Pest Management includes a wide range of options. Preventive measures include storing food in sealed containers, cleaning garbage regularly, fixing leaky plumbing and keeping plants properly watered.
Natural enemies, such as parasitoids and predators, may help control pest populations, but there is usually a time lag between pest population increase and the corresponding increase in natural controls. Chemical controls, such as pheromones and juvenile hormones, can also be used to manage pests. Visit https://armispestmanagement.com/ to learn more.
Prevention is the first step in pest management. Prevention focuses on deterring pests before they infest and is the most cost-effective approach. It requires identifying the pest, learning about its biology and ecology, and understanding environmental factors that foster its presence. It also includes assessing the risk and selecting the best method for controlling the pest. The goal of prevention is to reduce the pest population to a level that can be managed with nonchemical means, such as sanitation and cultural practices.
For example, museum stewards can prevent pests by keeping storage rooms clean and by using pest-repelling plants in landscaping. In a food plant, preventing pests from entering can include storing products in sealed containers, arranging warehouse and transportation operations to avoid pest infestations, establishing sanitary cleaning protocols, and putting in place pest-proof flooring.
A preventive approach also defines what the client and pest management professional are responsible for and makes sure both parties carry out their responsibilities. For instance, in a food facility, determining who is on staff to inspect incoming shipments of ingredients and supplies. Creating sanitary perimeters on floors through organized layout of shelving and cabinets decreases the labor required for inspections and allows for easy installation of pest intrusion alarms.
Prevention can be especially effective for continuous pests, whose presence and abundance are fairly predictable, or sporadic and potential pests that require control only under certain circumstances or conditions. Similarly, in a greenhouse, knowing the climate (temperature, day length, humidity) that favors the growth of disease organisms can help prevent them from spreading.
Integrated pest management, or IPM, is a systematic approach that uses monitoring to guide decision making, combines avoiding, reducing and controlling pests with nonchemical methods, and relies on environmentally friendly pesticides only as a last resort. It has been shown to cut pest removal costs by one-third and pest complaints by 90 percent. It also saves energy, water and fertilizer. It can also reduce the need for landfill space and reduce pollutants that can threaten human health, beneficial insects, soils, plants and ecosystems. In addition, IPM reduces the need for land application of pesticides, a major concern for the environment and public health.
Suppression
The goal of suppression is to reduce pest numbers or damage to an acceptable level. This may be achieved by monitoring and accurately identifying the pest, its population size, and damage levels. This information helps determine if the pest can be tolerated, what control measures are needed and when they should be applied, and whether eradication is possible.
Biological and physical controls work to suppress pest populations by using predators, parasites, pathogens, or other organisms that naturally occur in nature. This can be done by encouraging natural enemies such as birds, fish, amphibians, and mammals or by introducing beneficial insects and nematodes that prey on pests or their eggs. The weather also influences pests by killing them or limiting their growth through freezing temperatures, rainfall, drought, and other conditions.
Physical controls include traps, screens, fences, nets, radiation, electricity, and other devices to physically remove or deter pests from an area or prevent them from entering a facility or plant. Other methods such as changing the amount of water or changing humidity can affect pests by reducing their food, water, shelter, or breeding sites.
Chemical controls, which include insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, and other synthetic chemicals, are used to reduce or eliminate specific pests. These are usually applied directly to the pest or its eggs or larvae, but may be used in combination with other methods. Chemicals are often more effective than other control methods, but they can be harmful to the environment and people if not used properly or when other methods could do the job.
Sanitation practices prevent or suppress pests by improving cleanliness and reducing food, water, and shelter supplies. This can be done by establishing and maintaining clean work and storage areas, picking up crop debris promptly, increasing the frequency of garbage pickup, and observing other basic sanitation practices.
Pest control objectives vary by situation, but generally they include prevention, suppression, eradication, and containment. Prevention is the most desirable goal, but sometimes this is not possible or practical. In outdoor pest situations, eradication is not usually attempted because it is too difficult and expensive to achieve, but containment is a common objective, especially in facilities such as dwellings; schools; office buildings; health care, food processing, or plant nurseries; and restaurants.
Eradication
The objective of eradication in pest management is to eliminate an organism that has been accidentally or intentionally introduced into a new environment (Food and Agriculture Organization, 2005). This objective is very difficult to achieve. Eradication programmes usually consist of three activities: surveillance, containment and treatment and control measures. The surveillance activity involves monitoring the presence of the organism in the environment to ensure that it has not re-established itself in a new area. This is a necessary activity if an eradication programme is to succeed and should be conducted in conjunction with the containment and treatment and control activities.
The control measures can include cultural, biological, mechanical and chemical (pesticide) tactics. Cultural techniques for controlling pests can include intercropping to reduce the amount of pesticide needed, planting trap crops to lure pests away from the harvest crop, or delaying cropping times to allow pests to mature and die off before harvesting. Biological controls are also important and include the use of natural enemies such as predators, parasites and fungi. Biological controls may be introduced from outside the area in which they are being used, or they may be augmented by adding more natural enemies to an existing population.
Chemical control includes the use of synthetic chemicals, often called pesticides. The goal of a pesticide application is to kill the pest, but this requires that the pesticide be targeted at the correct life cycle stage and be available in sufficient quantity. Pesticide failures can be caused by pest resistance, incorrect identification, choosing the wrong pesticide or applying the pesticide at the wrong time.
Physical methods of control include the use of animal or plant traps, sticky cards for insects and fruit flies, manual removal of pests from plants, the use of nets to exclude fruit fly populations, and the installation of physical barriers such as fences. Public information programmes should be undertaken to raise awareness about pest eradication efforts. It is generally accepted that eradication is unlikely to be possible in outdoor pest situations, but prevention and suppression are realistic goals. In enclosed areas such as indoor gardens or greenhouses, eradication is much more likely to be possible and has been successful for example in the case of Mediterranean fruit fly, gypsy moth and fire ant.
Biological Management
Biological management involves the use of predators, parasites, and pathogens to control pests. This method partners with nature to keep ecosystems balanced and protect crops without the use of harmful chemicals. Predator and parasitoid species, like nematodes, fungi, and mites, can be used to kill or debilitate target pests, such as aphids, caterpillars, or whitefly. Pathogens, such as viruses or bacteria, are often specifically targeted against a particular pest, such as bacillus thuringiensis for caterpillars. Microbial insecticides (bacterial toxins) are also useful in controlling certain pests.
The goal of biological management is to create and sustain a population of natural enemies large enough to control the pest on its own, or at least prevent it from spreading into areas where it is unwanted. This is a long-term strategy, and it takes time to develop and evaluate its success.
A key part of biological management is scouting: regularly searching for and identifying pests in your garden or landscape, so that you know what to look for and how to recognize the presence of natural enemies. Identifying natural enemies can help you to choose the best methods of pest management, such as cultural controls or chemical controls that don’t harm the natural enemy populations. Consult the resources listed in the “References” section for information on how to recognize different types of natural enemies.
Classical biological control is often used to manage exotic, invasive pests that have been accidentally introduced into an area. This method is highly research intensive and relies on the careful selection and introduction of a pest’s natural enemies into a new environment. Suitable natural enemies are first discovered in the pest’s native habitat, then studied and collected before being carefully tested for their ability to suppress the pest when released into an agricultural setting. Once they have been proven to be effective, they are then incorporated into a biological control program.
Many growers and green industry professionals are seeking alternatives to traditional pesticides, due to the potential negative impacts of these products on pollinators and other organisms. They are also concerned about the potential for developing resistance to chemical pesticides, and the negative effects of broad-spectrum pesticides on soil health and nutrient availability. To address these concerns, many are turning to biological pest control.