Ch. 2- Principles of pest control

What is the difference between a contact pesticide and a systemic pesticide?

A contact pesticide has an effect where it touches the pest. A systemic pesticide must be eaten or absorbed into the body of the pest, and then transported to the site where it affects the pest.

What is a weed?

A plant growing where it is not wanted.

What is the distance between a selective and a non-selective herbicide?

A selective herbicide controls some plants but not all. For example, 2,4-D effectively controls many dicots, but does not affect monocots. A non-selective herbicide controls both monocots and dicots.

Explain the differences between continuous pests, sporadic pests, and potential pests.

Continuous pests are nearly always present and require regular control; sporadic pests are migratory, cyclical, or other occasional pests that require control once in awhile, but not on a regular basis, potential pests are organisms that are not pests under normal conditions, but can become pests and require control in certain circumstances.

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

Identification of the pest allows you to determine basic information about it, including it's life cycle and the time that it is most susceptible to being controlled.

What is the first thing yous should do when you detect the presence of a pest that you think you may need to control?

Identify the pest to be sure you know exactly what the problem is.

Define "integrated pest management" (IPM) and list several possible control tactics that may be used in an IPM strategy.

Integrated pest management is the combining of appropriate pest control tactics into a single plan to reduce pests and their damage to an acceptable level. Pest control tactics may include: host resistance, biological control, cultural control, mechanical control, sanitation, and chemical (pesticide) control.

How can you recognize an insect?

Jointed exoskeleton, three pairs of legs, one pair of antennae; most adult insects have 2 pairs of wings.

Why is pest identification important?

Many control measures, including pesticides, work on some pests and not others. Some pests can be easily controlled at one stage of their life cycle but not at others. Sometimes problems are not caused by pests at all; for example plant damage may be due to air pollution, too much water, too little water, etc. Application of a pesticide for no reason, or application of a pesticide that will not have the desired effect, is a waste of time and money. Ineffective applications put a needless strain on the environment.

Describe pest monitoring and explain how it can be important to pest control strategy.

Monitoring is checking or scouting for pests in an area to determine what pests are present, how many of each kind of pest are in the area, and how much damage they are causing. Monitoring is important to many pest control strategies, because is helps to determine if the threshold has been reached and whether control measures have been effective.

Describe post monitoring and explain how it can be important to pest control strategy.

Monitoring is checking or scouting for pests in an area to determine what pests are present, how many of each kind of pest populations at which you must take pest control action to prevent unacceptable damage or injury. Use of threshold information can improve your pest control strategy by helping you make a decision about when to begin control tactics.

How can you tell a monocot plant from a dicot plant?

Monocots have parallel leaf veins. Also, they usually have fairly narrow (grasslike) leaves and fibrous roots. Dicots have branching, net-veined leaves. their leaves are often broad. Many dicots have taproots, like a dandelion.

What can you do to keep the pests you are trying to control from becoming resistant to the pesticides you use?

Pest resistance can be reduced by using integrated pest management and rotating the types of pesticides used.

Explain what is meant by prevention, suppression, and eradication of pests.

Prevention is keeping a pest from becoming a problem; suppression is reducing pest numbers or damage to an acceptable level; eradication is destroying and entire pest population.

Why are insects hard to control?

Small size, mobility (most are able to fly) protective exoskeleton, change in body form during development, high reproductive rate.

You applied a pesticide, but it did not control the pest. Name three reasons why your control effort might have failed.

The failure of the pesticide to control the pest might have been caused by pest resistance, choosing the wrong pesticide, misidentifying the pest, applying the wrong amount, or applying the pesticide incorrectly.

What is a threshold? why should you consider thresholds when you develop a pest control strategy?

Thresholds are the levels of pest populations at which you must take pest control action to prevent unacceptable damage or injury. Use of threshold information can improve your pest control strategy by helping you make a decision about when to begin control tactics.