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TruGreen Pesticide Certification 6,3a,3b
Questions and Verified Answers
Abiotic disorder
Ans: A non-pest plant stress such as improper nutrition, too much or too little
water, winter or frost injury
Action threshold
Ans: The pest density at which action (such as pesticide application) is justified to
prevent further damage.
Adelgid
Ans: An insect closely related to aphids that feed on conifers. Their feeding often
causes galls to form.
Aesthetic injury level
Ans: The point at which damage from a pest becomes noticeable enough to
negatively affect the visible quality of the plant. This may vary, based in part on the
distance the plant is located from walkways. (and therefore, on the likelihood of the
damage being observed.
Airblast sprayer
Ans: Pesticide application equipment that uses a stream of air from a fan to break
up and distribute the pesicide onto the plant that is being treated.
Allelopathy/allelopathic
Ans: When one plant species suppresses the growth of another. For example,
walnut trees produce chemicals that will not allow plants to grow under their
canopies.
Annual
Ans: A plant that completes its life cycle and dies in a single year or growing season.
Bacteria
, Page | 2
Ans: A group of single-celled microorganisms, of which there are typically 40
million in a gram of soil. A few species are the causes of diseases such as fire blight
and leaf spot in plants.
Bactericide
Ans: A pesticide used to manage a disease cause by bacteria
Balled and burlapped
Ans: A standard method used to wrap a tree or shrub rootball with burlap to keep
the soil around the roots when digging the plant from the field to move it for
transplanting. Often, larger trees will have a wire mesh placed around the burlap to
provide more support for transporting. The wire mesh should be removed prior to
planting. The burlap should (optimally) be removed as much as possible also, as
amany types of modern burlap contains synthetic fibers that will not rot. If the
burlap is natural fibers it should at least be removed from the top one-third of the
rootball to avoid the burlap being exposed to the air and wicking moisture from the
roots. Also called B&B.
Basal Drench
Ans: The mixing of a pesticide in a small volume of water and applying to a 12-18
inch strip around the base of a tree or shrub. These compounds are normally
systemic and are absorbed by the roots of the plant.
Beauveria bassiana
Ans: A naturally occurring fungus that attacks a number of insects and has been
formulated as an insecticide.
Beneficial Insect
Ans: Insects that eat or develop inside or on pest insects. Sometimes just referred to
as "beneficials." Beneficial insects do not damage landscape plants.
Biennial
Ans: A plant with a two-year life cycle.
Biochemical pesticide
Ans: A biologically derived chemical such as insect sex pheromones that are used
for pest control. They have the advantages of being non-toxic and specific for
controlling a particular species of pest.
, Page | 3
Biocide
Ans: A substance that kills biological organisms.
Biological control
Ans: A method of controlling a pest by encouraging and using natural controls such
as parasitism, predation, and naturally occuring diseases.
Biomagnification
Ans: A situation in which a predatory organism continues to absorb pesticde as it
eats prey that has been exposed to nonlethal levels of pesticide; the accumulation of
pesticide in the predator can lead to its death.
Biopesticide
Ans: Pesticides cerived from natural materials such as animals, plants, bacteria
and certain minerals.
Broad-spectrum
Ans: A pesticde that affectsx a wide range of target species.
Broad-spectrum fungicide
Ans: A fingicide that controls a wide range of fungal organisms.
Broadcast application
Ans: A pesticide applied to a large area over all of the plants.
Budbreak
Ans: The timme when dormant buds open into leaves or flowers.
Bulb
Ans: An underground plant stem (such as an onion or tulip) that is surrounded by
fleshy leaves that are modified to store nutrients.
Calibration
Ans: the process of adjusting pesticide application equipment to apply a specific
amount of pesticide at a specific rate over a specific area.
, Page | 4
Cambium
Ans: The layer of the tree immediately below the bark that contains embryonic
tissue. It is the actively growing part of the tree.
Cankers
Ans: Irregular areas of damaged, diseased or dead tissue on the trunk and stems of
woody plants. These may be various colorgs and may be moist or dry.
Chemosterilants
Ans: A chemical compound that causes reproductive sterility in an organism.
Chlorosis
Ans: A condition in which leaves are not producing chlorophyll and are yellowed,
often caused by a nutrient deficiency.
Chlorotic
Ans: When the leaves of a plant exhibit yellowing.
Cold temerature hardiness
Ans: The ability of a plant to withstand the extremes of temperature during the
winter for a particular area of the country. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has
developed zone maps to indicate parts of the country that are subject to roughly the
same extremes of cold temperatures. Plants are rated as to the hardiness zones in
which they are able to survive.
Commercial applicator
Ans: A person who has been certified by the State of Michigan to apply pesticides for
hire. In Michigan, any individual who is applying pesticides for hire on property
they do not own and where they are not being supervised by the property owner of
the owner's representative (such as on a farm or nursery) must be certified as a
commercial applicator.
Complete metamorphosis
Ans: The type of development exhibited by more evolutionarily advanced insects in
which the larva is very different from the adult. It goes through a change via the
pupa stage before emerging as an adult.
Conidia
TruGreen Pesticide Certification 6,3a,3b
Questions and Verified Answers
Abiotic disorder
Ans: A non-pest plant stress such as improper nutrition, too much or too little
water, winter or frost injury
Action threshold
Ans: The pest density at which action (such as pesticide application) is justified to
prevent further damage.
Adelgid
Ans: An insect closely related to aphids that feed on conifers. Their feeding often
causes galls to form.
Aesthetic injury level
Ans: The point at which damage from a pest becomes noticeable enough to
negatively affect the visible quality of the plant. This may vary, based in part on the
distance the plant is located from walkways. (and therefore, on the likelihood of the
damage being observed.
Airblast sprayer
Ans: Pesticide application equipment that uses a stream of air from a fan to break
up and distribute the pesicide onto the plant that is being treated.
Allelopathy/allelopathic
Ans: When one plant species suppresses the growth of another. For example,
walnut trees produce chemicals that will not allow plants to grow under their
canopies.
Annual
Ans: A plant that completes its life cycle and dies in a single year or growing season.
Bacteria
, Page | 2
Ans: A group of single-celled microorganisms, of which there are typically 40
million in a gram of soil. A few species are the causes of diseases such as fire blight
and leaf spot in plants.
Bactericide
Ans: A pesticide used to manage a disease cause by bacteria
Balled and burlapped
Ans: A standard method used to wrap a tree or shrub rootball with burlap to keep
the soil around the roots when digging the plant from the field to move it for
transplanting. Often, larger trees will have a wire mesh placed around the burlap to
provide more support for transporting. The wire mesh should be removed prior to
planting. The burlap should (optimally) be removed as much as possible also, as
amany types of modern burlap contains synthetic fibers that will not rot. If the
burlap is natural fibers it should at least be removed from the top one-third of the
rootball to avoid the burlap being exposed to the air and wicking moisture from the
roots. Also called B&B.
Basal Drench
Ans: The mixing of a pesticide in a small volume of water and applying to a 12-18
inch strip around the base of a tree or shrub. These compounds are normally
systemic and are absorbed by the roots of the plant.
Beauveria bassiana
Ans: A naturally occurring fungus that attacks a number of insects and has been
formulated as an insecticide.
Beneficial Insect
Ans: Insects that eat or develop inside or on pest insects. Sometimes just referred to
as "beneficials." Beneficial insects do not damage landscape plants.
Biennial
Ans: A plant with a two-year life cycle.
Biochemical pesticide
Ans: A biologically derived chemical such as insect sex pheromones that are used
for pest control. They have the advantages of being non-toxic and specific for
controlling a particular species of pest.
, Page | 3
Biocide
Ans: A substance that kills biological organisms.
Biological control
Ans: A method of controlling a pest by encouraging and using natural controls such
as parasitism, predation, and naturally occuring diseases.
Biomagnification
Ans: A situation in which a predatory organism continues to absorb pesticde as it
eats prey that has been exposed to nonlethal levels of pesticide; the accumulation of
pesticide in the predator can lead to its death.
Biopesticide
Ans: Pesticides cerived from natural materials such as animals, plants, bacteria
and certain minerals.
Broad-spectrum
Ans: A pesticde that affectsx a wide range of target species.
Broad-spectrum fungicide
Ans: A fingicide that controls a wide range of fungal organisms.
Broadcast application
Ans: A pesticide applied to a large area over all of the plants.
Budbreak
Ans: The timme when dormant buds open into leaves or flowers.
Bulb
Ans: An underground plant stem (such as an onion or tulip) that is surrounded by
fleshy leaves that are modified to store nutrients.
Calibration
Ans: the process of adjusting pesticide application equipment to apply a specific
amount of pesticide at a specific rate over a specific area.
, Page | 4
Cambium
Ans: The layer of the tree immediately below the bark that contains embryonic
tissue. It is the actively growing part of the tree.
Cankers
Ans: Irregular areas of damaged, diseased or dead tissue on the trunk and stems of
woody plants. These may be various colorgs and may be moist or dry.
Chemosterilants
Ans: A chemical compound that causes reproductive sterility in an organism.
Chlorosis
Ans: A condition in which leaves are not producing chlorophyll and are yellowed,
often caused by a nutrient deficiency.
Chlorotic
Ans: When the leaves of a plant exhibit yellowing.
Cold temerature hardiness
Ans: The ability of a plant to withstand the extremes of temperature during the
winter for a particular area of the country. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has
developed zone maps to indicate parts of the country that are subject to roughly the
same extremes of cold temperatures. Plants are rated as to the hardiness zones in
which they are able to survive.
Commercial applicator
Ans: A person who has been certified by the State of Michigan to apply pesticides for
hire. In Michigan, any individual who is applying pesticides for hire on property
they do not own and where they are not being supervised by the property owner of
the owner's representative (such as on a farm or nursery) must be certified as a
commercial applicator.
Complete metamorphosis
Ans: The type of development exhibited by more evolutionarily advanced insects in
which the larva is very different from the adult. It goes through a change via the
pupa stage before emerging as an adult.
Conidia
