Pest control services protect homes and businesses from damaging insects, rodents, and other unwanted pests. Routine pest control can preserve a property’s value by stopping costly repairs and maintenance.
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Pest identification is the first step in developing a successful pest control program. Accurate identification provides important information about the pest’s biology and life cycle, environmental and harborage conditions, and procedures for prevention or control.
Routine scouting is essential for monitoring and controlling pests. In addition to providing critical information about existing populations, scouting can alert you to new pests or problems that are not yet evident.
Scouting for pests is best conducted at the early stages of an infestation, as this is when they are easiest to detect and control. Scouting can help prevent pests from becoming established in the garden or landscape by allowing you to treat the area before damage occurs. In addition, scouting can reduce the amount of pesticide used by enabling targeted spray applications that are less likely to cause off-target effects.
Spot treatments are also more effective than blanket sprays because they use less pesticide and are less likely to affect beneficial insects. In addition, spot treatments allow you to target the specific areas where pests are present, which is more environmentally friendly than treating an entire field or landscape.
Identifying a pest can be difficult, especially for unfamiliar or exotic species. You may need to consult with a specialist or send the pest for laboratory analysis. To speed up the process, we recommend using the Pest ID Center to upload images of your mystery pests or insect bites. Our team of entomologists will analyze the sample and provide identification results within two business hours.
Some plants are attractive to pests, including caterpillars, aphids, and beetles. If these insects are not controlled, they can devastate gardens and landscapes. To control these pests, select attractive plants that are not prone to damage by the pest and cultivate these in your landscape.
Invasive vertebrate animal species can also be a problem in gardens, school grounds, and parks. To manage these pests, you should remove habitat, remove food, water, shelter, and nesting sites, and apply integrated pest management techniques. This will allow you to keep the pests out without damaging natural or cultural resources.
Pest Prevention
Pests are animals, birds, rodents, insects and other organisms that may contaminate or spoil food or cause damage to buildings and their contents. Control measures attempt to remove or reduce the presence of these organisms to acceptable levels. In food processing environments, this may include rodents (rodent control), birds, insects, worms, and other organisms that carry disease-causing microorganisms or cause physical contamination of foodstuffs. Pests are also a nuisance, creating distractions and disturbances that detract from the efficiency of operations and may create health risks for building occupants.
Ideally, pest control involves preventive methods such as sanitation, exclusion and cultural practices. However, in some cases, a building owner must utilize chemical pesticides and other techniques to achieve acceptable results. In such a case, it is important for the pest control operator to fully understand what kind of problem he or she is dealing with so that the most appropriate controls can be employed.
There are three goals of pest control: prevention, suppression, and eradication. Prevention is keeping a pest from entering or causing damage, suppression is reducing the level of pests to an acceptable threshold, and eradication is eliminating a population completely. Pest monitoring is an essential part of any pest control program and should be done on a regular basis, with inspections of food storage areas, garbage bins, warehouses, etc. It is also a good idea to have a plan in place for pest control should it become necessary, such as the use of traps, baits, or other chemicals.
The most effective way to keep pests away is to make it unattractive for them to come close. This means keeping the areas around structures as clean as possible, regularly removing trash, repairing leaky plumbing, and ensuring that there are no cracks or crevices through which they could enter. Also, keeping the area surrounding a structure well trimmed and the lawn properly watered can help to deter many pests.
Chemical pesticides can be an extremely effective form of pest control, especially when used in combination with other forms of pest prevention. They are often readily available and easy to apply, such as in a bottle spray that can be sprayed on suspected areas of infestation. However, before using any chemical, it is a good idea to read the label carefully to be sure of the proper way to use it and to understand its potential hazards.
Chemical Treatments
In addition to pest traps, many pest control companies rely on chemicals to help keep the pest populations down. There are hundreds of different insecticides, rodenticides and herbicides in use across the world. These chemicals are designed to kill or disrupt the growth of specific organisms, and they can be used to target everything from weeds to rats.
Pesticides can be found in the form of sprays, dusts and granules. They come in a variety of active ingredients, including botanical insecticides such as pyrethrins (derived from chrysanthemum flowers) and synthetic pyrethroids, carbamates, organophosphates and neonicotinoids. These are all meant to kill or damage pests by attacking their nervous systems, poisoning them or disorienting them. They can also be applied to crops and gardens, where they can act as fungicides or herbicides.
When they are used in a professional setting, reputable pest control companies will follow strict safety guidelines. They will not scattergun spray chemicals, and they will always aim for a minimum of exposure to non-target species. This is important, as if there are children or pets in the area, they could be unintentionally exposed to harmful chemical treatments.
Some pesticides are incredibly toxic to humans. This can happen if the wrong kind of chemical is used in large amounts, or if it’s not properly stored and handled. The 1984 Bhopal disaster is a classic example of this kind of accident.
Many of the chemicals that are used in pest control are highly toxic to other organisms, as well. This is because they often have a wide spectrum of toxicity, and can be lethal to all sorts of organisms that aren’t the intended target of the treatment. This is why it’s important that responsible pest control companies always wear protective gear, and carefully store their chemicals to minimise the risk of children or pets getting into them.
Biological pest control leverages the natural world’s predators and parasites to manage pest populations. This can be as simple as releasing ladybugs to eat aphids, or as complex as engineering microbe-based solutions engineered from bacteria. It’s an effective way of reducing reliance on chemicals, but it can be challenging to get customers on board with the idea.
Termite Treatments
When termites do make it into a home or building, they create serious damage in a very short period of time. For this reason, it is essential to take a proactive approach to termite treatment. Termite treatments kill existing infestations and help prevent future ones by creating a protective barrier around the property.
Termite control services begin with a thorough inspection of the property by a licensed and trained pest control expert. This allows the professional to determine what kind of termite is present and how severe the infestation is. Based on this information, the best treatment method can be determined.
There are several ways to treat a termite infestation, including soil treatments and termite baiting systems. Soil treatments involve applying liquid termiticide to the soil around a building, which stops the termites from entering and destroys the colony at its source. Alternatively, a termite bait system can be installed in areas that are prone to attracting termites, such as moist soil or mulch, old tree stumps, irrigation sprinkler heads and downspouts. The bait stations are filled with a cellulose material that attracts the termites, combined with a slow-acting termiticide that is toxic to them. Worker termites then carry the poisoned bait back to their colonies and share it with other members of the colony, which ultimately results in the death of the entire population.
In the event of a very large or extensive infestation, fumigation may be necessary. This involves enclosing the infested area, or multiple areas of the building, in gas-proof enclosures and exposing them to sulfuryl fluoride (Vikane or Termafume) for a prescribed amount of time. PURCOR is a licensed pest control company capable of performing fumigation and addressing even the most severe dry wood termite infestations.
In addition to treating active termite infestations, Orkin Pros are trained to recognize early signs of termites in a home or business. This includes observing piles of pellets, commonly called frass, on floors or window sills and seeing mud tunnels near wood structural elements. The sound of wood squeaking when knocked on also indicates termites have been feeding on it.