How Does Water Quality Affect Pesticide Effectiveness?
When the application of a pesticide fails to deliver the desired control of a pest, the immediate thoughts are that something is wrong with the pesticide or there is pesticide resistance. However, the cause may be due to a different reason, water quality. Water is the most common ingredient in pesticide applications. Water is an […]
Why is Vegetation Management in Rights of Way Important?
Every year during the summer months, there is a major battle going on everywhere that plants grow. That battle is simply referred to as vegetation management. Vegetation management is waged by a variety of personnel, ranging from homeowners trying to get rid of unwanted vegetation to forest rangers attempting to limit the vegetation that provides […]
How to Prevent Fish Kills in Ponds
Fishing is an important part of human culture whether it be for food or recreation. There is always some fishing going on somewhere in the country every day of the year, regardless of the weather. Encountering dead fish floating around in a pond, or fish kill would no doubt cause concern. What is fish kill? […]
The Importance of Forest Vegetation Management
Forests make up 33% or 747 million acres of the US and play an important part in the environment and our livelihoods. Today, when forests are mentioned, it is usually in connection with forest fires. Other times, we rarely think about forests even thoughthey are extremely vital for our existence and must be protected. Within […]
How to Improve Pesticide Solution pH Using Buffering Agents
When a pesticide is applied to control a pest according to label instructions it may not work as expected. When it doesn’t work, the assumption may range from a highly complex one, such as in the occurrence of pesticide resistance, toa simple one, such as the pesticide spray water being at the wrong pH. Pesticide […]
Pesticide Resistance Management
When a pest becomes resistant to a pesticide, the resistant pest can become a serious threat to our livelihoods, especially when the pesticide it is resistant to is the most widely one used for control. One example is glyphosate. Glyphosate (Roundup) was first marketed in the 1970s as a nonselective herbicide. With little herbicide resistance […]
The Importance of CalibrationforPesticide Application
Pesticide application is a work of precision that is essential to successful pest management and our livelihood. Millions of dollars go towards research to determine the application rate of a pesticide for a particular pest situation. Precise rates of pesticides must be applied to provide effective pest control. Effective pest control depends on the correct […]
Safe Pesticide Handling and Signal Words
One of the first words that everyone probably learns in life is “NO”. ‘No’ is a signal word that indicates to a person to not do something. If the signal word is ignored, there are likely to be consequences. Fast forward from the first signal word to several more signal words we are all accustomed […]
Reducing Pesticide Spray Drift: 5 Key Aspects
Each spring ushers in new plant growth, some of which we like and some we don’t. Obviously, the plants we don’t like we try to remove using the best available tools at our disposal. Most likely, a herbicide will be applied to control the unwanted plants. Whether it is a homeowner applying herbicides to their […]
The Importance and Benefits of Preventative Weed Control
For most of us, disease prevention is a no brainer. Whether it’s getting a vaccine to prevent a serious disease or taking medicine that helps the body prevent illnesses, prevention is preferred to having to deal with illness. Can the same logic be applied to preventative weed control? In a perfect world, crop production managers […]
