WHAT I.P.M. IS TO THE PEST CONTROL WORLD SOUTHWEST FLORIDA

1. At the end of World War II the agricultural community soon recognized that certain levels of pest damage to crops could be tolerated without suffering significant crop losses. This intensive monitoring and the development of data on pest biology and habits reduced pesticide use, conserved natural controls, and in some cases preserved the environment.  This evolution in pest management was coined "integrated pest management".
2. In 1991 Olkowski defined I.P.M. as an approach to pest control that utilizes regular monitoring to determine if and when treatments are needed and employs physical, mechanical, cultural, biological, and educational tactics to keep pest numbers low enough to prevent intolerable damage or annoyance.  Least-toxic chemical controls are used as a last resort.
3. I.P.M. could be change to read S.P.M. meaning situational pest management.  This terminology conveys the concept of thinking before reacting to treat.  Each building requires its own innovative plan to keep it pest free.  No quick fixes may be found in our industry, if it did many of the key pest would have face eradication years ago.
4. To think like a bug is an expression used to emphasize the need for creative and innovative thinking in modern pest management.  It is problem solving to collect information, analysis of data, and development of a strategy to resolve the pest problem.  No single treatment exists to solve all pest infestations. 
5. To successfully implement I.P.M. programs, service professional must: have knowledge of the pest's biology, behavior, and habits; identify the conditions making the environment suitable for the infestation; and understand how various techniques and tools might impact the pest's growth and survival.
6. The I.P.M. process is mostly common sense.  Each pest problem, large or small, typically presents the service professional with the following six tasks.  The understanding and educating of the client, analyzing the pest problem, taking short-term corrective action, implementing long term preventive action, inspecting documenting and evaluating results, and following up with the client.
7. Proper education to the pest professional and the client is critical to the success of any integrated pest management program.

8. The pest management professional should consider themselves the hub of a wheel with information radiating out from them to their customers.  They must be sufficiently knowledgeable to explain why and how they plan to deal with each specific pest situation to their customer.
9. Unfortunately, most people have no knowledge of what I.P.M. is and it is the service professional's task to educate the people about this type of service. The technician must explain the customer's part in an I.P.M. process to control such things as sanitation or exclusion problems, and their role in the resolution of their pest problem.

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