ARS | Publication request: Half Rate Pesticide Trial in Nursery Applications

Submitted to: Internet Web Page
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: June 18, 2007
Publication Date: July 18, 2007
Citation: Zhu, H. 2007. Half Rate Pesticide Trial in Nursery Applications [abstract]. Internet Web Page.

Technical Abstract: The conventional air blast sprayer is one of the most commonly used sprayers to apply pesticides in ornamental nursery crops. Many nursery growers have used one sprayer to cover a wide variety of crop shapes and sizes, and they have been misled that better spray coverage can be obtained with the spray volume at the point that the target areas are saturated. Without scientific spray application guidelines, most target areas of nursery crops are over sprayed, resulting in high production cost and potential environmental contamination. Three rationales for the half rate trials in nurseries were explained in this presentation. They are: (1) current nursery pesticide use is frequently excessive, (2) pesticide dose on labels for spray technology are vague, and (3) advanced spray technology can reduce the amount of pesticide usage. Spray techniques and research findings from 3-year trials in commercial nurseries were reported for controls in insects and diseases with a half amount of chemicals to reduce pesticide use in nursery production, and minimize potential environmental pollution.