Identifying pests and learning about their life cycles and requirements is an essential first step to effective control. Preventing pests involves removing their food, water and shelter (clutter removal, fixing leaky plumbing, etc).
Chemical controls are a last resort, used only when all preventive methods have failed. Chemicals are sprayed, dusted, or injected into the soil or plant tissue to kill or deter pests. Contact Pest Control Henderson NV now!
Pest identification is the first step in determining whether or not your institution needs pest control and if so, what kind of pest control is needed. Knowing the identity of a pest is important because it allows you to understand the biology and life cycle of the pest, as well as their environmental and harborage preferences. This information can help you develop and implement control strategies that are more effective than simply spraying a general pesticide without regard to the pest’s specific characteristics or needs.
Many pest species change significantly in appearance during different stages of their life cycles, making correct identification difficult at times. In addition, pests often live and shelter in dark, secluded or hidden places that are not easily accessible or visible to the human eye. It is therefore crucial to have the right tools to identify pests – such as a flashlight, an extendable mirror, and/or a magnifying glass – when conducting inspections in these areas.
Inspecting for pests should be done regularly in all areas of the facility, both indoor and outdoor. Inspecting for pests is an important part of good museum practices and helps to detect infestations early before they become out of control.
Museums should always be aware of the potential for resistance to pesticides. However, not all pesticide failures are due to resistance; sometimes an application may fail because the pesticide was not applied at the right time – when the pest was in the proper environment and harborage conditions for its effectiveness. This is why accurate identification is so important – it ensures that the pesticide used will be effective.
A number of MMPC’s resources are available for pest identification, including Pest Fact Sheets and an Image Gallery. In addition, MMPC’s free Pest ID Center can analyze physical specimens of mystery pests and insect bites (or photos of them) and provide identification results and suggestions for treatment.
Other resources for pest identification include the National Identification Services (NIS) – a team of experts in the fields of botany, entomology, malacology, and mycology that provides the final taxonomic authority for plant pest identifications for USDA Plant Protection and Quarantine’s programs. Also check with your local County Extension Service for experts who can help. They can also recommend qualified pest management professionals.
Pest Prevention
Pests can damage plants, structures and personal items. They can also transmit diseases, such as rodent-borne hantavirus, leptospirosis and salmonella; cause allergies; or create unpleasant odors, such as those caused by molds and mildews.
Identifying the pest is essential before beginning any control measures. Knowing what the pest looks like, how it is able to enter and how it reproduces can help determine the need for pest control, the type of control and the frequency. The life cycle of the pest is another important consideration, since some interventions are most effective during certain windows of opportunity. For example, weeds are most easily controlled when they are young and seedlings, while plant diseases are more effectively treated before symptoms show on the foliage or roots.
Most pests thrive in areas where food, water and shelter are abundant. Eliminating or blocking these resources can greatly reduce their numbers. Continuous or invasive pests, those that are always present and require regular control, may be preventable with good sanitation practices, such as keeping garbage receptacles closed and cleaning them regularly. Sealing entry points, using door sweeps and weather stripping, and reducing clutter are other preventive measures that can lower risk.
Other environmental conditions can affect pest populations and may make them difficult to control. These factors include climate, natural enemies, physical barriers, availability of food and water and weed competition. In some situations, it may be possible to manipulate these factors to favor less desirable plants and deter pests.
Pests are more of a nuisance than a health or safety issue, but that doesn’t mean they should be tolerated. If they are causing problems, removing their food, water and shelter and eliminating their access to people and buildings should be the first step in pest control. This approach is known as integrated pest management (IPM). Eradication of the pests usually isn’t a goal in outdoor pest situations, but it may be a target in some enclosed environments such as schools and hospitals. IPM programs often are a more cost-effective and environmentally responsible alternative to pesticides. They should be evaluated for effectiveness on a regular basis to determine if the goals are being met and to adjust the methods as needed.
Pest Control Methods
Depending on the pest and environmental conditions, a number of control methods are available. Natural, biological, cultural, genetic, and mechanical controls are used to reduce pest populations or alter their environment in ways that limit their ability to support growth. These controls include weather, topography, and habitat limitations; encircling crops to exclude pests; destruction of crop residues that may serve as overwintering sites or food sources for insects; cultivation practices that influence soil insect population sizes; harvesting crops before pest damage occurs; and planting at the proper time.
The first step in determining whether to initiate pest control is to identify the pests and how much damage they are doing. This can be done by a visual inspection or by monitoring, trapping or scouting. Pests that cause direct economic losses are often considered for control, including weeds, insects, disease organisms, and vertebrates (rodents, birds, etc.). Insects and weeds are monitored by examining leaves, fruits, or roots; observing feeding habits; searching for eggs and pupae; and inspecting plant debris and cropping systems.
A flashlight and magnifying glass will help with inspections to find harborage areas where pests hide, such as under or behind equipment, in weeds, or on the ground. Inspecting with a magnifying glass allows the inspector to see small pest parts and fragments, frass (excrement), and other signs of infestation. An extendable mirror can be very helpful for locating hard-to-reach spots on or under plants or in buildings.
Physical or mechanical controls include barriers, screens, traps, and other devices that physically keep pests away from desirable hosts. These include window screens to keep insects out of houses and greenhouses, floating row covers for many horticultural crops, plant collars to deter cutworms from attacking tomato plants, and red sphere traps for codling moth larvae. Methods that alter the environment are also used to control pests, including radiation and electricity, as well as temperature and humidity changes.
Several types of traps and bait stations can be used to monitor or control insect pests, such as glueboard traps for mice and rats and pheromone traps for clothes moths and other insects. Using traps and bait stations can be a simple, effective, and inexpensive way to control pests without the use of chemicals.
Pesticides
Pesticides are chemicals that are designed to kill or control pests, such as insects, rodents and weeds. They are used in agriculture to protect crops and in buildings and homes to prevent damage or disease from pests.
Pesticides can be a useful tool in controlling pests when used correctly. However, pesticides can also be harmful to people and the environment when not properly used or stored. Pesticides can contaminate food, harm surfaces and cause asthma and allergies in people. They can also contaminate water and soil and may even get into the air we breathe. Pesticides are also known to have long-term health effects on people, including causing cancer and reproductive problems.
The primary benefit of pesticides is that they allow farmers to produce crops more efficiently by protecting them from insect infestations and other threats to plant health. Insecticides kill insects, fungicides kill fungi (including mildews and rusts) and herbicides kill unwanted plants. Rodenticides kill rodents and molluscicides kill mollusks. Nematicides kill nematodes that damage root systems of plants.
Although most of us think of a pesticide as the product that we buy in stores – such as an insecticide, weed killer or fungicide – the reality is that a pesticide is actually a complex mixture of chemicals. Pesticides are typically formulated (prepared) in liquid, solid and gaseous forms. The form a pesticide takes can affect how much of it is absorbed through the skin and into the body. For example, liquids are absorbed more easily than powders. Also, the type of skin contact and the presence of other ingredients in a pesticide formulation can influence how much of a chemical is absorbed.
In addition, most pesticides have other ingredients that are not intended to be ingested or absorbed by living organisms, but which serve a variety of purposes, such as a stabilizer or a sticking agent. In general, these “inert” or non-active ingredients make up over 95% of the total mass of a pesticide and are usually as toxic as the active ingredient.
Because of their dangers, the use of pesticides must be carefully controlled and regulated. Only qualified applicators should apply pesticides, and before hiring an applicator you should ask for proof of their license and copies of the label for all pesticides they will be using and the rates at which they will be applied.