Pests are undesirable because they damage plants and cause diseases in animals and humans. Controlling them involves a combination of prevention, suppression and eradication.

Pests are usually attracted to homes for food, shelter and water. Keep trash cans tightly covered and remove them regularly, clean storage areas and fix leaky pipes to reduce the attraction of these pests. Reach out to Pest Control Meridian ID for expert assistance.

Pests are more than just a nuisance; they can carry disease-causing germs and damage property. Preventative techniques are the best way to control pest populations.

In museums, preventative measures include preventing contact between artifacts and pests, removing food sources and shelter, and keeping the environment clean and dry. Preventive strategies may include blocking access to areas where pests are known to congregate, such as the area under a wood pile or along the base of walls, or reducing the number of entrance points by sealing cracks and crevices.

Identifying pests and their life stages (egg, larva, nymph, pupa, adult) is essential to pest prevention, because some interventions are only effective at certain times in a pest’s life cycle. This information can be used to plan when and where to treat, for example by spraying a house with a liquid insecticide that kills only adult mosquitoes during their reproductive phase.

Eliminating entry points is another important element of prevention, especially when it comes to a museum’s walls, floors and ceilings. Sealing cracks and crevices can keep pests from entering or exiting the building, as can patching holes in the wall and resealing doorways. Regularly cleaning gutters, removing garbage from the premises and fixing leaky pipes can also stop pests from finding their way indoors.

Outdoors, reducing the number of places where pests can hide and find food is equally important. Mowing the lawn frequently, storing firewood away from buildings and trimming trees and bushes can all prevent pests from nesting or foraging near your building. Keeping the environment clean and dry is also critical, as pests love to congregate around damp or dewy areas.

If you suspect a pest infestation, alert a PCO immediately. Make sure to note the time, date and location of the sighting or indication of a pest problem, so your PCO can quickly address the issue. A targeted approach such as this keeps treatment costs low and minimizes the amount of chemicals that are brought into food establishments. 

Suppression

The goal of suppression techniques is to reduce pest numbers and/or damage below harmful levels, using methods that cause as little harm to non-target organisms as possible. Insecticides are the most common chemical control agents, but even they can be dangerous and may damage the environment if not used correctly. Pesticides are used only when prevention and/or avoidance efforts aren’t effective or when a threshold level of damage has been reached (see “Understanding Thresholds” within the Monitoring page).

Many pests grow or reproduce only as long as food, water, shelter, or overwintering sites are available. Sanitation practices that remove food, water, or shelter inhibit pest populations. Some crops or wood products are naturally resistant to some pests, and use of these types can reduce problems.

Beneficial microbes — bacteria, viruses, fungi — can suppress some insect pests. These organisms are engineered into biological pesticides that are sprayed or spread in the field. When insects ingest the microbes, they die from the inside out. Nematodes (microscopic roundworms) are another useful natural pest control. These beneficial multicellular worms are not toxic to plants or people, but their associated bacteria kill insect pests. Extension fact sheet EEP-7670, “Detection, Conservation, and Augmentation of Nematodes for Natural Pest Suppression,” explains how to detect and conserve nematodes in the field.

Weather conditions, particularly temperature and day length, affect pest growth and activity. For example, the presence of snow or ice slows egg hatching and increases mortality in winter for pests that live and breed in the open.

Other elements of the environment can also limit pest populations. Mountains, lakes, and rivers restrict the movement of some pests; bare soil is more difficult for them to burrow into than moist, fertile ground. Predator species of birds, reptiles, amphibians, and mammals reduce pest populations; parasitic insects and pathogens that feed on or destroy pests also limit their numbers.

Eradication

Even after a team of maintenance personnel has taken great care to keep a building clean, pests can still make their way into a facility. A pest infestation is the presence of a species in numbers that cause damage, have health implications for occupants or simply create a nuisance. Some common pests include birds (pigeons, geese, house sparrows and gulls), insects, rodents, termites, flies, mosquitoes and ants. Infestations often indicate that the pest population has gotten out of control and must be dealt with immediately to prevent further problems.

A pesticide may be used to eradicate an infestation of a particular pest. However, a careful evaluation of the pest problem should be made before this option is considered. Factors that should be considered are the life cycle of the pest, its potential damage, its interaction with natural enemies and other environmental factors. Biological methods for controlling pests are usually a good choice because they reduce the need for chemicals.

These techniques are often effective if the insect or plant has not become too established in a specific area. They also can be used in conjunction with other types of pest control methods to improve their effectiveness.

Examples of biological pest control include the use of predators to reduce the number of harmful insects in a garden or crop field. This is a good alternative to chemical controls, which can be harmful to humans and the environment. However, the success of this type of control depends on the ability of the natural enemy to survive and reproduce, so it can be slow to work.

When hiring someone to do pest control, be sure that they have a license to apply pesticides in your state and have completed an approved training program. Also, ask them to provide you with the name of the chemical they will be using and its EPA registration number so that you can check for safety and legal issues. Also, remember to dispose of any pesticides and their containers appropriately.

Biological Control

Biological control techniques use living organisms (predators, parasitoids and pathogens) to reduce pest populations. They can be used against insects, vertebrates, weeds and plant diseases. This type of pest management is different from traditional chemical control methods, which use chemicals that kill or damage unwanted species.

The goal of biological control is to increase the numbers or effectiveness of natural enemies within a landscape. This is often achieved through augmentation, which involves purchasing and releasing natural enemies into the field to supplement the activities of existing ones. Augmentation is typically a preventive method, with releases occurring before the expected emergence of the target pest.

Biocontrol agents must be very specific to the pest species in order to avoid causing unforeseen disruptions to ecosystems. Proper pest identification is the first step in determining which organisms will be effective against a particular pest. For example, the caterpillar parasite Amblysieus swirskii can feed on a number of different pest species, but it is particularly effective against the caterpillars of the ginkgo tree. This specificity can also be found among biological control agents that use disease-causing microorganisms to control plants, such as the fungus Bacillus thuringiensis. Different strains of this bacterium can target various types of caterpillars, but it is most effective against the western flower hornworm.

Many of the organisms used in classical biological control are of foreign origin, since many invasive pests were introduced to the continent from other regions of the world. This is known as importation or classic biological control, and it is very labor intensive to locate, test, quarantine and rear these natural enemies.

Other types of biological control are not as labor intensive, and are usually applied at the time of planting or sprayed directly on plants. These include nematodes, which kill or repel insects, and plant extracts that boost the defenses of a crop against insect attack. This approach can be highly effective when combined with other preventive measures and when used in conjunction with reduced reliance on herbicides, especially those that interfere with the activity of natural enemies.