Pests and Integrated Pest Management

About 4 of every 50 questions on each state's practice exam (Alaska Core, Alabama General Standards, California Laws, Regulations and Basic Principles, Delaware Core, Florida Core, Georgia General Standards, Idaho Core Competency, Illinois General Standards, Illinois General Standards (Structural), Kansas General Exam, Louisiana General Standards, Louisiana Structural General Standards, Massachusetts Core, Maine Commercial Core, Missouri CORE, Montana Core, North Carolina Core, New Jersey Core, Nevada Core and Laws, New York Core, Ohio Commercial Core, Pennsylvania Core, Rhode Island Commercial Licensing, Texas General Standards (Agricultural), Texas General Standards (Structural), Virginia Core, Vermont Core, Washington Laws and Safety and West Virginia Core) come from this topic.

Sources checked November 10, 2026

What to know

Start every pest problem by identifying the organism, and know the four pest groups: weeds, invertebrates such as insects, mites and slugs, pathogens, and vertebrates such as birds and rodents. Learn how insects (six legs, three body parts) differ from arachnids (eight legs, two body parts), and contrast complete metamorphosis (egg, larva, pupa, adult) with incomplete metamorphosis (egg, nymph, adult). Know weed life cycles (summer and winter annuals, biennials, simple and spreading perennials) and that plant disease needs a susceptible host, a pathogen and a favorable environment. For IPM, understand monitoring, the economic injury level, an economic threshold set below it, action thresholds (sometimes zero), key versus secondary pests, the goals of prevention, suppression and eradication, and the control methods, with broadcast spraying of non-specific pesticides as a last resort. Resistance arises when repeated use kills susceptible pests and leaves resistant survivors, so treat alternate pest generations with products that have different modes of action, as shown by the group code on the label.

Where it comes from

• Core Manual (2014), Ch. 1, pp. 4–15
• EPA, Introduction to Integrated Pest Management
• Basic Entomology for Identification, Cornell Cooperative Extension (2013)
• A Guide to Weed Life Cycles, UMass Extension Turf Program
• What Causes Plant Disease?, Iowa State University Extension and Outreach (2005)

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