When choosing Pest Control Bakersfield CA company, check that they are qualified. Ask friends and neighbors for recommendations, and contact companies for references.
Many beneficial insects eat the pests that destroy gardens and landscape plantings. Encourage praying mantises, ladybugs, lacewings and ground beetles to thrive in your yard by providing food and shelter.
Pest identification is the first step in a pest control plan. It is important to identify the pest correctly to ensure that the correct treatment or prevention methods are used. Incorrect pest identification can lead to a failure of any pest management strategy.
Pests are organisms that cause direct or indirect damage to crops or structures. They may also impact the environment by degrading soil or water quality. Pests can also be a nuisance to people, pets or livestock by chewing or damaging property, making noise, carrying disease or polluting air and food sources. Some of the most common pests include birds, mammals, weeds, nematodes, beetles and insects.
Proper pest identification can be difficult, especially if the pest is a rare or new species. Often, pests change their physical appearance as they develop or transition through different stages of their life cycle. For example, a weed seedling looks very different from the mature plant. An insect larva also looks very different from an adult insect.
When identifying a pest, it is helpful to examine the type of damage caused and the location where the pest is found. This will help narrow down the list of possible pests. Also, keep in mind that some pesticides have specific activity against only certain insect orders (such as Bacillus thuringiensis for cabbage worms) so it is important to accurately identify the pest to choose an appropriate management tactic.
Other useful identifiers include odors, droppings and pheromones. For example, rats and cockroaches leave behind a sticky or greasy residue on surfaces when they crawl or run over them. Mice and earwigs emit a musky odor when they move around. And carpenter bees create 1/2 inch round holes in wood where they nest, which can be identified by observing them in the area or examining wood.
It is recommended to consult a pest control professional when attempting to identify a pest. The pest professional can provide guidance and tips to help identify the pest and offer suggestions on prevention. When choosing a pest control professional, be sure to shop around and get recommendations from friends and neighbors. Ask each company about their pest control services, treatment plans, pricing and warranties.
Prevention
Preventing pest problems before they occur is the most cost-effective way of managing pests. Once a pest is established, however, control options become less effective and more expensive. The goal of prevention is to stop the pests from entering a facility and damaging property or causing a health hazard. In most situations, prevention is combined with suppression and eradication (see the definitions below).
Prevention involves eliminating food, water and shelter sources for pests. It also involves reducing clutter and other hiding places. It is important to clean up crumbs and other debris around the house, store foods in containers with tight lids and dispose of garbage regularly. In addition, it is necessary to seal cracks and crevices where pests can enter a structure, such as caulking the edges of windows and doors. It is also a good idea to screen chimneys and other openings where rodents could enter the home.
The key to prevention is regular scouting and monitoring. Noticing a few wasps flying around doesn’t warrant action, but seeing them daily and in increasing numbers may indicate that it is time to locate and destroy their nest.
A pest infestation can cause many different health and economic problems. Rodents can chew through electrical wires, contaminate stored food and spread disease, and leave droppings that can trigger allergic reactions. Fleas can irritate the skin, aggravate asthma and transmit diseases. Cockroaches can contaminate food, damage buildings and exacerbate indoor allergies.
There are several ways to prevent pests from entering a building:
Chemical
Chemical methods include spraying, baiting, dusting and fumigation. They can be used to prevent or eliminate a broad range of pests including insects, weeds, rodents and birds. Chemicals can be hazardous to humans, pets and the environment and must be used carefully.
Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is a strategy for solving pest problems while minimizing risks to people, plants and the environment. It is based on threshold-based decision making and consists of monitoring, scouting, preventive measures, and suppression.
IPM strategies can be applied in urban, agricultural and wildland settings and can be tailored to any type of pest. The most successful IPM programs are those that use a combination of physical, biological and chemical techniques.
Suppression
Taking steps to prevent pests from damaging plants, food, or property before they become a nuisance is often the most cost-effective and environmentally responsible way to manage pest problems. Preventive measures include cultural practices and physical methods. They can include removing conditions that promote pest infestation, such as clogged rain gutters or leaking pipes; frequently cleaning areas where pests are likely to live and breed; and planting resistant or well-adapted plant varieties. Physical control methods involve preventing pests from getting to an area by using barriers, such as fences and dikes; destroying or moving nests; and removing plant debris and overwintering sites where pests might hide.
Monitoring identifies pests and allows decisions to be made about whether to take action to control them. It involves checking a garden, yard, or other site for pests and their damage and tracking the growth of the pest population over time to see if it has reached an unacceptable level. It also helps determine which management strategies are most effective.
Threshold-based decision-making is another important aspect of monitoring. For example, seeing a few wasps flying around does not typically require action; but noticing them every day in increasing numbers certainly does warrant action. Identifying the best control measures for an area takes into consideration how many pests there are, what they are eating or damaging, and what their effect on the landscape might be.
Many natural factors limit the number of pests. The climate, including temperature, precipitation, and the growing season, influences how many pests a plant can support. Birds, amphibians, reptiles, fish, and mammals eat pests or help control their populations. Fungi, bacteria, and viruses can also suppress pests by killing them or making them unable to reproduce.
Cultural practices can make an environment unfavorable for pests. They can include regularly cleaning areas where pests are likely to live; storing foods in plastic or glass containers with tight-fitting lids; and closing cracks and crevices where pests might enter. Properly caring for plants can include supplying them with the right amount of water and fertilizer, mulching, and pruning.
Eradication
The goal of eradication is to reduce or eliminate pest populations to zero. This is a challenging objective, and it often involves multiple steps. In outdoor pest situations, eradication usually follows prevention and suppression. However, eradication is a common goal in enclosed environments where the pest can be more easily controlled (such as the operating rooms and other sterile areas of health care facilities).
Eradication also is the aim of certain disease control programs. When a disease is eradicated in a geographical region, it no longer occurs naturally in that area, and any cases that occur are imported from outside the area. Measles, polio and smallpox are examples of diseases that have been eradicated in various geographic regions.
In order to ensure pest control, it is important to monitor the situation to see if the pests are responding to the program and to make necessary adjustments. This monitoring may involve observing the number of adults, the presence of eggs or larvae and other signs of infestation. It also may include testing soil to detect nutrient deficiencies that are allowing the pests to thrive.
Physical Traps and netting are examples of physical pest control methods. These are typically less expensive than chemical controls, and they can be effective against a wide variety of pests. However, they are labor intensive and require regular maintenance to maintain effectiveness.
Chemical Chemical pest control uses solutions such as repellents and insecticides to kill or deter pests. These are generally easier to find and use than biological pest control products, but they can be more difficult to use effectively and may pose human health and environmental concerns upon exposure. Some pesticides are also designed to select out resistance, and this is a concern when using many different chemicals over a large geographic area or in closely related settings.
To minimize the potential for adverse effects from pesticides, it is important to follow all label instructions carefully. Choose a pesticide that is specific to the pest you are trying to control and apply it only in the areas where the pests are present. Avoid contact with the skin or eyes when handling pesticides, and don’t allow them to get into food or water sources.