Insects and Pest Control

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Natural forces affect pest populations, limiting them to the food, water and shelter they need. These include climate, natural enemies, overwintering sites and natural barriers.

The most effective pest control combines prevention, suppression and eradication. Preventive measures include eliminating the things that attract pests (clutter, removing food sources) and treating the area where they are living. Suppression reduces pest numbers to an acceptable level and eradication completely destroys them. Contact Pest Control Flower Mound TX now!

Insects are the most diverse group of animals on Earth and play critical roles in ecosystems as pollinators, decomposers, food sources for other organisms, and pest control. While they can also be damaging to crops, landscapes, and structures, insects are generally beneficial from an environmental perspective.

Only one to three percent of the world’s insect species are considered pests in human societies, according to experts. The vast majority of insects provide important ecological services, such as pollinating plants and dispersing seeds, reducing erosion by eating weeds and other vegetation, and acting as scavengers and disease vectors.

Several types of insects help with pest control. For instance, predatory insects like spiders, beetles, flies, and true bugs reduce pest populations by consuming them or by parasitizing their eggs. Some dung beetles break down and bury animal waste, which helps reduce methane emissions on dairy and beef farms. And the larvae of some insects, such as the drugstore beetle (Stegobium paniceum), which is a common bookworm, tunnel from cover to cover and can actually clean dust off pages—so they’re useful in libraries.

A wide range of behavioral strategies exist to protect insects from natural enemies, including camouflage, pheromones, and chemical repellents. Insects that use their wings to fly are protected from birds and other predators by having a hard body armor, while others, such as dragonflies, tiger beetles, and predaceous water beetles, can outrun or outswim their foes.

Insecticides can disrupt these natural defense systems and lead to reduced populations and a disruption in ecological balance. This is especially problematic for native insects. For example, if insects were not around to eat gypsy moth larvae in their homelands of Europe and Asia, the outbreaks that occur here could be more severe and last longer.

Rodents

Rodents are a very diverse order of mammals ranging in size from the pygmy mouse to the pig-sized capybara. They are found worldwide and some ocean islands. Rodents have adapted to just about every habitat in the world, living in rainforests, deserts, swamps, tundra, coniferous and deciduous forests and grasslands.

They are important to many ecosystems by recycling waste materials, helping with soil erosion and fertilization, serving as predators and prey and maintaining the health of plants and animals. However, rodents are serious pests around human dwellings, consuming and spoiling food, contaminating water supplies and spreading diseases. They are also responsible for a large portion of fires caused by gnawing on electrical wires.

Often, a visible sign of a rodent problem is the presence of droppings or pilfered foods. Other signs are gnaw marks and grease markings (the dark oily stains left behind by rats rubbing against surfaces) along entry points or corners of walls and floors.

Effective rodent control involves sanitation, exclusion and, when necessary, traps and baits. Keep kitchens, pantries and cabinets clean of loose food debris and garbage. Use metal or concrete “wool” products to seal entrance holes in walls and attics, and maintain gutters, sill plates and crawl spaces free of clogging. Inspect buildings regularly for signs of rodent activity, including scratching noises, gnaw marks, droppings and urine stains. Observe areas where rats and mice spend much of their time such as wall voids, soffits and attics, heating units, utility rooms, garages and vending areas. Place nontoxic monitoring bait blocks in tamper-resistant stations near sources of food, water or shelter. Check these regularly for feeding and bait consumption.

Bed Bugs

Bed bugs are difficult to eradicate once established. They are most active at night and hide during the day. They prefer to stay close to their hosts but will crawl longer distances if necessary in search of a meal. If not detected and treated early, they will spread throughout a home and can also hitchhike rides on clothing, luggage and other objects to infest new premises.

A visual inspection of the entire room is essential to identify and treat an infestation. A bright flashlight, magnifying glass and disposable gloves are helpful tools. Strip the bed and examine mattress seams and tufts as well as box springs, upholstered furniture and baseboards.

Vacuuming, removing clutter and washing all fabrics in hot water above 120 degrees Fahrenheit will help eliminate an infestation. Space sprays containing contact or residual pesticides are often used in combination with a thorough inspection to kill existing bugs and prevent them from spreading. These treatments are effective only when applied correctly and are not a substitute for regular, thorough home cleaning.

When misused, space sprays can trigger the pests to exude alert pheromones and disperse them into additional rooms. In addition, the fine droplets can ignite and burn fabric, plastics, paper and other materials.

Fumigation, which involves draping and sealing the structure with tarps to fill it with poisonous gas, can be used to control a severe bed bug problem but is more labor-intensive than heat treatment and cannot be used on delicate contents. It is also more expensive. However, it may be the only treatment that will completely eradicate a serious bed bug infestation.

Mosquitoes

Mosquitoes are a familiar family (Culicidae) of insects that can transmit serious diseases, including Zika virus and malaria. They are also a nuisance pest because their bites interfere with outdoor activities.

Mosquitoes are characterized by a slender segmented body, one pair of wings and three pairs of long hair-like legs with specialized, piercing mouthparts. Only female mosquitoes bite, as they require a blood meal to develop eggs. Different species have specific dietary preferences, with some having narrow restrictions on which animals they will attack, and even then only those that can provide a sufficient supply of blood proteins.

All mosquitoes breed in water and require a moist place to spend their first stages of development, called larval. Larvae feed on a variety of organic material, including plant juices, nectar and animal blood. As they grow, they transform into pupae, which develop in protected places such as hollow logs, discarded tires, leaf litter or containers with corrugated metal roofing.

As adult mosquitoes emerge from their pupal resting sites, they must find a place to lay their eggs. This is why mosquito control begins in the breeding sites.

Keeping mosquitoes away from homes and buildings can be accomplished with the use of mechanical barriers, such as tightly-screened windows, doors and porches (15-18 mesh). Pesticides that target adult mosquitoes can be used indoors or outdoors, depending on the situation. Indoors, products containing synthetic pyrethroids are effective, but they must be used carefully since these chemicals can also attack other beneficial insects and pets. Outdoors, backpack or hand-held foggers that disperse a fine mist of insecticide can kill mosquitoes within a large area.

As mosquitoes are good fliers and many species (such as floodwater or saltmarsh species) can disperse for several miles, effective mosquito control requires multiple strategies, including source reduction through physical control (digging ditches and ponds to drain breeding habitats) and biological control (placing mosquito fish in salt marshes to eat mosquito larvae). In addition, yard treatments involving liquid adulticides sprayed on vegetation, walls and other potential mosquito resting sites can be done with sprayers that are calibrated to produce an insecticidal mist.

Termites

Termites, wood-eating insects that live in a eusocial structure similar to ants, are found throughout the world and are responsible for over $1 billion worth of damage each year in the United States alone. There are more than 2750 different species of termites, and while they are an important part of many ecosystems by breaking down dead organisms and returning nutrients to the soil, some termite species also consume structures, including homes.

Unlike ants, which are often solitary, termites are social insects that form colonies with a distinct caste system. At the lowest level are the workers, which are blind and wingless and provide food for the colony by tunneling through wood, creating mud tubes to access moist soil or to reach the exterior of buildings, and building shelters from bark or cellulose-rich materials.

The next level of the colony are the soldiers, which are larger than the workers and have well-developed mandibles for defense. Then come the reproductives, which are winged male and female forms that swarm in warm weather and then lose their wings after they establish new colonies. These are the future kings and queens of the colony.

While a variety of products are available to treat and prevent a termite infestation, the University of Kentucky’s Entomology Department recommends consulting a pest control professional for assistance. This is particularly true when dealing with subterranean termites, the most destructive type of wood-eating insect.

Termite inspections can include tapping on a wood surface to listen for hollow or papery sounds, as well as looking for pellet-like droppings called frass near the source of an infestation. Termite treatments include injections of liquid pesticide into the ground surrounding a structure, such as with a Sentricon® system, or using termiticide-laden wood products in building construction. In addition, beneficial nematodes may be used to target and destroy termite populations.

Tackling Pests Head-On: Effective Strategies for Pest Control Management

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Usually the goal is prevention or suppression. Eradication is rare in outdoor pest situations. Remember that most living things are NOT pests and are contributing members of the ecosystem. Pesticides should be used only when other options do not work. Physical or mechanical methods include traps, barriers, screens, cultivation, soil solarization and heat treatments. These control pests by interfering with their life cycle or changing their environment.

Prevention

pest control

Prevention is the first step in any Pest Control Maryville TN management plan. It involves avoiding what encourages pest invasion, such as good sanitation, removing food and water sources, reducing places for them to hide or breed and fixing leaky pipes. It also includes preventing access to the premises by closing entry points and removing materials they use to gain access, such as low-hanging branches that hang over roofs or open windows. Prevention measures also include reducing areas where moisture collects, which can encourage fungal infections that destroy plants.

Chemical Control

Chemical pest control solutions, such as repellents or insecticides, eliminate pests by attacking them directly with toxins. They are typically easier to find and apply than biological methods, but they can also damage the environment when used incorrectly and pose health and safety risks for those who come into contact with them. They are generally a last resort, used only when prevention and other controls fail.

Biological

The goal of biological control is to replace harmful organisms with beneficial ones. This may be done by planting flowers and other flowering plants that attract natural predators or by encouraging the natural presence of parasitoids and other natural enemies of pests. It can also be done by applying microbial control agents, such as the bacteria Bacillus thuringiensis, which kills caterpillars by disrupting their stomach enzymes.

Physical

Other control measures include screens, floating row covers and traps that deter pests by blocking them from reaching the plants they target or exposing them to a physical barrier. Using mulches to reduce weed growth and maintain proper soil temperatures and moisture is also effective. Encouragement of natural predators, such as birds and insects, is another important preventive measure.

Preventive measures should always be followed by monitoring to determine whether the pest population has remained at a tolerable level, or if control is needed. Taking all of the information into account, such as the life cycle and damage of the pest, its natural enemies, and environmental factors, is key to making the right decisions about which methods to use.

Suppression

When prevention fails or pests are already present at unacceptable levels, IPM programs use a combination of management tactics to reduce the population to acceptable levels. Less risky control methods, such as pheromones to disrupt insect mating, sanitation, trapping and weed removal are used first. When these are ineffective or too costly, or when action thresholds have been reached, chemical controls such as the targeted spraying of specific pesticides are employed. Integrated Pest Management is an ecosystem-based strategy, and all control actions must be weighed against the effects they have on nontarget organisms, beneficial insects and the environment.

Identifying the pest helps to determine whether it is a problem that needs to be controlled and when. Monitoring usually involves checking the field, landscape or building to identify the pests, how many are present and what damage they have caused. This information also allows the selection of appropriate control strategies.

In nature, organism populations are often suppressed by parasitoids, predators, diseases and competitors. Collectively known as natural enemies, these organisms reduce or eliminate pests by attacking them directly, disrupting their reproduction or by preventing them from reaching desirable populations. Natural enemies are effective at reducing pest numbers and damaging plants without the use of pesticides.

Because of the dependence of civilization on agriculture, there is a continual need to develop new and improved biological control methods. International man-assisted movements of plant materials and insects continue to bring pests to new areas, where they can be separated from their native natural enemies. This can lead to unintentional eruptions of pest species in new locations. Efforts to augment or introduce natural enemies into these new environments can help to limit these outbreaks. The sterile insect technique (SIT), which uses radiation to sterilize eggs of some pests, is an example of an emerging biological control tactic. Other biological control efforts are attempting to locate and establish natural enemies of some of the most damaging deciduous tree fruit pests, in order to minimize the need for pesticides. This work is particularly important in light of the increasing concern about the negative health and environmental impacts of neonicotinoids and other broad-spectrum chemicals.

Biological Control

Biological control uses natural predators, parasitoids, and pathogens to suppress or destroy pest organisms (insects, mites, weeds, plant diseases) in cropping systems. The goal is to reduce our reliance on synthetic chemical pesticides, which are often less environmentally friendly and more dangerous to human health than naturally occurring organisms. NIFA supports research in this area to increase grower and green industry options for pest management that are more sustainable and operationally flexible.

In many cases, the natural enemies of an insect pest are sufficient to limit its population and keep it below economic thresholds. However, when a pest is introduced into a new geographic region without its natural enemies, or if natural enemy populations are depleted by disease outbreaks or pesticide usage, biological control may be necessary to supplement existing pest management practices.

Biological controls are typically more expensive than chemical controls, but they are less harmful to humans and the environment. Moreover, they are more likely to have long-term effectiveness than pesticides, which can lead to the rapid development of resistance by the target organism.

While there are several ways to implement biological control, the most common is the importation and release of a foreign natural enemy species that is specific to the pest. This is known as classical biological control. It is important to understand that the introduction and release of a new species requires extensive research, to ensure that the selected natural enemy has the potential to achieve its objective (e.g., proper timing in the natural enemy and pest life cycles, the ability to establish in a new habitat) and that there is minimal risk of unintended consequences such as disease outbreaks on other native species, parasitoids or the natural population of the pest itself).

The supplemental release of an existing native or introduced biological agent into the field is known as augmentative biological control. This may involve releasing relatively few natural enemies at a critical time in the pest life cycle (inoculative releases), or it may include mass production and periodic release of thousands or even millions of organisms to overwhelm the target pest population (inundative releases). Inoculative or augmentative releases can be used in conjunction with other pest control strategies such as cropping system modification or use of microbial pesticides like Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) and entomopathogenic nematodes.

Environmental Control

The goal of environmental control is to maintain conditions that are not favorable to pests in fields and orchards, landscapes and lawns, buildings, forests and wildlands. Such conditions can prevent pests from developing or spreading, or they can make it difficult for them to survive and grow. These controls can include physical or chemical manipulations of weather, food sources, and the environment around pests. They also may include management of natural enemies (predators, parasites, and diseases) and cultural controls that affect the environment in which pests live and interact.

Accurate identification of a pest is a critical first step in any pest control program. Properly identifying pests helps you know what they look like, how many are present, and what damage they’ve caused. This information will help you decide whether to take action and if so, what actions are needed. It will also help you select the most effective pest control methods and the best time to use them.

Monitoring is the process of regularly checking a field, orchard, garden, landscape, or other area to see what pests are there and how much damage they’re doing. Monitoring should be done before and after pest control measures are taken to evaluate the effectiveness of the methods and monitor for any side effects.

Some pests are continuous and require constant control, while others are sporadic or migratory and only need to be controlled periodically or intermittently. Knowing the life cycle of a pest can help you predict when and how often to control it. It can also help you select the best pesticide, such as one that targets a specific stage in the life cycle or one that disrupts the insect’s hormone system.

Eradication is a rare goal in outdoor pest situations, but it is often attempted when certain organisms are considered to be so harmful that they can’t be tolerated. For example, the goal of eradication is sometimes set for certain bacteria in operating rooms and other sterile areas of health care facilities. Eradication is more common in enclosed indoor spaces, where it can be easier to achieve.