Pest control is the attempt to limit the damage caused by unwanted organisms. Organisms considered pests include rodents, birds, insects and other organisms that are harmful or problematic in the environments where they live. Pests can be a nuisance in gardens and home, contaminate food or plants, spoil goods or cause disease or discomfort in humans.
Pests can be controlled by exclusion, repellents, physical removal or chemical means. Generally, the more methods used in combination, the more effective check Diamond’s website will be.
Ideally, prevention is the primary method of pest control. Eliminate the food, water or shelter that attracts them by keeping areas scrupulously clean and removing weeds, piles of firewood and other debris that might provide hiding or breeding places. Caulk cracks and crevices around the outside of buildings, remove garbage regularly and seal leaky plumbing. Keep food in sealed containers and store garbage in tightly closed trash cans. Use screens to prevent pests from entering and use caulking to close off spaces under sinks and in walls where they might breed. In homes, this might mean putting up wire mesh in doorways and window frames and sealing gaps around heating vents and air conditioning ducts.
If this is not enough, there are a number of mechanical controls that can be employed. Sticky barriers, heat killing for storage pests and flooding are useful against certain pests, while traps, netting and electronic pest controls can be helpful in other situations. Pressure-treated wood is also resistant to many pests and can save on costly repairs.
The most common method of controlling pests involves chemicals and pesticides, which are available in a wide range of products including liquids, powders and aerosols. These can be applied to surfaces or sprayed in the environment, but are most often used to kill or capture pests once they have already invaded a property. Thousands of products are on the market, and some of them can be hazardous to people, pets and plants.
Another approach to controlling pests is the biological or natural method, which relies on parasites, predators and pathogens to manage pest populations. For example, nematodes such as those of the genus Heterorhabditis can be sprayed on crops to suppress pests by attacking them from the inside.
Eradication of pests is a rare goal in outdoor situations, but control programs might be supported by the government to rid areas of certain unwanted organisms, such as Mediterranean fruit fly and gypsy moth control programmes. In indoor environments, however, eradication might be the main objective.
Other forms of pest control rely on sterile males or other methods to alter a population by making it impossible for fertile females to reproduce. These methods are not usually as successful as eradication, but they can be more cost-effective and easier to implement than eradication in outdoor environments. They may also be less environmentally disruptive than chemical methods. For example, releasing large numbers of sterile ants to control the invasive European fruit fly is an efficient and environmentally friendly alternative to spraying insecticides.