“WHAT’S HAPPENING?”
The University of Tennessee/Agricultural Extension Service
Entomology & Plant Pathology - EPP #60
June 26, 2006
How to Comply with the Worker Protection Standard for Agricultural Pesticides, What Employers Need to Know
by Gene Burgess
The new Worker Protection Standard How to Comply manual is out. I am in the process of getting it printed. I will send each county a copy as soon as it is ready. I will also place it on the Ag Store web site for sell.
EPA has sent me a list of the major revisions in the updated manual. However, the information in the fact sheet refers you to the page in the manual to find the exact changes. So, hopefully I will be able to send you a new manual soon.
List of Major Revisions Incorporated in the September 2005 Updated Manual
The 2005 updated How to Comply with the Worker Protection Standard for Agricultural Pesticides, What Employers Need to Know –supersedes the 1993 version. Changes to the Worker Protection Standard (WPS) have made the 1993 version obsolete and its continued use may lead an employer to be out of compliance with this regulation. EPA may issue additional guidance about the WPS and the WPS may be amended in the future. Check with your state or tribal agency responsible for pesticides for further information and updates.
A list of the major revisions incorporated in the September 2005 updated WPS How to Comply (HTC) manual are provided below.
Revisions:
The revisions to the How to Comply manual incorporate the 1995, 1996, and 2004 WPS amendments and administrative exceptions. These amendments and administrative exceptions include the:
• change in the WPS worker training requirement that requires untrained workers to be provided basic pesticide information before entering pesticide-treated areas (new, revised HTC p 21);
• reduction in the number of days decontamination supplies must be available to workers after application of low-risk pesticides, and the requirement that the supplies are to be located together (p 24);
• modification in the language requirements for treated-area warning signs (p 34);
• modification in the size requirements for treated-area warning signs (p 35);
• early-entry exception for irrigation tasks and for limited contact tasks (p 47-48 );
• optional use of separable glove liners beneath chemical-resistant gloves (p 65);
• optional wearing of gloves by agricultural pilots when entering or leaving aircraft (p 67) and;
• exemption for certified or licensed crop advisors and persons under their direct supervision (p 74-79).
To reflect a technical amendment to the WPS issued with the decontamination supplies amendment, the How to Comply manual no longer refers to decontamination “sites.” Instead, the term decontamination “supplies” is used throughout the manual.
The How to Comply also no longer contains the following statement: "This manual, in its official Federal format, provides the information necessary to comply with the requirements of the 1992 Federal Worker Protection Standard." The statement has been removed because the How to Comply is a compliance assistance guidance document and it cannot be considered a substitute for the official WPS regulation as published in the Code of Federal Regulations at 40 CFR Part 170. (former HTC p i).
The How to Comply also no longer contains references to the now-obsolete 15-day grace period for worker training (former HTC p 26).
The How to Comply manual includes the following sources/resources to assist employers of handlers and agricultural workers in obtaining compliance assistance information:
• Listing, for EPA headquarters, the address, telephone number (p iv);
• Listing, for each EPA regional office, the address, telephone number, and Web site address (p iv);
• Listing the Web site for the Association of American Pesticide Control Officials (AAPCO) and the American Association of Pesticide Safety Educators (AAPSE) as a means of obtaining an up-to-date list of WPS contacts (p v) and;.
• Listing key EPA WPS-related Web sites, including the Ag Center site, the OPP worker safety site, and the WPS Interpretive Guidance Questions and Answers Web site (p v).
New Charts Added Within the Manual:
• Warning Sign Size Specifications for Greenhouses and Nurseries (p 35)
• Early-entry Exceptions Chart (p 50-51)
• Crop Advisors Chart (p 80)
New Charts and Checklists Added to the Back of the Manual:
• WPS Requirement to Provide Basic Pesticide Safety Information to Untrained Workers (p 111)
• EPA Chemical Resistance Category Chart (p 113)
• Heat Stress – Preventable Measures, Illnesses, and First Aid Treatments (p 115-116)
Tobacco Scout Reports
by Gene Burgess
The following is a summary of the insect, disease and weed pests reported by tobacco interns in Knox, Rhea, Carter Montgomery and Robertson counties:
Carter County: Sean Havery reported very light leaf spot, flea beetles and a lot of common ragweed.
Montgomery County: T.C. Lawghery reported some flea beetles, leaf spot, Johnson grass and ragweed. There was possibly some nitrogen deficiency in one field.
Robertson County: Mark Tillman reported a few scattered weeds, hornworms and tomato spotted wilt virus. Some nitrogen deficiency was found in one field.
Rhea County: William Gothard has had a lot of hornworm damage in one field and some flea beetle damage.
DISTANCE DIAGNOSIS REMINDERS
by Steve Bost
Agents who have not been using Distance Diagnosis (DD), we encourage you to take part. As I mentioned in a recent What’s Happening article, you do not have to have microscopes to participate in DD. All you need is a digital camera. As a matter of fact, I discourage the use of microscopes except in the following cases: Stereoscopes for small insects or insect parts, and compound microscopes for confirming a suspected pathogen. (But even then, you have to know what you are looking for.) The macro mode on the camera is adequate for most closeups.
Requests:
• Please keep image file size small. I know you like to set your image size large to satisfy all potential uses, but mammoth files make for a long day on our end, when downloading 5 images per sample and 10 samples per day.
• Be sure to select commercial or homeowner. It makes all the difference in the world in the control recommendation. This information has been optional, but I am going to request that the programmer make this a required field.
• For weed or plant identification, be sure to select “weed” under “pest type.” If you do not, the weed scientists will not be able to access the sample.
TOBACCO BLUE MOLD UPDATE
by Steve Bost
Several new cases of blue mold have occurred to our north this week. Most are connected to the infected plug plant situation in eastern Kentucky. One report that appeared on Thursday does not have a known connection to the infected transplants. A field in Warren County, Kentucky, south of Bowling Green was confirmed to have a light case of blue mold. This field is only 15 miles north of the Tennessee state line. Dr. Kenny Seebold is investigating the case to try to get an idea of where the blue mold may have come from.
Other cases reported this week were field tobacco from eastern (Wolfe and Bath Counties) and northeastern (Greenup County) Kentucky and float beds from a southwestern Ohio farm. Most of these have a connection to the infected transplant situation.
Our hot, dry weather has been protecting us from blue mold infection, and there have been few spore transport trajectories our way. Stay tuned to the blue mold forecast center, http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/pp/bluemold for information on air-borne blue mold threats to TN. Remember that it requires more than just the presence of spores, for a threat to occur. Weather conditions also have to be favorable.
TOMATO SPOTTED WILT UPDATE
by Steve Bost
Tomato spotted wilt virus has been common in all regions of the state other than the eastern part. So far, the reports I have received have been from home gardens. The severity of spotted wilt was set up by the dry weather in early spring. Granted, May was very wet, but the tone had already been set by a dry March and April, allowing a buildup of the thrips vectors.
Clientele often call in about tomato blights, and identifying the specific blight can be difficult. Look for a couple of clues that set spotted wilt apart from other tomato blights: The symptoms usually start in the top of the plant; and very few plants are affected, at least initially. Symptoms vary, but can include bronze to purplish freckles and rings on leaves, becoming generally necrotic. The occurrence of an association between the bronze/purple lines and the leaf veins is characteristic. Leaves may be pale and plants may be stunted if infection occurs early. On occasion, infected plants may show a jet-black general discoloration.
Insecticides with thrips activity can slow the spread if applied early and often, according to the label. For home gardeners, likely candidates would be pyrethroid materials such as Bug-Be-Gon and spinosad materials such as Ferti-Lome’s Borer, Bagworm, Leafminer, & Tent Caterpillar Spray. For commercial growers, some degree of control can be obtained with an insecticide program that includes Admire at planting and continues with foliar applications of Lannate, Monitor, or Spintor. As opposed to tobacco, in which there is little in-field spread, spotted wilt can continue to spread in tomatoes throughout the summer.
Amelia, Crysta, BHN 640, and Quincy are resistant varieties.
Reflective mulches can help to control spotted wilt by causing fewer thrips to land on the tomato plants. Reflective mulches are available as rolls of silver plastic film. Gardeners can produce reflective mulch by placing aluminum foil, shiny side up, on the ground around the plants.
Do not attempt to remove affected plants. Doing so can cause movement of the thrips vectors. Furthermore, spotted wilt-infected tomato plants sometimes grow out of the condition and produce normal fruit.
TERMITE DAMAGE TO POOL LINERS??
by Karen M. Vail
Termites search through soil in pursuit of moisture and food in the form of cellulose. Occasionally, they stumble across a pool liner. As they tunnel against the pool liner, small pin holes form. The water seeping through the holes causes termites to aggregate and cause more damage.
Here are a few pointers to help reduce the risk of termites being found near pool areas.
• Don’t put the pool near trees and if there are tree stumps and roots in the area remove them before installing the pool.
• Before pool installation, break up the soil under and 10 ft. around the pool to disturb any existing termite colonies or foraging tunnels.
• Use metal or concrete support bases instead of wood, including treated wood.
• Pretreating with a repellent termiticide under and around the pool would be another good idea to make the area less attractive to termites, but here’s the problem. None of the termiticide labels list pools. I’ve spoken with the Tennessee Department of Agriculture inspectors about this in the past. One inspector considered a pool a structure and mentioned that often a permit is needed for construction and surely that confirmed that these are structures. He agreed that a termiticide under the liner would have been a good idea. I think we still need more information from our regulatory entity before we can recommend this practice.
• If a pool deck or walkway is used, build them high enough off the ground to allow access for an inspection or treatment.
• Termite monitoring stations can be placed around the pool’s perimeter once construction and landscaping are completed.
• Keep other termite food sources, i.e. landscape timbers, away from the pool.
• Ensure water drains away from the pool.
If termites are found after they have damaged the liner, which is most often the case, here are some other options for the pest management professional. I assume these are employed after the liner is repaired.
• Some success, at least initially, has been achieved using nonrepellent termiticides as a spot treatment.
• If placed in protected areas, above-ground professional termite baiting stations have been successful.
• Good results have been found using termiticide gels and foams as spot treatments.
• Trenching and rodding around the edge of the pool has had some success.
• If liner replacement is planned, check for other sources of leaks and food sources before the new liner is placed.
Source:
Hardy, P. 2006. Termite World: What to Do When Termites Take a Swim. Pest Control http://www.pestcontrolmag.com/pestcontrol/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=326733
OTHER UT NEWSLETTERS WITH PEST MANAGEMENT INFORMATION
http://web.utk.edu/~extepp/fpn/fpn.htm
Tennessee Crop and Pest Management Newsletter
http://www.utextension.utk.edu/fieldCrops/cotton/cotton_insects/ipmnewsletters.htm
This and other "What's Happening" issues can be found at http://web.utk.edu/~extepp/whatshap.htm
Precautionary Statement
To protect people and the environment, pesticides should be used safely. This is everyone’s responsibility, especially the user. Read and follow label directions carefully before you buy, mix, apply, store or dispose of a pesticide. According to laws regulating pesticides, they must be used only as directed by the label.
Disclaimer
This publication contains pesticide recommendations that are subject to change at any time. The recommendations in this publication are provided only as a guide. It is always the pesticide applicator's responsibility, by law, to read and follow all current label directions for the specific pesticide being used. The label always takes precedence over the recommendations found in this publication.
Use of trade or brand names in this publication is for clarity and information; it does not imply approval of the product to the exclusion of others
that may be of similar, suitable composition, nor does it guarantee or warrant the standard of the product. The author(s), the University of
Tennessee Institute of Agriculture and University of Tennessee Extension assume no liability resulting from the use of these recommendations.
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