Year-Round IPM Program Pages
When planning for pesticide applications in an IPM Program, review and complete this checklist to consider practices that minimize environmental and efficacy problems.
Choose a pesticide from the UC IPM Pest Management Guidelines for the target pest, considering:
- Impact on natural enemies and honeybees. Within each crop guideline is the Relative Toxicities of Insecticides and Miticides table with this information.
- Potential for water quality problems using the UC IPM WaterTox database.
- Impact on aquatic invertebrates. See Pesticide Choice .
- Chemical mode of action if pesticide resistance is an issue. For more information, see Herbicide Resistance: Definition and Management Strategies, UC ANR Publication 8012 .
- Endangered species that may be near your site. Find out using the Department of Pesticide Regulation's PRESCRIBE program.
Before an application
- Ensure that spray equipment is properly calibrated to deliver the desired pesticide amount for optimal coverage.
- Use appropriate spray nozzles and pressure to minimize off-site movement of pesticides.
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Avoid spraying during these conditions to avoid off-site movement of pesticides.
- Wind speed over 5 mph
- Temperature inversions
- Just prior to rain or irrigation (unless it is an appropriate amount, such as when incorporating a soil-applied pesticide)
- At tractor speeds over 2 mph
- Identify and take special care to protect sensitive areas (for example, waterways or riparian areas) surrounding your application site.
- Review and follow labeling for pesticide handling, personal protection equipment (PPE) requirements, storage, and disposal guidelines.
- Check and follow restricted entry intervals (REI) and preharvest intervals (PHI).
After an application
- Record application date, product used, rate, and location of application.
- Follow up to confirm that treatment was effective.
Consider water management practices that reduce pesticide movement off-site.
- Protecting Surface Water from Sediment-Associated Pesticides in Furrow Irrigated Crops .
- Install an irrigation recirculation or storage and reuse system.
- Use drip rather than sprinkler or flood irrigation.
- Limit irrigation to the amount required by using soil moisture monitoring and evapotranspiration (ET) estimates.
- Consider using cover crops.
- Consider using vegetative filter strips or ditches.
- Install sediment traps.
- Use polyacrylamide (PAM) tablets in furrows to prevent off-site movement of sediments.
- Redesign inlets and outlets into tailwater ditches to reduce erosion.
Consider practices that reduce air quality problems.
- When possible, reduce volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions by decreasing the amount of pesticide applied, choosing low-emission management methods, and avoiding emulsifiable concentrate (EC) formulations.
For more about mitigating the effects of pesticides, see the Mitigation page.