FL Pesticide Applicator flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

FIFRA

The Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, the federal law that requires pesticide registration and labeling; states cannot allow a use inconsistent with the federal label.

Florida lead pesticide agency

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

Restricted-use pesticide

A pesticide EPA classifies for use only by, or under direct supervision of, a certified applicator because of acute hazard or environmental risk; dealers must be licensed to sell it.

Label is the law

Applying a pesticide in a manner inconsistent with its labeling, such as a wrong site, rate, timing, method, or ignoring PPE and buffer restrictions, violates FIFRA and Florida law.

Direct supervision of RUP

A noncertified person may apply a restricted-use pesticide only while a certified applicator is directly supervising, is responsible for the application, and is available if needed.

RUP record retention

Certified applicators must record each restricted-use pesticide application and keep those records for two years; EPA and state inspectors may request them at any time.

LD50

The dose in milligrams per kilogram of body weight that kills 50 percent of test animals; a lower LD50 means a more acutely toxic pesticide.

Signal word DANGER

The label signal word for Toxicity Category I, the most acutely toxic products; the label also carries the skull and crossbones and the word POISON.

Dermal exposure

Absorption of pesticide through the skin, the most common poisoning route for applicators; solvent carriers, heat, sweating and damaged skin all increase absorption.

Cholinesterase inhibition

The effect of organophosphate and carbamate insecticides; signs include headache, sweating, salivation, blurred vision, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, pinpoint pupils and muscle twitching.

Respirator fit test

A test required before a tight-fitting respirator is used and repeated at least annually; it verifies a seal and follows a required medical evaluation.

Leaching

Downward movement of a pesticide with water through the soil profile; greatest in sandy, low-organic-matter soils with shallow water tables, conditions common in Florida.

Adsorption

Binding of pesticide molecules to soil clay particles and organic matter; strongly adsorbed pesticides stay near the surface and are much less likely to leach.

Volatilization

Conversion of a pesticide from liquid or solid into vapor; it increases with high temperature, low humidity and wind, producing vapor drift from soil-applied products.

Bioaccumulation

Build-up of a persistent, fat-soluble pesticide in an organism's tissues; concentrations rise at each higher level of the food chain in a process called biomagnification.

Temperature inversion

A weather condition in which a layer of warm air sits above cooler surface air, trapping spray droplets and allowing long-distance drift; do not spray during one.

Piercing-sucking mouthparts

The feeding structure of aphids, whiteflies and true bugs that sucks plant sap; stomach poisons perform poorly against these pests, which need contact or systemic insecticides.

Complete metamorphosis

Development through egg, larva, pupa and adult, as in beetles, moths, flies and wasps; the larval stage is usually the one that damages the crop.

Sedge identification

Sedges such as yellow and purple nutsedge have solid triangular stems and leaves in groups of three, unlike grasses with round hollow stems and two-ranked leaves.

Mites versus insects

Mites are not insects: adults have eight legs and a single body region, while insects have six legs, three body regions and a pair of antennae.

Signs versus symptoms

Signs are visible pathogen structures such as mycelium, spores or bacterial ooze; symptoms are the plant's responses, such as chlorosis, wilting, galls or lesions.

Integrated pest management

A decision system that combines pest identification, monitoring, thresholds, and cultural, mechanical, biological and chemical tactics so pesticides are used only when justified.

Economic threshold

The pest population level at which the value of the damage the pest would cause equals the cost of controlling it, so treatment is economically justified.

Resistance management

Delay resistance by rotating mode-of-action groups, using full labeled rates, limiting applications per season, and combining partners with different modes of action.

Biological control

Suppression of pests with predators, parasitoids and pathogens such as Bacillus thuringiensis; it succeeds best when broad-spectrum sprays are avoided and natural enemies are conserved.

Cultural control

Farm practices such as crop rotation, resistant varieties, sanitation, and water or fertility management that make the field less favorable for pest establishment and spread.

Flat fan nozzle

A nozzle producing a tapered spray pattern for broadcast booms; adjacent nozzles are overlapped about 50 percent so the combined pattern is uniform.

Hollow cone nozzle

A nozzle that delivers fine droplets in a ring pattern for directed or penetrating sprays on trees and row crops; it drifts more than a flat fan.

Nozzle replacement

Replace spray nozzles when flow exceeds the catalog rating by ten percent or the pattern is streaked, because worn tips overapply and distribute spray unevenly.

GPA calibration formula

Gallons per acre equals the product of 594 and nozzle output in gallons per minute, divided by the product of miles per hour and nozzle spacing in inches.

Triple rinse

Drain the container, fill it one quarter full with water, shake, and drain into the spray tank; repeat three times, then puncture and dispose of it properly.

Drift reduction

Use coarser droplets by lowering pressure and choosing drift-reducing nozzles, lower the boom, keep buffer zones, and avoid spraying when wind exceeds ten miles per hour.