Look for a company that uses “green” products. These usually cause less harm to the environment and your plants than chemical solutions.

Threshold-based decision-making means determining whether or not pests are causing damage that is unacceptable. This approach includes scouting and monitoring. Click Here to learn more.

Physical and mechanical control methods include barriers, traps, soil solarization, and heat treatments. Biological control uses helpful organisms such as parasites and predators.

Generally, prevention involves creating barriers that prevent pests from entering or damaging a property. It also can involve removing or modifying conditions that favor pests, such as allowing beneficial insects to do their job and eliminating sources of food for unwanted organisms.

Pests can often be prevented in outdoor areas by keeping plants healthy and in good condition, avoiding over-fertilizing or applying too much fertilizer, and eliminating weeds that compete with desirable species for resources. In addition, pest populations rise and fall according to natural forces that affect all organisms, such as climate, natural enemies, and available food, water, shelter, and overwintering sites.

Indoors, preventing pest infestations is generally more challenging, but it can be accomplished by keeping rooms and other facilities well maintained, storing materials in sealed containers, and keeping shelves and cabinets clear. In addition, minimizing humidity and removing water sources that can attract pests (like leaky pipes) can decrease the likelihood of infestation.

Threshold-based decision making is an important part of prevention, as it involves examining data on pests to determine when action should be taken. For example, a few wasps flying around the house one time may not warrant control, but seeing them every day and in increasing numbers indicates that it is time to take action.

Some pests, such as plant diseases, are fairly predictable and can be prevented by observing environmental factors that will favor disease development. Other pests, such as those that damage buildings or other structures, are often more unpredictable and require more active management.

The goal of IPM is to use the least intrusive techniques to manage pests, taking into consideration ecological and economic impacts. IPM strategies include reducing attractants, establishing natural enemies, changing cultural practices, using resistant varieties, and when necessary, applying chemical control agents in a manner that minimizes risk to humans, beneficial organisms, nontarget plants, and the environment. IPM is an ecosystem-based approach to pest control that focuses on long-term prevention through integrated monitoring and treatment. It also is designed to promote the use of natural pest controls, such as predators and parasitoids, to reduce reliance on synthetic chemicals.

Suppression

Once a pest population has built up to unacceptable levels, there is often a need for short-term tactics that quickly reduce it. This is particularly true for weeds and other organisms that share the same habitat with crops and human communities but cause unwelcome damage to these resources. Suppression is usually accomplished through a combination of techniques that directly kill or injure the pest or make its environment unsuitable for it. These tactics may include physical removal (hand pulling, mowing, etc.), traps, or chemicals.

Chemical control methods can involve the use of organic or synthetic products that interfere with some aspect of the biology or physiology of the pest. Examples of this class of products are insecticides, fungicides, and herbicides. These chemicals can be applied in the field or in the greenhouse. They can be sprayed, drenched, injected, or dissolved in water and sprayed or soaked on plants or soil.

Physical controls are devices or machines that physically remove pests from a treatment site or block their access to food, shelter, or water. They include traps, fences, nets, and barriers. They can also involve devices that alter the environment such as light, heat, or electricity. These techniques often work best when the pests are attracted to or repelled by certain environmental cues such as color, odor, or sound.

Biological controls are the conserving or releasing of organisms that naturally control pests. These organisms can be predators, parasites, or microbial agents. Some of these organisms are commercially available. They can be used to supplement preventive efforts or as alternatives to more drastic control methods such as sterilisation programs.

Cultural controls can also be effective at controlling pests. They can include cultural practices such as crop rotation and tillage to help manage weeds, and the planting of species that are resistant or tolerant of the pests. These practices can be combined with a variety of other control tactics to provide more consistent, longer-term suppression of pests. They can also be augmented with scouting and monitoring to identify when a threshold is crossed and action is required.

Eradication

Pests damage property and cause diseases that can threaten human health. Many of these problems can be costly to control, including the costs of repair, replacement and medical treatment. Some pests, such as rats chewing on electrical wires, can cause fires and power outages. Others, such as cockroaches, can transmit disease and cause allergic reactions in humans. Eradication means reducing the number of pests to zero, which is not easy. The term is also used to describe the permanent removal of an infectious disease from a region. The most successful examples include smallpox and polio, but other infections are still present around the world.

Chemical solutions are often easier to find and use than biological methods. They may deter pests by smell or taste, or kill them with poisons. Some chemicals, such as weed killers, can pose health and environmental risks when used incorrectly. Physical traps and netting are effective tools for dealing with most pests, as are a variety of other less-toxic approaches.

Eliminate the food, shelter and water that pests need to survive. Seal cracks and crevices that they might use to enter your home, such as dripping pipes and loose shingles. Eliminate weeds, piles of wood and trash where they might build nests or hide. Recycle newspaper, cardboard and other materials that can attract rodents.

Remove moisture sources, which can encourage ants, cockroaches and other insects to seek refuge inside your home. Replace rotting floorboards, which might invite ants and termites to invade your home. Eliminate standing water, such as leaky faucets or puddles under sinks.

Clean up debris in the yard, which can attract flies and other pests. Discard or recycle newspapers and other materials that rodents might shred and use to build their nests.

A few relatively low-risk chemical pesticides are available to kill specific pests, such as granular baits for mice and rats and liquid sprays for ants, roaches and flies. Consult your local cooperative extension service for recommendations suitable for your area. Generally, these should be applied to targeted locations, not sprayed over large areas.

IPM

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is an environmentally friendly method of controlling pests. Its goal is to keep pests from damaging plants, structures and homes without harming people or the environment. IPM is an ecosystem-based strategy that includes prevention, monitoring and treatment when necessary. Successful IPM programs employ biological, cultural, physical and chemical methods to control pests. IPM programs are also more cost effective than traditional chemical controls.

Pests can be controlled using nonchemical measures such as removing the pests’ food, water or shelter or blocking their entry into buildings and gardens. Monitoring and scouting are important in IPM. They identify the type of pest, its population level and environmental conditions. A key step is to determine the action threshold – the point at which pest injury levels indicate that pest control is needed. This threshold is based on economics and the impact to the environment. The UC IPM website has tools to help make this decision for any situation.

IPM also looks at a pest’s life history and behavior to prevent it from becoming an infestation problem in the first place. This may involve crop rotation, growing resistant varieties, or installing barriers such as fences and caulking cracks to deter ants, rodents and other pests.

When nonchemical treatments fail to control pests, IPM programs employ physical traps and other mechanical controls. These include spiders, praying mantis and other natural predators, which keep pest numbers down, and sticky traps, which capture rodents.

Biological controls, such as nematodes and parasitic wasps, also can be used to control some pests. When IPM programs are successful, the pests’ numbers are reduced to levels that can be managed without pesticides.

Pesticides can be used as spot treatments when other options are not possible or have failed. In IPM, they are applied according to established guidelines that minimize the risk to people, beneficial organisms and the environment. This reduces the amount of pesticide that is applied and the risks to health and safety. It is important that pesticides are used only when necessary and only when they will be most effective.