Pest Control Van Nuys manages pests to reduce damage or protect a crop or natural environment. Methods include prevention, suppression, and eradication.
Biological methods use the actions of pests’ natural enemies, such as parasites, predators, and pathogens. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) programs combine prevention, monitoring, and control strategies.
One of the first steps in pest control is knowing what you’re dealing with. Look for the obvious signs of infestation – mouse droppings, cockroaches, and ants invading your kitchen — but don’t stop there—check-in hard-to-reach places like cabinets, pantries, crawl spaces, basements, and attics. Rodents and bugs hang out in these dark corners of your house or garden, often leaving physical evidence behind. Look for feces or eggs, sometimes hidden in narrow cracks and crevices. Other telltale signs include:
- The shape and color of a pest’s wings.
- The number and size of its eyes.
- Distinctive marks on its body.
When you can identify a pest, you can start understanding its behavior and the conditions that favor it. This knowledge can help you develop an integrated pest management (IPM) plan that eliminates or reduces the pest without using harmful chemicals. It also helps you target pests where they are most likely to cause damage, such as a garden or the collection areas in a museum.
If you’re not sure what a bug or pest is, ask a professional for assistance. If you can provide a physical specimen, or pictures of the pest or bug, MMPC’s free Pest ID Center will analyze it for you and provide results within two hours.
Depending on your situation and how serious the pest problem is, you may decide that a control strategy is necessary. However, always begin by identifying the pest to make sure that any tactics employed will effectively manage it while avoiding injury to beneficial organisms and the environment.
In some cases, a company will send a salesperson to conduct an initial assessment and answer questions. Be sure to ask if the person who provides your pest treatment is a salaried employee, or if they are paid partially on a commission basis. The person performing your service should be able to produce a state identification card when asked. Ask about the safety measures they take to protect themselves and your property while working on your home or garden.
Prevention
In most cases, prevention is the best pest control method. The key is to understand what drives pests and to take action that keeps them away. For instance, pests such as ants have five times as many olfactory receptors as humans, so they can smell that leftover apple pie sitting on the counter from quite a distance. To keep pests at bay, food should be stored in odor-blocking and securely sealed containers, and garbage should be regularly taken out. Clutter should be cleared to prevent pests from breeding and hiding, and caulking cracks can help to keep pests out.
Pests often thrive only as long as their food, roost or water supply lasts. Geographical features such as mountains or large bodies of water restrict the spread of some pests, while shelter (such as logs or brush piles) can provide overwintering sites or hideouts for others.
Threshold levels have been established for a number of pests to determine when control actions should be taken. These levels, based on esthetic or health considerations, are used to guide scouting and monitoring efforts.
If thresholds are not exceeded, a combination of physical, biological and chemical methods can be used to control pest populations. This approach is called integrated pest management (IPM).
IPM involves identifying pests, their damage, and where they are found. Then, a strategy is developed to manage them using the least amount of human effort and disturbance. This strategy may include cultural practices, biological controls (predators, parasites, pathogens, nematodes) and physical or chemical controls (trap crops, mulches, steam sterilization of soil, crop rotation, physical barriers).
It is important to remember that pesticides do not kill all pests, even those targeted by the product. Some will survive, and they will pass on their resistance traits to their offspring. In addition, pesticides are generally a last resort, and the best way to control pests is to prevent them from entering in the first place. The goal is to scout and monitor so that pests are controlled at the lowest level possible without harming people, plants or property.
Pesticides
Pesticides are toxic chemicals that destroy or repel pests. They can be applied as contact sprays (directly onto a surface) or systemics that move through the plant and into its tissues. They can be used to kill or control insects, mites, weeds, nematodes and diseases. They are available as fungicides, herbicides, insecticides and nematicides. There are many different types of pesticides-the type you choose should be based on your circumstances and the type of organism you are trying to control.
When choosing a pesticide, consider how effective it is, its residual life in the environment and its safety to humans, other animals and plants. Some pesticides are very toxic to warm-blooded animals; others cause only a temporary effect and are harmless to most other organisms. Consider the cost, too-a newer, less toxic material may require fewer applications or be more economical than an older product that requires larger amounts of chemical to be effective.
Always read the pesticide label carefully to know what conditions and precautions are needed. Generally, the more toxic the pesticide is, the more likely it is to damage other organisms. Some pesticides are also flammable or explosive. They can be absorbed through the skin and lungs or enter the body through the mouth or eyes. They can be harmful to pets, other animals and people.
Most pesticides are soluble in water, but some are soluble or semi-soluble in oil. They are usually applied as liquids, but some are sold as powders, granules, pellets or gases.
Many pesticides are grouped into families based on their similar properties or modes of action. For example, the organochlorine family of pesticides includes herbicides, fungicides and insecticides that work by inhibiting cellular respiration. The organophosphates (such as pyrethrins and methyl bromide) control pests by disrupting nerve-impulse transmission or regulating the enzyme acetylcholinesterase).
When using any pesticide, take steps to minimize the amount that gets into the environment. This is especially important if you have young children or other sensitive individuals living in the house. Thoroughly wash hands after handling pesticides and before eating or drinking. Remove food from kitchen benches before applying a pesticide, and use surface sprays only in out-of-the-way areas like skirting boards. Give your family members, friends, and co-workers advance notice when you are going to apply a pesticide.
Biological Control
Biological control uses living organisms—predators, parasites, and pathogens—to suppress pest populations, making them less damaging. These natural enemies are often more effective than chemical controls. Unlike poisons, they don’t leave residues that kill beneficial organisms or damage plants and soil. However, biological control is reliant on good plant and insect identification and careful planning to ensure the introduction of beneficial organisms that are adapted to local conditions and don’t accidentally attack other desirable organisms.
Insects and other pests are attacked by a wide variety of naturally occurring bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and viruses that reduce the rate of feeding or growth of the host, infect it, or cause disease and death. Some parasites, like the caterpillar-eating mite that attacks aphids, attack the host from inside and kill it from within; others, such as nematodes that infect the roots of weeds, infect host plants and interfere with their ability to absorb nutrients.
Some microorganisms (bacteria, fungi, nematodes, and some protozoa) also produce and secrete toxic substances that can interfere with the functioning of a pest’s cells or inhibit its growth. This type of interference is called antagonism.
Importation, or classical, biological control is used when a plant or pest of exotic origin has been introduced to an environment where it does not have a natural balance with native species (Heimpel and Cock 2018). This involves sponsoring expeditions to the location of a non-native plant’s home country to look for its co-evolved natural enemies. Once these are found, they are brought back to the new environment and released in large numbers, often on a seasonal basis or inundatively.
Because natural enemies are ALIVE and form dynamic population, the results of biological control take longer to become apparent than with pesticides. It can take six to ten generations for an introduction to reach its full impact on the target pest population. Another important consideration with biological control is that it is reliant on adequate food and environmental conditions to thrive. This makes it particularly challenging in urban settings, where pests are more likely to find food and water sources other than crops.