NIFA and Pest Control

Pests damage plants, animals, and buildings. They can also introduce disease-causing agents, such as bacterial pathogens or intestinal worms.

Prevention is the first step in controlling most pests. Eliminate food, water, and shelter by regularly removing trash, closing off where they can breed, and fixing leaks. Use pesticides sparingly and carefully, following product labels. Contact Seaside Pest Control now!

A pest is any organism (insects, weeds, diseases, vertebrate animals, or plants) that damages or reduces the quality of a resource used by humans. In addition to directly damaging crops, gardens, forests, and landscapes, pests disrupt the balance of ecosystems, displace native species, and alter environmental factors, such as soil health, nutrient content, and available moisture.

Accurately identifying pests is an important first step in effective integrated pest management (IPM). Identification requires familiarity with the specific weed, insect, disease, or vertebrate animal pest and knowledge of its life cycle and behavior. It also involves understanding the underlying causes of pest problems and selecting appropriate management methods.

Incorrect identification can lead to poor or even harmful chemical treatments. For example, if an oak tree is infested with tent caterpillars, the correct treatment would be a product labeled for that pest. Generalized identifications, such as “caterpillar” or “leafminer,” are likely to fail because different caterpillar species and their various stages look very similar.

A key to successful pest control is “field scouting.” Depending on the situation, scouting for pests should be done daily or weekly. This requires walking the area to check for pests and their signs. This includes looking under leaves, along the stems and trunk, around flower buds, in fruit orchards, weeds and ornamental plantings. Scouting can also help identify beneficial insects and other organisms that provide natural pest control services.

When scouting, a knowledgeable person should be ready to quickly record the pest observed. This information can be sent to a specialist for identification. However, this method is not always reliable because mailed samples are often damaged during shipment. It is often more efficient to use locally available resources for pest identification, such as the Woody Ornamental Insect, Mite and Disease Management Guide published by Penn State Extension. In addition, a person should be prepared to apply any pesticide used to the identified pest, using recommended application rates and timing. These guidelines help ensure that the selected pesticides are both effective and safe for the environment and other desirable organisms.

Pest Prevention

Pests are organisms that adversely affect the economic and/or biological systems of a property or environment. They may cause physical contamination of food through contact with rodent droppings or insect parts, or biological contamination through infection with disease causing microorganisms (e.g., microbial pathogens and intestinal worms carried by insects). Pests can also cause damage to the environment by eating crops or damaging buildings and their infrastructure.

Pest control includes preventive and corrective measures to manage pests in a way that is environmentally sound, economically feasible, and socially acceptable. Preventive strategies include monitoring, identifying and learning about the pests, and modification of environmental conditions. Corrective measures may include physical removal or exclusion, use of natural predators, habitat manipulation, and crop selection. Pesticides are used only when necessary, according to established guidelines and with consideration for the safety of humans, beneficial and non-target organisms, and the environment.

In homes and commercial settings, pests are most often small mammals such as rats and mice, insects such as ants and cockroaches, and flying insects such as houseflies, blowflies, fermentation flies, bees and wasps. In addition to destroying and spoiling food, these organisms can carry and transmit diseases that are harmful to humans, such as salmonella poisoning and intestinal worms.

Some pests are continuous and require regular control, whereas others are sporadic or cyclical and need only occasional or seasonal control. Some pests are very difficult to predict or prevent.

The best pest control is prevention, but this requires regular inspections to identify and repair problems before they get out of hand. For example, preventing pests from entering structures should involve modifying entryways such as doors and windows, and removing food, water and shelter sources. This can be accomplished through routine cleaning, proper garbage disposal, and the use of screens in windows.

The next stage in controlling pests is to monitor pest populations to see how widespread an infestation is. This is typically done by examining and recording the number of pests present, their activity levels, and any damage they have caused. This information helps determine whether or not a particular pest is problematic and what type of management strategy is appropriate.

Pesticides

Pesticides are chemical products designed to kill or otherwise harm unwanted organisms. They are used in agriculture to protect crops from harmful insects, diseases, and weeds, and to control nuisance organisms that damage property or harm human health. Pesticides may be marketed under several names, such as insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides.

Most people are familiar with the term “pesticide” as it relates to a specific product such as an insecticide, weed killer or fungicide. However, a “pesticide” is actually any substance or mixture of substances intended for preventing, destroying, mitigating, or repelling any pest. The term also includes any substance or mixture of materials intended for use as a plant regulator, defoliant, or desiccant.

A pesticide is often grouped into categories known as families or classes based on their chemical properties and mode of action against the targeted pest. Examples of pesticide families are organophosphates (controls pests by interfering with nerve-impulse transmissions at the axon/synapse level; disrupts ion flow), carbamates (controls pests by inhibiting acetylcholine production), and organochlorine (controls pests by combining with chloride ions in the nerve cell membrane), which are all highly toxic to humans.

The effectiveness of a pesticide is dependent on how well the chemicals are handled and applied, the environmental conditions under which it is used, and how quickly it breaks down in the environment. Generally, the more effective a pesticide is, the less of it is required to achieve the desired result.

When using pesticides, it is important to read and understand the label directions. It is dangerous and illegal to misread or ignore the instructions. The OSH Answers document Pesticide Labeling outlines important information about ingredients, safety equipment and requirements, first aid, environmental hazards, and application, storage and disposal.

Proper use of pesticides is essential to minimize the impact on the environment and public health. Carefully select a pesticide for the targeted pest, and consider non-chemical alternatives. Be sure to follow the directions for applying, storing, and disposing of the pesticide, and never mix or apply more than the recommended amount. Avoid spraying near water or other sensitive areas, and be mindful of wind direction during outdoor application to reduce the spread of the pesticide.

Biological Control

Biological control uses living organisms such as predators, parasites, pathogens, and competitors to suppress pest populations without the use of chemical agents. NIFA supports biological control research, which can be used as an integral part of integrated pest management programs to reduce our dependence on synthetic pesticides.

Generally, biological control uses highly specialized, naturally occurring organisms (called “natural enemies”) to reduce or eliminate populations of exotic or agricultural pests that have been inadvertently transported to new locations. These natural enemies are often microorganisms, such as bacteria, fungi or viruses, and may also be higher animals, such as birds, fish, mammals, nematodes, or insects. Biological control methods are most successful against exotic, non-native plant and animal pests.

A key factor in the success of biological control is the ability to recognize and select natural enemies that will be effective against the targeted pests. This is especially important with invasive species that have no natural predators or enemies in their native habitat. The natural enemy must be able to reproduce and survive in the target region, and must be capable of attacking the pest with high efficiency. In addition, the selected natural enemy must not be capable of disrupting other species in the ecosystem to which it is introduced.

Classical biological control, which involves mass rearing and release of promising natural enemies, is most common against exotic pests that have inadvertently been introduced to new regions. This method requires researchers to travel to the pest’s native habitat, study and collect natural enemies that kill the pest there, and ship these promising natural enemies back for testing and possible release in the target location. Ideally, the natural enemy is introduced and released with attention to synchrony in the life cycles of the pest and its natural enemy.

A number of different microorganisms are now commercially available for use in biocontrol, including Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), entomopathogenic nematodes and granulosis viruses. While these products are not classical biological control, they can be useful in reducing the use of synthetic insecticides in agricultural settings. A growing body of evidence shows that these microbial products are safe for use on crops and other plants and provide alternatives to chemical pesticides.

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