Abbotsford Pest Control is an important part of owning a home or business. Pests can damage property and create safety hazards for your family or employees.
Pests such as spiders, ants, fleas, and mosquitoes can sting or bite people, interrupt sleep, cause itching, and trigger allergies. They can also carry diseases that can make humans sick.
Pests are more than just unwelcome houseguests that destroy your home and property. They can also carry germs and diseases, making you and your family sick. For example, fleas, ticks, and rats can carry tapeworms and transmit diseases like Lyme disease. A proactive pest maintenance program can prevent unwanted visitors from bringing harmful diseases into your home.
There are many ways to prevent pests, from preventing them from entering a building or crop to removing them once they’re there. Preventive measures are the first line of defense, including sealing cracks in buildings, maintaining cleanliness and keeping food in securely sealed containers. In crops, planting pest-resistant varieties and using physical barriers such as fences and nets can help prevent pest infestations.
Chemicals – or insecticides – are another common way to control pests. However, it’s important to remember that these products can be toxic to people and pets if not used properly. Always read and follow the product’s label. It contains detailed instructions on how to use the product correctly, as well as information on possible hazards and safe handling.
Biological and physical methods are also useful in controlling pests. In general, these methods involve altering a pest’s environment so it can’t survive, or by increasing its natural enemies or parasites. In addition, traps and other mechanical devices are sometimes used to capture pests or keep them away from areas where they’re not wanted.
Understanding how to recognize different stages in a pest’s life cycle can help you determine the best time for intervention. It’s also helpful to know the lifespan of the pest you’re trying to control, as some interventions are only effective at certain life stages.
An established pest prevention program can save facility, QA managers and upper management the headache of product recalls or having their product shipments rejected by customers due to pest-related issues. These programs can also help ensure that your facility complies with the FSMA’s fundamental mandates. In the long run, a preventive pest management program can make your home or business feel more relaxing and safe, and give you peace of mind that you’re not living in a home full of flies, roaches, rodents or mosquitoes.
Suppression
Natural enemies (predators, parasites, and disease pathogens) can reduce pest populations by killing or deterring them. However, these natural control agents are limited by the availability of food, water, and shelter. They are also subject to population dynamics influenced by weather, habitat availability, and geographic location. An effective pest manager is aware of these factors and uses them to his advantage.
Prevention involves intervening before a pest becomes a problem, usually by monitoring and early detection through scouting practices. Preventive measures may include the use of biological control agents to provide mortality at the time of a pest’s emergence or the application of cultural or physical controls to disrupt pest life cycles. Successful pest prevention depends on thorough knowledge of the pest life cycle and is most effective against regular, predictable pests.
Threshold levels define when a pest should be controlled in order to avoid unacceptable damage or harm. Thresholds can be based on esthetic, health, or economic concerns. They may vary among situations and crops, and may be defined as the lowest pest population that can cause economic injury. Biologists have defined thresholds in relation to phytophagous organisms, and a common term is Economic Injury Level (EIL) or more accurately Control Action Threshold (CAT).
Studies of how environmental factors influence pest populations are referred to as integrated pest management (IPM). IPM is the combination of all methods—chemical, physical, biological—that can be used in conjunction to reduce a pest population to an acceptable level and keep it from reaching damage-causing levels.
Many pests rely on seminatural habitats for food, water, and shelter. Studies have shown that proximity of a field to these habitats influences how many natural enemies it will attract and how effective those natural enemies are. For instance, nematodes that serve as successful biological control agents for a number of pests are more effective in sun-grown coffee fields when they are closer to forest fragments than in shaded orchards. Similarly, parasitoids that overwinter in rice fields are more abundant when these fields are connected to forests than when they are isolated in artificial agroecosystems.
Eradication
A pest eradication is the permanent removal of a harmful pest from an area. In this situation the pest is not allowed to return and the eradication process will involve the destruction of the pest, its eggs and larvae, as well as any other material that might harbour it, such as equipment or facilities. An eradication is usually followed by monitoring to ensure the absence of the pest and the maintenance of sanitary measures that prevent its return.
Before an eradication is undertaken, it should be evaluated on the basis of a comprehensive risk assessment that considers all technical options, cost-benefit and political and socio-economic factors. All possible methods of eradication should be described, including their advantages and disadvantages, with an estimated time frame for implementation. A decision should be made to take the most appropriate course of action, recognizing that an option could be changed to a suppression or control program as knowledge about the pest and available resources increases.
An eradication should be carried out using an Integrated Pest Management approach, with a focus on prevention and control. The eradication plan should be based on the results of the risk assessment and, where applicable, the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) Standards. It should also include an evaluation of the impact of the pest on the economy, environment and culture. A public information program should be considered as part of the eradication plan.
Surveillance surveys should be conducted initially or in line with an eradication program to fully investigate the distribution of the pest and determine the effectiveness of the eradication efforts. This may include a pathway analysis, inspection of clonally or contact-linked material and/or inspection and trapping.
Eradication programmes are more successful than suppression efforts, especially if they are initiated in man-made habitats such as greenhouses, and are focused on plants that have been introduced as an ornamental or escaped from cultivation. In these types of habitats, the probability of success is close to 90%. In (semi)-natural habitats, the probability of success was much lower but was still higher than for campaigns that were reactive rather than proactive and higher for plants compared to invertebrates, viruses and bacteria, or fungi.
Monitoring
Detection of pests early in their life cycle provides an opportunity to take control measures before the damage they cause becomes significant. Monitoring or checking, which is done with visual inspection and trapping, enables pest managers to identify the types of pests present, determine their population levels and evaluate how well control tactics have worked. This information is used to determine if the threshold has been reached and to plan for future control strategies.
The most important aspect of monitoring is correct identification. Many pests look alike and only a trained eye can tell them apart. In addition, pests often live or seek shelter in dark and secluded places where they are difficult to see. A good flashlight and an extendable mirror is a handy tool to help inspectors locate these harborage areas and find pest parts or frass (excrement).
Once the proper identification has been made, the pest management team must assess the status of the infestation and determine whether prevention methods are effective or available. This assessment is based on the type of pest, its impact on plant health and the environment and the likelihood of its recurrence. If preventive measures are not feasible, IPM programs then evaluate the proper control method both for effectiveness and risk. This may include using pheromones to disrupt pest mating, targeted application of chemical products or broad spraying of non-specific chemicals.
Having a detailed pest monitoring program in place allows your facility to keep a closer watch on the populations of organisms that could affect your business and reduce its profitability. A trained staff member can also use this information to predict when a pest outbreak is likely and to develop appropriate control tactics before the problem becomes severe. As technology advances, new tools may allow molecular techniques for more precise identification of pests. These new methods may eventually allow for more efficient monitoring of the effects of pests on crop plants, helping to improve forecasting and pest control strategies. This may lead to a more environmentally friendly and less costly pest control strategy.