Did you know there are at least 16 different methods for pest control on Baltimore?
I’ve been in the business for a long time, like 12 years at least, and I’ve seen some creative ways to get at the bugs & rodents which seem to infest some parts of the city.
I decided to write them out here so you can see some of the methods possible to use on your own bugs. Different Methods work better for different pests, but we use several of these techniques to exterminate pests in Baltimore.
Domesticated, Pest-destroying Animals
When I was a kid, I had a ferret and I tell you, she kept the mouse population at zero in the house, way better than our cats or dogs, as shoe would follow the mice into their nests and slaughter them!
However, dogs and cats have been used since ancient Egypt to keep rodents at bay from the granaries and homes.
Biological Pest Control
Using natural predators of the pests you want gone can be effective. For instance, applying the bacterium Bt Bacillus thuringiensis ssp. israelensis, which affects mosquitoes but has no effect on other biological species like plants or humans, can kill entire populations in ponds and streams.
Physical Pest Control
Whether you need to build a fence to keep the deer from eating your vegetables or you squash bugs to keep them away, physical methods are potential pest controls.
Elimination of Breeding Grounds
One way I try to make sure that pest don’t reoccur is to get rid of their breeding habitats. You can help by keeping food crumbs off the floor and counters and properly stowed in a trash can. Also get rid of standing water.
Poisoned Bait
For nesting pests like cockroaches, rats and ants, bait can be the most effective solution available.
Plant Burning
We don’t use this one in the city, for major fire threat reasons, but farmers will often burn fields to destroy the bugs, eggs and nests therein.
Hunting
Want to keep the deer population down? Hunt them. Check with your local ordinances first, though.
Trap Cropping
Trapping bugs with certain crops (like Venus fly traps) is helpful.
Traps
Man-made glue traps, mousetraps and sticky paper can be very effective.
Paper traps are often laced with pheromones to attract the insets.
Pesticides
Perhaps the most common modern method of destroying pests is through the use of pesticides. These poisons can kill a wide range of insects, however, over time some insects can become rather tolerant.
Pesticides are applied in three principle ways:
1) Direct Spraying
This is what your residential pest controller does, he sprays a chemical that help keep the population down. This is also what crop dusters do.
2) Space Fumigation
Applying a fog of pesticide in a tightly sealed space can be very effective treatment. This is what happens when your home is tented for termites.
3) Space Treatment
Though not as penetrative as tenting, space treatments can still be effective and allow most work in a building or home to continue while the treatment takes effect.
Sterilization
If the pest can’t make new ones, populations falls. This is more effective, or at least executable, on mammalian populations like deer, rabbits and the like.
Destruction of Infected Plants
Controlled burns on forests kill the beetle infestations. Farmers fields and other places are burned for this and other reasons, too.
Repellents
The final method of pest control is to keep the insects or other pests at bay. There are many man-made repellants, but Balsam fir oil from the tree Abies balsamea is an EPA approved non-toxic rodent repellent. And the acacia polyacantha subsp. campylacantha root emits chemical compounds that repel animals including crocodiles, snakes and rats.
