What type of controls involve practices to inhibit pest establishment and survival?

Cultural controls refer to a range of practices that involve modifying the environment to make it less conducive to pest establishment and survival. These practices can include crop rotation, sanitation measures, altering planting times, and even changing cultural practices to promote a healthier crop environment. By implementing such strategies, the overall conditions for pests are lessened, leading to a reduction in their populations and sometimes even preventing their infestations entirely. This proactive approach focuses on managing the environment to discourage pests rather than reacting to them after they have established themselves.

Other control methods, while effective in their own ways, do not primarily focus on altering the environment to deter pest establishment. Biological controls use natural predators or pathogens to manage pest populations, mechanical controls rely on physical barriers or traps, and genetic controls involve breeding plants for pest resistance. Each of these methods serves important roles but does not specifically address the inhibition of pest establishment in the way cultural practices do.