North Vancouver Pest Control involves preventing or eliminating unwanted plants, animals, or microorganisms that damage property. It may also include reducing the number of pests to an acceptable level.
Look for tenured legacies and licenses that prove the company has been around a while and perfected its methods. Accurate pest identification is crucial to the success of any control program.
Various physical and mechanical control methods modify pest populations by denying them the food, water, shelter or other factors needed to support them. These include cutting, crushing, burying or excluding with tools and devices such as harrows, tillage equipment, traps and barriers (e.g., plastic or organic mulches). Some of these techniques also alter the environment by heating, cooling, wetting or regulating light to disrupt pest life cycles. Other physical controls include plowing, cultivation, flaming and crop rotation.
Integrated pest management (IPM) is a comprehensive approach to managing pests, including preventative strategies and treatment options when necessary. Monitoring, accurate identification and evaluation of both the pest and its host plant is key to determining whether or when treatment is required. The use of cultural, biological, physical and chemical pest control is recommended when an unacceptable level of a particular pest is reached.
Preventative controls include selecting plants that are well adapted to our climate, planting them in the right place and at the right time, and following sound irrigation practices to reduce disease and weed problems. Changing weather patterns, soil fertility and other environmental conditions can also significantly reduce pest problems.
Another important aspect of IPM is recognizing that the natural enemies of pests in nature can be used to control them. These natural enemies can be predators, parasites, pathogens or competitors that normally limit the growth of the pest species. Using these natural enemies to manage the pest population is a very effective way of reducing or eliminating the need for pesticides.
In addition, IPM practitioners employ a number of cultural and genetic controls to minimize the need for pesticides. These may include seeding resistant varieties or planting crops that are highly tolerant of diseases, nematodes or insects. Other cultural practices such as planting attractive “trap crops” in strips around fields, locating sun-loving plants near walls or other structures and establishing windbreaks can help control pest populations by concentrating them in less desirable locations.
Lastly, some of the most common pest control techniques involve applying insecticides to kill or prevent pests from attacking crops. These chemicals are designed to be applied in a manner that reduces the risk of harming non-target organisms, and they must meet strict governmental safety and environmental standards before being sold for commercial use. Chemicals are generally ranked in terms of their toxic effects, and the least-toxic products should be used first when possible.
Biological Controls
Biological pest control leverages nature’s own mechanisms against insects, weeds and other plant predators and parasites. It’s a greener, less toxic way of managing plant pests than traditional chemical controls, which can be harmful to the environment as well as human health. Biological methods can range from simple, such as releasing ladybugs to eat aphids, to more complex and innovative — like delivering the pest-eating nematode Trichogramma into crops in a spray.
Usually, the organisms that are used in biocontrol come from the area of the world where the target pest is native or has co-evolved with local plants. This approach, called classical biological control, is regulated by laws involving importation and quarantine rules (Heimpel and Cock 2018).
Successful examples of classical biocontrol include the removal of an introduced fruit tree pest, the cottony cushion scale, from California or the reduction of damage to alfalfa from the introduced alfalfa weevil in the United States by introduction of predatory insects and parasitoids. In each case, the natural enemies were carefully selected and tested to make sure they could survive in their new environment and suppress the introduced pests without being themselves affected by the pests or damaging other plants.
The other general biological control approach is called augmentation, which involves boosting the population of natural enemies so they can better suppress the target pests. This is often done through mass production and periodic releases in the field, referred to as inundative or inoculative releases. For example, Trichogramma wasps have been mass-produced and inundatively released in agricultural fields and forests to reduce the number of caterpillars eating crop leaves; they are a common biological control agent in many countries.
In each case, the natural enemy must be highly specific to the pest, because any other organisms may disrupt the ecosystem in unintended ways. The researchers must also make sure the organism is durable in its new environment, has a short lifespan so it doesn’t become a persistent nuisance itself and is energy self-sufficient to sustain itself in the field. Some biocontrol agents are more robust than others, and the effectiveness of any solution depends on the conditions in which it’s applied — the climate, soil type, and availability of food.
Natural Forces
Using natural forces to manage pests can reduce the need for chemical controls. These methods include limiting the environmental factors that support pest populations, such as weather and topography; encouraging natural enemies to injure or consume them; and manipulating their numbers or behavior. Cultural practices can also affect pest populations directly or indirectly by making the environment less suitable to them.
The best control strategy depends on the type and severity of the pest problem. Prevention is the ideal, but that’s often not possible. If a pest causes unacceptable harm, the goals of control are usually suppression and/or eradication. Suppression reduces the number of pests to a level that’s acceptable, while preventing them from building up again to an unacceptable level.
Eradication is rarely accomplished in outdoor pest situations, but it can be effective in indoor environments. Many eradication programs, such as those for the Mediterranean fruit fly and gypsy moth, are supported by government agencies.
Biological controls use natural organisms that are closely related to the pest species and attack it at an early stage in its life cycle when the damage is least severe. Pathogens (disease-causing organisms) and parasitoids are commonly used biological control agents. Disease organisms, such as viruses and bacteria, are generally very specific in their targets, while parasitoids target a wide range of insects.
When a pest is attacked by a parasite, it’s unable to produce offspring and dies. If a sufficient number of the parasitoids are released in an area, they will suppress the pest population. This method of control is called augmentative biological control. Augmentative biological control is practiced in greenhouses, nurseries, and some fruit and vegetable fields. The most important step is accurately identifying the pest and the control agent to the species level.
A wide variety of natural predators and parasitoids exist. These can be purchased and then released in a controlled manner to suppress targeted pests. Some predators are able to survive in a wide range of environments, while others can only live where the food they need is available. For example, a bacterium called Bacillus thuringiensis can kill caterpillars but won’t harm people or pets.
Chemical Controls
Chemicals can be effective in killing a pest directly or making the environment unsuitable for it. There are a wide variety of chemicals that can be used as pest control agents, from herbicides to insecticides and fungicides. Chemical controls are often used in conjunction with physical or biological methods and can be very efficient and economical. However, there are also disadvantages to using chemicals in pest control. One is that they can harm the environment if not used properly. Another is that they are often effective for only a short time, and pests can develop resistance to them. Chemicals can also contaminate land and water resources, making them unusable.
The best way to use chemical pest control is as part of an integrated pest management (IPM) strategy. This approach is designed to mitigate the negative impact of pests on a crop by combining multiple techniques, including monitoring, manipulation of habitat, changes in cultural practices and the use of resistant varieties.
This method involves identifying the pests and their characteristics, assessing how much damage they have caused and then taking steps to prevent or eradicate them, either naturally or with the use of chemicals. This can be done by observing the pests, catching them or removing them from the site. The monitoring process is crucial because it can help to identify which pests are present and their numbers, as well as how bad the damage is.
Monitoring can also provide useful information on a pest’s biology and behaviour, such as when it is most active, so that managers can plan the best time to use chemical pest control methods. IPM strategies aim to limit the use of chemicals to levels that are economically justified and minimize risks to humans, other organisms and the environment.
While anyone can deal with the odd ant’s nest or fly in their garden, professionally trained pest controllers are usually employed to do pest control on commercial premises. It is important for pest controllers to be fully qualified and licensed, and it is a legal requirement in the UK that those who use professional pesticides hold a qualification such as the Foundation Certificate in Pest Management.