Utah Pesticide Applicator Core Exam: Practice Test & Licensing Guide

After a turf manager controls the dominant weed species in a lawn, a different weed that was previously held in check by competition becomes a problem. This newly troublesome weed is best described as a:

Answer: Secondary pest

The manual defines secondary pests as those that become a problem when a key pest is controlled or absent, and gives this exact kind of example: some weeds become pests only after the more competitive key weeds are removed. Key pests cause major damage regularly unless controlled. Occasional pests are troublesome only once in a while because of life cycles, the environment or human activities.

Reference: National Pesticide Applicator Certification Core Manual, 2nd Edition, Chapter 1: Pest Management — Integrated Pest Management (IPM) — Components of IPM

An applicator is treating exterior ornamental plants with an insecticide whose label lists exterior ornamentals as a use site. He finds an insect on the plants that is not named on the label. Unless the label specifically prohibits it, what does FIFRA Section 2(ee) allow?

Answer: Treating the unlisted pest, as long as the site is listed on the label

Section 2(ee) lets you apply a pesticide to control a target pest not named on the label if you apply it to a crop, animal or site that the labeling specifically lists, unless the labeling prohibits this. No EPA approval is needed. Going above the label rate is never allowed. If you use any 2(ee) exclusion, you alone are responsible for the results.

Reference: National Pesticide Applicator Certification Core Manual, 2nd Edition, Chapter 2: Federal Pesticide Laws and Regulations — Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA)

An invasive pest appears for which no pesticide is currently registered, and there is no feasible alternative. At the request of the state regulatory agency, EPA allows a registered product to be used for this unregistered purpose for a set period. What kind of action is this?

Answer: A Section 18 emergency exemption

A Section 18 emergency exemption covers pest problems for which no pesticide is registered. It allows a registered product to be sold and used for a specific unregistered purpose for a limited time, when there is no other feasible alternative. The state agency sets rates and precautions, and applicators must have a copy of the Section 18 approval on hand. Section 24(c) is a state SLN registration and is not limited to emergencies.

Reference: National Pesticide Applicator Certification Core Manual, 2nd Edition, Chapter 3: Pesticide Labeling — Types of Pesticide Registration

A nursery crew lead plans to tank-mix two WPS-labeled products. Product A has a 12-hour restricted-entry interval (REI) and Product B has a 24-hour REI. How long must unprotected workers stay out of the treated area?

Answer: 24 hours

When two or more pesticides are mixed, the manual says you must follow the most restrictive (longest) REI, here 24 hours. Averaging the two gives 18 hours, and adding them gives 36 hours, but neither is how REIs work. Using the shorter 12-hour interval would let workers back in while Product B's interval is still running.

Reference: National Pesticide Applicator Certification Core Manual, 2nd Edition, Chapter 3: Pesticide Labeling — Parts of the Label: Restricted-Entry Intervals

A rights-of-way crew needs to control brush next to a sensitive crop and wants the formulation least likely to drift. It is a thick, mayonnaise-like mixture of a water-soluble pesticide in an oil carrier, applied as very large droplets. Which formulation is this?

Answer: Invert emulsion

An invert emulsion disperses a water-soluble pesticide in an oil carrier, usually fuel oil. It is thick like mayonnaise and is applied as very large droplets. Oil evaporates more slowly than water, so the droplets do not shrink into driftable fines. The manual says invert emulsions are used most often for weed control on rights-of-way. ULV is the opposite: very fine droplets with a high drift hazard.

Reference: National Pesticide Applicator Certification Core Manual, 2nd Edition, Chapter 4: Pesticide Formulations — Liquid Formulations — Invert Emulsions

A product's active ingredient has an acute oral LD50 of 300 mg/kg and that is its greatest concern. Using the Core Manual's toxicity table, which signal word would the product carry?

Answer: WARNING

Table 5.1 sets oral LD50 ranges: trace to 50 mg/kg is DANGER–POISON (Class I), 50 to 500 is WARNING (Class II), 500 to 5,000 is CAUTION (Class III), and over 5,000 is Class IV (CAUTION or no signal word). 300 mg/kg falls in the 50–500 range, so the signal word is WARNING. DANGER without POISON is based on corrosive or contact effects, not on oral LD50.

Reference: National Pesticide Applicator Certification Core Manual, 2nd Edition, Chapter 5: Pesticide Hazards and First Aid — Product Toxicity and Health Concerns — Table 5.1 Toxicity Categories

A mixer splashes pesticide into one eye. What is the correct first aid?

Answer: Hold the eyelid open and gently rinse with clean water dripped across the eye for 15 minutes, then get medical attention

Eyes absorb material quickly, so act at once. Hold the lid open and rinse with clean water dripped across the eye, not straight into it, or use an eyewash. Rinse continuously for 15 minutes without contaminating the other eye, and flush under the lid. Do not add chemicals or drugs to the wash water unless a medical professional or poison control center says to. Then cover the eye and get medical attention.

Reference: National Pesticide Applicator Certification Core Manual, 2nd Edition, Chapter 5: Pesticide Hazards and First Aid — First Aid for Pesticide Poisoning — Pesticide in the Eyes

Partway through a job, an applicator wearing an organic vapor (OV) cartridge respirator begins to smell the pesticide inside the mask. What should he do, and what should he do with the cartridges at the end of the day?

Answer: Leave the area, change cartridges now, and discard used cartridges at the end of the day

Chemical cartridges are essentially 100% efficient until breakthrough, and any taste, smell or irritation means breakthrough has happened, so change them right away. Used OV cartridges should be thrown out at the end of the workday unless the manufacturer says otherwise, because trapped vapors can desorb overnight and be inhaled the next day. Particulate filters such as N95 do not remove gases or vapors.

Reference: National Pesticide Applicator Certification Core Manual, 2nd Edition, Chapter 6: Personal Protective Equipment — Protect Your Respiratory System — Chemical Cartridges or Canisters

Just before sunset on a calm evening, a crew lead notices smoke from a nearby chimney hanging in a flat layer near the ground instead of rising. What does this most likely indicate, and what should the crew do?

Answer: A temperature inversion; do not spray because fine droplets can stay suspended and move long distances

In an inversion, air at ground level is cooler than the air above it, so there is little vertical mixing and smoke or dust hangs in the air (Figure 7.3). Fine droplets stay concentrated in the cool layer and can drift more than a mile. Inversions most often form in early evening and can last until midmorning. Do not apply under these conditions, even though it looks calm.

Reference: National Pesticide Applicator Certification Core Manual, 2nd Edition, Chapter 7: Pesticides in the Environment — Preventing Pesticide Drift — Temperature Inversions

During calibration, a boom sprayer applied 5 gallons of water over a 0.25-acre test area. How many gallons of spray mixture are needed to treat an 8-acre field?

Answer: 160 gallons

First find the rate per acre: 5 gal ÷ 0.25 acre = 20 gal/acre. Then multiply by the field size: 20 gal/acre × 8 acres = 160 gallons. Choosing 40 gallons means multiplying 5 × 8 and ignoring that the test area was only a quarter acre. Choosing 10 gallons means multiplying by 0.25 instead of dividing by it.

Reference: National Pesticide Applicator Certification Core Manual, 2nd Edition, Chapter 11: Pesticide Application Procedures — Equipment Calibration; Calculating the Application Rate