How to Control Pests

 

Pests are organisms that cause disease, damage crops and threaten public health. They can also destroy properties and the need to control them are tantamount to safety and continuance of live through food security.

 

Pests control is a general term for methods used to manage and control the spread of pests or eliminate them. The first thing to do in pest control is the identification of your pests. You cannot start pest management when you have no pest to control. You may even end up destroying certain plants or non-harmful organisms if you do not know your pests. The proper identification of pests will result to the proper application of pest control methods thus resulting to effective and efficient measures. Pests can be identified through research and professional help. The next step is to learn about your pest. There is a need to understand your pests, their biology, habits and diet because by doing so, you will be able to find control measures that will be effective to them.

 

Finding about their breeding places, vectors and disease they carry can both prevent outbreaks and apply effective control measures. Deciding on a treatment or control method must be tailored to the specific pests or problems. There are many available pest control devices, pesticides etc. in the market and identifying the right one to use will save you time and money. For large applications such as buildings and offices, an integrated pest management approach is necessary. The methods used in this approach are systematic from the removal of the source of food, use of biological pest control methods, blocking of entry and exit of pests and the use of proper pesticides. Pesticides are the last of the methods for pest control in use in integrated pest management.

 

A classic example of pest control is the control of ants which are very common organisms in the household. Ants are considered  pests because they can destroy homes made of wood, spoil your food and bite your skin. However ants are needed in nature but doesn't belong to homes. Controlling ants must be anchored with the knowledge about their habits, they scavenge for food and if you make it a habit to clean your environment you can prevent them from going into your rooms, kitchen etc. Part of your method in ant control is proper waste disposal, ants commonly are attracted to garbage, falling food crumbs and their pheromone trails. Wash with soap and water all ant trails because as long as the pheromones are present, ants will continue to find their way to them. Locate their breeding nests and remove them. There is a more sophisticated method of controlling ants and that is through pesticide baits where worker ants bring the pesticide back to the entire colony killing the queen.