integrated pest management

During the late 1970s and early 1980s, major pest management companies revised their control strategies to alleviate concerns associated with the over-use and misuse of chemicals.

A procedure, referred to as Integrated Pest Management (IPM), was adopted to overcome these concerns. IPM is a procedure where all possible methods of controlling a pest are considered with the minimum and judicious use of chemicals.

This procedure requires a thorough understanding of pest infestation issues such as temperature, moisture, light, food, shelter or habitat, and the presence of other organisms.

Understanding factors conducive to pest infestation presents the opportunity to change the conditions to eradicate the problem.

Cultural control

An integral part of any pest management program is attention to sanitation and hygiene. These aspects are extremely important in making an environment less attractive to pests.

Similar principles apply to the control of moisture within an environment, particularly in regard to structural pests like termites and borers, where adequate ventilation is a pre-requisite for reducing the potential risk.

Reduction of available moisture is also a high priority in both rodent and cockroach control.

Physical control

This includes trapping, proofing, exclusion and other less complex physical approaches such as fly screens, silicone barriers and sticky traps.

Bird exclusion can be achieved by the proofing of entry points, roosting and nesting areas.

Biological control

Biological control of pests has been utilised for many decades. An example is the use of nematodes to control millipedes.

An advantage of biological control is that in many instances it is specific to a particular pest and has no effect on non-target species.

Chemical control

Chemicals used to control pests can be divided into two categories. The first involves the use of synthetic, but biologically-related substances, including hormones and pheromones.

Products referred to as "insect growth regulators" can be successfully applied to prevent pests such as cockroaches and fleas from developing into mature adults, resulting in the halting of reproduction of the species.

The second category comprises general pesticides and includes insecticides, rodenticides and herbicides.

In recent times, considerable emphasis has been placed on researching chemicals that are of very low toxicity to mammals, but are still extremely effective against specified pests.

The properties of these modern pesticides have been modified in an attempt to make them less persistent with the objective of being environmentally acceptable.

The primary objective of Integrated Pest Management is to minimise and/or eliminate any harmful effect of pesticides on the environment, and to ensure that, where necessary, chemical control occurs as an adjunct to the other eradication procedures.