, how many there are, and what damage they’ve caused. Monitoring also helps you plan when and how to control the pests.
In some situations, you can identify the pest yourself using common sense and a few basic tools. However, for more complex pests, you might need help from a specialist.
National Identification Services (NIS) provides the final taxonomic authority for APHIS Plant Protection and Quarantine’s pest identification programs, which serve as the foundation of all quarantine action decisions. NIS personnel are experts in the fields of botany, entomology, and malacology, and they are stationed at a variety of institutions, including Federal research laboratories, State departments of agriculture, and land-grant universities.
A pest is any animal, or part of an animal, at any stage in its life, that can cause biological or physical contamination of food, destroys property, or otherwise adversely affects human health and well-being. The goal of a pest control program is to minimize the presence of harmful organisms in agricultural, natural, and residential settings.
Correct pest identification is essential to any pest management strategy because the way that a pest damages plants, crops, or structures depends on its unique characteristics, such as feeding habits, life cycle, and habitat. This information is vital when deciding on preventive measures, such as selecting the right kind of habitat or implementing cultural controls, or when choosing management tactics like applying insecticides. It also helps to accurately gauge the success of pest control efforts by analyzing how well they work and assessing any adverse effects on non-target organisms.
Pest Prevention
Pests can be destructive to plants, displace people and animals from homes and commercial facilities, contaminate food, and cause asthma and other health problems. A wide range of organisms are considered pests, from insects to rodents to birds and weeds. Some pests are also carriers of diseases or a nuisance to humans, such as cockroaches (which spread many diseases and trigger allergies). In general, a pest is any organism that interferes with human activity and causes damage, inconvenience or harm.
Ideally, pests should be eliminated before they become a problem. For example, a building owner or maintenance worker can eliminate entrance points such as cracks or crevices, screens, or holes, and remove food sources such as garbage or ripening produce. He or she can also eliminate shelter such as piles of grass, paper or cardboard. He or she can also reduce moisture and temperature levels to discourage weeds, disease-causing fungi or rotting fruit. In addition, cleaning can reduce odors that attract pests and prevent them from spreading to other areas.
Monitoring pests and their damage is a key step in determining whether or when pest control measures are needed. This usually involves estimating when pest populations will reach unacceptable damage thresholds. For insect, insect-like and mollusk pests, this can be done by trapping or scouting. For weeds, it is often a matter of visual inspection and recording the numbers of plants being damaged. Other factors that influence when to start or stop pest control include the number of generations per year, weather conditions, and available food sources.
The goal of pest management is to use non-chemical methods first to avoid or minimize the need for chemical controls. Preventive and suppression methods are economical and environmentally responsible, reducing pest populations before they become damaging. These include cleaning, repairing and sanitizing buildings; changing irrigation practices; and reducing food, water and shelter availability for pests.
Eradication is seldom a goal for outdoor pests, where preventing re-infestation and limiting the spread of new pests is usually a more effective approach. However, eradication is an important goal for indoor pests, especially those that can spread diseases or cause discomfort, such as rodents and cockroaches.
Pest Control Methods
Pest control involves a wide range of tactics to keep pest numbers low and damage to plants minimal. It includes prevention – keeping a pest from getting established – and suppression – reducing a pest population to an acceptable level. Suppression should be used only when a pest is damaging the health and appearance of the plant or causing other unacceptable harm. Prevention can be achieved by identifying the conditions that favor pest presence or abundance. This may involve scouting and monitoring a pest regularly. It can also include preventive management practices, such as removing their food sources (like nectar) and taking away their hiding places, such as weeds and debris.
Other natural forces that influence pest populations include climate, disease, predators, parasites, and physical barriers. They usually act independently of humans, and their actions can either aid or hinder pest control efforts. For example, weather conditions affect the growth of host plants that pests feed on, as well as the survival and reproduction of pests themselves. In addition, some organisms, like bacteria, fungi and viruses, can kill or disable pests by attacking them directly.
Many natural enemies of pests, such as birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish, feed on them or injure them in some way. Some pathogens can also suppress pest populations by destroying their eggs or larvae. In addition, certain soil microorganisms can inhibit pest development by changing their metabolism or releasing toxins that interfere with their growth hormones.
Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approaches to managing pests are designed to minimize the use of chemical controls and maximize the use of non-chemical methods. This means that scouting and monitoring should be conducted regularly to identify problems, determine their severity and make treatment decisions accordingly. When chemical controls are needed, they should be applied with the goal of removing only the target organism and not impacting beneficial and non-target organisms. The timing and frequency of applications is also important for minimizing the use of chemicals and preventing the development of resistance in target and non-target species. Other non-chemical control techniques can include mechanical and physical controls, such as pest proofing structures or removing their food sources (e.g., trap crops of zinnia that attract and concentrate Japanese beetles), and cultural controls such as changing planting or cultural practices to reduce pest habitats or make the environment less suitable for them.
Pesticides
Pesticides are chemicals that are used to destroy or suppress pests, including insects, weeds, disease organisms and other nuisance or harmful microorganisms. They are available in a wide variety of formulations. They are most effective when applied precisely to the target pest, at the correct time and place of the pest’s life cycle.
Most pesticides are synthetic chemicals, although some are natural products such as plant extracts or minerals. They are combined with other substances, called inert ingredients, to make them safe for use and effective against the targeted pest.
Before using any pesticide, be sure to read the entire label carefully and follow the instructions. It is against the law to use a pesticide for a purpose or in a way not listed on its label. It is also important to purchase the proper amount of pesticide for your needs. Buying only what you need eliminates the need to store unused product and prevents overuse, which can increase environmental risk.
The best pesticides are those that break down quickly in the environment, minimizing their impact. They are usually less toxic to people and animals than the persistent, organochlorine family of pesticides (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, dichlorobenzene, and methyl bromide).
When pesticides are necessary, select the least-toxic methods and products possible. Avoid spraying plants that are not being damaged by the pest, and try to treat only a small area at one time. If spraying is unavoidable, minimize the amount of chemical used and apply it at the lowest rate recommended on the label.
Applying pesticides properly requires safety equipment. Protective clothing includes rubber gloves, eye protection, a long-sleeved shirt and long pants. In addition, masks are often necessary if spray drift is a concern. When finished, wash contaminated clothing separately from other laundry and dispose of it in a plastic bag outdoors.
Pesticides pollute air, water and soil when they are used improperly. This pollution can poison and kill fish, wildlife, bees, birds and other beneficial organisms that are an essential part of nature’s food chain. It can also “sterilize” soil, removing the microorganisms that are essential to crop growth. In addition, pesticides can contaminate the human food supply and cause other health problems.