Wyoming Commercial Applicator Complete 24 Hour Bundle - Ornamental and Turf

This course bundle is designed for the Wyoming commercial applicator with an emphasis in ornamental and turf pest control. This bundle contains 24 hours of continuing education approved by the Wyoming Department of Agriculture. Click on course details for a full list of courses.

BUNDLE CONTENTS:

  • Common Ornamental Plant Pests – 3 CEUs
  • IPM for Ornamental Plan Pest Management – 1 CEU
  • Ornament Pesticide Application Equipment and Calibration – 1 CEU
  • Home Lawn and Landscape Management – 1 CEU
  • Annual Bluegrass Resistance Management – 1 CEU
  • IPM for Turf Management – 1 CEU
  • Common Turfgrass Weeds – 1 CEU
  • Calibration Clinic – Pesticide Sprayers and Spreaders – 1 CEU
  • Disease Management in Enclosed Spaces – 3 CEUs
  • Application Equipment and Calibration – 1 CEU
  • Cage Trapping Techniques – 3 CEUs
  • Intro to Mosquito Control – 2 CEUs
  • Aquatic Weed Control – 1 CEU
  • Fungicides and Plant Pathogen Sampling – 1 CEU
  • Mole Management – 1 CEU
  • Skunks: $mell the $uccess – 1 CEU
  • Voles: Biology, Damage, and Control – 1 CEU

Common Ornamental Plant Pests

Course Description

Pest management of ornamental plants involves multiple steps from growing a healthy plant that is more resistant to pest damage to correctly identifying the problem when present. This course will cover the most common pests of ornamental plants.

After completing this course participants will be able to:

  • Identify common landscape weeks and outline how to manage them.
  • Identify common plant disorders and identify how to avoid them in the future.
  • Identify common plant diseases and outline how to manage them.
  • Describe nematode damage and explain why sampling prior to planting is important.
  • Identify common vertebrate and invertebrate pests and outline the best management strategy for each.

IPM for Ornamental Plant Pest Management

Course Description

Integrated Pest Management of ornamental plants involves multiple steps; producing a healthy plant, correctly identifying the problem, recognizing that there will always be some pests and damage, and only using pesticides as a last resort. This course teaches the basics of pest and disease management for ornamental plants, and the different tools and techniques needed to successfully provide your clients with a healthy and attractive landscape.

After completing this course participants will be able to:

  • Discuss several ways to track pest development
  • Outline the issues involved in controlling pests and disease in managed landscape situations
  • Tailor a management strategy that addresses the unique needs of each ornamental planting

Ornamental Pesticide Application Equipment and Calibration

Course Description

When pesticide applications become necessary for good ornamental plant management it’s important to understand how application equipment works and how to properly calibrate the equipment. An accurate measurement of the area to be treated or the number of plants to be treated and properly calibrated equipment are critical to successful control of the pest as well as staying within label requirements. This course will discuss the most common types of equipment used for pesticide applications on ornamental plants, the way to calculate the volume of solution needed, and how to properly calculate the flow rate of the equipment.

After completing this course participants will be able to:

  • Describe the different types of equipment used in pesticide applications
  • Accurately calculate the square footage of irregular areas
  • Accurately calibrate common application equipment

Home Lawn and Landscape Management

Course Description

The lawn and landscape are essential elements in any residential situation. Time and money are invested in the development, installation and upkeeping of the landscaping and the turf. When not installed or managed properly that investment can be perceived as a waste as the lawn and landscape do not fulfill their purpose. This course will focus on the essentials of designing a landscape that is aesthetically pleasing and makes weed control easier as well as key factors for installing and establishing a functional home lawn.

After completing this course participants will be able to:

  • Describe the key landscape design features that make weed control manageable
  • Discuss the different types of herbicides commonly used in landscape weed management situations
  • Describe key concerns to address when establishing a home lawn

Annual Bluegrass Resistance Management

Course Description

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. There are very few commonly utilized herbicides that annual bluegrass has not evolved resistance to – albeit often in isolated or unique populations. However, the worrying trend is that for some turf scenarios, we no longer have effective chemical means of controlling annual bluegrass. This course will discuss the currently reported cases of annual bluegrass resistance to various herbicides and how to develop an effective herbicide program.

After completing this course participants will be able to:

  • Discuss herbicide resistance best management practices
  • Distinguish between the different classes of herbicides and their different sites of action
  • Describe how herbicide resistance is developed and how it can be avoided

IPM for Turf Management

Course Description

Integrated Pest Management of turfgrasses involves multiple steps; producing a healthy plant, correctly identifying the problem, recognizing that there will always be some pests and damage, and only using pesticides as a last resort. This course teaches the basics of pest and disease management for turfgrass, and the different tools and techniques needed to successfully provide your clients with a healthy and attractive turf stand.

After completing this course participants will be able to:

  • Understand the settings and ecosystems of a turf stand
  • Gain an understanding of the issues involved in controlling pests and disease in managed turfgrass
  • Tailor a management strategy that addresses the unique needs of turfgrass

Common Turfgrass Weeds

Course Description

Managing weeds in a turf stand can be a tricky proposition. Often times the client fails to recognize that the presence of weeds in a turf stand is the result of poor turf, not the cause. Correct identification of the problem weed is a must of developing a management strategy, as is a working knowledge of weed biology and how herbicides work. This course will provide applicators with a good foundation from which to build their knowledge.

After completing this course participants will be able to:

  • Explain the major similarities and differences between weeds and turf
  • Identify common turfgrass weeds
  • Explain how herbicides work

Calibration Clinic – Pesticide Sprayers and Spreaders

Course Description

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.

After completing this course participants will be able to:

  • Explain the strengths and weaknesses of the baby bottle and the 5940 calibration methods
  • Describe the steps to calibrate a boom sprayer
  • Describe the steps to calibrate a granular broadcast spreader

Disease Management in Enclosed Spaces

Course Description

Disease management in an enclosed space poses a unique set of issues that must be addressed when controlling pests and disease. Safety for personnel is a key issue as well, as exposure to pesticides is increased. This course teaches the basics of pest and disease management in this unique space, and the different tools and techniques needed to successfully control the environment.

After completing this course participants will be able to:

  • Gain an understanding of the issues involved in controlling pests and diseases in an enclosed space.
  • Tailor a management strategy that addresses the unique needs of an enclosed space environment.

Application Equipment and Calibration

Course Description

When pesticide applications become necessary for good turf management, it’s important to understand how application equipment works and how to properly calibrate the equipment. An accurate measurement of the area to be treated and properly calibrated equipment are critical to applying pesticides within an acceptable range of the label requirements. This course will discuss the most common types of equipment used for pesticide applications on turf, the way to calculate the area of an irregularly shaped space, and how to properly calculate the flow rate of the equipment.

After completing this course participants will be able to:

  • Describe the different types of equipment used in pesticide applications
  • Accurately calculate the square footage of irregular areas
  • Accurately calibrate common application equipment

Cage Trapping Techniques

Course Description

Cage and box traps play an important role in the management of vertebrate pests in urban and suburban environments. These devices capture animals by imprisoning them in a wire cage or box with solid walls. Their simple construction and perceived humaneness lead many to mistakenly believe that these devices require little training to master. This course will review the differences between cage and box traps and how to use those differences to achieve control goals. Likewise, students will learn the three main trapping sets, effective baits, safe and humane use of the traps, and how to reduce non-target captures. After this class, you will never see cage/box trapping in the same way again.

After completing this course participants will be able to:

  • Identify the parts of cage and box traps.
  • Explain the advantages and disadvantages of different features in cage/box traps and how retail traps differ from commercial traps.
  • Know foundational ways to use cage/box traps to improve capture efficacy and improve humaneness.
  • Understand the importance of disease safety for both the wildlife control operator and the client.

Intro to Mosquito Control

Course Description

Mankind has been battling mosquitoes since before the first settlers landed on the continent. Mosquitoes are vectors for a multitude of diseases that are harmful to humans, livestock, and pets. To effectively manage a mosquito population as part of an integrated pest management plan applicators must be familiar with mosquito physiology, the lifecycle of the mosquito, and various collection and surveillance methods for both adult mosquitoes and larvae. It is also important to have a good understanding of the diseases that are commonly vectored by mosquitoes. The course will talk about surveillance methods, mosquito anatomy, and touch on the diseases that are most commonly vectored by mosquitoes in the United States.

After completing this course participants will be able to:

  • Describe the different stages in the mosquito lifecycle.
  • Explain the differences between male and female mosquitoes.
  • Suggest different surveillance and collection tactics to efficiently trap mosquitoes in the target area.
  • List and describe several commonly mosquito vectored diseases.

Aquatic Weed Control

Course Description

Managing aquatic weeds revolves around proper plant identification. Proper control relies on proper identification. This course teaches the basics of aquatic weed identification and the different approaches to aquatic plant management.

After completing this course participants will be able to:

  • Gain an understanding of the issues involved in controlling aquatic weeds.
  • Tailor a management strategy that addresses the unique identification and control approaches to aquatic plant life.

 


Fungicides and Plant Pathogen Sampling

Course Description

This course provides the learner with a few basics necessary for effective management of turf and ornamentals. Understanding how to properly collect specimens for accurate analysis by a lab will save time and money. Understanding how a fungus infects a plant and which fungicide will treat that fungus effectively will provide quick treatment that can limit the damage done to the plant. Plant appearance, the status of the infections, what to include in your sample, and fungicide mechanism of action are discussed to provide a framework from which to formulate treatment strategies.

After completing this course participants will be able to:

  • Gain an understanding of how fungicides penetrate the structures of a targeted plant.
  • Tailor a management strategy that addresses the prevention, identification, and treatment of fungal infections in plants.
  • Identify the proper part of the plant to send to the diagnostic lab for analysis.
  • Execute proper packaging and shipping of each sample to the diagnostic lab.

Mole Management

Course Description

Moles can be the bane of a well-kept lawn. But is it really a mole? Mole, vole, shrew, and pocket gopher damage can look the same to the untrained eye. This course covers the physiological differences between moles and other look-alike vertebrate pests, trapping techniques, and toxicant options.

After completing this course participants will be able to:

  • Correctly identify mole damage.
  • Distinguish the differences between moles, voles, shrews, and pocket gophers.
  • Describe the different traps and toxicants available and when best to use each one.

Skunks: $mell the $uccess

Course Description

Skunks used to be considered a very valuable animal, probably because they weren’t called skunks. They were called “Alaska Sable” or “Black Marten.” But when the Supreme Court insisted there be truth in advertising the demand for Alaska Sable plummeted. The desire to have a skunk residing on a client’s property doesn’t seem to have improved either. This course will discuss the lifecycle and biology of skunks, habitat modification to discourage skunks from taking up residence, trapping tips and techniques, the basics of rodenticide use, and the basics of euthanizing if allowable by law. It is important to be familiar with state and local laws regarding skunk management.

After completing this course participants will be able to:

  • Describe common skunk behavior, habitat, and diet.
  • Discuss the different methods and sets for efficient trapping of skunks.
  • Describe the various methods of euthanizing.

Voles: Biology, Damage, and Control

Course Description

Voles are known by a variety of names, meadow mice or field mice for example. Voles are rodents, meaning they like to chew on things, but they rarely enter structures and are primarily a pest in landscape settings. But they are often confused with mice by many homeowners. The damage caused by voles is to the grass and other plants in the landscape and garden and is most noticeable after the snow melts in northern climates. This course will cover the basics of vole identification, biology, and damage as well as several control methods including trapping and rodenticide use.

After completing this course participants will be able to:

  • Correctly distinguish between a vole, a shrew, and a mouse.
  • Identify vole damage in grass, garden, and landscape areas.
  • Outline the different types of rodenticides labeled for controlling voles.
  • Discuss the different types of traps and how to set them.