For anyone looking into maintaining a commercial landscape, the daunting task of pest control can be a huge obstacle. Pests are a significant nuisance to any business, and many resort to using store-bought pesticides as a solution. However, a lot of property managers nowadays also face an additional question: How do I manage pests without hurting the environment?

In order to take a meaningful look at managing pests on your commercial property in a meaningful, long-term way, you first have to understand the concept called “Integrated Pest Management” (IPM).

 

Sustainable Pest Control Options for Commercial Landscapes

 

Integrated Pest Management (IPM)

In his 1979 book Integrated Pest Control Management, Dale Bottrell describes the process of sustainable pest control as “an informed selection and implementation of pest control measures based on their environmental, economic, and sociological consequences.” 

This type of pest control often takes longer and more effort. For some, giving more time means spending more money. While it’s something you’ll want to heavily consider before committing to the process, IPM has been found to reduce pest management costs and risks over time compared to mainstream pesticides.

Additionally, these pesticides have a myriad of unintended, long-term consequences for the environment as well as humans:

“The non-target effects of pesticide applications can be damaging to the environment and human health,” say professors at the University of Florida Adam Dale and Eileen Buss in their article Landscape Integrated Pest Management.  “In addition, pesticide resistance becomes an issue after insects, plant pathogens, and weeds are repeatedly exposed to the same chemical, a reoccurring problem with chinch bugs.”

Establishing Your IPM Program

Dale and Buss stress that, to create a truly impactful IPM program, it’s important to think of your landscape as an ecosystem, or a community of organisms living together in an area combined with the environment they live in. They write, “Attempting to control pests without considering the ecosystem of the landscape can disrupt the natural equilibrium and lead to ineffective control, secondary pest outbreaks, and higher management costs.”

To avoid disrupting that ecosystem, they recommend following these five steps:

1. Pest identification
   1. Use pest guides or contact local officials to help identify pests that concern you. 
   2. Note what plant it feeds on and the damage caused
2. Monitoring
   1. Visually keep track of the pest’s activity and location on the landscape
      1. Detects a pest’s presence and informs property manager on the landscape’s ecosystem
   2. Record temperature, humidity, and rainfall to predict pest activity
3. Decision-making
   1. Taking steps to control pests depends on:
      1. Type of pest
      2. Plants involved
      3. Function of the landscape
      4. Control measure costs
      5. Life-stage of the pest; immature pests are more susceptible to pest control measures
4. Intervention
   1. Cultural control
      1. Involves minimizing environmental stresses, such as drought stress or trees not suited to the area
   2. Mechanical control
      1. Managing pests by removing or excluding them from plants; e.g. hand-removing insects if the population is low enough, discarding turf clippings to get rid of eggs laid on grass blades
   3. Biological control
      1. Increase levels of biodiversity to raise the number of natural enemies for the pest; e.g. ground beetles, ants, spiders, lady beetles, etc.
5. Evaluation
   1. Assess management strategies by their cost, efficacy, and overall value

 

Visit our Contact Us page to talk to a professional today.