Pest Control Articles

by Posted in Pest Control Tagged , , , , ,

Articles are a great way to show your expertise and enlighten your audience. They can inspire interactions, drive traffic, and convert customers.

This will help you determine what control methods to use. Options include prevention, suppression, and eradication. Preventing pests reduces damage and prevents disease in people, pets, livestock, plants, crops and buildings. Contact Pest Control Basking Ridge NJ now!

Insects are the most abundant animals on Earth, comprising more than 1.5 million species. They are a crucial part of the biosphere’s natural ecosystems, shaping and maintaining their complexity and beauty, driving plant reproduction and dispersal of seeds, decomposing organic matter and maintaining soil structure and fertility.

In addition, insects are one of the most important food sources for other animal groups, especially mammals and birds. There is growing interest in the use of insects as a source of protein for human consumption, largely driven by environmental concerns and social pressures.

However, the production of insect-based foods is a challenging area for public health professionals because of differences in rearing conditions, dimensions and poikilothermy (the ability of animals to live both on land and water). Despite this, there is little evidence of zoonotic disease transmission from insect products to humans when they are cultivated under adequate sanitary conditions.

Insect pests damage vegetables, crops and forestry trees by eating or burrowing into leaves, stems, roots and fruit. They also cause indirect losses by delivering pathogens to wounded sites in plants where they can spread disease. Insecticides can be used to control damaging populations of pests, but only when the amount of plant injury incurred by the treatment is justified by the cost of labor and chemicals compared to the value of the treated crop. An example is using the gall midge, Aphidoletes aphidimyza, to naturally reduce aphids in vegetable gardens and thus avoiding the use of chemical insecticides.

Rodents

Rodents are a part of many ecosystems, but they are pests when they interfere with people and their property. They destroy crops and gardens, contaminate food and water supplies, carry fleas, ticks, and mites that spread disease, and damage wildlife habitat. They can also carry and transmit diseases to humans through contact with their droppings, urine, saliva, or feces, and through eating or breathing in contaminated dust.

Rodents are found nearly everywhere on the planet, from tropical forests and grasslands to deserts, tundra, and swamps, and some, like house mice, have adapted to live in human homes. They are important to the environment, but they cost billions in agricultural losses each year and are carriers of diseases including bubonic plague, typhus, and hantavirus.

In addition to destroying plants and crops, rodents chew on wires and other valuable items in our homes and businesses, creating fire hazards. They also create odors and unsanitary conditions. Some rodents are invasive species that cause serious problems. Others, such as the pack rat and woodrat, are a natural part of our Sonoran desert and can be beneficial in some situations.

Rodents enter our buildings through holes, cracks, or gaps around pipes, vents, or utility lines. Sealing these areas with caulking, steel wool, or other materials is an effective preventive measure. Regularly inspecting the inside and outside of your home, business, and grounds for signs of rodents is essential to detecting them before they become an infestation.

Rodent Control

Rodents raid food supplies, contaminate more food than they consume and play host to ticks, fleas and mites that spread diseases. In residential settings rodents damage buildings, chew on electrical wires and can create fire hazards. In business environments, the presence of rodents can result in health code violations and a loss of reputation.

Keeping rodents away from structures requires sanitation and exclusion efforts in addition to lethal control. Inspecting buildings regularly for rodent activity (e.g., droppings, urine, rub marks) can help determine the level of infestation. It is important to inspect frequently and to look behind walls, inside cupboards, in cluttered spaces and in the attic.

In addition to observing physical evidence, it is important to listen for scratching and gnawing sounds and smell a rancid odor emanating from urine. Also, watch for scat, footprints and tail marks. It should be remembered that rats are suspicious of new objects, including bait stations and traps, and it may take some time before they accept these controls.

The most effective way to prevent rodents from entering a building is to reduce their availability of food and shelter. This is accomplished by sweeping up food scraps, keeping areas neat and tidy and removing debris that could serve as nesting or hiding places for rodents. Natural repellents, such as peppermint oil or ultrasonic devices that emit sound frequencies that are irritating to rodents, can be used to supplement a control program.

Bed Bugs

As their name suggests, bed bugs thrive in crevices where they can hide during the day and pounce at night for a blood meal. Their flat bodies allow them to fit into tight spots, such as behind headboards and in the corners of upholstered furniture. They can also ride on people and their belongings, moving from room to room or floor to floor via cracks in walls, floors and ceilings. Unlike fleas, which live on feces and other filth, bed bugs do not require cleanliness to survive. Although they feed exclusively on human blood, they can be found in pristine dwellings as well as in places of squalor.

When a home or business suffers from a bed bug infestation, all infested areas must be treated. Generally, items that cannot be washed or dried must be sealed in plastic and left for a year to kill all the bugs and eggs. This might include stuffed animals, shoes and other clothing. The items should be marked with a “bedbugs” label to discourage others from taking them home.

Over-the-counter pesticide sprays and bug foggers are usually ineffective for controlling bed bugs because they do not penetrate the outer layer of the pests. However, dessicants, such as silica aerogel (Tri-Die) or diatomaceous earth, are effective. The chemicals work by removing the protective outer layer of the pest, causing them to dry out and die.

Mosquitoes

Mosquitoes are a nuisance pest that cause itchy, irritating bites. They also transmit some diseases, including West Nile virus (WNV), Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE), and Zika virus. These insects can cause loss of income for farmers who depend on mosquitoes to pollinate their crops, and can rob people of leisure time by interfering with outdoor activities.

Adult mosquitoes live in ponds, wetlands, and other moist areas. They emerge as adults after rain or flooding, and can become abundant. Mosquito larvae feed on plant nectar and other sugars. Females need blood meals to produce viable eggs. Using their proboscises, mosquitoes stab two tubes into the skin, one to inject an enzyme that inhibits blood clotting, and the other to suck blood from the host. Blood provides the protein needed to develop eggs.

The mosquito family contains two subfamilies, Anophelelinae and Culicinae, that differ in the ability to transmit disease. Depending on the species, Anopheleline mosquitoes can carry malaria and dengue fever, while Culicine mosquitoes transmit yellow fever, chikungunya, and Zika viruses. Both Anopheleline and Culicine mosquitoes detect their victims by observing the frequency of their wing beats.

Homeowners can limit mosquito populations by practicing effective yard care, keeping grass mowed and removing debris from the landscape, and by eliminating standing water. They can also purchase and use products that target mosquitoes, such as pyrethrins and their synthetic versions, called pyrethroids, which are typically applied in ultra-low volume (ULV) sprays, which dispense tiny droplets. These droplets are smaller than a pinhead and stay airborne for longer periods of time to maximize their efficacy.

Termites

Termites are social insects that live in colonies with organized caste systems. Like ants, termites can be both a beneficial and a problematic pest depending on the species and where the colony is located. Termites get their nutrition from cellulose (wood) and a variety of other substances found in the wood that they eat, including sugars and starches.

Unlike ants, termites do not live on the surface of the soil but tunnel into wood or other materials. They can also travel through small “mud tubes” that they build from soil, wood particles and other material. These tubes may be visible on foundation walls or floor joists.

The most destructive species of termite in California is Heterotermes aureus, which swarms at dusk and is attracted to light. The other important species is Coptotermes formosanus, which has light-brown winged forms that fly at dusk and are also attracted to lights.

The most effective treatment for subterranean termites is a liquid application of an active ingredient to the soil. Until recently, most termite control products contained repellent chemicals; these were repelled by the termites but did not kill them. However, these repellents were abused by some pest control companies who applied them in a manner that did not meet state regulations.

Pest Control

by Posted in Uncategorized Tagged , , ,

Keeping a hygienic house and regularly cleaning dark, damp areas limits pest breeding grounds. Ask pest control operators to use baits and crack and crevice treatments instead of surface sprays.

Natural forces influence pest populations, allowing them to rise and fall without human intervention. These may include weather, the availability of food and water, natural enemies, and biological controls such as nematodes that prey on soil insects or pheromones that interrupt insect development. For more information, Visit Our Website to know more.

The best approach to pest control is preventing their appearance in the first place. Pest infestations can lead to costly repairs, health hazards and damage to property. The key to prevention is a combination of building modifications, sanitation practices and exclusion techniques that make buildings unattractive to pests. These preventive measures include inspecting buildings regularly to identify and address problems before they spread, sealing cracks and gaps that allow pests to enter, maintaining good sanitation practices to eliminate food sources, reducing shelter for pests and modifying the environment to limit their access to water, food and breeding sites.

Preventive pest management strategies may be biological, physical or chemical in nature. Biological control involves the use of natural enemies of pests, including parasites, predators and pathogens. This approach is not eradication and typically requires a lag time between pest population increase and the emergence of the natural enemy species. Physical controls involve barriers, traps and other mechanical means to prevent pests from entering or exiting a site and include things like keeping food in sealed containers, removing garbage frequently, fixing leaky plumbing and trimming plants away from structures. Chemical controls involve the use of pesticides and should be used sparingly and with care to minimize resistance and environmental contamination. It is important to understand pests’ life cycles when using chemical controls, since certain insecticides are effective only at certain stages of development and some have less desirable effects on beneficial insects.

While careful maintenance and sanitation will help keep pest populations low, even the most well-maintained buildings can fall victim to an infestation. Infestations may occur because of a sudden loss of food or a disruption in the normal life cycle of the pest population, an interruption in their supply of water or a change in weather that limits their ability to find overwintering sites or shelter.

The best way to reduce pest infestations is to work with a professional who will implement preventive pest control methods. In addition to routine inspections and cleaning, this may include the use of pest-resistant plant varieties, the use of mulches that discourage pest habitation and the removal of water sources near buildings, such as by fixing leaking plumbing.

Suppression

Pest control involves keeping pest numbers and damage at a level that we can live with, while doing as little harm as possible to other organisms. Accurate identification of the pest is a key element in this process.

Suppression can be accomplished by preventing or interrupting the development of the pest or by altering its environment to make it unsuitable for it. Physical methods of pest control include traps, screens, barriers, fences, nets, radiation and even chemical sprays to change the pest’s habitat or its behavior.

Landscape composition and configuration can also be important determinants of pest control. For example, the ability of natural enemies to suppress pests may vary between coarse-grained landscapes with large patches and low density of edges and fine-grained landscapes with small patches and high densities of edges. Landscapes with more cover types and a higher diversity of species are expected to provide better opportunities for complementation between predators and prey than do landscapes that are sparsely vegetated.

Other forms of suppression involve changing the environment to make it less favorable for the pest, such as by removing the host plant from which the pest is taking its food or by reducing the availability of its preferred feeding or mating sites. This approach is sometimes called cultural control, because it affects the environment in which the pest lives.

Many diseases that reduce the rate of insect growth or reproduction, prevent it from completing its life cycle or kill it are naturally controlled by insects’ natural enemies. These diseases are caused by bacteria, fungi, protozoans and other microorganisms that infect insects, or by parasites, such as mites, aphids and nematodes, that live on or in the pest.

These natural controls can be supplemented by introducing additional natural enemies into the target area, or by biologically altering a pest’s population, such as by producing and releasing sterile males or using chemicals like pheromones to manipulate pest mating or host-finding behavior. There is often a time lag between the increased numbers of natural enemies and the decreased population of the pest, so these methods are usually considered to be forms of suppression rather than control.

Eradication

Eradication refers to the removal of a pest from an area, leaving it free of the species. This usually involves the destruction of all living individuals of the pest in an area where recolonization is unlikely to occur. The eradication process may be achieved through surveillance, containment or treatment and control measures. It is essential that there be adequate documentation and process controls to ensure that the absence of the pest can be verified when a programme is completed. This verification should use criteria established at the beginning of the programme, and may need to involve independent analysis if the NPPOs of importing countries require this reassurance.

The eradication of a pest is a costly business, and a number of factors influence its success. Some of these are inherent in the biology of the pest, and some relate to the circumstances of a particular outbreak (e.g., the quick reaction time of management authorities, the level of public support and cooperation and the extent to which stakeholder organizations are engaged in the eradication effort).

Other factors can be managed. Specifically, the use of appropriate biological control agents in combination with chemical controls, the eradication of all possible vectors, the avoidance of human or animal contact with infested plants and the provision of appropriate training for personnel involved in eradication programmes are considered to be important elements in successful eradication efforts.

The eradication of a pest often requires a long-term commitment by all stakeholders. This can include a commitment to invest in the development of biological control agents and other methods that are effective against the pest, and to provide financial resources for the eradication effort. This also includes a commitment to continue monitoring the area to ensure that the pest has not been re-introduced. This monitoring will usually include sampling of the air, soil and water to determine whether the pest is present. If it is not, then a declaration of eradication can be made. If the pest is found again, then it is a matter of re-establishing an eradication programme.

Monitoring

Using monitoring to determine the occurrence of pests and their damage is the basic element of integrated pest management (IPM). Scouting or checking for pests and assessing their levels is important to an effective IPM strategy. This information helps to define action thresholds. Thresholds are the levels at which pest control tactics must be employed to prevent unacceptable levels of injury or harm.

Pests can be categorized as continuous pests that are always present and require regular controls, sporadic or migratory pests that need occasional or intermittent controls, and potential pests that aren’t yet damaging crops but may need to be controlled under certain conditions. Once the identification and monitoring processes have identified the pests and their damage, IPM strategies begin to plan preventive and avoidance control tactics that minimize impacts on human health and the environment. These include crop manipulations such as planting and harvesting times, plant variety selection, and use of cultural practices, biological control, and mechanical and physical controls.

Monitoring is an essential component of a pest control system because it provides early detection of problems and lets managers know how well their prevention or avoidance tactics are working. It also helps to track environmental factors such as weather and food or harborage availability that affect pest populations. These data provide valuable inputs to computer models that help to project future pest populations and predict if damage is likely and what control tactics would be most effective.

Many pests are kept in check by natural enemies such as predators, parasites, or diseases. It is also useful to monitor the effect of these organisms on the pest population and to identify and recognize the beneficial organisms that are acting as biocontrol agents. This information is vital to IPM because it lets farmers know which pests are best controlled by natural enemies and what type of control methods to use when the natural enemy populations decline or are eliminated.

Monitoring can be done visually, using traps, or by checking glue boards in areas where pests are a problem, such as kitchen cabinets and crawl spaces. Glue boards are placed in corners and flush against walls where pests may be hiding. Check the boards frequently, replacing them when they become dusty or dirty.