What Are Pesticides. Types And Uses Of Pesticides

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

How to protect plants from pests, diseases and weeds. Part 2

At the beginning of this year, the first of a series of articles on plant protection using chemical, biological and herbal preparations was published. This article will focus on pesticides and how they are used.

What are pesticides

Unfortunately, sometimes an erroneous opinion arises and is cultivated in the press that pesticides cause a toxic blow to the biosphere and humans.

Pesticides are the same medicines, but for protecting plants from diseases, pests, weeds and other harmful objects. As a rule, they are produced by powerful chemical concerns, which are often also large pharmaceutical companies. They create - synthesize - molecules of a substance, often without knowing whether it will ultimately be a medicine for humans or a pesticide for agriculture. Of course, at some stages of pesticide testing, serious mistakes were made. But in most cases of private practice of gardeners and gardeners, the main problem lies in poor knowledge and consideration of the norms of the drugs used, in the use of low-quality equipment and non-compliance with safety measures.

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Over the past 15 years, the volume of pesticides produced in our country has significantly decreased. So, in 1980, 300 thousand tons of pesticides were produced in the USSR, and in 1998 - only 16 thousand tons, and on the basis of foreign active substances. As a result, Russian producers found themselves without domestic pesticides: in terms of their availability (about 100 g of ai per hectare of arable land), Russia entered the 21st century as one of the last countries in the world. Potential losses of agricultural products (in terms of grain per year) in our country exceed 100 million tons. As a result of this situation, we are forced to buy pesticides or intermediates for their production abroad. By the way, it is believed that over 30% of agricultural products come for their intended purpose in the CIS and developing countries of the world, as a rule, from the fields,intensively treated with pesticides. Let's add: in Japan, 17 kg of pesticides are used per hectare, and in Russia - only 100. In the USA, in 1983, pesticides were produced in the amount of 4 billion dollars, in 1993 - by 7.7, in 1998 - by 9 billion dollars (in the world, respectively - 20.5, 27.5 and 31.1 billion dollars). When will we finally understand that it is more practical to buy (and smartly use!) Pesticides, if we cannot invent them ourselves, and not grain!

Every year the range of drugs approved for the control of pests, diseases and weeds in agricultural production is expanding. From among them, experts choose the safest pesticides approved for use in household plots against harmful objects. Moreover, this is done after a thorough check on a large set of agricultural crops, since the active substance of most of them is substances to a certain extent harmful to human health. So, the composition of chemical pesticides can include phosphorus, organochlorine and other toxic compounds. Being a reliable means of protecting agricultural crops against pests, weeds, diseases, this group of drugs has a more severe destructive effect than biological ones.

Types of pesticides

Recall that, depending on the harmful organisms, pesticides are divided into several groups:

• herbicides (used against weeds),
• insecticides (against insects),
• fungicides (against pathogens),
• acaricides (against ticks),
• rodenticides (against rodents),
• nematicides (against nematodes),
• ovicides (to kill insect and mite eggs),
• insectoacaricides (simultaneously from harmful insects and mites),
• insectofungicides (simultaneously from harmful insects and fungal diseases),
• chemosterilants (for sexual sterilization of pests),
• defolliants and desiccants (draining or dehydrating the connective tissue of a plant),
• pheromones (attractive sex compounds for harmful insects),
• repellents (repellent or deterrent substances).

Growth regulators and surface active substances (surfactants) are also introduced here.

Biostimulants such as epin, zircon, gibberellin and heteroauxin are designed to increase vitality (resistance to adverse external influences). But they are not a panacea for all misfortunes, they will never replace quality plant care and do not act directly, like fungicides and insecticides, against pathogens and harmful insects.

Depending on the origin, pesticides are divided into chemical, biological (or microbiological) and herbal preparations. But in any case, these modern plant protection products must be effective and non-toxic for warm-blooded animals (i.e., for domestic and wild animals, birds, fish, beneficial insects and for humans). They should be used in relatively small doses, not have a negative impact on the environment, and quickly decompose in natural conditions into components that are harmless to the environment.

Insecticides act on adult insects (adults) and on various intermediate forms of their development (larvae, caterpillars, pupae, etc.) in several ways. Some of them act positively, falling in the form of solutions on the surface of harmful objects (such drugs are called contact action). Other pesticides applied to plants are absorbed along with the plant tissue, which is eaten by insects, which is why they are called intestinal action. There are insecticides that have a contact-intestinal effect. However, unfortunately, the instructions supplied in the trade network when selling these insecticides do not indicate these qualities. A similar picture is observed in relation to fungicides, which can be in the form of solutions on the surface (they affect the forms of pathogens there) or be absorbed into plant tissues:the first are called contact action, the second - systemic.

The drugs enter the distribution network in various marketable forms - in the form of liquids (water or emulsions), soluble powders or granules, briquettes or tablets, etc. The most common abbreviations in the instructions issued by the trading network for the drugs mean: B - briquette, VG and VRG - water-soluble granules, VK (VKR) - water-soluble concentrate, EC - emulsion concentrate, TAB - tablet, etc.

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Pesticide use

Do not use highly concentrated preparations on garden plots. It is also important to strictly observe all restrictions on their use. If the instructions indicate that the drug can only be used on these crops, it is strictly forbidden to use it on others. For example, in personal garden plots, a drug is allowed for use on potatoes against the Colorado potato beetle. Under natural conditions, it is indicated in the instructions, it decomposes into safe products in 15-20 days. But if it is not recommended for green crops, then it is unacceptable to use it on these plants. In agriculture, it can be successfully used to protect fruit crops, but in our small gardens, when spraying, this must be taken into account, it is quite possible that it can accidentally hit other crops (dill, lettuce, etc.),which poses a certain danger to human health. Therefore, all precautions should be followed during processing.

A huge number of different crops (fruit and berry, vegetable, ornamental, medicinal) are now grown on household plots. Some experienced gardeners and gardeners even plant such plants that are both difficult for normal cultivation and "unsuitable" due to the climatic characteristics of our Northwest zone.

The diversity of cultures gives rise to a variety of problems. Every gardener and agronomist must not only be proficient in various agricultural techniques for their cultivation, but also be able to provide them with effective protection against the most common pests and diseases. It is clear that the wider the range of crops on the site, the more problems arise, since many plants are characterized by their specific pests and diseases.

Let me give you a couple of examples. If there is no great need to keep red viburnum in the garden (after all, you can go to the forest for its berries), it is better to exclude it from the number of cultivated plants: viburnum affects a huge number of pests that are simultaneously pests of many fruit and berry crops. Brought viburnum - then carefully monitor the appearance and destruction of harmful insects on it. Aronia berries, which gardeners like to plant as protective strips (especially on the periphery of the site), are largely actively populated by the mountain ash moth, which in recent years has been seriously "managing" in the orchards, damaging the apple fruits.

If there is no threat of losing a significant part of the crop, then there is no need to use plant protection chemicals. In the case when plants have already been infected with a causative agent of the disease (for example, potato bushes with late blight) and the disease can no longer be cured, processing it can only be slowed down. In this regard, against phytophthora and a number of other diseases, experts propose to carry out preventive treatments that pre-protect plants from damage by pathogens.

When using pesticides, adherence to processing times is very important. Spraying with insecticide solutions should be carried out at the most vulnerable stages in the development of insect pests. So, with currant glass you can fight not when its caterpillars have been introduced into the branches of the bush, but when years of butterflies laying eggs are observed. Another example: larvae of the 3rd and 4th instars of the Colorado potato beetle are much more resistant to the action of drugs than the 1st and 2nd. In addition, treatment against harmful insects is done when their number is high. The time of spraying from diseases usually depends on the phase of plant development, since the onset of the development of a disease is usually associated with the age of the plant.

At the same time, gardeners and gardeners on their plots grow crops that are under constant threat of severe damage from harmful insects and pathogens. As a rule, the most "manifested" and expected by us annually diseases and pests are on potatoes and tomatoes - late blight and Colorado potato beetle, on cucumber and onion - peronosporosis, on apple - scab, on various crops of many families - powdery mildew. Pests (fruit weevils, leaf rollers, moths, leaf-eating caterpillars, aphids, herbivorous mites) do not bypass our gardens and vegetable gardens. And we must be ready to give them a worthy rebuff.