CATEGORY 3A+3B PESTICIDE STUDY GUIDE 2025
QUESTIONS WITH ANSWERS RATED A+
✔✔Explain (and give examples) how environmental factors affect fungicide
performance - ✔✔Excessive rainfall, sunlight, and microbial action can reduce the
effectiveness of fungicides.
✔✔List common reasons why fungicide applications may fail - ✔✔Rainfall, new plant
growth, microbial action, sunlight, fungicide resistance mutations
✔✔Explain how fungicide resistance develops in plant-pathogen populations - ✔✔The
target site fungus develops a mutation that allows the fungus to still carryout cellular
functions with the fungicide present
✔✔List pest management practices that reduce the potential for resistance to develop in
a plant pathogen population - ✔✔Follow good plant health practices, Use the
recommended doses as stated on fungicide labels, Minimize the number of fungicide
treatments per season and apply only when necessary.
✔✔List three stages of development for insects that undergo simple metamorphosis -
✔✔1) Egg stage
2) Nymphal Stage
3) Adult Stage
✔✔List four stages of development for insects that undergo complete metamorphosis -
✔✔1) Egg Stage
2) Larval Stage
3) Pupal Stage
4) Adult Stage
✔✔List five categories of insect damage symptoms - ✔✔1) Chewed or tattered foliage
or blossoms
2) Stippled (flecked), yellowed, bleached, or bronzed foliage
3) Distorted plant parts
4) Dieback of plant parts
5) Presence or honeydew, wax, or insect remains
✔✔Bagworm - ✔✔- Chewed or tattered foliage or blossoms
- Easy to tell due to the bag-like cocoon
✔✔Calico Scale - ✔✔- Found on the bark of the branch or twig of the plant (much
bigger in size)
- Dieback of branches and twigs, yellowed or undersized foliage
- Produces honeydew/wax
,✔✔Eastern Tent Caterpillar - ✔✔- Chewed or tattered foliage or blossoms
- Found on cherry, apple, crabapple, peach, pear, plum, hawthorn, and maple trees
- Defoliate the trees and produce a silken nest/tents
✔✔European Pine Sawfly - ✔✔- Chewed or tattered foliage or blossoms
- Found on spruce or pine tree plantations
- Defoliate pine and spruce trees
✔✔Emerald Ash Borer - ✔✔- Affect North American ash trees (blue and white)
- Larvae eat the phloem of the ash tree and undergo a complete metamorphosis and
adults will create D-shaped exit ways out of the tree
✔✔Euonymus Scale - ✔✔- Found on the leaves near the vascular tissue
- Dimorphic (females darker; males white)
- Dieback of branches and twigs, yellowed or undersized foliage
- Produces honeydew/wax
✔✔Fall Webworm - ✔✔- Chewed or tattered foliage or blossoms
- Defoliate deciduous trees and cover them with fine webbing
- Mainly found on maple, elm, hickory, oak, poplars, willow, and fruit & nut trees
✔✔Japanese Beetle - ✔✔- Chewed or tattered foliage or blossoms
- Damage lawns, trees, and flowers
- 1/2" long with metallic green and bronze
✔✔Oystershell Scale - ✔✔- Found on the bark of the branch or twig of the plant
- Dieback of branches and twigs, yellowed or undersized foliage
- Produce honeydew/wax
✔✔Tuliptree Scale - ✔✔- Found on the bark of the branch or twig of a Tulip Tree
- Dieback of branches and twigs, yellowed or undersized foliage
- Produces honeydew/wax
✔✔Aphids - ✔✔- <1/8" in size, pear-shaped insects, with a pair of cornicles (tube-like
structure) on the rear
- Deforms leaves and fruit
- Produces honeydew/wax
✔✔Borers - ✔✔bore into the wood and digest the cellulose
✔✔Lace Bugs - ✔✔- Found in bark crevices, many lace bugs only feed on one type of
plant
- Easiest to control in the nymph stage (shiny black nymphs)
- Cause stippled and bleached leaves
, ✔✔Spider Mites - ✔✔- Found on many ornamental plants
- Causes leaf bronzing (small feeding spots) and nearly invisible webbing
✔✔Contrast Preventive vs Curative (rescue) - ✔✔Preventive - keep plants free of pests
before pests have been detected
Curative (rescue) - treatment applied after the pest has been detected to save the plant
from damage
✔✔Contrast Residual vs Non-Residual - ✔✔Residual - stay active and on plant for an
extended period of time
Non-residual - do not stay active for long and have a very short acting period
✔✔Conventional vs Biorational (Alternative) - ✔✔- Conventional pesticides are typically
synthetic materials
- Biorational pesticides are often biological in nature and have been referred to as
alternative pesticides
✔✔List examples of biorational insecticides - ✔✔Botanicals (plant extracts), Insect
growth regulars (IGRs), Microbial extracts, Horticultural oils, Insecticidal soaps,
Biologicals (formulations of living organisms)
✔✔How is the insecticide application timing affected by the host plant? - ✔✔...
✔✔How is the insecticide application timing affected by the insect growth stage? - ✔✔...
✔✔How is the insecticide application timing affected by the environmental conditions? -
✔✔...
✔✔Explain (and give examples) how environmental factors affect insecticide
performance - ✔✔...
✔✔List common reasons why insecticide applications may fail - ✔✔...
✔✔Explain how insecticide resistance develops in insect populations - ✔✔Similarly to
fungicide resistance. A mutation in the target area population can allow the organisms
to carryout biological functions with insecticide present in their environment
✔✔List pest management practices that reduce the potential for resistance to develop in
an insect population - ✔✔- Spray only when there are enough pests present to cause a
problem
- Restrict sprays to infested plants
- Time pesticide applications to coincide with susceptible stages of insect pests
QUESTIONS WITH ANSWERS RATED A+
✔✔Explain (and give examples) how environmental factors affect fungicide
performance - ✔✔Excessive rainfall, sunlight, and microbial action can reduce the
effectiveness of fungicides.
✔✔List common reasons why fungicide applications may fail - ✔✔Rainfall, new plant
growth, microbial action, sunlight, fungicide resistance mutations
✔✔Explain how fungicide resistance develops in plant-pathogen populations - ✔✔The
target site fungus develops a mutation that allows the fungus to still carryout cellular
functions with the fungicide present
✔✔List pest management practices that reduce the potential for resistance to develop in
a plant pathogen population - ✔✔Follow good plant health practices, Use the
recommended doses as stated on fungicide labels, Minimize the number of fungicide
treatments per season and apply only when necessary.
✔✔List three stages of development for insects that undergo simple metamorphosis -
✔✔1) Egg stage
2) Nymphal Stage
3) Adult Stage
✔✔List four stages of development for insects that undergo complete metamorphosis -
✔✔1) Egg Stage
2) Larval Stage
3) Pupal Stage
4) Adult Stage
✔✔List five categories of insect damage symptoms - ✔✔1) Chewed or tattered foliage
or blossoms
2) Stippled (flecked), yellowed, bleached, or bronzed foliage
3) Distorted plant parts
4) Dieback of plant parts
5) Presence or honeydew, wax, or insect remains
✔✔Bagworm - ✔✔- Chewed or tattered foliage or blossoms
- Easy to tell due to the bag-like cocoon
✔✔Calico Scale - ✔✔- Found on the bark of the branch or twig of the plant (much
bigger in size)
- Dieback of branches and twigs, yellowed or undersized foliage
- Produces honeydew/wax
,✔✔Eastern Tent Caterpillar - ✔✔- Chewed or tattered foliage or blossoms
- Found on cherry, apple, crabapple, peach, pear, plum, hawthorn, and maple trees
- Defoliate the trees and produce a silken nest/tents
✔✔European Pine Sawfly - ✔✔- Chewed or tattered foliage or blossoms
- Found on spruce or pine tree plantations
- Defoliate pine and spruce trees
✔✔Emerald Ash Borer - ✔✔- Affect North American ash trees (blue and white)
- Larvae eat the phloem of the ash tree and undergo a complete metamorphosis and
adults will create D-shaped exit ways out of the tree
✔✔Euonymus Scale - ✔✔- Found on the leaves near the vascular tissue
- Dimorphic (females darker; males white)
- Dieback of branches and twigs, yellowed or undersized foliage
- Produces honeydew/wax
✔✔Fall Webworm - ✔✔- Chewed or tattered foliage or blossoms
- Defoliate deciduous trees and cover them with fine webbing
- Mainly found on maple, elm, hickory, oak, poplars, willow, and fruit & nut trees
✔✔Japanese Beetle - ✔✔- Chewed or tattered foliage or blossoms
- Damage lawns, trees, and flowers
- 1/2" long with metallic green and bronze
✔✔Oystershell Scale - ✔✔- Found on the bark of the branch or twig of the plant
- Dieback of branches and twigs, yellowed or undersized foliage
- Produce honeydew/wax
✔✔Tuliptree Scale - ✔✔- Found on the bark of the branch or twig of a Tulip Tree
- Dieback of branches and twigs, yellowed or undersized foliage
- Produces honeydew/wax
✔✔Aphids - ✔✔- <1/8" in size, pear-shaped insects, with a pair of cornicles (tube-like
structure) on the rear
- Deforms leaves and fruit
- Produces honeydew/wax
✔✔Borers - ✔✔bore into the wood and digest the cellulose
✔✔Lace Bugs - ✔✔- Found in bark crevices, many lace bugs only feed on one type of
plant
- Easiest to control in the nymph stage (shiny black nymphs)
- Cause stippled and bleached leaves
, ✔✔Spider Mites - ✔✔- Found on many ornamental plants
- Causes leaf bronzing (small feeding spots) and nearly invisible webbing
✔✔Contrast Preventive vs Curative (rescue) - ✔✔Preventive - keep plants free of pests
before pests have been detected
Curative (rescue) - treatment applied after the pest has been detected to save the plant
from damage
✔✔Contrast Residual vs Non-Residual - ✔✔Residual - stay active and on plant for an
extended period of time
Non-residual - do not stay active for long and have a very short acting period
✔✔Conventional vs Biorational (Alternative) - ✔✔- Conventional pesticides are typically
synthetic materials
- Biorational pesticides are often biological in nature and have been referred to as
alternative pesticides
✔✔List examples of biorational insecticides - ✔✔Botanicals (plant extracts), Insect
growth regulars (IGRs), Microbial extracts, Horticultural oils, Insecticidal soaps,
Biologicals (formulations of living organisms)
✔✔How is the insecticide application timing affected by the host plant? - ✔✔...
✔✔How is the insecticide application timing affected by the insect growth stage? - ✔✔...
✔✔How is the insecticide application timing affected by the environmental conditions? -
✔✔...
✔✔Explain (and give examples) how environmental factors affect insecticide
performance - ✔✔...
✔✔List common reasons why insecticide applications may fail - ✔✔...
✔✔Explain how insecticide resistance develops in insect populations - ✔✔Similarly to
fungicide resistance. A mutation in the target area population can allow the organisms
to carryout biological functions with insecticide present in their environment
✔✔List pest management practices that reduce the potential for resistance to develop in
an insect population - ✔✔- Spray only when there are enough pests present to cause a
problem
- Restrict sprays to infested plants
- Time pesticide applications to coincide with susceptible stages of insect pests
