What type of pest is driving you up the wall? Termites? Rats? The ever-disgusting cockroach? Or is it a larger animal or tiny insect affecting your farm? Of course, you need them out of the way but for everyone’s sake—yours and the environment’s—it’s best to choose your methods wisely.
Thankfully, because of technology, scientific advances and a newfound respect for nature, there are more methods of pest control to consider than a few decades ago. Here’s a summary of the most popular ones, each with its own application and benefits. Use the facts to help you make an informed decision.
Physical Control
Pest control doesn’t have to mean killing off a living thing. Erect physical barriers like a screen in front of a window or plant collars on certain crops can prevent unnecessary damage and limit the nuisance they cause.
Biological Pest Control
Your answer to dealing with a certain insect could be another insect or living organism. And this method has been around for centuries. Humans can introduce a natural enemy to an area where a pest causes problems. A benefit here is that if the enemy breeds in that area, you have a long-term solution to the problem. For more information visit this site: f95zone
Cultural Control
Cultural control is probably most relevant if you’re farming. You’ll create an environment that’s less inviting and comfortable for the pests you’re battling. For example, plant a different crop that a creature like rootworm doesn’t like as much. The larvae will starve during the next season or two, so you can then return to the original crop and there will be less of a risk to it.
If you place an item the pests really like nearby, this is also cultural control. The pests will hopefully flock to that place, you can catch them if need be and other areas will have fewer of them. This approach can also be trap cropping where you plant something the pests will like more than other crops. With most of the pests on that trap crop, you can deal with them easier, whether you use pesticides or other pest control methods.
Using Poison
Poison can be effective for a wide range of pests:
- Rats
- Ants
- Snails
- Birds
- Cockroaches
Here you should consider its effect on other animals. For example, you don’t want to kill of harmless birds that feed on the small animals, like mice, you’re killing off.
Sterilisation
Here’s a very innovative way of affecting the population of a certain pest: simply introduce sterile individuals of this species. Now the existing ones can’t multiply at the same pace they usually did, leading to smaller populations and much easier containment plans.
Although this is mostly appropriate for certain insects, like fruit flies, it has been used to some extent to fight rat populations too.
Fumigation and Fogging
Firstly, the terms fumigation and fogging don’t refer to the same thing.
Your home can be fumigated after the building is made airtight. This is usually done by placing a type of tent over it and releasing a fog of insecticide inside. Then, over the course of one to three days, the pests will die off.
The downside here: you must evacuate the building for the process.
In contrast, during normal fogging the insecticide can travel through the building but there’s no need to seal spaces or evacuate people. Of course, there will be less penetration with this method, but it’s helpful if a business can’t afford any downtime.
Insulating Spaces
Professional pest control agencies can also add pesticides to the insulation in a home. This is a successful method to use if your home is overrun by termites or cockroaches. But note this requires in depth understanding of how much pesticide is necessary.
As a bonus, when you see a mouse, insulate a home and add a pesticide, you’ll have added advantages like making it easier to maintain temperatures inside your home. So, pest control can have more benefits than you think!
Hunting Them Down
‘Hunting’ sounds blood thirsty, but you may need to do this to shrink one animal’s population in order to let another, more vulnerable creature flourish. It’s usually applied for smaller animals found in farm areas, but also in residential areas if necessary. Animals can be trapped and removed or killed.
Pest Specific Methods
Some animals require very unique methods to bring them under control, so do your research before you simply pick one of the above for your pest problems. For example, for some pests in your pantry, like the red flour beetle, you may use very high or low temperatures to kill the bugs and their larvae, instead of pesticides. This method also kills off clothes moths.
[Conclusion]
Be respectful of nature even while fighting off horrible critters and creatures. It’s the responsible thing to do and luckily you’re spoilt for choice about methods to try out. Note that many of these methods should only be attempted by trained professionals, so don’t simply DIY your pest control needs!
A quality pest control vendor will use the latest in technology and methods to give customers peace of mind that they’re taking the best route possible.
Now, get those pests out your roof and walls, instead of them driving you up the wall!
