What is pest management and how does it work?

Animals and crops can be harmed by diseases, insects, and weeds, which can be expensive and irreversible. Pesticides and biological pest control are two options for dealing with these issues. Pest control combines the two approaches and involves monitoring to prevent overuse of pesticides. The goal of integrated pest management (IPM) is to create and expand reliable, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly control strategies.

What is integrated pest management (IPM)?

IPM pest control is the process of minimizing or removing unwanted creatures such as cockroaches, ants, wasps, bees, spiders, silverfish, termites, bedbugs, and other insects from human-occupied areas. 

Why is pest management necessary?

Since many pests are carriers of disease-causing microorganisms, pest control is critical. These noxious microbes are released by critters contaminating food and water. Wood-boring insects like termites, carpenter ants, and beetles, for example, can cause structural harm. 

Unwanted rodents such as rats and mice may chew through electrical wire, cardboard, and wood to gain access. As a result, it is important that appropriate steps be taken to keep these predators at bay.

Pest damage frequently has significant financial implications. They pose a threat to critical agricultural, natural, and urban areas. The following are some of the negative consequences:

• Farms, rangelands, and forests are all infested
• Stream and waterway obstructions
• Crop destruction
• Wildlife habitat destruction
• In populated areas, disease and poor quality of life have an effect

In Canada, there are numerous specialist IPM pest control companies that cater to both residential and commercial customers. Some of these businesses use insecticides to complete their work, while others have comprehensive pest control services. Inspection, identification, deterrence, and prevention are some of the methods used by such businesses to get rid of the annoyance-causing critters.

Factors that Influence Your Pest Control Frequency

The majority of homeowners have the same question: How often is pest control needed? The answer to this question depends on different factors that we explore below.

The Type of Pest

Many homeowners believe that a single remedy suffices to solve their pest issue. Unfortunately, this is far from the truth. It's important to remember that many pests lay eggs that are unaffected by pest control methods. The eggs will hatch (probably after the treatment) and the pest problem will return. This is essentially one of the key reasons why you should get a second, and possibly additional, pest control visits.

Other rodents, such as bedbugs and cockroaches, on the other hand, necessitate specialized care. This is due to their resistance to most pesticides, and keeping them at bay will necessitate weekly, if not more frequent, pest control. Dealing with serious pests like bed bugs, on the other hand, necessitates ongoing pest control, at least until they are completely eradicated.

The Severity or Level of Infestation

In most cases, if you notice minor signs of pest infestation in your home or workplace, you are already facing an infestation. Pests may not have made their full presence known yet, but they have generally already taken up residence in your home or its surrounding area. 

If your home is pest-infested, you need much more frequent pest control (twice a month) than if your home is pest-free and you are doing pest control (every three months) for prevention.

The Location of Your Home

Pest control frequency is often affected by the location of your house, the time of year, and the pest population in the surrounding area. If you live in a termite-prone area, for example, you can arrange bi-monthly pest control to ensure that your home always remains termite-free. Again, if you live in a cold northern climate, you will need to arrange monthly pest control to keep rodents away from your home during the winter.

On the other side, if you live in a wet, humid climate, you should expect different types of pests to crawl around your house all year. This will necessitate much more frequent pest control. The same is true if you live in a wooded area with a lot of pests.

In the winter, pests like spiders, cockroaches, rats, raccoons, and mice are more likely to enter your house. During the summer, you will notice many ants in your house, as well as swarms of mosquitoes and nests in the spring and autumn. As a result, during these months, it's important to schedule routine pest control in your home.

Size of your Property and Area of Application

Monthly pest control is the best option if you have a vast property with multiple private or sheltered areas. On the other hand, if you have a smaller space that you can closely track on a regular basis, quarterly pest control might be a good option.

Although it is critical to have pest barriers installed throughout your house, some areas (particularly the interiors) are extremely sensitive and require special attention. If you have children or pets, for example, it's only fair to schedule pest control quarterly, semi-annually, or yearly, unless the situation is serious. While pests are unpredictable, they are more likely to infest your home as new weather patterns begin, as they search for food and shelter.

How often do you really need pest control?

Regular pest control is unquestionably necessary to keep your home or workplace free of unwanted pests. 

Even if you have the cleanest house in the world, bugs will still get into it. Professional and regular inspections are the best way to ensure your home is completely pest-free. V Extermination’s packages are centered around peace of mind – all year long to protect you and your home.

Different types of pest control services

Residential pest management

Pests can be extremely damaging to a home, so if your home is suffering from pest-related destruction, residential pest control is a must. Exterminators can eradicate your pest problem as well as provide you with expert advice and help throughout and after the elimination or removal process.

V Extermination provides the following IPM services:

• Work that is both fast and efficient every day of the week
• Security service for your peace of mind from the outside
• Defense against rodents and peace of mind on the outside
• Full Defense PROGRAM (exterior, interior, and rodents)
• Wildlife management (capture and relocation)

Agricultural pest management

Animals and crops can be harmed by diseases, insects, and weeds, which can be expensive and irreversible. Pesticides and biological pest control are two options for dealing with these issues. Pest control combines the two approaches and involves monitoring to prevent overuse of pesticides. 

V Extermination creates prevention and intervention strategies that are specific to your industry:

• Protection program against mealworms
• Protection program against flies
• Protection program against rats and mice
• For quality management purposes, our specialist technicians make visits and provide information
• Free consultation service
• Free pest identification service 
• Emergency service
• Wildlife management

Commercial pest management

If your company has a pest problem, it’s best to hire a licensed pest control company to diagnose the pest, provide treatment recommendations, and safely and effectively eliminate the problem. 

V Extermination has designed Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP), compliant comprehensive pest prevention and control plans.

• Instead of a reactive approach, we take a proactive approach
• For quality management purposes, our specialist technicians make visits and provide information
• Free consultation service
• Free pest identification service 
• Emergency service
• In the event of an audit or inspection, a technical assistance service is available

Pest control methods

Biological pest control

The use of a pest's natural predators to monitor their populations to mitigate their effects on economic and environmental activities is known as biological control. It is a non-toxic alternative to pesticides and toxins that has both benefits and drawbacks.

Whatever insect population you want to manage can almost certainly be managed. The pest population will also dwindle because the predator introduced is instinctively inclined to target the pests.

Natural enemies that have been introduced to the ecosystem can self-sustain, often by reducing the insect population they are meant to control. This means that, once the system is up and running, very little work is needed to keep it running smoothly.

However, biological agents require time and energy to work their magic on a pest population, while other approaches, such as pesticides, produce instant results. The advantage is that biological regulation has a long-term impact.

Biological control is not the way to go if you want to absolutely eradicate a pest. Predators can only survive if they have food, so destroying their food supply will jeopardize their own survival. As a result, they can only reduce the number of pests that are dangerous.

Cultural pest control

Cultural pest control uses methods that make the atmosphere less appealing to pests and less conducive to their survival, dispersal, development, and reproduction, while favoring the crop and the pest's natural predators.

Since cultural pest control normally only necessitates changes in general production practices, it is the most cost-effective of all pest control methods. They are often the only effective control measure for large areas of low-value crops.

There are, however, disadvantages, namely long-term preparation and careful timing are needed for successful cultural pest control. It can be successful against a specific insect, but not against closely related species. Some cultural pest control methods are harmful to fish and wildlife and can cause erosion.

Chemical pest control

Pesticides are used to kill, deter, repel, or mitigate pests of all kinds. As you probably know, there are a lot of debates surrounding pesticides as human exposure to pesticides can have both immediate and delayed effects. As a result, a wide range of health effects have been observed, ranging from minor skin or eye irritation to more serious infections of the nervous system. 

About 98 % of sprayed insecticides and 95 % of sprayed herbicides were found to miss their intended targets. Plus, pests, like other living species, are likely to develop resistance to pesticide chemicals. 

Eco-friendly Control

V Extermination aims to avoid the use of harmful chemicals and solve your pest problems through a non-invasive, eco-friendly, and low environmental impact process. Our team assists you with control, wildlife management, and damage repair to keep your home pest-free. Don’t hesitate to contact us for more information regarding our services!