Pesticide Applicator 
Professional Development Courses

Annual bluegrass has historically been an important weed of many, if not most, commodity and specialty crops. The extensive reliance upon herbicides as the primary means of control has led to an almost overwhelming presence of herbicide resistance. This course will discuss the currently reported cases of annual bluegrass resistance to various herbicides and how to develop an effective herbicide program.

When pesticide applications become necessary for good turf management, it's important to understand how the application equipment works and how to properly calibrate the equipment. This course will provide turf managers with an understanding of the most common types of equipment used for pesticide applications on turf and how to properly calibrate the equipment.

Aquatic ecosystems are extremely complex and fragile. This course covers the many aspects necessary for managing aquatic pests, from site evaluation and pest identification to pesticide application and treatment evaluation. Risk communication strategies are included, along with a variety of control methods in addition to aquatic pesticides.

This course covers the importance of honeybees, details honeybee decline statistics, and outlines the strategies that can be implemented to coordinate the efforts of farmers, beekeepers, and applicators to find a balance between managing pests and protecting pollinators.

The site of a bat hanging around a structure can be unnerving to most clients. Finding one inside a home is even more unsettling and can send the homeowner into a panic. This course will talk about the identification of bat issues, fundamentals of bat control, and a few health issues that can be quite costly for wildlife control operators and clients.

Bed bugs are a common and difficult household pest that can be linked to a number of health effects such as psychological issues, cutaneous reactions, allergic reactions, anemia, and potential disease transmission. This course outlines various management methods for bed bug control and treatment as well as common symptoms and signs of health effects caused by the presence of bed bugs.

Structural applicators know that managing a bed bug infestation is difficult on many levels. This course looks at the history of bed bugs, current integrated pest management approaches to preventing and managing an infestation, and several of the chemical options available when your non-chemical controls and methods have failed.

This course focuses on the use of cage and box traps in the management of vertebrate pests in both urban and suburban environments. Best practices surrounding appropriate traps for target animals, effective baits, and safe and humane use of traps will be outlined.

Proper application of pesticides and fertilizers on turfgrass is only possible with accurately calibrated equipment. These lessons discuss the calibration of three types of application equipment: handheld or back-pack pump-up sprayers, large acreage sprayers, and fertilizer or “dry-granular” spreaders as well as several different calibration techniques.