Pest Control Methods

• Goal of Pesticides
  • Control pest organisms to reduce crop damage and increase crop yield
• Ideal pesticide
  • Kill only target pest
  • Harm no other species
  • Breakdown into something harmless
  • Not cause genetic resistance
  • Cost-effective
• Pesticides can be:
  • Broad-spectrum
  • Narrow spectrum
  • Vary in persistence
• Types of pesticides
  • Insecticides: insect killers
  • Herbicides : weed killers
  • Fungicides : fungus killers
  • Nematocides : roundworm killers
  • Rodenticides : rat and mouse killers
• 5 major pests in the United States
  • Grasshopper
  • Destroys crops in western U.S.
  • European red mite
  • Destroy deciduous fruit trees - apple, pear, plum
  • Boll weevil
  • Destroys cotton fields in the South
  • Pink boll worm
  • Destroys cotton farms in the South
  • Gypsy moth
  • Caterpillar destroys hard wood trees in the East
• History of Pesticides
  • 500 B.C - sulfur
  • 1400s - arsenic, lead, mercury
  • 1600s - tobacco leaves
  • 1800s - pyrthrum and rotenone
  • 1939 - DDT
• DDT
  • Dichlorosdiphenytrichloroethane
  • Pros
  • Controlled pests
  • Broad-spectrum
  • Inexpensive
  • Not water-soluble
  • Crop yield increased
  • Controlled malaria
  • Cons
  • Non-target creatures killed
    • Birds
    • Fish
  • Banned in 1972
• Regulation
  • @@FIFRA@@
  • Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide
  • Amended in 1972
  • New and Old products
  • No more than 1 cancer per million people for certain pesticide over a lifetime
  • Requires EPA approval for the use of pesticides
  • @@1996 Food Quality Protection Act@@
  • Human health
  • Amount that can remain on crop when eaten
• Advantages of Pesticides
  • Saves lives
  • @@Prevents diseases@@
  • Malaria
  • Bubonic plague
  • Typhus
  • Sleeping sickness
  • Increase food supply
  • Lowers food waste
  • Works better and faster than alternatives
  • Minimal health risks
• Disadvantages of Pesticides
  • Pesticide mobility
  • Pesticides are carried out by the wind and water runoff
    • Disrupts food webs that are far away
  • Genetic resistance
  • Causes human health problems
• Other ways to control pests
  • Cultivation practices
  • Genetic Engineering (GMO)
  • Biological pest control
  • Natural predators
  • Parasites
  • Bacteria
  • Incest birth control
  • Spraying insects with hot water
  • Works well on cotton, alfalfa, and potatoes
  • IPM - integrated pest management
  • Limited use of pesticides and other practices
• IPM - integrated pest management
  • Ecosystem based strategy that focuses on long term management of pests
  • Cultivation
  • Fool the pest through cultivation practices
    • Ex: intercropping - plant a crop that attracts the pest to protect the cash crop
  • Biological
  • Attract the pest’s predators
  • Add viruses that attach to specific insect’s larvae
  • Implant genetic resistance
  • Use pheromones to lure pests into traps
  • Physical
  • Put a net around the crop
  • Vacuum harmful bugs
  • Disadvantages
  • Requires expert knowledge
  • Methods applied in one area might not apply in another
  • Initial cost is higher

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