Pest control

Manage Pests without Harming People, Pets, and our Environment

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Less than 2% of the insects you encounter in the garden will be pests. The vast majority of insects in your yard are not harmful - they're either beneficial or neutral. In the interest in keeping them alive, take a targeted, selective approach to dealing with the insects that are pests.

The following common insect pests can be controlled using integrated pest management (IPM) practices. IPM is a strategy that emphasizes less-toxic control solutions that cause the least environmental damage; keeping pests at acceptable, low-levels.

Indoor Pests: Ants, Spiders, Cockroaches, Fleas, Rats & Mice
Outdoor Pests: Aphids, Mosquitoes, Snails & Slugs, Yellowjackets

Local Mosquito Resource: San Mateo County Mosquito Abatement District

10 Most Wanted Bugs in your Garden this brochure shows both the adult and larvae stages of beneficial bugs that consume large number of insects or pollinate plants. Do not attempt to apprehend them, just let them serve time in your garden.

Ant management videos from UC IPM online including: What to do if you have an ant emergency; Why do ants invade?; Overview of ant management; Ant inspection; Using Baits; and Refillable Bait Stations.

Retail Partnership Program: "Our Water, Our World"

As part of a program called "Our Water Our World", we have partnered with retail stores to make less toxic pest control and gardening products more available to consumers, with the goal of reducing the amount of pesticides entering creeks and the Bay through sewers and storm drain systems. Participating stores (shown below) provide fact sheets and "shelf talkers" to make it easy for you to choose a less or non-toxic product.

Our Water, Our World Participating Stores in San Mateo County

Shelf Talkers are small tags placed beneath less toxic products on store shelves that indicate the product is less- or non-toxic to people and pets, but formulated to control and get rid of the targeted pest problem

Pest Control Products to Avoid Aerosols and Home Foggers disperse chemicals in a way that significantly increase the risk of exposure to people and pets. Metaldehyde Snail Baits contribute to hundreds of pet poisonings per year. Pyrethroids are a threat to water quality and are highly toxic to aquatic insects and crustaceans. Avoid products that end in "thrin". The exception to this is pyrethrin which is produced naturally from the chrysanthemum flower. Lawn Pesticides are rarely, if ever, needed for home lawns. Chemicals in them are linked to adverse long term health effects. In particular weed and feed" type products, which mix fertilizers with pesticides, result in unnecessary pesticide use. Fact Sheets Displayed in Store:

Less Toxic Product Lists
Products are labeled at partnership stores based on both the Bio-Integral Resource Center (www.birc.org) directory of less toxic products and the criteria defined by water quality protection agencies.
OWOW Less Toxic Product List - By Pest
OWOW Less Toxic Product List - Alphabetical by Product
List of Less Toxic Active Ingredients
Pocketguide

Locate a Pest Management Professional
EcoWise Certified Prevention-based pest control practices. They use their knowledge of how pests live, feed, reproduce and move to effectively solve pest problems.

Green Shield Certified is an award-winning, independent, non-profit certification program that promotes practitioners of effective, prevention-based pest control while minimizing the use of pesticides.

Green Pro Certified offered by the National Pest Management Association (NPMA)

The Bay Area Green Gardener Program educates and certifies residential landscapers in resource efficient and pollution prevention landscape practices. Certified Green Gardeners utilize practical, sustainable landscaping skills to reduce water use, to select the most appropriate plants including California natives, to build nutrient-rich soils by promoting plant's natural cycles, and to prune selectively and properly to compliment the natural form and needs of the plant. They are also trained in integrated pest management and the use of alternatives to pesticides and herbicides.

More Information on Finding a Pest Control Company that Can Prevent Pest Problems

Ask the Expert - Online help allows you to ask a specific pest control question and receive a personal reply. Your question will be answered by staff at the Bio-Integral Resource Center in Berkeley, California. The Center is a nonprofit organization offering over 25 years of experience in the development and communication of least-toxic methods. Click on "Ask Our Expert"

More Information about Pesticides
Pesticide Use & Disposal
Pesticides and Water Pollution
Fact sheets on new active ingredients pesticides
Beyond Pesticides
Northwest Coalition for Alternatives to Pesticides
Pesticide Action Network
Pest Wise an EPA Partnership Program

More Information on Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
UC IPM Online California Statewide IPM Program
Bio-Integral Resource Center (BIRC) IPM Specialists
IPM Institute of North America

Books
The Gardener's Guide to Common-Sense Pest Control, William Olkowski, Tanton Press, 1995.

The Organic Gardener's Handbook of Natural Insect and Disease Control, Barbara Ellis, Rodale Press, 1996.

Organic Pest and Disease Control: How to Grow a Healthy, Problem Free Garden, Barbara Ellis, Houghton Mifflin Co., 1997.

Controlling Pests and Diseases, Patricia S. Michalak, Rodale Press, 1994.