1|Page
Alabama (AL) Category 3 (Ornamental and Turf)
Pesticide Applicator Exam | Latest Verified Questions
and Detailed Answers
QUESTION 1
Which of the following turfgrass weeds is a summer annual with a prostrate growth
habit and membranous ligule?
A. Dandelion
B. Smooth crabgrass
C. White clover
D. Annual bluegrass
CORRECT ANSWER: B. Smooth crabgrass
EXPERT RATIONALE: Smooth crabgrass is a warm-season summer annual that spreads
by prostrate tillers and has a short membranous ligule. Dandelion and white clover are
perennial broadleaves, and annual bluegrass is a winter annual bunchgrass.
QUESTION 2
Orange pustules on grass leaf blades that leave a rusty powder on shoes and mowers
are characteristic of which disease?
A. Dollar spot
B. Rust
C. Brown patch
D. Pythium blight
CORRECT ANSWER: B. Rust
EXPERT RATIONALE: Rust fungi produce orange to reddish-yellow pustules that rupture
the epidermis, releasing powdery spores. Dollar spot causes bleached spots, brown
,2|Page
patch creates circular tan lesions with a smoke ring, and Pythium blight appears greasy
and cottony.
QUESTION 3
A larval insect has three pairs of true legs on the thorax and fleshy prolegs on the
abdomen. This describes a typical:
A. Nymph
B. Grub
C. Caterpillar
D. Adult
CORRECT ANSWER: C. Caterpillar
EXPERT RATIONALE: Caterpillars (larvae of Lepidoptera) have thoracic true legs and
abdominal prolegs with crochets. Nymphs of gradual metamorphosis lack prolegs, and
grubs (scarab larvae) have true legs but no abdominal prolegs.
QUESTION 4
Complete metamorphosis includes which sequence of life stages?
A. Egg, nymph, adult
B. Egg, larva, pupa, adult
C. Egg, larva, nymph, adult
D. Egg, pupa, nymph, adult
CORRECT ANSWER: B. Egg, larva, pupa, adult
EXPERT RATIONALE: Complete metamorphosis (holometabolous) has four distinct
stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. Incomplete metamorphosis goes egg, nymph, adult.
QUESTION 5
Which insect pest causes irregular yellowish patches in St. Augustinegrass lawns by
sucking sap from stolons, often during hot, dry weather?
,3|Page
A. White grub
B. Sod webworm
C. Chinch bug
D. Cutworm
CORRECT ANSWER: C. Chinch bug
EXPERT RATIONALE: Chinch bugs are piercing-sucking insects that inject toxins and
remove plant fluids, causing yellow-to-brown dead patches in St. Augustinegrass. White
grubs feed on roots, sod webworms cut grass blades, and cutworms sever stems at the
soil surface.
QUESTION 6
White grubs found in turf are the larvae of:
A. Click beetles
B. Scarab beetles
C. Leaf beetles
D. Weevils
CORRECT ANSWER: B. Scarab beetles
EXPERT RATIONALE: White grubs are C-shaped larvae of scarab beetles such as
Japanese beetles, masked chafers, and May/June beetles. They feed on grass roots.
QUESTION 7
Which type of insect mouthpart is associated with piercing-sucking damage and can
transmit plant pathogens?
A. Chewing
B. Sponging
C. Rasping-sucking
D. Piercing-sucking
CORRECT ANSWER: D. Piercing-sucking
, 4|Page
EXPERT RATIONALE: Piercing-sucking mouthparts, found in aphids, leafhoppers, and
chinch bugs, remove plant sap and can vector viruses and phytoplasmas. Chewing
mouthparts tear plant tissue.
QUESTION 8
Powdery mildew on ornamental plants most often appears as:
A. Water-soaked leaf spots with yellow halos
B. White to grayish powdery growth on upper leaf surfaces
C. Black sooty mold on honeydew
D. Raised orange pustules
CORRECT ANSWER: B. White to grayish powdery growth on upper leaf surfaces
EXPERT RATIONALE: Powdery mildew fungi produce superficial white mycelium and
spores on leaves, stems, and buds, favored by moderate temperatures and high
humidity. It does not require free water for infection.
QUESTION 9
Cedar-apple rust requires two hosts to complete its life cycle. The alternate hosts are
typically:
A. Cedar or juniper and a grass species
B. Cedar or juniper and an apple or crabapple
C. Pine and oak
D. Ash and privet
CORRECT ANSWER: B. Cedar or juniper and an apple or crabapple
EXPERT RATIONALE: Cedar-apple rust (Gymnosporangium juniperi-virginianae)
alternates between eastern red cedar (Juniperus) where it forms galls, and
apple/crabapple (Malus) where it causes leaf spots.
Alabama (AL) Category 3 (Ornamental and Turf)
Pesticide Applicator Exam | Latest Verified Questions
and Detailed Answers
QUESTION 1
Which of the following turfgrass weeds is a summer annual with a prostrate growth
habit and membranous ligule?
A. Dandelion
B. Smooth crabgrass
C. White clover
D. Annual bluegrass
CORRECT ANSWER: B. Smooth crabgrass
EXPERT RATIONALE: Smooth crabgrass is a warm-season summer annual that spreads
by prostrate tillers and has a short membranous ligule. Dandelion and white clover are
perennial broadleaves, and annual bluegrass is a winter annual bunchgrass.
QUESTION 2
Orange pustules on grass leaf blades that leave a rusty powder on shoes and mowers
are characteristic of which disease?
A. Dollar spot
B. Rust
C. Brown patch
D. Pythium blight
CORRECT ANSWER: B. Rust
EXPERT RATIONALE: Rust fungi produce orange to reddish-yellow pustules that rupture
the epidermis, releasing powdery spores. Dollar spot causes bleached spots, brown
,2|Page
patch creates circular tan lesions with a smoke ring, and Pythium blight appears greasy
and cottony.
QUESTION 3
A larval insect has three pairs of true legs on the thorax and fleshy prolegs on the
abdomen. This describes a typical:
A. Nymph
B. Grub
C. Caterpillar
D. Adult
CORRECT ANSWER: C. Caterpillar
EXPERT RATIONALE: Caterpillars (larvae of Lepidoptera) have thoracic true legs and
abdominal prolegs with crochets. Nymphs of gradual metamorphosis lack prolegs, and
grubs (scarab larvae) have true legs but no abdominal prolegs.
QUESTION 4
Complete metamorphosis includes which sequence of life stages?
A. Egg, nymph, adult
B. Egg, larva, pupa, adult
C. Egg, larva, nymph, adult
D. Egg, pupa, nymph, adult
CORRECT ANSWER: B. Egg, larva, pupa, adult
EXPERT RATIONALE: Complete metamorphosis (holometabolous) has four distinct
stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. Incomplete metamorphosis goes egg, nymph, adult.
QUESTION 5
Which insect pest causes irregular yellowish patches in St. Augustinegrass lawns by
sucking sap from stolons, often during hot, dry weather?
,3|Page
A. White grub
B. Sod webworm
C. Chinch bug
D. Cutworm
CORRECT ANSWER: C. Chinch bug
EXPERT RATIONALE: Chinch bugs are piercing-sucking insects that inject toxins and
remove plant fluids, causing yellow-to-brown dead patches in St. Augustinegrass. White
grubs feed on roots, sod webworms cut grass blades, and cutworms sever stems at the
soil surface.
QUESTION 6
White grubs found in turf are the larvae of:
A. Click beetles
B. Scarab beetles
C. Leaf beetles
D. Weevils
CORRECT ANSWER: B. Scarab beetles
EXPERT RATIONALE: White grubs are C-shaped larvae of scarab beetles such as
Japanese beetles, masked chafers, and May/June beetles. They feed on grass roots.
QUESTION 7
Which type of insect mouthpart is associated with piercing-sucking damage and can
transmit plant pathogens?
A. Chewing
B. Sponging
C. Rasping-sucking
D. Piercing-sucking
CORRECT ANSWER: D. Piercing-sucking
, 4|Page
EXPERT RATIONALE: Piercing-sucking mouthparts, found in aphids, leafhoppers, and
chinch bugs, remove plant sap and can vector viruses and phytoplasmas. Chewing
mouthparts tear plant tissue.
QUESTION 8
Powdery mildew on ornamental plants most often appears as:
A. Water-soaked leaf spots with yellow halos
B. White to grayish powdery growth on upper leaf surfaces
C. Black sooty mold on honeydew
D. Raised orange pustules
CORRECT ANSWER: B. White to grayish powdery growth on upper leaf surfaces
EXPERT RATIONALE: Powdery mildew fungi produce superficial white mycelium and
spores on leaves, stems, and buds, favored by moderate temperatures and high
humidity. It does not require free water for infection.
QUESTION 9
Cedar-apple rust requires two hosts to complete its life cycle. The alternate hosts are
typically:
A. Cedar or juniper and a grass species
B. Cedar or juniper and an apple or crabapple
C. Pine and oak
D. Ash and privet
CORRECT ANSWER: B. Cedar or juniper and an apple or crabapple
EXPERT RATIONALE: Cedar-apple rust (Gymnosporangium juniperi-virginianae)
alternates between eastern red cedar (Juniperus) where it forms galls, and
apple/crabapple (Malus) where it causes leaf spots.
