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Integrated Pest Management (IPM) – Why Use it?

Integrated Pest Management, or IPM, is more than spraying products to take care of pests. It’s a well-rounded strategy focusing on the combination of long-term pest prevention and low-risk treatments to do the least damage possible to both the environment and your facility. The point is to do everything else you can before spraying to take care of the pests while still minimizing the amount of risk to people and the surrounding environment.

Using this strategy will provide you with a full suite of techniques to help boost your pest control plan. Some of the techniques we use are:

We look at the exterior and the interior of your building
Inspecting the inside is of your facility obvious. Inspecting the outside is next level. Having a professionally trained technician inspect the outside can identify possible points of entry before pests use them to infiltrate your building. It only takes a few pests inside your facility to multiply into an infestation pretty quickly. Looking at both the inside and outside of the building gives the technician the opportunity to recommend fixes that can save money from damage and/or downtime. A professional technician will also be able to identify any conditions that are conducive to pests and recommend how to take care of those conditions, such as careless trash practices, that could be attracting pests.

Identifying the pests and analyzing their activity
You can’t effectively or correctly treat for a pest if you don’t know exactly what kind you have. For example, there are many, many species of ants, and the treatment for one species may not work for another. And you can certainly treat where you are seeing flies, but if you don’t have a trained eye looking for the source of where the flies are coming in, you may as well put a band-aid on a cut that really needs stitches. An entomologist that is Board Certified will see the small clues and follow them to the source of the issue. Treating at the root cause is a much more effective way to clear up the pest problem for good.

Control pests and treat only affected areas
Of course, treating wherever pests are seen and at their source will be a step in the Integrated Pest Management strategy. The only people that should be treating those areas are technicians that are certified and trained to use the products. They are not only trained to respect the timelines of your facility when treating, they are up to date on whatever the EPA and the scientific community is recommending for safety guidelines at that moment. And, of course, they are trained to use the products effectively and correctly as well as maintain USDA, FDA, and local health code credentials and compliance. A good technician should be modifying what they are doing, or at least constantly evaluating if the strategies they’re using are working, and be open to changing them. In addition, the exclusions they will install will help keep pests out – just another IPM tactic.

Preventative measures and education for you and your staff
Prevention is a large part of Integrated Pest Management. So, while a professional technician will find the source of an infestation, treat where pests are present, and inspect the inside and outside of your facility, they will also provide recommendations to your staff on ways to keep pests out in the first place. You and your staff can make your facility less hospitable to pests by getting rid of excess water and moisture and sealing/fixing holes and crevices – all things that will help keep pests out before they even get in. That’s the whole point, of course.

Teamwork is the most important strategy in IPM. All of the people on that team, including the sales reps, the person in charge of pest management and safety at the facility, the technicians performing the treatments, and the Board Certified entomologists, need to have their eye on the prize at all times. The benefits really become apparent when all of those people work together toward the pest management goal. Waltham Pest Services knows what it means to be part of that team, and we’ve been doing it for quite a long time. So, if you’re looking for a partner in your Integrated Pest Management plan with proven experience, look no further. Contact Waltham Pest Services today.

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