Practice Questions for Registered Technician Certification 3

What is the main purpose of the Virginia Core Manual?

To support general safety training for all pesticide users.

What state law sets the rules for pesticide use in Virginia?

The Virginia Pesticide Control Act

Which state agency is responsible for ensuring the safe use of pesticides in Virginia?

Virginia Department of Agricultural and Consumer Services

What is the difference between a private applicator and a commercial applicator?

Private applicator: farmer who uses restricted-use pesticides while producing an agricultural commodity on private land. Commercial applicator: control pests on the job for consumers, their employers, and/or the public

How long must Worker Protection Standard application records be posted?

No later than 24 hours after an application is completed and continuously until 30 days after the last applicable restricted-entry interval or until workers or handlers are no longer on the establishment.

What is the main difference between the four classes of commercial applicators?

Their employer. A commercial applicator for hire works for a pesticide business. They make a living controlling pests for consumers, who pay the applicator or employer for services rendered. A commercial applicator not for hire uses pesticides as one of several job duties. A government employee An inactive applicator does not use pesticides on the job, still maintains their certification

How does a registered technician differ from a commercial applicator?

May only use general use pesticides unless directly supervised by a certified commercial applicator.

What sort of training is required of registered technicians?

At least 20 hours of instruction and self-study. 20 hours of on-the-job training via direct onsite supervision by a certified commercial applicator.

What credentials are required to take a commercial applicator exam?

One of the following:

1. A valid VA registered technician certificate that has been in force for at least 1 year

2. Proof of formal education, training, and or experience in pesticide use comparable to a year's experience as a registered technician

What are the formats for the certification exams?

Paper and pencil, and touch-screen computer. Multiple choice.

Where are exams given?

VDACs testing centers and Extension offices, or DMV customer service centers

In which commercial applicator category would you need certification if you controlled weeds along roadsides?

Category 6, Right-of-Way Pest Control

Who is required to have a pesticide business license?

Persons engaged in the business of distributing, applying, or recommending the use of a pesticide product and those who store or sell pesticides. Commercial applicants or registered technicians for hire must hold a license or work for someone who does.

What responsibilities do all certified applicators share?

1. Adhering to the pesticide label

2. Supervising applicators in their charge

3. Keeping records of applications

4. Reporting accidents or incidents

5. Attending continuing education courses

Name the required elements of a written report describing a pesticide accident.

1. Names of individuals involved

2. Names of pesticides used

3. Quantity spilled and containment procedures

4. Time, date, location

5. Cleanup or repair

6. Name and location of nearby waterbodies that may be contaminated

Name two ways a certified applicator can become recertified

1. Continuing education courses

2. Retaking the exam. Allowing certifications to lapse by more than 60 days must retest

Do records need to be kept for application of all pesticides or just those classified as restricted use?

PRIVATE applicators must keep records of restricted-use pesticide applications. They may also need to record all applications if they employ farm workers. Others must keep records of all applications

What records must sellers of RUPs keep?

Sales records

How long must applicators or businesses keep records of RUP sales and of commercial applications?

Two years

What is a limited certificate category (87)

A private applicator who uses a single RUP for one identified purpose. A nonreader may qualify

What is a single product certification category (86)

A private applicator using a single RUP or related product in emergencies or special cases

Who is exempt from certification?

1. Private applicators using only general-use products

2. Farm workers acting under the supervision of a certified private applicator

3. Researchers in a laboratoy

4. Medical doctors and vets

5. Janitorial or sanitizing services

6. Paints not classified as restricted use pesticides

7. Properly supervised TBT boat painters

8. Properly supervised ground-based forest weed-control crews using general use herbicides

9. Homeowners using home, lawn, and garden products

10. Employees of government agencies who occasionally make incidental use of pesticides ONLY to protect themselves from stinging and biting insects

What is a commercial applicator of record?

An individual working for a pesticide business that applies pesticides for hire or makes pesticide recommendations for a fee. Responsible for the safety of all applications and making recommendations.

Key pests

Nearly always present and require regular control

Occasional pests

Migratory or cyclical and may require intermittent control

Secondary pests

Require control only under certain conditions, such as the elimination of a key pest or the absence of a natural host

What should you do first if you observe damage to a plant, animal, valuable product, or commodity

Identify the cause

What should you do first if you observe a pest that may need to be controlled?

Make sure it is actually responsible for the damage or problem observed. Then identify the pest.

How can pest identification help you develop a good pest control strategy?

It allows you to determine basic information about the pest, including its life cycle and when it is most susceptible to control measures.

Name at least three Virginia Tech facilities that can help you identify a pest and diagnose an infestation

The Weed ID Clinic, the Plant Disease Clinic, the Nematode Assay Laboratory, and the Insect Identification Laboratory

Name the five basic pest groups

Weeds, parasites and diseases, mollusks, arthropods, and vertebrates

Why do weeds present such a challenge to pest managers?

They are hardy, aggressive, and tolerant of harsh conditions. Many produce large numbers of seeds, which can spread over a wide area and remain dormant for a long time. Weeds are fierce competitors for soil moisture, nutrients, and sunlight

How can you tell a monocot from a dicot?

Monocots: One seed leaf, parallel venation, flower parts in multiples of threes, and fibrous roots Dicots: two seed leaves, broad or narrow leafs, netlike venation, and flower parts in multiples of four or five. Often have taproots

Why are perennial weeds usually harder to control than annual or biennial weeds?

They may live for many years, have underground parts to store food and produce new growth. These parts are harder to reach and control.

Name the pathogens that cause most plant and animal diseases.

Fungi, bacteria, mycoplasmas, and viruses

What sort of symptoms do viral plant diseases cause?

Stunting, yellow rings on leaves, wilting, and mosaic patterns.

What sort of symptoms do bacterial plant diseases cause?

Leaf spots, leaf blights, wilts. Leaves appear oily or greasy with water-soaked spots.

How can parasites such as flies, ticks, and lice harm livestock and other animals?

These may host and transmit diseases, causing blood loss and physical damage. Parasites can reduce the rate of weight fain, cause a decrease in milk or egg production, interfere with reproduction, and lower the infected animal's resistance to disease

How do plant-parasitic nematodes harm plants?

By attacking the roots, stems, and leaves. Nematode root feeding interferes with a plant's ability to take up water and nutrients. Infected plants wilt and seem to be suffering from a lack of water or nutrients.

How do mollusks harm plants?

By feeding on foliage and fruit. Mollusks reduce the value of commercial produce if they feed on harvested plants and fruit.

What are arthropods?

animals with segmented bodies, hard external skeletons, and jointed legs.

What is the difference between gradual and complete metamorphosis?

Gradual metamorphosis: three stages. Egg, nymph, adult. Complete metamorphosis: four stages. Egg, larva, pupa, adult. Complete metamorphosis involves a radical change in body form.

Why is it important to know the life cycle stage of an insect?

Many insects are pests in one stage but not another.

How do insects differ from arachnids?

Insects have three body parts, one or two pairs of wings, three pairs of legs, and one pair of antennae. Arachnids have two body parts, no wings, four pairs of legs, and no antennae.

What are beneficial insects and why are they important to agriculture?

Insects that are pollinators or pest predators. Allow plants to reproduce and feed on harmful insects, mites, and weeds.

How do mites harm plants?

They suck plant juices, eat the undersides of leaves, and disfigure the plants they feed on.

What types of damage to vertebrate pests cause?

May damage property, agriculture, and/or natural resources. May also threaten human health and safety or spread disease. Some may destroy feed, or eat the seeds or fruit of crops. Others compete with livestock, cause traffic accidents, and destroy residential landscapes. Some may feed on domestic animals.

What is the main difference between indoor and outdoor vertebrate pest control?

Indoor usually centers on eradication of rodent pests. Outdoor focuses on suppressing nuisance animals to an acceptable level.

What is an economic threshold?

Level where economic losses caused by pest damage equals the cost of applying a pesticide.

How are thresholds important to sound pest control strategy?

Prevents the pest from causing unacceptable injury or harm. Vary, help producers and applicators weigh the cost of pest control against the cost of an infestation

What is monitoring?

Regular checking or scouting. Tells you what pests are present, how many are in the area, and how much damage they are causing. Helps determine if the pest population has reached the treatment threshold and whether control measures have worked.

Eradication

Destroying an entire pest population

Suppression

Reducing pest numbers or damage to an acceptable level

Prevention

Reducing the chances that a pest will become a problem.

How can you prevent a pest infestation?

Plant weed and disease free seed, choose plants resistant to diseases and insects, and practice good sanitation. Exclude pests from the target area and use preemergent herbicides.

Regulatory pest control

Includes the efforts of state and/or federal agencies to control pests that endanger public health or are likely to cause widespread damage to crops, livestock, forests, or ornamental plants. Cannot be managed at the local level. May involve eradication and quarantines.

IPM

Ecological approach. Based on the habitat and life cycle. Combines chemical and nonchemical methods into a single plan or strategy. Goal is to reduce pest populations to an acceptable level in a way that is practical, cost-effective, and safe.

Why use IPM?

1. Ensure better success

2. Promote a more balanced ecosystem and more environmentally friendly

3. Less likely to lead to pesticide resistance and secondary outbreaks

4. May reduce pesticide use and can help protect beneficial insects

5. More acceptable to the public

Name the basic steps in an effective IPM program

1. Identify the pest and understand its biology

2. Monitor the target pest

3. Decide whether control is justified

4. Determine a goal

5. Know what control tactics are available

6. Evaluate the benefits and risks of each tactic

7. Choose the most effective strategies that will cause the least harm to people and the environment

8. Use each tactic correctly

9. Observe all applicable local, state, and federal regulations

10. Record and evaluate the results

What is the difference between natural and applied controls?

Natural: forces independent of human action that may help or hinder control. Applied: human-engineered methods to control a pest.

How do natural enemies maintain a balanced ecosystem?

Feed on pest populations and suppress. Maintain a natural balance. Without, an introduced pest population can get very large and upset the balance.

Name five IPM elements

Host resistance, biological control, cultural control, mechanical and physical control, chemical control.

What is the main principle of host resistance?

The ability of a plant, animal, or structure to withstand pests. Using resistant varieties, when available, helps keep pest populations below harmful levels by making conditions less favorable for the pests.

What is biological control?

The use of living organisms to control pests. These organisms may be natural enemies of the pest. Could also involve biologically aletering the best.

What is cultural control?

Changing the habitat of pests. Disrupt ideal pest conditions and decrease pest pressure. Main types are cultural practices and sanitation.

Name six cultural practices used to help manage agricultural pests.

Pruning, thinning and fertilizing cultivated plants; rotating crops; tillage; mulching; varying times of planting and harvesting; planting trap crops; adjusting row width.

What is sanitation?

A form of cultural control that uses different hygiene practices to manage pests.

1. Improve cleanliness, eliminate pest harborage, increase the frequency of garbage pickup

2. Clean up spills, store food in closed containers, and keep garbage outdoors

3. Provide proper drainage in barnyards, get rid of seepage areas, and remove manure from livestock pens.

4. Eliminate places where mosquitoes brood

5. Keep fields, seed stock, tools, and surfaces clear of weeds, inset pests, and plant diseases to control agricultural pests

6. Use pest-free seeds or transplants to limit the spread of plant pests

7. Decontaminate equipment, animals and other carriers

What types of mechanical methods could you use to control weeds?

String trimmers, shovels, scythes, plows, disks, mowers, and cultivators

What is physical control?

Changing certain environmental conditions. Can suppress or even eradicate some pests.

Name five important qualities to consider when choosing a pesticide.

Efficacy, persistence, mobility, toxicity, mode of action

What is the difference between a selective and nonselective herbicide?

Selective controls some plants, nonselective controls all plants

What is the difference between a contact and systemic pesticide?

A contact pesticide is effective only where it touches the pest. A systemic pesticide will move internally through an organism after an insect eats it or plant absorbs it.

What is the difference between a residual and nonresidual pesticide?

• breaks down quickly into non-toxic by-products

• may remain active for weeks, months, or even years

Define pesticide resistance

The ability of a pest population that is repeatedly exposed to a given pesticide to resist and survive its effects.

How can you slow down or limit pesticide resistance?

1. Rotate or combine pesticides with different modes of action.

2. Use pesticides that target multiple sites in a pest

3. Use new or altered pesticides.

4. Treat alternate generations of pests

5. Use nonchemical control methods

Why might a control effort fail?

1. Misidentification of the pest

2. Applied the pesticide at the wrong stage of the life cycle

3. Pest was not exposed to the treatment

4. Choose the wrong pesticide or applied the wrong amount

5. Applied the pesticide incorrectly

6. Pest was resistant

7. Pests are part of a new infestation that developed after the application

What questions should you answer before using a pesticide?

1. Is the problem actually caused by the pest?

2. What kind of pest is causing the problem?

3. Is the problem severe enough to need chemical control?

4. Is pesticide use cost-effective?

5. Can the pest be controlled by a pesticide at this stage of its growth or life cycle?

Why is accurate recordkeeping important?

Helps you evaluate results, tells you whether your methods worked. Better manage pesticide resistance.