Iowa 3OT Pesticide Manual UPDATED
ACTUAL Exam Questions and CORECT
Answers
EPA reported this much was spent on pesticide use for industrial/commercial/government sector
and this much was spend for home and garden sector in 2012 - CORRECT ANSWER - 1.4
billion; 3.3 billion
Define integrated pest management - CORRECT ANSWER - System that uses all
available and suitable pest control tactics to reduce pest populations to tolerable levels while
minimizing adverse environmental side effects.
Explain how aesthetic thresholds affect IPM tactics - CORRECT ANSWER - Aesthetic
thresholds are based on tolerance, personal comfort, taste, plant appearance, and specific site
conditions.
Nurseries and the like have zero pest tolerance whereas landscape plantings might have low
tolerance.
Healthy lawns have a higher threshold than stressed, weakened lawns
Explain how IPM can reduce the use of pesticides - CORRECT ANSWER - Pesticides are
not meant to be a solution to all problems.
IPM provides the most effective solutions in all regards, which may not always be pesticides.
List the six control strategies used in IPM - CORRECT ANSWER - Cultural
Mechanical
Host resistance
Biological
Regulatory
chemical
,Define pesticide - CORRECT ANSWER - Any material used to kill, attract, repel,
regulate, or interrupt growth and mating of pests, or to regulate plant growth
Contact pesticides - CORRECT ANSWER - Must physically touch the pest organism or
be sprayed on the site the pest frequents to exert an action
Example would be protective fungicide
Must be re-applied to new plant tissues or if precipitation washes product off
Systemic pesticide - CORRECT ANSWER - Enters the plant via roots or above ground
plant tissues and is moved inside of the plant.
Could render plant toxic to insect or mice
Could move through plant to kill parts of the plant
Example would be curative fungicide because it penetrates the plant and stops disease
Preemergence - CORRECT ANSWER - Applied prior to weed seed germination.
Little to no effect on weeds that have emerged
Postemergence - CORRECT ANSWER - Applied to actively growing plants.
Work best in sunlight, high humidity, good soil moisture
Selective pesticide - CORRECT ANSWER - Control only certain types or stages of pests
while leaving nontarget organisms unaffected.
Example would be herbicide that kills broadleaf weeds and not turfgrass
Nonselective pesticide - CORRECT ANSWER - Exert their action on a wide variety of
pests.
Control most of the plants they are sprayed on.
,Identify the best application timing for effective pest control as it pertains to: plant diseases,
insects, and weeds - CORRECT ANSWER - Plant diseases
For fungicides, it is critical that susceptible tissues be protected before an infection begins or at
the first appearance of any symptoms
Insects
The younger the stage of insect, the more susceptible it is to chemical control.
Weeds
Generally most effective when applied to actively growing plants and least effective when plants
are not actively growing
Annual weeds are easiest to control in early spring
Biennials should be treated in fall or early spring when in the rosette stage
Perennial weeds can be controlled in early bloom stage or in the fall
Explain how pesticide resistance develops in a pest population - CORRECT ANSWER -
Resistance is the ability of a pest species that was once effectively controlled by a pesticide to
survive spray concentrations that were previously effective.
It is an inherited trait that results from repeated applications of pesticides with the same site of
action or mode of action.
Examples include pythium blight in turfgrass, botrytis in ornamental, green peach aphid in
insects, and goosegrass weeds
State the importance of the numeric codes at the top of a pesticide label and pesticide resistance -
CORRECT ANSWER - These codes help applicators quickly identify the mode of action
by looking at the group number.
Varying this can help reduce resistance
State four ways to minimize pesticide drift - CORRECT ANSWER - Correctly chosen
nozzle
Reduced spray pressure
, Monitor weather conditions
Keeping the spray nozzle near the target
Summarize the ways in which pesticides can injure nontarget plants - CORRECT
ANSWER - Contact can kill or injure plants
Movement into the root zone where it can be absorbed is also bad
List posting rules for a pesticide application - CORRECT ANSWER - Required for urban
areas or municipalities
Notification signs must be posted at the start of an application to a treatment site
4 by 5 inches, weather proof, and above grass line
"This are is chemically treated. Keep off. Do not remove sign for 24 hours."
Explain how to clean up hard surfaces after a granular application - CORRECT
ANSWER - Blow or sweep the material back into the turfgrass area or on the plant beds.
Keep away from storm drain entrances
List two characteristics of water that may influence the effectiveness of a spray mixture -
CORRECT ANSWER - Water pH is one area of concern.
If the water is alkaline (pH greater than 7) it can cause alkaline hydrolysis.
If water is acidic (pH less than 7) it can cause acid hydrolysis
Hardness of water is another concern
Hardness is the amount of dissolved minerals in water
Can inactivate pesticides
Most groundwater in Iowa has a pH between - CORRECT ANSWER - 6.5 and 8.0
pesticide application methods for leaves - CORRECT ANSWER - Foliar spray
ACTUAL Exam Questions and CORECT
Answers
EPA reported this much was spent on pesticide use for industrial/commercial/government sector
and this much was spend for home and garden sector in 2012 - CORRECT ANSWER - 1.4
billion; 3.3 billion
Define integrated pest management - CORRECT ANSWER - System that uses all
available and suitable pest control tactics to reduce pest populations to tolerable levels while
minimizing adverse environmental side effects.
Explain how aesthetic thresholds affect IPM tactics - CORRECT ANSWER - Aesthetic
thresholds are based on tolerance, personal comfort, taste, plant appearance, and specific site
conditions.
Nurseries and the like have zero pest tolerance whereas landscape plantings might have low
tolerance.
Healthy lawns have a higher threshold than stressed, weakened lawns
Explain how IPM can reduce the use of pesticides - CORRECT ANSWER - Pesticides are
not meant to be a solution to all problems.
IPM provides the most effective solutions in all regards, which may not always be pesticides.
List the six control strategies used in IPM - CORRECT ANSWER - Cultural
Mechanical
Host resistance
Biological
Regulatory
chemical
,Define pesticide - CORRECT ANSWER - Any material used to kill, attract, repel,
regulate, or interrupt growth and mating of pests, or to regulate plant growth
Contact pesticides - CORRECT ANSWER - Must physically touch the pest organism or
be sprayed on the site the pest frequents to exert an action
Example would be protective fungicide
Must be re-applied to new plant tissues or if precipitation washes product off
Systemic pesticide - CORRECT ANSWER - Enters the plant via roots or above ground
plant tissues and is moved inside of the plant.
Could render plant toxic to insect or mice
Could move through plant to kill parts of the plant
Example would be curative fungicide because it penetrates the plant and stops disease
Preemergence - CORRECT ANSWER - Applied prior to weed seed germination.
Little to no effect on weeds that have emerged
Postemergence - CORRECT ANSWER - Applied to actively growing plants.
Work best in sunlight, high humidity, good soil moisture
Selective pesticide - CORRECT ANSWER - Control only certain types or stages of pests
while leaving nontarget organisms unaffected.
Example would be herbicide that kills broadleaf weeds and not turfgrass
Nonselective pesticide - CORRECT ANSWER - Exert their action on a wide variety of
pests.
Control most of the plants they are sprayed on.
,Identify the best application timing for effective pest control as it pertains to: plant diseases,
insects, and weeds - CORRECT ANSWER - Plant diseases
For fungicides, it is critical that susceptible tissues be protected before an infection begins or at
the first appearance of any symptoms
Insects
The younger the stage of insect, the more susceptible it is to chemical control.
Weeds
Generally most effective when applied to actively growing plants and least effective when plants
are not actively growing
Annual weeds are easiest to control in early spring
Biennials should be treated in fall or early spring when in the rosette stage
Perennial weeds can be controlled in early bloom stage or in the fall
Explain how pesticide resistance develops in a pest population - CORRECT ANSWER -
Resistance is the ability of a pest species that was once effectively controlled by a pesticide to
survive spray concentrations that were previously effective.
It is an inherited trait that results from repeated applications of pesticides with the same site of
action or mode of action.
Examples include pythium blight in turfgrass, botrytis in ornamental, green peach aphid in
insects, and goosegrass weeds
State the importance of the numeric codes at the top of a pesticide label and pesticide resistance -
CORRECT ANSWER - These codes help applicators quickly identify the mode of action
by looking at the group number.
Varying this can help reduce resistance
State four ways to minimize pesticide drift - CORRECT ANSWER - Correctly chosen
nozzle
Reduced spray pressure
, Monitor weather conditions
Keeping the spray nozzle near the target
Summarize the ways in which pesticides can injure nontarget plants - CORRECT
ANSWER - Contact can kill or injure plants
Movement into the root zone where it can be absorbed is also bad
List posting rules for a pesticide application - CORRECT ANSWER - Required for urban
areas or municipalities
Notification signs must be posted at the start of an application to a treatment site
4 by 5 inches, weather proof, and above grass line
"This are is chemically treated. Keep off. Do not remove sign for 24 hours."
Explain how to clean up hard surfaces after a granular application - CORRECT
ANSWER - Blow or sweep the material back into the turfgrass area or on the plant beds.
Keep away from storm drain entrances
List two characteristics of water that may influence the effectiveness of a spray mixture -
CORRECT ANSWER - Water pH is one area of concern.
If the water is alkaline (pH greater than 7) it can cause alkaline hydrolysis.
If water is acidic (pH less than 7) it can cause acid hydrolysis
Hardness of water is another concern
Hardness is the amount of dissolved minerals in water
Can inactivate pesticides
Most groundwater in Iowa has a pH between - CORRECT ANSWER - 6.5 and 8.0
pesticide application methods for leaves - CORRECT ANSWER - Foliar spray
