Fumigation

A building in Riverside, California, subject to tent fumigation, or "tenting"
Fumigation of a hotel (Vila Shanti) in Bali where the gas even reaches the hotel lobby (February 2010)

Fumigation is a method of pest control or the removal of harmful microorganisms by completely filling an area with gaseous pesticides, or fumigants, to suffocate or poison the pests within. It is used to control pests in buildings (structural fumigation), soil, grain, and produce. Fumigation is also used during the processing of goods for import or export to prevent the transfer of exotic organisms.

Structural fumigation targets pests inside buildings (usually residences), including pests that inhabit the physical structure itself, such as woodborers and drywood termites. Commodity fumigation, on the other hand, is also to be conducted inside a physical structure, such as a storage unit, but it aims to eliminate pests from infesting physical goods, usually food products, by killing pests within the container which will house them.

Each fumigation lasts for a certain duration. This is because after spraying the pesticides, or fumigants, only the pests around are eradicated.[1]

  1. ^ Baur, Fred (1984-12-01). Insect Management for Food Storage and Processing. American Association of Cereal Chemists. pp. 162–165. ISBN 978-0-913250-38-9.