Integrated Pest Management- Implementing Control Tactics

In our quest to take charge the world of DIY pest control and remain environmentally friendly, we are investigating the DIY pest controllers role and use of Integrated Pest Management, which is the “…the practice of preventing or suppressing damaging populations of insect pests by application of the comprehensive and coordinated integration of multiple control tactics.” (Radcliffe’s IPM World Textbook)

The last step in IPM is the actual techniques used to manage our pest control problem.
It is defined as follows.

Control tactics: The three available methods of control tactics can be distinguished as follows: cultural, biological, and chemical controls. Our first steps should include cultural and biological, with our last alternative being chemical controls.

If we continue with our previous example of home flea infestation control using IPM, we can further break down our address of this issue as follows. Our first step should include cultural control methods of control. What exactly does that mean? Well, what it means is what steps can be taken that do not include chemicals or biological control. For outdoor pest control in an eco-friendly way organic gardening pest control methods must be implemented. For a home flea infestation, and many others pest problems, that would mean sanitation. For example, consistent vacuuming of carpet, drapes, and furniture. Removing the vacuumed flea eggs and disposing of them in a sealed bag so that they cannot move back into your home. Also, washing pillows, pet bedding, and stuffed animals in hot water is another type of sanitation based “cultural” method of control. Controlling the food source for your flea infestation should be addressed as well, which means regular checking and bathing of your pet. If you do not have a pet, then you should be investigating what the alternate source of infestation might be.

Next we would look at our options for biological control methods for our IPM protocol. That can be defined as control methods that are biological in their nature and do not have any toxicity for ourselves or our environment. For a flea infestation, biological control methods could employ the help of predatory nematodes that eat flea larvae or another option would be a flea spray that could be purchased from a DIY pest control supplies . The key to IPM is that, singularly, these control tactics might not work. But when used in conjunction with each other, you are able to decrease the overall pest population and need for excessive and ongoing chemical use.

When reviewing chemical control tactics, we should refer back to our last article about choosing those that leave the least imprint on our biology and our environment. We can look into “green” citrus based products. Another low toxicity option are boron based products, or the insect growth regulator products that are now readily available to the DIY pest controller.

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About the Author:
DIY Pest Control is becoming more and more accessible due to internet web sites with professional strength products at low price points. This article helps you to use this mouse fact for effective mouse control, using rat traps and snap trap along these paths.