The present invention describes a method and associated equipment for using irradiated, magnetic energy (6) to carry out pest control in plants and vegetable matter e.g. agricultural crops and vegetable foodstuffs. The invention is also suitable for pest control in woody materials and is useful for any material, which is reasonably transparent to B-field energy, to attack a pest (1) that is more opaque to B-field energy than the substrate on or within which the pest (1) is located, such as wasps inside a wall cavity, or slugs and snails under the soil, or mosquito larvae in water.