What Are The Different Types Of Biological Pest Control Strategies?

There is great importance attached to pest inspection for residential premises. Regular pest inspection is the only way through which homeowners can identify the presence of pests in their homes. Pest inspection is also important because the findings from the inspection will help to determine the most appropriate strategy for eliminating these pests. With that in mind, here is a quick look at the three strategies used in biological pest control.

Importation

Importation is also referred to as classical biological pest control. Under importation, pests are controlled by introducing the pest's natural enemies into the pest-infested area if there is no naturally occurring population of these enemies.

Importation is the most complex of biological pest control strategies. It is for this reason that importation is often carried out by relevant government agencies as opposed to individual homeowners. For you to use importation for pest control, you need to look for sufficient information about the pest in question as well as its natural enemies. In the event that the specific natural enemies are unavailable, other closely related species can be sued as a substitute.

Importation is a preferred biological pest control strategy for its cost-effectiveness and for the fact that it is a long-lasting solution to problematic pests.

Augmentation

The second biological pest control strategy is referred to as augmentation. Augmentation is a pest control strategy aimed at boosting the natural occurring population of natural enemies. This is done when the population of enemies is not sufficient to effectively control the number of pests.

Under augmentation, the additional population of natural enemies can be introduced via inoculative or inundative release schemes. Inoculative release is whereby natural enemies are released in small quantities and at regular intervals during while inundative release is whereby millions of natural enemies are introduced into the affected area at once.

Conservation

Conservation is the third strategy used under biological pest control. True to its name, conservation is aimed at preserving or conserving the already existing population of natural enemies. Conservation is advantageous in the sense that the natural enemies are already adapted to their natural environment. Conserving their population is not only easy, but also cost-effective.

Conserving the natural enemies may require you to provide food for the natural enemies in the event that there is a lack of it in their habitat.

Biological pest control is preferred over other pest control mechanisms primarily because of its eco-friendly nature. For more information, contact a pest inspection specialist like Inspecta Homes.