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Pesticides, California schools report focus of discussion
The Salinas Californian After the Healthy Schools Act of 2000 became law, California schools attempted to decrease the use of pesticides on campuses. While some districts use green pest management techniques, others use outdated pest control and dangerous pesticides, … |
Pests in the NewsMay 02, 2011
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Sand gnats increasing on SC coast
The Herald | HeraldOnline.com … the county's director of mosquito control. Hunt estimated 2007 was the last year in which midges were comparably bothersome. James Clark, who oversees pest management at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, also said midges' local population … |
Pests in the NewsMay 02, 2011
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 The West Australian |
Toad busters build fence to keep pests out
The West Australian An iconic tourist spot in the East Kimberley is being fenced off to protect it from cane toads, which are pushing further west helped by a bumper wet season. Stop the Toad Foundation volunteers have started fencing off the 2km entrance to the Emma … |
Pests in the NewsMay 02, 2011
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Central Florida News 13 |
Lovebugs invade Central Florida
Central Florida News 13 It is lovebug season and across Central Florida, residents are swatting the pests and washing them off their cars. The lovebug, also known by its scientific name Plecia nearctica Hardy, is a seasonally abundant member of a generally unnoticed family of … |
Pests in the NewsMay 02, 2011
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The first step in dealing with pests is identification
Zanesville Times Recorder Both termites and carpenter ants have been found swarming in the area. The swarms are composed of winged males and females that are emerging from colonies to mate and establish new colonies. While both insects tunnel through wood causing damage to … |
Pests in the NewsMay 02, 2011
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New York braces for an attack of bedbugs
Mangalorean.com The full name of the pest is brown marmorated stink bug, as they have a musky odour associated with them. Relatively harmless, the pests came to US in the late 1990's. White says that in order to avoid the bugs, one should avoid discarded furniture. … |
Pests in the NewsMay 02, 2011
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Hotels, camps bracing for onslaught of bedbugs
Vancouver Sun Some of the pests also were found in the Y's lobby. "As soon as we recognized we had it, and we knew it was becoming an epidemic in the Northeast, we reached out to our members and informed them of what was going on," said Keith Zebroski, … |
Pests in the NewsMay 02, 2011
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Sydney Morning Herald |
Mystery of floating fire ants solved
Sydney Morning Herald The mystery behind the remarkable ability of fire ants to turn themselves into a living, crawling life raft has been unlocked by scientists: the insects use air pockets that form around their bodies to protect themselves from drowning. … Fire Ants Form Rafts To Survive FloodsInside Costa Rica Fire ants: They dig, they bite, they floatTbo.com |
Pests in the NewsMay 02, 2011
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Plotting the doom of blowflies
Charlotte Observer Genetic engineering is widely used to manufacture and test medicines, and to develop crops that can withstand drought and resist insects without pesticides. Critics worry that GMOs can spread through nature and mix with natural organisms in an … |
Pests in the NewsMay 02, 2011
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QUESTION:
What is the difference between non-ionic sticker and liquid dish soap?
ANSWER:
I am not a chemist, and pretty much hated chemistry in college, so it can be confusing to me too to get too technical on this. But, basically a liquid dish soap is a wetting agent……….period. The definition I could find all over the internet is that a Surfactant is something which breaks down the surface tension of water to allow things to get wetter, and thus makes it easier to remove dirt, grease, etc. and keeps these materials suspended in the water so that it can be rinsed and removed. If you put a drop of water on a leaf it would ball up to create that bulbous drop just sitting there. This is because water molecules cling together and keep them as that drop. This is the reason bugs like water striders are able to skate across the top of the water rather than sinking. They are standing on molecules of water that are connected to each other.
For our purposes in using pesticides, particularly herbicides, Surfactant means “surface active agent”, and we tend to lump several other kinds of materials into it. This includes Spreaders, Stickers, Penetrants, Buffers, etc., and each of these really does do something different on the surface of the plant. Some are self explanatory – penetrants help move the active ingredient into the plant by breaking down the waxy coating on some foliage, spreaders help break down the surface tension of the water so that the spray droplets flatten out and cover more of the leaf, buffers lower the pH of the water so that it is more acidic, which helps to lessen the destruction of the pesticide molecule. Another term used for all of these is “Adjuvants”, and maybe this is the better word to use, since it refers to things we add to the spray solution to enhance it in some way.
Stickers are just that – they are surfactants that assist in keeping the spray and the active ingredient on the foliage so that it is retained longer and can have a longer time to kill bugs or affect the weed. Dish soap really is not a sticker, so if a sticker is called for or desirable then a commercial product labeled as such should be used. Some of the commercial products combine the substances. For example No Foam A is a Spreader-Activator, No Foam B is a Spreader-Activator-Buffer, EcoAdjuvant is a Spreader-Emulsifier.
It is important to read all that fine print on product labels, and some may recommend the use of one or another kind of spray adjuvant. Spreaders are particularly important for weed control, as many weeds have very hairy stems or leaves, and a spreader (including liquid soap I suppose) would help break down the water surface tension to get the spray solution onto the foliage itself. If drift is a concern you should consider adding a drift retardant that minimizes the fine particles most likely to be carried off site. If the water in your area is high in pH then a buffer would be a good idea, especially with insecticides. It also would be very advisable to use a product actually formulated for use with pesticides, rather than dish soap which is intended for a very different use, and some state regulatory agencies might even frown on the use of liquid soap being used as an additive to a pesticide spray solution.
Oops, almost forgot the part about “non-ionic”. Here are the basics, but don’t get confused. Ionic refers to something with an electrical charge to it, either a positive charge (cationic) or a negative charge (anionic), and this can have an effect on the herbicide you use. Soap is apparently anionic, and thus has a negative charge to it, and anionic materials do not like “hard” water – water with a high mineral content and thus are alkaline. If the herbicide you use tells you to add a Non-ionic surfactant (one that is neither positive nor negative) then liquid soap should NOT be used. It may also have something to do with the natural electrical properties of the surface of weeds, whereby using the wrong surfactant could prevent the herbicide from sticking to the foliage or getting into the tissues.
Pest QuestionsMay 02, 2011
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