Pests are undesirable organisms (such as insects, bacteria, fungi, nematodes, plant diseases and vertebrate animals) that damage, devalue or spoil crops, food stores, buildings and household goods. They may also interfere with human health, harm the environment and displace desirable species.

Pest Control Nampa prevents costly repairs and protects the value of your home. It also helps prevent the spread of dangerous pathogens and allergens that can impact your family’s health.

One of the best ways to control pest infestations is through prevention. This means making sure pests don’t have access to food, water and shelter. It also means removing sources of attraction, such as piles of wood or other debris that can attract termites and other pests. In addition, keeping surfaces clean and free of crumbs and spills can prevent pests from finding their way inside. Similarly, storing items in tightly closed containers can reduce the risk of pests getting into products during shipping and storage.

In general, it’s important to practice integrated pest management (IPM) whenever possible. This includes scouting and monitoring on a regular basis, anywhere from daily to weekly depending on the situation. This can help you to identify the presence of pests as well as their damage. Scouting can also help you to assess the risk of pests and make decisions about which control methods to use.

IPM is a systematic approach to managing pests that takes into account the needs of people, property and the environment. Its goals are to prevent pests from entering structures, reducing damage once they’re inside and maintaining a level of control that is acceptable to the human inhabitants of a site. It’s often possible to achieve these objectives without the need for chemicals, although some may be necessary in certain situations.

The first step in prevention is to thoroughly inspect the outside of a home or business on a regular basis. This should include checking for cracks and gaps that pests can use as entry points, such as in the foundation or around utility lines. Caulking or weatherstripping can eliminate these potential entryways. It’s also a good idea to install door sweeps and window screens, which can further prevent pests from entering.

It’s also a good idea to remove standing water, as this can attract pests and increase the likelihood of a pest infestation. Checking the plumbing regularly and fixing leaky faucets can eliminate sources of standing water. Finally, removing plants and trimming shrubs that touch or overhang buildings can minimize pest problems by eliminating nesting sites.

Suppression

When preventative methods aren’t enough to control pests or eradication isn’t feasible, suppression may be the solution. Generally, the goal is to keep pest populations low enough to avoid damaging crops or other natural resources. A wide range of chemical, physical and biological control techniques can be used to suppress pests.

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) looks at prevention, suppression and other methods of controlling pests in a more holistic manner than older extermination-oriented approaches. It also considers the effect of pest control methods on people, plants and other organisms in and around the treatment site.

Natural controls – weather, topography and other environmental factors – limit the growth of many insect, plant-eating or disease-causing pests. In addition, predatory insects and other organisms can injure or consume pests and help keep their numbers low. Pathogens – disease-causing microorganisms – sometimes infect and kill pests, or reduce their numbers to manageable levels.

Weather conditions influence the activity of all organisms and can cause their numbers to rise or fall. Temperature, day length and moisture influence plant growth and the ability of some plant-eating pests to reproduce. Water supplies, food sources, shelter and other factors can also affect pest population sizes.

Predatory organisms such as birds, amphibians and reptiles prey on a wide variety of pest species and are effective natural controls. Insect parasitoids – organisms that live by attaching to and feeding on their host insect – are another effective natural control. Some pests, such as ants and beetles, even benefit from the services of their natural enemies, since they can prey on pests that might otherwise damage the crops they’re feeding on.

Chemical controls – including both herbicides and insecticides – are often employed in pest control. The types of chemicals used depend on the type of pest, its damage potential and acceptable population levels. It’s important to carefully choose and apply any chemicals that are used, so as not to disrupt the natural balance of a treatment site and cause more harm than good. Chemicals should be used to suppress pests in a way that minimizes their impact on other organisms.

Eradication

Often, pest control is more about prevention than eradication. But eradication of pests is a goal in some situations, particularly in enclosed environments such as dwellings; schools; offices; and health care, food processing, or food preparation areas. Such eradication is usually a more serious effort than preventive or suppression strategies, and it may involve more rigorous monitoring, inspections, and trapping. Eradication also is more challenging to accomplish because of the presence of lingering, resistant microbes that can continue to transmit disease.

In these cases, it is important to identify the microbes that are causing the problem and work to eradicate them from their native habitat. This is a complicated and expensive task that requires a great deal of research.

Many pests such as rats and cockroaches spread bacteria that make people sick. These pests also contaminate surfaces and eat away at plants. Several natural ways to eliminate bacteria and other pests include using disinfectant cleaner, cleaning garbage cans frequently, keeping counter tops clean, and sealing cracks in the home’s foundation and around pipes.

Other natural methods for eliminating pests include placing garlic or hot pepper in places where pests are a nuisance, or using orange peels to deter ants and other insects from entering the house. The use of natural pest control methods should be a supplement to other strategies, not a substitute for them.

Chemical pesticides are generally used in combination with other methods of controlling a pest, and only by trained, licensed pest control professionals. These chemicals are poisonous and can be harmful if ingested by children or pets. They should never be left out for anyone to pick up, and they should be kept away from foods and drinking water.

When deciding whether to pursue eradication, it is necessary to weigh the cost of the effort against its social net benefits. One method of calculating the benefit involves projecting future infection and vaccination costs, attaching values to them, and discounting them. This is called the “disease dividend.” Eradication of a pest should only be undertaken if this benefit exceeds the costs.

Biological Control

While chemical pesticides often have adverse environmental and health effects, biological control uses natural enemies to reduce pest populations to economic or aesthetic thresholds. Biological control agents include predators, parasitoids, and pathogens (microorganisms that cause disease) and can be applied to plants as living organisms or in the form of sprays, powders or microbial products. Biological controls are used to manage insect, vertebrate and plant pathogenic pests as well as weeds, nematodes and other soil-dwelling pests.

Biological controls are most effective as part of an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program that also includes cultural, physical and mechanical controls. When used in combination with preventive methods, fewer chemical treatments may be needed and less risk is associated with the development of resistance to pesticides.

When a pest population has reached damaging or nuisance levels, the use of chemical controls may be necessary to suppress it until the natural enemy can catch up. Chemicals must be used sparingly to limit the amount of residues on harvested crops and to minimize their effect on beneficial insects or other environmental resources.

Successful biological control programs require a thorough understanding of both the pest and its natural enemies. A knowledge of the pest life cycle, their biology, and a familiarity with the ecology of the area in which the natural enemy is to be released are essential.

Augmentation of natural enemies is a common strategy for increasing the effectiveness of biological control. Natural enemies that can’t overwinter or persist on their own are mass-produced in insectaries and then released in large numbers to quickly overwhelm a pest population (inundative release). Hundreds of different products containing natural enemies of dozens of different pest invertebrates, vertebrates, weeds and plant pathogens are commercially available for a wide range of agricultural uses.

Many of these products are highly specific and targeted to one or a few closely related species. For example, entomopathogenic nematodes are used to control thrips and caterpillars and parasitoids are released to attack the eggs, larvae and pupae of a host pest, including grubs, beetles and scale insects. Parasitic wasps are also very effective against caterpillars and aphids. In addition to providing food and shelter, other augmentation strategies include planting habitat that is useful to the natural enemy being introduced. These include hedgerows, cover crops and weedy borders that provide places for adult parasitoids to find food and protection from predators.