Pesticide Formulation Flashcards
How do we select pesticides?
- Needs to e registered
- Acceptable pre-harvest interval
- Low risk to applicators
- Low risk to beneficial species
- Not lead to resistance
- Compatible with other pesticides already in use
Why do we need to formulate pesticides?
- Increase shelf life
- Improved uptake by plants
- Prevent non target toxicity by making it not too mobile
How to increase stability of active ingredient
Add halogens like chlorine, fluorine, bromine
How to make active ingredient more soluble in water
Add oxygens
Makes it very polar
Also nitrogen
Also hydrogens or lone pairs of electrons
How do we make sure the active ingredient isn’t active in the soil?
Make it positively charged. It immediately binds to -ve soil and is inactivated
How to make soluble in water vs in oil
Add amine salt to be more water soluble
Add ester to make more oil soluble
Microcapsules
- slow release (good)
- Expensive
Gel
Solid pesticide / pheromones combination
Works for long period of time
Dust
Comes ready to use and doesn’t need dilution
Pellet
Easy to see the treated area
Used for rodents
Seed treatment
Colours allow you to differentiate
Protects the new seed
What’s an adjuvant?
Makes the pesticide more effective by increasing water solubility or improving the biological efficiency
Does glyphosate need a surfactant?
Yes or else it won’t do anything
POEA is common one
Types of adjuvants
Spray activators
- improve the ability of the pesticide to interact with the plant
Utility modifiers
Do adjuvants have a high ROI?
Yes, higher than just using more pesticide
