The goal of pest control is to reduce or eliminate the presence of undesirable organisms in an environment, often by killing them. These organisms can include bacteria, viruses, fungi, nematodes, or insects, such as flies, mites, and beetles. They may contaminate food or spoil possessions, cause disease in people or animals, or simply damage property. In addition to eliminating or reducing the numbers of pests, effective pest management also attempts to prevent their return or their entry into areas where they are not wanted.
The first step in Diamond Pest Control is monitoring – regularly searching for, identifying, and assessing the number of pests and the damage they cause. This can be done by scouting or inspecting areas of the garden, field, building, or landscape. This information is used to determine whether the pests should be tolerated, controlled, or eradicated.
Threshold-based decision making is a part of scouting and monitoring. If a certain number of pests are consistently observed, or if the harm they cause is unacceptable, control action must be taken. This can be done through direct killing using traps, baits, or sprays; physical controls such as caulking cracks and sealing windows; or chemical methods such as herbicides or insecticides.
Identifying the pest is important to determining the best method of control. This will help to ensure that only the pest is being targeted and that other organisms including beneficial insects and plants are not being harmed. It is also necessary for evaluating the effectiveness of control methods and adjusting them accordingly.
Preventing pests requires eliminating their food sources, water, and shelter. It is important to keep living spaces clean and uncluttered, storing foods in sealed containers, and removing garbage from the home regularly. The use of barriers such as netting or screens is helpful to keep birds and other predators away from crops. This is referred to as integrated pest management IPM.
If prevention fails, suppression is the next step. The objective is to reduce the number of pests below the level that is acceptable. This can be accomplished through traps, baits, or physical or mechanical means such as mowing and mulching to remove hiding places for pests, steam sterilization of soil to kill pathogens, or barriers such as screens.
Biological control is one of the oldest forms of pest control. This involves the introduction of natural enemies of a pest into an area to reduce its population. It can be augmented by the use of pheromones or juvenile hormones to speed up the natural control process. This is considered a sustainable control strategy. It is important to monitor and evaluate the success of biological control, as it can take some time for populations to build up to the point where they are effectively controlling a pest. It is also not usually a complete eradication method.