FL Pesticide Applicator cheat sheet

FIFRA is the federal statute requiring pesticide registration, classification and labeling; a state may regulate sale and use but cannot permit any use inconsistent with the federal label.

The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) administers Chapter 487, Florida Statutes, registering pesticides and licensing applicators, dealers and pest control businesses.

Florida applicator credentials fall into private, commercial, public and governmental categories; each requires passing the Core exam plus the specific category exam.

Only a certified applicator, or a noncertified person under a certified applicator's direct supervision, may apply a restricted-use pesticide (RUP).

RUP application records must be kept for 2 years and include product name, EPA registration number, amount applied, date, location or site, and the applicator's name.

Selling restricted-use pesticides in Florida requires a pesticide dealer license, and dealers must maintain sales records available for inspection.

Applying a pesticide to a site, at a rate, or by a method not listed on the label is a use inconsistent with labeling and is a violation.

EPA sets food tolerances under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act; residues above the tolerance make the food adulterated.

The Worker Protection Standard requires agricultural employers to provide pesticide safety training, required PPE, decontamination supplies, oral or posted notification, and to observe label re-entry intervals.

Acute toxicity is expressed as LD50 (oral, dermal; mg/kg of body weight) or LC50 (inhalation; mg/L air); the lower the value, the more toxic the product.

Toxicity Category I: oral LD50 up to 50 mg/kg or dermal up to 200 mg/kg, signal word DANGER; Category II: oral 50-500, dermal 200-2000, signal word WARNING; Categories III and IV use CAUTION.

The signal word is assigned from the most toxic route of exposure among oral, dermal, inhalation and eye or skin irritation.

Dermal absorption is the most common exposure route for applicators; solvent and oil carriers increase penetration, and hot, sweaty or damaged skin absorbs faster.

Organophosphate and carbamate insecticides inhibit cholinesterase; early signs include headache, sweating, salivation, blurred vision, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and muscle twitching.

Baseline cholinesterase blood tests document a worker's normal level; a downward trend across the season, not one abnormal number, signals overexposure.

PPE is set by the label's PPE section; chemical-resistant materials are required, and leather, cotton and other absorbent materials are never used for concentrated products.

First aid: eyes - flush with water at least 15 minutes; skin - remove contaminated clothing and wash with soap and water; swallowed - call 1-800-222-1222 with the label, induce vomiting only if directed.

Heat stress and pesticide poisoning share symptoms such as dizziness, nausea, sweating and weakness; move the worker to shade and cool them, and get medical care if signs do not resolve.

Adsorption binds pesticide to clay and organic matter; Koc expresses adsorption per unit of organic carbon, and strongly adsorbed products move little in soil.

Leaching risk increases with high water solubility, long soil half-life, low Koc, sandy low-organic-matter soil and a shallow water table - conditions widespread in Florida.

Runoff carries pesticide laterally with rain or irrigation; vegetative filter strips, buffer zones and reduced application rates cut the load reaching surface water.

Volatilization rises with high temperature and wind and falls with high humidity; soil incorporation reduces vapor loss from volatile products.

Degradation occurs by microbial action, chemical hydrolysis and photolysis; the soil half-life (DT50) is the standard measure of persistence and carryover risk.

Bioaccumulation requires persistence plus high fat solubility (high log Kow); biomagnification raises residues at each higher level of the food chain.

Drift has two forms: particle drift from droplets and vapor drift from volatilized pesticide; both are reduced by coarser droplets, lower boom height, buffers and avoiding high wind or inversions.

A temperature inversion (cool air trapped under warm air) holds fine droplets aloft and can move them long distances - do not spray when one is present.

Pollinator and species protection: follow label bee warnings, avoid applying bee-toxic products to blooming crops during foraging hours, and check county endangered species bulletins.

Insects have three body regions, six legs and a pair of antennae; mites and spiders have eight legs and are not insects.

Chewing pests (caterpillars, beetles) are controlled by stomach poisons, baits and contact sprays; piercing-sucking pests (aphids, whiteflies, stink bugs) need contact or systemic activity.

Complete metamorphosis is egg, larva, pupa, adult (beetles, moths, flies), and the larva usually causes the feeding damage.

Incomplete metamorphosis is egg, nymph, adult (aphids, grasshoppers, true bugs); nymphs resemble small adults and feed on the same host.

Grasses have round hollow stems and two-ranked leaves; sedges such as yellow and purple nutsedge have solid triangular stems, three-ranked leaves and underground tubers.

Broadleaf (dicot) weeds have netted veins and two cotyledons; grassy (monocot) weeds have parallel veins and one cotyledon.

Annual weeds reproduce only by seed, biennials form a rosette the first year and bolt the second, and perennials regrow from roots, rhizomes or tubers, so they require systemic herbicides.

Signs are pathogen structures such as mycelium, spores or bacterial ooze; symptoms are plant responses such as chlorosis, wilt, gall or lesion.

Florida examples: the Asian citrus psyllid vectors citrus greening (HLB); cogongrass, Brazilian pepper, melaleuca and hydrilla are major invasive pests.

IPM sequence: correctly identify the pest, monitor or scout, compare the count to a threshold, select a combination of tactics, then evaluate the result.

An economic threshold is the pest density at which the value of damage prevented equals the cost of treatment; below that level, treatment does not pay.

Resistance management: rotate IRAC, FRAC or WSSA mode-of-action groups, use full labeled rates, cap the number of applications per season, and use tank-mix partners with different modes.

Cultural controls include resistant varieties, crop rotation, sanitation and rogueing, altered planting dates, and water or fertility management.

Mechanical and physical controls include tillage, mowing, hand removal, mulching, screens and barriers, traps, and heat or cold treatment.

Biological control uses predators, parasitoids and pathogens such as Bacillus thuringiensis and entomopathogenic nematodes; it works best when broad-spectrum sprays are avoided.

Chemical tactics are matched to pest behavior and site: baits for chewing soil pests, soil-applied products for root feeders, and spot or banded treatment to limit the treated area.

Using a rate below the label rate on a resistance-prone pest selects for resistance; use the labeled rate and the labeled interval.

Spray volume from calibration: gallons per acre = (594 x gallons per minute per nozzle) / (miles per hour x nozzle spacing in inches).

Flat fan nozzles produce a tapered pattern for broadcast booms and are spaced so adjacent patterns overlap about 50 percent for uniformity; even and off-center flat fans suit banding and boom ends.

Hollow cone nozzles make fine droplets for directed and penetrating sprays on trees and row crops; flood, turbo and raindrop nozzles make coarse droplets with less drift.

Smaller droplets give better coverage but drift farther; the volume median diameter (Dv0.5) describes the droplet spectrum of a nozzle at a given pressure.

Calibration: gallons per acre = (594 x gallons per minute per nozzle) / (miles per hour x nozzle spacing in inches).

Replace a nozzle when its flow exceeds the catalog rating by 10 percent, or when the pattern is streaked or distorted; check every nozzle with a calibration cup.

Drift management: reduce pressure and boom height, select coarse or drift-reduction nozzles, add drift-reduction adjuvants, keep buffer zones, spray only when wind is under about 10 mph and no inversion exists.

Tank mixing order: fill the tank half with water, add dry products and dry flowables first, then liquid flowables and suspension concentrates, then emulsifiable concentrates, adding adjuvants last; run a jar test for compatibility.

Triple rinse or pressure rinse emptied containers, pour the rinse water into the tank, then puncture and dispose of containers according to the label and Florida rules.

Prevent backflow when filling from a well, pond or municipal supply by keeping the hose above the water surface or using an air gap or check valve.