Several factors affect pest populations. Weather, for example, can kill or suppress them. Animals that eat them or their prey often control them.

You can help prevent pest infestations by removing food, water, and shelter sources. Check for entry points like cracks around windows, doors and the foundation and seal them. Contact Springfield MO Pest Control now!

Whether in homes, warehouses or museums, pests cause damage to valuable collections and pose health risks to people. Rodents, ants and insects can spread diseases through their droppings or contaminate food by chewing and crawling on it. Their presence can also create odors and damage building structures. Integrated Pest Management, or I.P.M., uses methods to minimize pests’ impact on humans and property by focusing on prevention.

Preventing pest infestation is usually the most cost-effective approach to pest control. It allows technicians to work with the natural enemies of a pest, such as parasites, predators and pathogens, instead of resorting to chemicals. This prevents the buildup of resistance to pesticides and limits the environmental damage that chemical controls can cause.

The best preventive measure is to remove the food, water, and shelter sources that attract pests. This includes properly storing foods and removing garbage from areas that can become pest nesting sites. Sealing cracks and gaps, especially where utility lines, vents and pipes enter and exit buildings, can keep pests out. Regular inspections, including those by trained staff, can identify potential problem spots and allow early intervention.

In a warehouse, for example, creating sanitary perimeters on floors through the organized layout of shelving and cabinets can decrease the labor needed for inspections. This approach also reduces the number of places where rodents can hide and gives them fewer opportunities to access artifacts. Clear lines of sight along walls can also facilitate the use of perimeter intrusion alarms and ensure that traps are placed in the right place for successful detection.

On a smaller scale, avoiding spills and crumbs can limit the attraction of ants and other pests to kitchens. Keeping food in airtight containers, such as Tupperware and jars, can also help to keep pests out of pantry items. Keeping trash cans tightly sealed and eliminating weeds, overgrown grass, and debris from yards can lower pest appeal as well. In addition, sweeping up crumbs under furniture and other places where pests can hide helps to eliminate their food source. Performing regular walks around the house can also spot problems early, such as rips in screens and holes in foundations.

Suppression

When the population of pests has risen to damaging levels, suppression becomes the goal. This can be accomplished with many methods, including traps, scouting (regular searching for and identifying pests), cropping, agrochemicals and physical controls. Some of these methods kill the pest directly, while others block it out or make its environment unsuitable for it. Physical and mechanical controls, such as barriers, traps, screens, mulches and soil sterilization with steam or radiation, can be used to prevent pests from reaching crops, buildings or structures.

Biological control uses natural enemies, such as parasites and predators, to reduce pest populations. These organisms are often mass-reared in insectaries and introduced to the landscape to provide long-term suppression of pests. They are usually host-specific and attack only one or a few closely related species of pests. Some examples of these organisms are tachinid flies, trichogramma wasps and braconid wasps.

If the number of natural enemies present in an area is low or insufficient to suppress a pest, augmentative biological control may be necessary. This involves the purchase of biological control agents and their release into the area in which the pest occurs. Biological control agents can be introduced in several ways, including inoculative releases and inundative releases.

Monitoring pests is a key activity in all pest control situations. In some cases, monitoring is the only management action that is needed. In other cases, monitoring is done in conjunction with one or more other pest management actions. Monitoring for insect, insect-like, nematode and mollusk pests is usually done by scouting, while monitoring for weed and vertebrate pests usually includes checking the numbers of the pests as well as the damage they are causing.

Integrated Pest Management, or I.P.M., is an ecosystem-based strategy that can be used to reduce the use of chemical pesticides. It is a process that can be used in urban, agricultural and wildland and natural areas. Natural forces that influence pest populations include climate, natural enemies, natural barriers, availability of food and water, overwintering sites and shelter, and other environmental factors. Managing pests with I.P.M. is less stressful for people and the environment, as pesticides are only applied when necessary and are limited in their use.

Eradication

Eradication is rarely the goal in outdoor pest control situations, where it’s usually prevention and suppression that are the goals. Occasionally, eradication may be attempted in order to eliminate an invasive pest before it has had a chance to establish itself in the area (for example, Mediterranean fruit fly, gypsy moth, fire ants). It’s also possible to eradicate indoor pests, such as rodents or insects, by eliminating their food sources.

Eliminating a pest isn’t easy, and it is a complicated process that often requires many steps. A pest control specialist can provide guidance on how to best eliminate a particular pest. For example, an insect problem can be reduced by removing food sources from the property (such as garbage, pet food and bird seed), sealing cracks and crevices, and repairing screens. In addition, a thorough cleaning and sanitation audit can be conducted to help prevent the entrance of pests into the building.

Other pest control techniques include using baits, traps and ultra-low volume fogging to kill the infestation with a fine mist of poison that suffocates the pests. For larger infestations, fumigation may be required. In a commercial setting, a professional can use heat or freezing treatments to destroy pests.

Pests are attracted to warm, dark and humid areas, and they thrive in collections of dry food materials. For this reason, environmental controls are used to create temperatures, humidity levels and lighting conditions in storage areas that are unfavorable to the growth of pests.

If you decide to use chemical pesticides, it is important that you read the label carefully and follow all instructions for usage. It is also important to remove food, cooking utensils and other personal items from the area to be treated before applying any chemicals. Lastly, surface sprays should only be applied to inaccessible areas such as along skirting boards.

Another way to reduce pests is to plant natural barriers in and around your home or business. For instance, a good barrier is a well-maintained lawn that’s regularly watered. It’s also a good idea to trim overgrown shrubs and bushes to limit their hiding places. Another way to keep pests away from your plants is to use nematodes or other biological controls. Nematodes are a form of predation that suppresses insect populations by introducing bacteria or viruses into the soil, causing the insects to die off.

IPM

IPM is an effective and environmentally sound means of pest control that is recognized by federal law (7 U.S.C. 136r). Its goal is management of pests, rather than eradication, using a wide range of techniques including biological, cultural, physical and chemical options. Although I.P.M. initially focused on insect pests, today it includes fungi, viruses, bacteria and other organisms that damage plants and crops. It also extends beyond agriculture to home gardens, lawns and landscapes.

I.P.M. programs first look at the environment that surrounds the crop, garden or home to make sure conditions are unfavorable for pests. For example, if soil is too alkaline or nutrients aren’t balanced, it can create an unfavorable habitat for plants and the pests that attack them.

After monitoring, identification, and action thresholds are established, the proper control method is used. This often involves removing or blocking the pests’ food sources, disrupting their mating habits and using other non-chemical methods such as pheromones, nematodes, bacterium extracts, plant pathogens and fungicides. If these aren’t enough, more targeted chemical controls may be necessary such as horticultural oil, insecticidal soaps and concentrates, botanicals (e.g., neem and pyrethrum), rotenone and Bacillus thuringiensis. Broadcast spraying of pesticides is usually a last resort.

When chemical control is needed, I.P.M. programs use the least toxic and most selective products available. These are often called “low-impact” control measures, because they don’t cause any harm to people, pets or wildlife. Among them are row covers that stop marauding birds from destroying blackberry and raspberry plants, stretching netting over shrubs to prevent deer from munching on berries and other fruits, or simply hand-picking problem insects off plants.

I.P.M. is particularly important in schools, where a wide variety of non-chemical methods are usually employed, but the need for pesticides sometimes arises. When this happens, I.P.M. professionals work together to reduce the amount of pesticide used and minimize children’s exposure. These programs also record and analyze pest populations and actions taken to refine procedures over time. The result is a program that works for the long term to protect plants, people and the environment.