Understanding the proper use of pesticides is imperative to their effectiveness and to your safety.

TERMINOLOGY

The wording "insecticides and pesticides" is incorrect because insecticides are pesticides.

Types and functions of pesticides include the following:

Insecticides - control insects

Miticides - control mites

Acaricides - control mites, ticks, and spiders

Nematicides - control nematodes

Fungicides - control fungi

Bactericides - control bacteria

Herbicides - control plants (herbicides kill plants, not just weeds)

Rodenticides - control rodents

Avicides - control birds

Piscicides - control fish

Molluscicides - control mollusks, such as slugs and snails

Predacides - control pest animals

Repellents - keep pests away

Attractants - lure pests

Growth Regulators - stop, speed up, or otherwise change normal plant processes

Desiccants, Defoliants - used to remove or kill leaves and stems

Antitranspirants, Antidesiccants - reduce water loss from plants; used to protect plants from winter damage, drought, wind burn, and transplant shock. However, effectiveness is being questioned by recent research.

Pesticides can be grouped according to how they work. Many work in more than one way.

Contact poisons: - kill pests simply by touching them.

Stomach poisons: - kill when swallowed.

Systemics: - kill best my being taken into the blood of the animal or sap of the pplant upon which the pest is feeding.

Translocated herbicides: - move from the point of initial application to circulate throughout the plant. The circulation of toxin ensures the kill of the entire plant.

Fumigants: - gasses which kill when they are inhaled or otherwise absorbed by pests.

Selective pesticides: - kill only certain kinds of plants or animals, for example, 2, 4-D used for lawn weed control, kills broadleaved plants but does not harm grass.

Nonselective pesticides: - kill most plants or animals.

The following terms describe when to apply pesticides:

Preemergence: - use before plants emerge from soil.

Preplant: - use before crop is planted by applying to the soil.

Postemergence: - use after the crop or weeds have germinated.

Terms which describe how to use pesticides:

Band: - application to a strip over or along each crop row.

Broadcast: - uniform application to an entire, specific area by scattering.

Dip: - immersion of a plant in a pesticide.

Directed: - aiming the pesticide at a portion of a plant, animal or structure

Drench: - saturating the soil with a pesticide

Foliar: - application to the leaves of plants

In-furrow: - application to or in the furrow in which a plant is growing

Sidedress: - application along the side of a crop row

Spot treatment: - application of a pesticide to a small section or area of a crop.