How to Control Pests
Just like most doctors, good pest managers want to help people resolve their issues, but many pests like serious medical issues can be a challenge to fix. First off, when you go to see a doctor, he doesn’t write you a prescription before asking about the symptoms. With pests it is the same. We must first identify the pest and understand how big of a problem it is before we look at ways to help the situation. This is the key purpose of this website, to help you identify potential arthropod pests.
Once we have made a confident identification of the issue we can move on to treatments. Let’s say your doctor finds that you have heart disease. Your doctor will try to offer you a plan that includes multiple venues that will help your health such as a prescription, a change in diet and exercise or a physical surgery. When managing pests, we do the same and consider all our options including the following treatment and examples:
- Biological — Supporting or releasing predators or parasites to help manage pests
- Chemical — Pesticides, baits, poisons
- Cultural — Crop rotations, cleaning your house
- Genetic — Plant breeding for resistance
- Physical — Traps and barriers
- Regulatory — Border inspection services and other laws
Considering all our options will help us create the best long-term solution. Only depending on one type of solutions may lower the chances of success. To learn more about how to be an effective pest manager we recommend you watch the following 15 minute video.
