For most people, pest control is something that they don’t really think about until after they have a problem. They discover an issue and they react to it, usually by getting some over-the-counter products or calling in a pest company.

Then, once the problem is “taken care of,” they stop thinking about it… until it happens again. Essentially, they’re playing Whack-A-Mole.

Sound familiar?

If this is the way you’ve dealt with pest issues in the past, you should know that there is a smarter, more effective method: integrated pest management utilizing an annual pest protection plan.

What Exactly Is Integrated Pest Management?

IPM is a philosophy that takes a holistic approach to dealing with pests in your environment. Instead of merely focusing on killing or removing pests when they start causing you problems, IPM looks at the bigger picture. There are four main parts of an integrated pest management plan. They are:

1. Identification
2. Monitoring
3. Prevention
4. Control

Identification

Identification is pretty straightforward. It involves learning what kind of pest or pests you’re actually dealing with. That may seem simple, but it’s not uncommon for people to mistake one unwanted critter for another. When you correctly identify a pest, it is far easier to deal with that pest effectively.

Monitoring

Monitoring means keeping an eye on the pests that are active around you, the environment itself, and how prevention and control methods are working — or not.

Prevention

Prevention involves learning what kinds of things attract specific pests and removing or minimizing them around your property. The idea is that if you eliminate the conditions that make pests want to set up shop near you, they’ll head elsewhere.

Control

Control is the part of IPM that people most often associated with pest control. Essentially, it is the actual treatments used to deal with pests when they become a problem. What people don’t realize is that the right Toronto pest control partner can help you manage all four components.

Why Integrated Pest Management Is A Better Pest Control Plan?

There are a number of reasons why IPM is preferable to the old “Whack-A-Mole” approach:

• Chemical pesticide use is reduced — sometimes significantly — which is better both for personal health and for the health of the environment (something that also makes it Pest Management Regulatory Agency-friendly).
• Using less chemical solutions may result in cost savings on both the front end and the back end of your annual control.
• Managing pests year-round decreases the likelihood of an actual infestation interrupting your life and impacting your health because pest activity will be continuously kept to a low level.

How to Choose a Year-round Pest Control Plan That Works for You

When deciding between annual pest control plans, Toronto residents have two primary considerations to make:

1. The types of pests that impact them in a typical year
2. When those pests are prevalent (i.e. what their life cycles and seasonal cycles are)

Using this information, it’s possible to tailor a plan to your unique needs. It should incorporate all of the aspects that make IPM so safe and effective. For much of the year, you can focus on monitoring and prevention — something likely to keep your pest numbers lower even during peak season.

 

This type of plan is perfect both for those who want to maintain control of any pests all year long and for those who want to keep their environment safe and healthy by minimizing their use of pesticides. Want to learn more about Greenleaf’s annual pest control plans? Get in touch today!

About the Author:

Daniel Mackie, co-owner of Greenleaf Pest Control, is a Toronto pest control expert and a regular guest on HGTV. He is renowned in the industry as an innovator of safe, effective pest control solutions. Mackie and business partner Sandy Costa were the first pest control professionals in Canada to use detection dogs and thermal remediation for the successful eradication of bed bugs. In his free time, he is an avid gardener.