GA Pesticide Applicator cheat sheet

FIFRA is the federal statute governing pesticide registration, distribution, sale, and use; EPA registers products and the Georgia Department of Agriculture administers the state program.

A pesticide may not be sold or distributed in the U.S. unless registered by EPA, except through limited mechanisms such as experimental use permits, Section 18 exemptions, and Section 24(c) registrations.

Restricted-use pesticides may be purchased and used only by, or under the direct supervision of, a certified applicator; general-use products carry no such restriction.

Private applicators apply restricted-use pesticides to land they or their employer own or rent for agricultural production; commercial applicators apply pesticides for compensation on property they do not control.

FIFRA requires certified applicators to keep restricted-use pesticide application records for 2 years; typical entries are product name, EPA registration number, amount, date, location, and applicator identity.

Applying a registered pesticide in a manner inconsistent with its labeling is a violation of FIFRA; the statutory exceptions are narrow and specifically defined.

Section 18 crisis exemptions authorize limited emergency use of an unregistered product; Section 24(c) special local needs registrations add state-specific uses to a federally registered label.

The Worker Protection Standard (40 CFR Part 170) applies to agricultural establishments and requires handler and worker training, decontamination supplies, notification, and observance of restricted-entry intervals.

State inspectors may enter and inspect pesticide storage, sales, and application sites, collect samples, and issue stop-sale or stop-use orders when violations are found.

Signal word hierarchy: DANGER-POISON (Category I, oral LD50 at or below 50 mg/kg, with skull and crossbones), DANGER, WARNING (Category II), CAUTION (Categories III and IV).

The label is the material attached to the container; labeling includes the label plus brochures, leaflets, and other written material that accompanies the product.

Directions for use, restrictions, PPE requirements, restricted-entry intervals, and application rates are enforceable; use inconsistent with them violates FIFRA.

The statement 'Keep out of reach of children' is mandatory, and precautionary statements must address hazards to humans and domestic animals, environmental hazards, and physical or chemical hazards.

Restricted-use classification appears as a statement at the top of the label; general-use products carry no restricted-use statement.

EPA Reg. No. identifies the registrant and the product; EPA Est. No. identifies the establishment where the product was produced.

Label PPE statements set a minimum: a handler may wear more protection than the label requires but never less.

Directions for use state the maximum rate per application and per season, minimum retreatment interval, preharvest interval, and crop rotation restrictions.

The signal word is assigned from the most severe toxicity category among oral, dermal, inhalation, eye irritation, and skin irritation data.

LD50 (mg/kg) expresses acute oral or dermal toxicity, and the lower the value the more toxic the product; LC50 (mg/L or ppm) is used for inhalation or aquatic toxicity.

Oral LD50 thresholds: at or below 50 mg/kg is Category I (DANGER-POISON); above 50 to 500 is Category II (WARNING); above 500 to 5000 is Category III (CAUTION).

Organophosphates and carbamates inhibit cholinesterase; accumulating acetylcholine produces miosis, salivation, lacrimation, sweating, vomiting, diarrhea, bradycardia, and muscle twitching.

Most handler exposures are dermal; absorption varies by body site and is increased by heat, sweat, and damaged skin.

Heat stress and pesticide poisoning share dizziness, headache, nausea, and weakness; a person who does not improve with cooling should stop work and be medically evaluated.

For skin exposure, remove contaminated clothing and wash with soap and water; for eye exposure, flush with clean water for at least 15 minutes while holding the eyelids open.

A tight-fitting respirator requires a medical evaluation and an annual fit test; a failed face seal means no protection regardless of cartridge type.

Chemical-resistant gloves, not leather or fabric, are required when handling concentrates, because leather and canvas absorb and hold pesticide against the skin.

Send the product label, safety data sheet, and exposure details with the patient; the label's statement of practical treatment guides first aid.

Fate processes include adsorption, leaching, runoff, volatilization, photodegradation, hydrolysis, microbial degradation, and plant uptake.

Leaching potential rises with high water solubility, low soil adsorption (low organic matter or sandy soil), high application rate, and heavy rainfall or irrigation.

Volatilization increases with high vapor pressure, high temperature, low humidity, and lack of soil incorporation, and can cause vapor drift hours after application.

Particle drift is droplet movement during application; it decreases with larger droplets, lower boom height, lower pressure, drift-reduction nozzles, and wind speed within label limits.

Persistent, fat-soluble pesticides (high Kow) can bioaccumulate in organisms and biomagnify through food chains.

Point-source pollution comes from a specific place such as a spill, mixing pad, or rinse site; nonpoint-source pollution comes from field runoff, erosion, and drift.

Endangered species restrictions are county-specific; consult EPA Bulletins Live! Two for pesticide use limitation areas and application timing windows before spraying.

To protect pollinators, avoid applying bee-toxic products to blooming crops and apply in late evening or early morning when bees are not foraging.

Containers must be triple rinsed or pressure rinsed with the rinsate added to the spray tank, then disposed of according to label directions.

IPM sequence: identify the pest, monitor and scout, compare counts to an action threshold, select the least-risk effective tactic, apply it, then evaluate the result.

The economic injury level is the pest density causing damage equal to the cost of control; the action threshold is set at or below it so treatment occurs in time.

Mode-of-action rotation (IRAC for insecticides, HRAC or WSSA for herbicides, FRAC for fungicides) slows resistance; repeated use of one group selects resistant biotypes.

Weed identification: monocots (grasses) have parallel veins and one cotyledon; dicots (broadleaves) have netted veins and two cotyledons.

Insect feeding category guides product choice: chewing insects remove plant tissue, while piercing-sucking insects tap phloem or xylem and often require systemic activity.

Conserve natural enemies by spot-treating, selecting selective products, and avoiding broad-spectrum sprays during peaks of beneficial insect activity.

Cultural controls include crop rotation, sanitation, resistant varieties, adjusted planting dates, and destruction of alternate hosts and overwintering sites.

Degree-day models and weather-driven disease forecasts time applications to pest or pathogen development rather than to the calendar.

Broadcast boom output: GPA = (GPM per nozzle x 5940) / (MPH x nozzle spacing in inches).

Acres per tank = tank capacity in gallons / spray rate in GPA; product to add = labeled rate per acre x acres to be treated.

The 1/128 acre method uses 340 square feet; with 20-inch nozzle spacing, operate one nozzle over 204 feet of travel and collect the output, whose ounce total equals GPA.

Nozzle flow varies with the square root of pressure: quadrupling pressure doubles flow, so pressure changes are a coarse adjustment compared with speed or nozzle size changes.

Replace nozzles when flow differs by more than 10 percent from a new nozzle of the same size and type, or when the spray pattern is visibly distorted.

Doubling ground speed roughly halves gallons per acre when pressure and nozzle size are unchanged.

Flat fan nozzles are spaced on the boom so adjacent patterns overlap about 50 percent, and boom height is set to achieve that overlap at the target.

Calibration order: check nozzles and screens, measure and set ground speed, measure nozzle output, calculate GPA, then adjust pressure or nozzle size to match the label rate.

Triple rinse the tank and lines and use a label-specified cleaner to prevent cross-contamination, especially between different herbicide classes.