Pest Control Services
Pest
Control Services
Pest control is at least as old as agriculture, as there has
always been a need to keep crops free from pests. As long ago as 3000 BC in
Egypt, cats were used to control pests of grain stores such as rodents. Ferrets
were domesticated by 500 AD in Europe for use as mousers. Mongooses were
introduced into homes to control rodents and snakes, probably by the ancient
Egyptians.
The conventional approach was probably the first to be
employed, since it is comparatively easy to destroy weeds by burning them or
plowing them under, and to kill larger competing herbivores. Techniques such
as crop rotation, companion planting (also known as intercropping or mixed
cropping), and the selective breeding of pest-resistant cultivars have a long
history.
Chemical pesticides were first used around 2500 BC when the
Sumerians used Sulphur compounds as insecticides. Modern pest control was
stimulated by the spread across the United States of the Colorado potato
beetle. After much discussion, arsenical compounds were used to control the
beetle and the predicted poisoning of the human population did not occur.
This led the way to a
widespread acceptance of insecticides across the continent. With the industrialization
and mechanization of agriculture in the 18th and 19th centuries, and the
introduction of the insecticides pyrethrum and derris, chemical pest control
became widespread. In the 20th century, the discovery of several synthetic
insecticides, such as DDT, and herbicides boosted this development.
Biological control is first recorded around 300 AD in China,
when colonies of weaver ants, Oenophile smaragdina, were intentionally placed
in citrus plantations to control beetles and caterpillars. Also in China, ducks
were used in paddy fields to consume pests, as illustrated in ancient cave art.
In 1762, an Indian mynah was brought to Mauritius to control locusts, and about
the same time, citrus trees in Burma were connected by bamboos to allow ants to
pass between them and help control caterpillars. In the 1880s, ladybirds were
used in citrus plantations in California to control scale insects, and other
biological control experiments followed.
The introduction of
DDT, a cheap and effective compound, put an effective stop to biological
control experiments. By the 1960s, problems of resistance to chemicals and
damage to the environment began to emerge, and biological control had a
renaissance. Chemical pest control is still the predominant type of pest
control today, although a renewed interest in traditional and biological pest
control developed towards the end of the 20th century and continues to this
day.
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