Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is a holistic approach to manage pests that combines prevention, avoidance, pest monitoring, and suppression in a manner that minimizes economic and environment risk.

This process considers the whole ecosystem in determining the best and safest methods for managing pests. It is environmentally sound and serves as a framework to provide an effective, comprehensive, low-risk approach to protect people and resources from pests.

Greener Texas’s IPM strategy is not a single pest control method but, rather, a series of pest management evaluations, decisions, and controls. In practicing IPM, we utilize a five-tier approach:

Inspection

A comprehensive inspection of the structure and surrounding environment.

Monitor and Identify Pests

Monitor for pests and identify them accurately, so that appropriate control decisions can be made in conjunction with action thresholds.

Set Action Thresholds

Action thresholds or tolerance thresholds must be established. This is a point at which pest populations or environmental conditions indicate that pest control action must be taken.

Control

Evaluate the proper control method both for effectiveness and risk. Effective, less risky pest controls are chosen first.

Evaluation

Evaluations and follow-up visits are conducted to monitor pest populations and evaluate the plan and strategies in order to measure the effectiveness of the IPM program and adjust it as necessary.