Management of Agricultural Insects With Physical Control Methods

Ideally, integrated pest management should rely on an array of tactics. In reality, the main technologies in use are synthetic pesticides. Because of well-documented problems with reliance on synthetic pesticides, viable alternatives are sorely needed. Physical controls can be classified as passive (e.g., trenches, fences, organic mulch, particle films, inert dusts, and oils), active (e.g., mechanical, polishing, pneumatic, impact, and thermal), and miscellaneous (e.g., cold storage, heated air, flaming, hot-water immersion). Some physical methods such as oils have been used successfully for preharvest treatments for decades. Another recently developed method for preharvest situations is particle films. As we move from production to the consumer, legal constraints restrict the number of options available. Consequently, several physical control methods are used in postharvest situations. Two noteworthy examples are the entoleter, an impacting machine used to crush all insect stages in flour, and hot-water immersion of mangoes, used to kill tephritid fruit fly immatures in fruit. The future of physical control methods will be influenced by sociolegal issues and by new developments in basic and applied research.