Maintaining clean homes by regularly clearing away trash and other potential hiding places will reduce pest populations, while eliminating their food source may also prove useful in this effort.

Baking soda combines with fluids in the stomach of pests to form a toxic gas that kills them, while sticky traps and pheromone traps may also be effective methods.

Pest Identification

Pests cause significant crop damage (nematodes, mites or leafminers), disturb ecosystems (predators or parasitoids), or create nuisance situations (mice, cockroaches or cluster flies). Ticks and mosquitoes transmit diseases while rats, ants or pine seed bugs pose potential threats to humans or pets alike.

Pest identification is key to effective pest management. Since different species of insects change their physical forms throughout their life cycles or seasons, accurate identification is a necessity for effective control strategies. Scouting records allow growers to keep tabs on these changes and implement management tactics with maximum chances of success.

Many pests rely on specific host plants or environmental conditions that promote their development, and when identified accurately can provide solutions that target those host plants or conditions specifically. Identification allows the selection of specific cultural practices and products that can combat such threats; for instance some biological insecticides (Lepidoptera, Coleoptera and Diptera) can be very effective against specific orders while being less so against other orders of insects.

Pest infestations often start when pests find ways to enter homes or businesses, so routine inspections of doors, windows, foundations, roofs and utility lines can help detect entry points for these invaders. Installing screens on windows and doors and sealing cracks or crevices with caulk or coarse steel wool are other strategies for keeping out pests.

Pesticides

Pesticides are substances designed to kill or control unwanted plants, animals, fungi and microbes, whether chemical or biological (viruses, nematodes and bacteria). Registered applications of pesticides include agriculture and home garden settings to protect crops from damage and encourage more production; eliminating disease-carrying mosquitoes ticks rodents while swimming in lakes or rivers by controlling water hyacinths salvinia as well as treating indoor environments where infestations of insects, roaches or mold may threaten human health.

When selecting pesticides, choose the least-toxic product available that will address your problem. Be sure to read and follow all label directions, avoid spraying under windy or direct sunlight conditions where fumes and droplets could drift into unintended areas unintended to be treated, and could present hazards to others. Wear the recommended personal protective equipment on each product’s label; wash immediately after handling any type of pesticide; change clothing immediately following exposure, wash soiled clothes separately with laundry and dispose of empty pesticide containers promptly using plastic garbage bags in outdoor trash cans.

Get only what you need for efficient storage and disposal, while mixing only what can be applied right away to reduce storage and disposal issues. Leftover solutions could become less effective over time or become hazardous waste if left unused contaminating the environment with unnecessary pesticide.

Baits & Traps

Baits and traps are essential tools in pest control. Their design, preparation, placement, type, and use all play a significant part in successful pest control. Traps must be placed where target species can access them easily, while being set properly – such as Smelt TrapsTM for targeting minnows; Cranwfish TrapsTM targeting crawfish; or Worm/Slug/Worm Catching Traps for targeting insects such as Worm/Slug/Worm Traps for targeting specific insect pests.

Rodents such as rats and mice require bait that contains both protein and sugar in an easily scaveng-able format; an example could include peanut butter mixed with raisins which attracts these creatures as two of their favorite foods combine together into one tasty treat for them to consume. Bait should be changed frequently to prevent rodents from becoming familiar with it and finding ways to escape its traps.

Pest management programs exist to decrease pest populations to an acceptable level, through either suppression or prevention methods, or with an optimal combination of these strategies.

At times, such as with Mediterranean fruit fly and gypsy moth infestations, eradication may be attempted; however, in outdoor settings it’s typically difficult to eradicate established populations, and efforts should instead focus on prevention and suppression strategies.

Biological Control

Biological control utilizes living organisms (known as natural enemies) to reduce pest populations below damaging or intolerable levels without harming themselves or the environment. They tend to be more effective at reducing or delaying plant damage than pesticides; however, careful management and oversight is still necessary, and may not work in all settings.

Many growers employ biocontrol agents in organic agriculture and home gardens and greenhouses. Fungi that target nematodes, bacteria that kill weed roots and disease-causing insects such as mites are among the more frequently employed biological controls.

Another approach to biological control known as “augmentation” uses natural enemies that already occur in the landscape in greater numbers in order to overwhelm pest populations. This often requires purchasing and rearing organisms in lab environments – an expensive strategy!

Importation, also referred to as classic biological control, is used when pests from exotic origin have entered the US without their natural enemies – predators, parasitoids, diseases or herbivores. Reintroducing natural enemies such as predators or parasitoids helps keep populations under control by “reuniting” with their prey – however new classical biological control agents must first undergo extensive quarantine tests prior to being released; any release requires proof that they can effectively manage the species for which they’ve been introduced.

Need pest control in Show Low or Pest Control in Flagstaff, AZ contact Atomic Pest Control for help.