Many pests thrive only as long as their food, water, or shelter supply lasts. Natural forces limit the growth of some pest populations, and certain varieties of plants, animals, or buildings resist pest attacks more effectively.

Learn to prevent pest problems before they occur by removing their food, water, and shelter. Remove clutter and regularly clean up trash. Seal cracks and crevices and repair holes in screens. Contact Phoenix Pest Control now!

The best way to protect your home from pests is to prevent them from entering in the first place. Pest control methods that focus on prevention are often less expensive and more effective than reactive treatments. Some preventative techniques include routine property inspections to identify potential pest problems, proper sanitation protocols to eliminate food attractants, removing conditions that promote pest activity, and exclusion techniques like putting screens on windows and doors.

Sanitation is the most fundamental element of pest prevention. Many pests are attracted to odorless, nutrient-rich waste and can be easily drawn to areas where garbage is left unattended or in open containers. Properly disposing of trash, keeping outdoor garbage bins tightly sealed and limiting the number of places where food or water is stored can drastically reduce a pest infestation.

In buildings, keeping food and garbage in storage rooms and other protected spaces will also significantly cut down on the likelihood of a pest problem. Maintaining strict cleaning practices, including regularly washing high-traffic areas and sanitizing kitchens, can also be highly effective in deterring pests. In addition, ensuring that delivery trucks parked outside commercial facilities are free of rodent droppings and other signs of an infestation will help to prevent pests from spreading to interior living or working areas.

For exterior pest control, keeping the area around a home or building clear of debris and trimming back shrubs and trees to prevent them from touching roof lines or foundations can be highly effective in blocking access points for pests. Maintaining good drainage to remove standing water and preventing moisture accumulation around structures is crucial as well.

Pests are largely influenced by natural forces that regulate their numbers, so even though preventative measures can greatly lower a pest population, some level of control is often necessary in outdoor settings to keep them below an acceptable threshold. In indoor environments, eradication is more feasible and can be achieved through exclusion, sanitation, traps or insecticide spraying.

The most important step in pest control is to report any sightings or indications of an infestation to a licensed pest control operator right away. The sooner a pest infestation is addressed, the less severe and costly it will be to control.

Suppression

The goal of pest control is to reduce the number or severity of damaging organisms in the environment. This can be achieved by using prevention or suppression techniques. Suppression aims to keep a pest population below an action threshold, while causing as little harm to the ecosystem and its resources as possible.

In nature, most disease pests and insect pests are kept at low levels by natural enemies – predators, parasites, and pathogens. When pest numbers reach an unacceptable level, they are usually killed or driven away by these natural enemies. This type of pest control is called biological control.

Agricultural practices that encourage the growth of these natural enemies are called cultural controls. These include preparing the soil before planting; choosing plants that are resistant or tolerant of diseases, insects and weeds; crop rotation, interplanting, and managing weeds; cleaning tillage and greenhouse equipment between harvests; and managing irrigation schedules to avoid long periods of high humidity.

Pest populations are limited by the availability of food and water, overwintering sites, and shelter. In addition, many pests are more likely to cause damage in certain environments than in others because of climate, soil conditions, and geographic features such as mountains that limit their movement.

Insects and weeds can be controlled through cultural and chemical methods. Physically, the use of screens on windows and doors (20-mesh or finer) and sanitizing cracks in buildings can prevent pests from entering. Chemicals can be used to repel or kill pests, but the risk of environmental and human health problems should always be considered.

The best way to control a pest is to prevent it from becoming a problem in the first place. However, the reality is that some pests are difficult to prevent. The action thresholds that determine when pest control is needed should be determined by the severity of the damage the pest causes and the cost of controlling it. Often, the cost of controlling a pest will outweigh its economic value. This is why pest control should only be used when economically justified. This is why it is important to carefully evaluate the benefits and risks of each tactic before deciding whether or not to use it.

Eradication

Pests are unwanted organisms that damage or interfere with an agricultural, horticultural, or domesticated plant system. They may also cause economic or health problems for humans and animals. Identifying pests is the first step in any successful control program. Accurate identification is particularly important in outdoor pest situations, where prevention and suppression are usually the goals. In enclosed environments, such as dwellings, schools, offices, and health care facilities, eradication of pests is more common and often the goal.

Eradication techniques include the use of pheromones, synthetic pheromones, and juvenile hormones to reduce or eliminate pests. These are usually designed to confuse males or to prevent them from mating, thereby lowering the number of fertile individuals. They can also be used to repel insects or to keep them from entering buildings, such as greenhouses, where they are not wanted.

In the case of pheromones, the chemicals are manufactured to mimic natural ones that attract males or females. The pheromones are then placed in a trap or other device to draw the pests in for observation and/or control. Pheromones are most useful when used in conjunction with other methods, such as the use of predatory or parasitic insects or the application of growth regulators to control plants that a particular insect is attracted to.

Chemical control includes the use of herbicides to kill weeds, insecticides to kill insects, and fungicides to manage diseases. These can be effective control tools, but they can also be difficult and expensive to use and pose safety concerns for people and the environment. It is essential to read and follow all product labels carefully, particularly those regarding proper application rates.

The effectiveness of biological control is highly dependent on local conditions, including population density (vectors, intermediary hosts, or human hosts), environmental conditions, and the ecology of the pest species itself. In addition, the reproductive rate of the pest must be reduced to an acceptable level for intervention to be successful. Many factors influence this, so it is important to understand the complex interactions involved in biological control and to recognize that a successful program requires ongoing monitoring and management.

Mechanical or Physical Controls

Using physical barriers to prevent pests from entering an area can be an effective method of control. For example, caulking and sealing cracks in structures or blocking holes around doors and windows can prevent rodents or insects from entering a home or commercial facility. Removing or blocking nests and other sheltered areas also helps prevent infestations. This type of pest control is often less costly than other methods of controlling pests and causes the least disruption to living organisms and nonliving surroundings at the treatment site.

Physical methods of pest control include removing or blocking nests, locating weeds and other plants that compete with crop plants to be in sunnier locations, and depriving pests of the food, water, shelter and temperature that they need to survive or reproduce. For instance, putting mulch in sunny spots can deny weed seeds the sunlight that they need to sprout and grow. Planting taller weeds or other plants that can block shade from sun-loving crops can also be an effective means of preventing weed growth and competition with crop plants.

Chemical pest control techniques use natural or synthetic chemical substances to repel, kill or otherwise affect a harmful organism. They can be used alone or in combination with other tactics, such as planting a trap crop to attract and kill insects that are damaging crop plants. Chemicals can also be used to destroy weeds, disease organisms and fungal diseases that can harm or kill crop plants and animals.

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) relies on a combination of physical, biological and cultural controls to reduce pest populations to an acceptable level without using unnecessarily high levels of chemicals or causing unacceptable damage to the environment, people, pets, livestock or other plants. This approach includes monitoring and scouting for pests, identifying the pest species accurately, and understanding what impact it has on a host plant or animal so that an action plan can be developed. Threshold-based decision making refers to the idea that not every pest should be treated immediately – for example, noticing a few house centipedes in a customer’s home may not necessitate action while seeing many more the next day might.