Depending on the environmental conditions of your area, you probably find every year around the summer time your kitchen becomes home to large numbers of fruit flies. These tiny creatures can appear in swarms very quickly, and can prove annoying and embarrassing.

In order to control fruit fly outbreaks in your home, it is important to understand the life cycle and the feeding habits of the species. Integrated pest control has knowledge as its foundation; armed with this knowledge private individuals and pest control companies can deal with a potential problem. In this article, we will take a look at the biology of fruit flies, which can help us understand the area of prevention of infestations in particular.
(more…)

When it comes to pests that pack a nasty wallop for their size, there is no bigger heavyweight than the flea. These ubiquitous little insects can cause someone to break out in dozens of itchy red bites, and they’re worth getting rid of. What they aren’t worth is getting rid of by any means necessary.

Integrated pest control is an approach to getting rid of pests through an understanding of how those pests operate, and through the use of the least toxic means possible. Chemicals are used as a last resort, and localized least toxic chemicals are always used first.

Understanding the biological makeup, breeding habits, life cycles, and feeding habits as well as habitats of creatures like fleas make it much easier to devise and apply a solution strategy which proves least harmful to other living organisms, such as humans. Let’s take a look at the biology of the flea.
(more…)

If you live in the Southwestern States, probably the last thing that you want to hear is someone telling you to try and understand fire ants. These nasty little introduced species spread a lot of misery wherever they occur, and the last thing you want to do is sit down and have a chat with the group to find out what makes them so mean.

Fortunately, that is not what we mean by understanding, and we are not advocating the place of the fire ant within the ecosystem at large. In fact as an introduced species fire ants are one of the few insect pests that we would happily disappear from our borders forever. Unfortunately, like so many insect pests, fire ants are very resistant to toxic, broad based control strategies, so the best we can do is to use an integrated pest management control plan to keep the species as minimal as possible.
(more…)

On the whole, carpet beetles are though to do more damage to fabrics around the home than the commonly lamented pest the moth. They are gregarious creatures which reproduce quickly and which do not leave some of the tell tale signs which moths do, making them hard to detect and harder to get rid of.

An integrated pest control approach to dealing with beetles involves understanding the life cycle of these pests in order to create a more effective and permanent solution to an infestation problem. IPC does not use potent and toxic chemicals on first contact with a pest, on the grounds that these substances are both harmful and not very effective in the long term. While IPC may use chemicals as a last resort, they are localized due to an understanding of pest biology and they are likely to be the least toxic materials that can be found. Let’s take a look at the biology of the carpet beetle.
(more…)

Integrated pest control is the process which uses a greater understanding of pests and their natural habits to achieve better success in the control and prevention of infestations. Chemicals, once the mainstay of the pest control industry, are used as a last resort with an emphasis on using the least toxic versions first.

Part of the foundation of the integrated pest management system is gaining knowledge as to the specific life cycles, breeding habits, and habitats which pests need in order to survive and thrive. Through a knowledge of these factors we have a far better chance of targeting an effective pest control program towards certain species. In this article, we are going to take a look at the biology of the carpenter ant.
(more…)

Most people have a hard time conceiving of bears as a pest; we are more likely to think of them as a threat or some sort of symbol of the wilderness. In areas where humans live on the borders of wild areas, however, bears definitely pose all the typical problems of even the smallest pests; they can be dangerous, they create a large amount of destruction, and they are surprisingly hard to control.

Integrated pest management means taking into account the natural make up of the pest in question in order to prevent problems from occurring between the pest and humans. In the case of bears, a basic understanding of their biology can contribute greatly to efforts to keep them away from areas inhabited by humans. Let’s take a look at some quick facts on bear biology.
(more…)

Aphids are one of the strangest of all insect pests. There are thousands of different species of aphids and they come in many different colors. The common thread that binds aphids, outside of scientific classification based on biology (we will get to that in a minute) is that they are all considered pests.

Where are aphids found?

Aphids are found everywhere that plants are, and that includes both inside and outside of your home. Of course, the warmer the climate, the bigger the problem aphids can be. In areas which produce a lot of different plant products for human consumption aphids are a particular problem, as they can destroy thousands of dollars worth of crops.

(more…)

Finding pests around your home and in your yard can be more than just annoying. Many kinds of pests have the potential to spread disease, while most create some form of hassle or another in the form of painful bites, destruction of property and a lot of extra work, or the annihilation of entire gardens. For many years people have taken steps to combat the influence of pests in their homes and gardens. While the approaches people took often appeared to work, in reality some of the most popular methods of pest control were ineffective or worse.

Since the middle of the 20th century, the favourite method for most people on both the large and small scale when it came to controlling pests was spraying poisons to wipe them out. Research has proven that not only are chemical insecticides not very effective in the long run, they may also actually pose a serious danger to the health of humans and other animals not considered pests.
(more…)

Snails are an incredibly amazing naturally occurring pest; the average snail can lay up to 300 eggs per day during the laying season, and these eggs can lie in the ground for eleven years or more until conditions are right for them to hatch. It’s easy to see how a snail infestation can occur overnight, and a bad infestation can prove very detrimental to your garden.

Snails are a pest which truly demonstrate the ineffectiveness of a toxic chemical approach to pest control. While they will perish individually, over use of toxic chemicals will actually create the ideal habitat for snails and their eggs as it kills the soil and dries it out. The only way to deal with snails is through time and patience, and here are some ways to do it.
(more…)