Pests are organisms that invade our homes and gardens, causing damage or bringing disease. Licensed pest control services eliminate these nuisances and keep your family, pets and property safe.

Pest control includes prevention – keeping pests from occurring, suppression – reducing the number of pests to an acceptable level, and eradication – destroying all of the pests. Contact Pest Control In Bakersfield for professional help.

Pests are not only a nuisance; they can also cause costly damage to property and pose health risks. Pests can carry bacteria and viruses that cause illness in humans and animals. Leprosy, skin infections, intestinal and respiratory problems, rabies, dengue, malaria and food poisoning are just a few of the many diseases pests can spread.

Prevention is the best way to limit the need for pest control. Regular cleaning and removal of food sources, hiding places and water can help deter most pests. The use of door sweeps and weather stripping, proper food storage and disposal, and storing materials away from the house can all reduce the need for pest control.

Education is a valuable preventive tool. It helps people to recognize early signs of pest infestations so that responses can be quick and effective. It also promotes a culture of vigilance that can reduce the need for professional interventions and foster a more sustainable approach to pest management.

A good preventive program includes the use of biological controls, habitat manipulation, modification of cultural practices and the introduction of resistant varieties. These techniques can be used alone or in combination with chemical control methods. Chemical treatments are used only when necessary, and always with the goal of causing as little harm to nontarget organisms as possible.

Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is a long-term strategy that integrates prevention, suppression and eradication. It considers the whole landscape – lawn, garden, trees, shrubs and pond – as a unit and looks for ways to make it more resistant to pests. It considers the environment, the landscape’s natural enemies and barriers that can limit their movements, the availability of food, water and shelter, and the landscape’s ability to support healthy, functioning ecosystems.

When hiring a pest control company, it is important to find one that has been licensed by the state and belongs to a professional association. Membership in an association shows commitment to continuing education, safety, training and research in pest control. It is wise to get bids from several companies and to look at value more than price.

Suppression

When pest populations reach damaging levels, but eradication is not feasible due to cost or environmental impact, suppression becomes the objective. This can be accomplished through chemical, mechanical or cultural means.

The first step in controlling pests is to remove the food sources that they are feeding on. This includes plants, animals and their waste products. In addition, pests need water and shelter to thrive. These can be provided by natural features of the environment such as rivers, lakes and mountains or by man made structures such as dams, buildings and roads.

Other preventive measures include cleaning up crumbs, droppings and other materials that attract pests and sealing cracks, crevices and holes where they can enter your home. If you have to use pesticides, make sure they are labeled with instructions and safety warnings and that they are kept out of the reach of children and pets. It is also a good idea to practice integrated pest management and use only as much pesticide as necessary.

Some foods and building materials have natural characteristics that resist pests. For example, some varieties of plants are resistant to insect pests while others are more tolerant of fungus diseases. Planting these resistant types will help reduce the population of unwanted pests.

Using traps, screens and barriers that block pests can also be effective. Other physical controls include weeding, soil solarization and heat treatments that alter the pests’ environment. Cultural practices such as proper sanitation, removing infested plant material, avoiding overcrowding, fertilizing and mulching, growing competitive plants, and avoiding water stress can also reduce pest problems.

Chemicals used to control pests generally fall into the category of foliar sprays, soil injections or drenches, or granules and dusts. They are usually formulated to have a low risk of environmental damage and to be effective against the specific pest being controlled.

Biological controls include predators, parasites and pathogens that attack or kill pests or interfere with their development or reproduction. These are usually bred in the laboratory and released into the environment in small batches, or sometimes in a single large release.

Eradication

The most obvious and direct form of pest control is extermination. When an infestation of bugs has reached your home or garden, a pest control service will use chemicals to destroy the invaders. These can include sprays, baits and traps, all of which are designed to kill the pests. While effective, this method is not without risk, as pesticides can also harm other plants or animals that live in your vicinity. When choosing a pesticide, make sure it is labeled specifically for the bug you are trying to get rid of and that you follow all application instructions carefully. Also, keep in mind that some pesticides are very toxic and should be handled only by trained pest control professionals.

Unlike extermination, which seeks to eradicate the problem immediately, IPM methods address root causes and solutions that prevent problems from recurring. A pest control professional may offer a variety of preventive measures, including installing barriers and using repellents. They may also recommend structural or property repairs that would help stop pests from invading your living space in the first place.

Natural Pest Control

The IPM approach also encourages you to roll up your sleeves and fight back against annoying pests yourself, with the help of old-school tools like flyswatters, jar traps and pheromone lures. You can also try simple steps to deter bugs, such as putting scented candles around entry points or filling small bowls with coffee grounds, chili pepper or other strong-smelling materials that will drive away insects and rodents.

Other options for reducing the need for harsh chemical pest control include sealing cracks in foundations, roofs and walls with caulk or weatherstripping, and keeping pet food and human food in airtight containers that can’t be accessed by creepy crawlies. Lastly, you can try nematodes, which are microscopic worms that feed on pests and can be sprayed on a targeted bug population. Some nematodes are harmful, but helpful varieties like the cockroach-eating nematode Steinernema carpocapsae can be used to kill off unwanted critters in your garden.

Of course, there are always pest control services available for those who prefer to take a hands-off approach or can’t perform preventive maintenance on their own. A pest professional can inspect your property and use liquid products or baits to control wood destroying insects, as well as fumigants for eradicating termites and other destructive organisms.

Monitoring

Pest monitoring is a key step in any pest control program. This involves searching for, identifying, and assessing the number of pests and the extent of damage that they are causing. This information is used to determine when pest control is needed. Monitoring is a process that may take place as frequently as once per day or a few times a week, depending on the type of pest and its impact.

There are many different methods for monitoring pests, and the choice of which one depends on the situation, the available time and resources, and the urgency of the problem. Some of these include insect light traps (e.g., bug lights), pheromone traps, and simple sticky traps or glueboards. Some of these are commercially available; others can be made at home.

In many cases, the monitoring results are compared to established action thresholds. This allows the pest manager to determine whether or not a certain amount of pesticide is needed. For example, if a particular crop is being threatened by a rodent or plant disease, the threshold may be set at a level where any pest infestation will need to be controlled immediately.

Similarly, for horticulture crops, the threshold may be set at an action level that will prevent serious crop losses due to a specific weed or fungus. In either case, constant monitoring of the pest populations will be required to ensure that the threshold is not crossed.

Monitoring does not always provide a complete picture, and it is important to remember that a pest can be present without necessarily being a nuisance or a threat to human health. For example, zero counts on sticky traps do not confirm that there are no insects in the environment; but they may indicate that only a very small percentage of the population is actually present and that infestation levels are quite low.

It is also important to note that beneficial organisms can help in controlling some pests, and that the use of chemicals to control them could be harmful to these organisms. For this reason, it is generally preferred to use non-chemical methods of controlling pests whenever possible.