May 20, 2020 • 36 mins
While most people are at home, many of them have gone to the outdoors to get some yard work done. People are gardening, watering and using chemical controls against pesky weeds. Dr. Leslie Beck, NMSU Extension Weed Specialist gives some really good advice on staying safe while applying those chemicals as well as other alternatives.
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Episode Transcript
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Jessica (00:05):
Welcome to the Extension Connection podcast.
The Grant County CooperativeExtension Service is here to
help connect you with researchbased information about economic
development, energy and water,farm and ranch, yard and garden,
natural resources, health andwell being, and our very popular
youth development program 4-H.
I'm your host, Jessica Swapp,the 4-H and agriculture agent
here in Grant County, NewMexico.
We are part of New Mexico StateUniversity's College of
Agricultural, Consumer andEnvironmental Science and we are
here to serve you.
So let's get started.
(00:50):
Hi everyone.
I thought it might beappropriate to ask Dr.
Leslie Beck back onto thepodcast.
Um, just because everybody'sdoing a little bit more yard
work nowadays.
Um, life has kind of changed forall of us, so we're getting
outside, we're doing yard work.
Um, and I thought it wasimportant to touch base with her
on the safety aspects of, um,some of the things you might be
(01:15):
doing outside.
Um, as you know, there's ashortage on, uh, protective
equipment.
So we kind of dive deep into,um, what we need to do and what
can be done and the properprocedures, um, that need to be
taken in order to, to get thingstaken care of in your landscape.
So I hope you'll enjoy
Speaker 1 (01:35):
[Weed eater sound effect]
Jessica (01:41):
Welcome to the podcast today.
Um, I have a guest that you'veheard from before, Dr.
Leslie Beck who is the extensionweed specialist and she's coming
back on the podcast today totalk about some different, um,
subjects as they relate towhat's going on right now.
(02:02):
So, um, some things about, uh,protective, personal protective
equipment, otherwise known asPPE.
There's some shortages.
Um, she's gonna kind of give usthe heads up on all of that.
So welcome to the podcast today,Leslie.
Leslie (02:16):
Thank you for having me.
I'm so excited to be here.
Jessica (02:20):
I'm glad to have you back.
Yeah, so your info on the wholedandelion thing, like totally
cursed me cause my lawn wastaken over by dandelions shortly
after I released that podcast.
I'm blaming you.
Leslie (02:38):
Well, you know, it's my fault as the weeds keep coming
back.
T hat's why my voice sounds theway it does today.
I think they're getting theirrevenge on me allergy wise.
S o hopefully I won't cough andsneeze.
But the good thing is, is thatbased on what we talked about,
you're raring to go in the fallwhen it's the most opportune
time to get them right?
Jessica (02:56):
Right.
I attempted to control them alittle bit and then I just, I've
just given up at this point ifit's green it gets to stay.
Leslie (03:07):
Yeah and that situation, they just kind of
look at you and go, neenerneener you know.
Jessica (03:10):
Yeah they straight up were like, ha ha lady, you don't
scare me.
So, but speaking of, uh, youknow, weeds and weed management
and stuff, um, with the COVID-19stuff that's going on, um, you
know, when you're using, uh,some of these herbicides, you
(03:31):
need to protect yourself withpersonal protective equipment.
But that's, that's becoming kindof a, there's a shortage coming
with that.
Do you want to talk about that alittle bit?
Leslie (03:41):
Yeah.
We're, we're getting a lot ofquestions about what, what we
can anticipate with the upcomingor actually the, uh, personal
protective equipment shortagethat we're experiencing now that
quite frankly, I don't see, youknow, becoming less of an issue,
uh, by the end of the year even.
I think personal protectiveequipment is going to continue
to be scarce, mostly because itis being diverted to essential
(04:03):
workers, uh, medical personnel,uh, workers in the field,
workers in the fields and atsupermarkets, things along those
lines.
And honestly, I think that'sabsolutely appropriate.
So what we're going to talkabout today, or I hope we're
going to talk about today isjust a couple of considerations
when, uh, when making thesepesticide applications, uh, and
(04:23):
what type of personal protectiveequipment to use.
You know, what kind of languagethat we need to look at on the,
or what do we need to look at onthe label to know what we need
to apply and how we can notnecessarily think about
alternatives.
And I'll explain about whythat's important in a moment,
but really take intoconsideration a lot of the
things that we teach in ourpesticide applicator trainings
(04:44):
about a safe usage of personalprotective equipment, but also,
uh, maintenance, uh, personalprotective equipment, uh, taking
care of your PPE in order toextend the life or the
effectiveness of that PPE aslong as possible, if it is
indeed something that can bereused.
So we'll talk about that.
Jessica (05:02):
Right.
All right, so I'm going to letyou just roll right into it.
Tell me everything I need toknow.
Leslie (05:11):
Well, I think one of the big, one of the big
questions that we're gettingright now that I kind of want to
really focus on here at the verybeginning because I think this
is the most important thing toconsider moving forward when we
start talking about PPE andlabels and everything, is that
we're getting a lot of questionsabout whether or not a lot of
these, uh, homemade, uh,personal protective equipment
(05:32):
that has been recommended foruse, uh, when you're out and
about to try to protect you from, uh, you know, infection from
Covid-19, especially homemademasks and whether or not those
have applicability and pesticideapplicator applications as well.
And I'm here to tell you, and,and NMDA will completely back me
up on this, that, um, the labelis law
Sound Effect (05:56):
danger, danger.
Leslie (05:58):
And that's not a euphemism that is a, that is a
real legally binding contract.
And therefore, DIY and otheraspects of PPE that aren't
mentioned are there that goagainst the recommendation in
the label itself are notapplicable in pesticide
application.
So the DIY mask, um, I've seenpeople using, uh, uh, Walmart
(06:21):
sacks and plastic sacks to covertheir hands when they're at the
gas station.
And that's absolute absolutelyapplicable in that tiny
situation for a limited amountof time.
But when you're out making apesticide application, that's
not going to work.
It's going to be cumbersome.
You're not going to have yourhands free in order to, in order
to do what you're doingappropriately and safely.
So these have no applicabilityand pesticide applications and
(06:45):
mainly because they also,they're not, uh, they don't
protect you against the actualpesticides themselves.
Some of these chemicals, youknow, have the ability to bypass
some of these filters and theseplastic bags and everything like
that.
That's why the label recommendspecific types of gloves or
specific types of respiratorsthat you have to have to wear.
(07:07):
And if that's the case, you haveto go with the label every time.
Jessica (07:11):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So following the label, I mean,this is really for your own
good.
Leslie (07:16):
Absolutely.
Jessica (07:16):
It's just for your own protection.
Leslie (07:18):
Absolutely.
And that's, that's, you hit thenail right on the head that
these recommendations are in thelabel in order to protect the
applicator, to protect from aunintentional offsite damage,
things along those lines.
So if it says to use a specifictype of respirator in the label,
then you don't have the optionof maybe reaching for another
type of respirator that youstill have in your, in your
(07:41):
storage.
So what I wanted to do is, uh,is really, uh, talk about that.
And also another thing toconsider that I get a question
about quite frequently is thatif your tank mixing, uh,
different pesticides together inthe same tank, in order to
broaden the spectrum of the pestthat you're able to control,
which label do you follow as faras personal protective
(08:04):
equipment?
You know, cause there might beone label and there's one label
for one product, there's onelabel for another product, which
one do you follow?
And in that situation, alwaysfollow the most restrictive
language, um, in one of herlabels.
So if one label calls for theuse of a respirator and one
label doesn't, then you wear therespirator, when you're tank
mixing those products together.
Jessica (08:25):
Right, right.
Leslie (08:27):
So that's another thing to consider as far as safety
goes.
That's a question I get quitekind of frequently too.
Jessica (08:32):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And so, you know, if you, ifyou're gonna apply something
that you need a respirator forand you don't have a respirator
right now, it's probably not agood time to try to buy one or
find one.
Um, what is your advice on that?
Probably just shouldn't, uh,probably should look for some
alternatives, don't you think?
Leslie (08:52):
Absolutely.
Yeah.
So, you know, the, the firstthing to do is always try to
make sure that you have theappropriate personal protective
equipment in your storage if youcan find it.
So if you make applications thatutilize this protection,
personal protective equipmentquite frequently, then you may
want to try to see if you canfind, um, a product in order to
(09:15):
purchase in order to build upyour stores.
But of course, like we said,that's going to be difficult.
And quite frankly, I find thatbecoming more and more difficult
as we progress.
So one of the alternativescertainly is to consider the
effectiveness of alternativepesticides that don't require
the use of a respirator, thatthere's many of them out there.
(09:35):
Herbicides specifically.
There's only a handful of themthat actually require a
respirator during mixing andapplying.
But of course when you'retalking about other pesticides,
insecticides, fungicides,rodenticides, you know,
depending on what kind of pestyou're applying, respirators are
certainly more prevalent.
Um, and so if you can find analternative pesticide that
(09:58):
doesn't require the use of arespirator but still garners the
same amount of pest control, uh,then maybe it might be worth,
you know, switching your, uh,the pesticide that you're,
you're typically applying justin the midst of a shortage at
least.
Uh, just because again, thosethings are not available.
Jessica (10:20):
I was going to say I mean if all else fails.
I mean, I think that, you know,controlling the weed or
protecting your own health.
I mean, we're going to chooseourselves before we control, you
know, the weed, you know?
Leslie (10:35):
Absolutely.
Yeah, certainly.
And you know, so there's a lotof questions about um, uh, where
that language is within the,within the label itself.
So one of the things that I alsowant to point out, especially in
regards to respirators, is thatit's really important to read
(10:55):
the entire language of the labelbecause there might be different
areas of uh, pesticide exposurethat you have to a respirator
for.
So say the label, my, uh,specifically recommend wearing a
respirator when you're mixing orwhen you're measuring out the
product, if it's a powder,something along those.
(11:16):
So the other thing is thatapplicator's should always note,
uh, any changes or anyrecommendations for what we call
re-entry intervals.
That acronym is REI intervalsand post-harvest intervals, PHI
if you're in agriculture.
And what that is, is that is a,is a specific amount of time
(11:37):
recommended in the label thatyou're going to re-enter the
area that has been, uh, that hasbeen sprayed for a certain
amount of time after thatapplication that perhaps you
need to be using personalprotective equipment for.
So say for 24 hours after youmake an application, if you want
to enter this area, you have tomake sure you have a respirator
(11:57):
or you have to have certainequipment on and in that case,
the alternative is always there,might be to just completely
restrict access to that area asmuch as possible just so you
don't have to depend on having alimited supply of respirators
just to reenter that area ifthat's possible.
Again, probably the best thingwould be to try to make
(12:18):
applications of a pesticide thatwill generate the same amount of
pest control but not require theuse of the respirators.
Jessica (12:25):
Right.
Right.
Leslie (12:27):
So some people are questioning, a lot of the
questions that I get is like,well, I have this product, do I
need a respirator?
And of course my, my answer isalways read the label.
Uh, currently I have anextension publication that's in
the review process, so hopefullythat'll be coming into print
within the next few weeks.
(12:48):
Um, that is really covering theair of the information that
we're talking about today that I, uh, that I wrote with, uh,
other professors.
Dr.
Amanda Skidmore and PhillipLujan, as well as
representatives from New MexicoDepartment of Agriculture,
Steven Baca and Nathan Abramson.
And what we have in thispublication along with, uh, the
section on respirators isreferences to a couple of
(13:11):
websites.
So some universities arestarting to put together a
comprehensive list of pesticides, uh, and, and what their
category is or what theirrequirements are for a certain
PPE, specifically respirators.
So some of them are just listingas many, uh, products as they,
(13:33):
uh, as many pesticides as theypossibly can within their state
that are labeled within theirstate and determining whether or
not they need a respirator ornot.
Some of them are going for theapproach of only listing
pesticides that don't require arespirator in the current
situation.
So these are really goodresources, quick resources.
But of course, you know, onceyou look up a product on this,
(13:55):
on this list to see whether ornot it requires a respirator or
not, the recommendation isalways to go back to the label
and make sure that thatrecommendation is still up to
date.
Because labels change all thetime.
As we know.
So when in doubt, the label islaw and whatever it says on the
label that you need to wear,that's what you need to wear.
Jessica (14:15):
Right, right.
And, uh, what about, um, youknow, some things on IPM?
Leslie (14:23):
So absolutely.
So in the absence of, uh, yeah,in the absence of, uh, the
proper PPE that's recommended bythe label, if there's not a
comparative pesticide that would, uh, generate this, the
appropriate level of pestcontrol that's available, that
doesn't require a respirator.
(14:43):
But one of the things that wecan always depend on, and quite
frankly, I would say one of themost important aspects of any
type of pest management, weed,insects, diseases, vertebrae
pest, is incorporatingintegrating pest managment.
There are other managementtechniques that we can utilize
such as a preventative measures.
(15:06):
So in the case of weeds, I thinkwe've talked about some of these
in the other podcast.
I have a feeling we're, I thinkwe're scheduled to probably do a
more in depth podcasts in thefuture on integrated pest
management to really go intothese categories that I'm
talking about.
But, um, a preventative measure.
So in the case of weeds,preventing weed seed from coming
into your area in the firstplace.
(15:28):
So when you go out hiking orwalking, check the bottom of
your shoes to make sure youdon't have goat heads on the
bottom of your shoes.
You know, if you do pick themout before you go into your
property, that's preventativemeasures.
These have mechanics.
So the use of tools in order toremove or damage or prevent the
weeds from germinatingsuccessfully.
(15:48):
So most people ask me, what'sthe most effective method of
organic control?
And that would be your hands.
Haven't developed a resistanceto them yet.
And they're pretty effective atwhat they do depending on the
weed, of course.
Um, there's also culturalcontrol.
So there's a little bit ofconfusion as to what the
difference between cultural andmechanical control is.
Cultural control is any of theinputs that you put into your
(16:11):
desirable plant.
So say you have a garden in yourbackyard, you're going to water
that garden, you're going tofertilize that garden.
You're probably going to putmulch down in order to prevent
weeds from coming up in thegarden because the healthier
your plant is, the morevegetables and the more fruit
that you get from it.
But also the more it's able toout compete, uh, weeds that are
(16:32):
starting to come up during theseason.
So the healthier the plant is,the more competitive it is with
the weeds as opposed tomechanical control, which is
just the use of tools.
Yes, I do.
I do also any questions onbiological control?
Quite a bit.
Um, we'll probably talk aboutthat in more in depth.
But biological control is onlygoing to be applicable with
(16:52):
certain weeds and certaininsects in many cases.
And as far as how effective theyare, um, they can injure the
weed.
They're a great tool to have inyour tool belt, but for the most
part, it's not ecologicallysmart for them to kill their
hosts because once they do,there's no more food.
So you can't really depend on,you know, going out into your
(17:15):
backyard and releasing all ofthese wonderful insects that are
going to only eat your fieldbind weed in your backyard.
Because field bindweed growsvery quickly.
The insects are probably small.
They can't cause enough damagein the short enough amount of
time to actually kill the weeds.
The other thing is they'reprobably going to fly over into
your neighbor's yard, rightwhere you want them to say no,
(17:41):
they don't really pay attentionto, Oh well you, you've
purchased me online so I need tostay in this yard.
But um, so the idea is is thatthe more you combine these
management practices together,hopefully the less we have to be
dependent on herbicides so wecan reduce our inputs.
Now, herbicides and pesticidesabsolutely have a place in
(18:03):
integrated pest management, butthe idea is that we exhaust all
of these other options thatcould be effective against the
weed, depending on the weed.
And then we save our herbicideapplications for the big, the
big bad guys that really don'trespond to these other
management practices very well.
Therefore we reduce our inputs.
But utilizing IPM is, is, isdoing a lot of what we talked
(18:26):
about on our last podcast is, isreally focusing your management
on the biology of the weed.
So even when utilizing handtools there's an appropriate
time to do that.
You want to do it before theseed forms or before the plant
gets so large and the root getsso deep that you don't get all
of it when you pull it up.
Then the same with herbicides.
(18:46):
You want to make applicationswhen the plant is actively
growing when its young becauseif you wait until the pigweed
plants is as tall as me and I'mroughly 5'10", um, it's way too
mature.
It's just not going to respond.
And therefore any herbicidesthat you apply is nothing but a
wasted application, somethingthat's been put into the
environment that doesn't need tobe there and it's not going to
(19:07):
generate the goal that you hadintended in the first place.
So IPM can be an appropriate useof all of these management
practices.
And again, targeting ourmanagement specifically for the
weed.
And quite frankly, in theabsence of, in the absence of
the use of pesticides,particularly, particularly if we
don't have access to therequired personal protective
(19:30):
equipment as designated by thelabel, then that's pretty much
all we have at our disposal.
It could be a very, veryeffective tool and quite frankly
should be utilized even when youare making pesticide
applications, if that makessense.
Jessica (19:47):
Right, right.
Yeah.
There's a time and a place foreverything.
Leslie (19:51):
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
So as we were talking about, youknow, that's, that's what we're
here for as far as extension.
If you don't know what the weedis in your landscape, you know,
they can send you a picture.
If you're not sure, you can sendit to me and we'll work as hard
as we can to identify that weed.
Cause that's the first step.
Once that's the case startputting, We can start building
(20:11):
an entire management practiceutilizing all of these different
practices and where applicableand when that's going to be the
most opportune time to do so.
Yes.
I completely agree.
So is there anything else youwant to share with us today?
Well, I mean there's a, there'sa couple of other, uh, parts of
(20:35):
personal protective equipmentthat I wanted to just kind of
address.
Um, going back to respiratorsjust for a moment.
I, I'm sorry, I didn't, uh,mention this when we were on the
subject.
Um, the other important thing toconsider with respirators is, is
just general, um, practicegeneral practices like during
(20:56):
applications and when removingyour personal protective
equipment that can also maintainthe integrity of your respirator
for an extended period of time.
So when you're makingapplications, and this is one
thing that they're talking aboutwith the homemade masks, with
the covid situation, is that ittends to give people a false
sense of security and thereforethey're touching their face more
(21:18):
often because they're wearing amask.
Jessica (21:21):
Ah...
Leslie (21:21):
And so when you're making a pesticide application
and you have your gloves on thathave been mixing these
pesticides that have been wornwhen spraying pesticides, you
certainly don't want to reach upand make adjustments to your
mask or take your mask off orjust put it back on when you
have contaminants on your hand.
There's a hierarchy when, uh,when removing personal
(21:43):
protective equipment to makesure to limit the amount of
contamination, uh, for certainother pieces of equipment.
So with respirators, um, andmost people who are people who
have pesticide applicatorlicenses, know this, you
actually have to have a trainingin order to, to, uh,
appropriately wear and size yourrespirator mask.
(22:08):
And the idea behind that is itthat if your mask fits
appropriately, you're wearing itappropriately.
There's no need to, um, put asuse your hands to continually
make adjustments.
It shouldn't be flipping, itshould be moving, it shouldn't
be bothering you.
Um, and the other thing is thatit's important to wear your
respirator correctly.
(22:29):
So one of the things that, Idon't know if you've seen it, uh
, when you ended up goinggrocery shopping, like I do
people walking around with masksand their nose is sticking out
the top and it's like, uh...
Jessica (22:39):
Yeah, what's the point?
Leslie (22:45):
And you know, granted it is annoying when you're
wearing a mask.
I have glasses and every time Iwear my mask cause I breathe, my
glasses fog up.
But, and it's annoying.
I completely get that, but atthe same time, that also tells
me that that map is probablyappropriate because if, if
things are having a difficulttime getting out, they're
probably having a difficult timegetting in too, um, which leads
(23:08):
to the fogging of your glasses.
So, um, uh, the other thing isthat when you're making a
pesticide application, oneindication that you know, it's
not as always as easy as justputting a mask on because if
it's not fitted appropriately,you don't have the training to
know if it's fittedappropriately, then you're still
exposed to inhalation of thosepesticides.
(23:29):
So anytime you're making anapplication and you have a
respirator on and you can smellthe chemical aspects of that
application, odds are you'reprobably not wearing a
respirator correctly.
The other thing is to maintainsafety.
If you have a respirator that ismore permanent, that has filter
inserts, anytime you put thatrespirator on and you can smell
(23:52):
residue of the pesticide inthose filters, it's time to
change those filters.
So if you don't have filtersafter that point, then of course
that's when we have to startconsidering maybe alternate
methods of control, even usingalternate pesticides that don't
require that respirator.
But the other thing that I didwant to touch on that I get, uh,
(24:13):
quite a few questions on is, uh,is gloves.
What do we do in the absence ofgloves?
Because, uh, just likerespirators, those disposable
gloves are, are really hard tofind right now and especially
hard because everybody's wearingthem as well.
They should be.
So one of the things I wanted topoint out is that, uh,
(24:34):
especially people who wereessential workers, they really
don't have a choice in thatinstance.
They need those disposablegloves, medical personnel, when
they go from person to person,they have to be able to dispose
or to take off those gloves,throw them away, change them
out, in order to protectthemselves and the people that
they're dealing with.
The benefit with pesticideapplications is that we, we have
(24:56):
quite a few options for, uh, uh,for gloves at our disposal that
have a little bit more longevitythan say, the disposable nitrile
gloves, which are going to bethe ones that are really hard to
find right now.
There are different, um, uh,there are different, uh, sorry.
(25:17):
Uh, there are differentmaterials that comprise gloves
such as neoprene, uh, butylgloves, barrier laminate, vicom.
Some of these are gonna be moreexpensive, some of these thicker
, um, they may not be applicablein every application sense just
because the thicker they are,the more cumbersome they are.
But, um, uh, and in many cases,the label will make a
(25:41):
recommendation of wear glovesthat are waterproof or wear
gloves that are chemicalresistant.
And that that's a designationthat's important to understand
because if a glove is waterproofonly, it may not be resistant to
, uh, uh, to penetration fromcertain chemicals.
And so that was not appropriatein that situation.
(26:03):
But if you are wearing, uh, orif you are utilizing gloves that
have more longevity such as the,uh, such as the butyl, uh,
rubber or neoprene barrierlaminate, vicon, um, as I'm
talking about with respirators,it's really important to follow
that sort of chain of commandwhen you're, uh, when you're
(26:26):
cleaning, removing pesticides oryour personal protective
equipment after making anapplication.
So in many cases, the firstthing you do is you take off
your gloves.
Well, depending on the gloves,there are certain ways to remove
those gloves in order tominimize the contaminants your
bare hand.
The other thing is the firstthing you do after removing a
(26:47):
glove is you wash your handsregardless of if it's disposable
or whatever the material is.
Um, but if the material isthicker and is meant to be used
for application afterapplication, you know, you would
wash those gloves first beforetaking them off so you can wash
the gloves in soap and water inthe same way that you do your
hand before removing thosegloves.
(27:09):
Once you do, you wash your hands.
The other thing is that you wantto make sure that you're
removing your gloves when goingfrom task to task.
So if you just got done mixingyour herbicide, your, uh,
herbicide mixture and putting itin the tank and you're going to
get the in the vehicle to, youknow, take the tank out to the,
uh, area of your field in whichyou're going to make the
(27:31):
application.
You need to take your glovesoff, you need to change them or
you need to clean them.
Otherwise you're going to getcontaminants on the steering
wheel and in the cab of whatevervehicle you're using in order to
pull the, um, uh, to pull thesprayer.
So, you know, load up all oftheir stuff, get into their
(27:52):
truck, go to the next locationwithout changing their gloves.
And that just helps to spreadcontamination all through the
cab.
You could get that on yourpersonal clothes.
If you take that home, then allof a sudden there's
contamination in midst of yourfamily.
So it's really important to makesure that you're changing your
PPE.
You're cleaning your PPE andyou're removing it appropriately
(28:14):
to minimize carrying,contamination beyond the task
that you're doing.
Uh, the other thing that Ididn't talk about with
respirators that would apply togloves that would apply to, um,
really any personal protectiveequipment is storage adequate
storage.
So obviously you might not bemaking pesticide applications
(28:35):
every single day.
So if you have respirators andgloves and Tyvek suits that are
meant to be used in multipleapplications situations, you're
going to want to store thoseappropriately.
You want to store the you tomake sure that they're clean
before putting them away forstorage.
Um, you want to make sure thatyou're not storing them in the
same place that you store yourpesticides or that they would be
(28:58):
exposed to pesticides.
So instead of just throwing themin the backseat of your truck,
you know, maybe once your glovesdry or your respirator dry, put
them in a plastic bag or putthem in a Tupperware that
protects them from beingcontaminated from other sources.
The other thing is that you wantto make sure that you store this
equipment out of direct sunlightbecause of course, sunlight, UV
(29:22):
light, break down certainmaterials.
And if your gloves, say forinstance, are sitting in their
appropriate Tupperware containerthat's fully exposed to the
light, next time you go andreach for them, they may be more
brittle and they have tears andtherefore they can't be used as
your personal protectiveequipment because the materials
have been compromised.
(29:45):
Um, I guess another one of thequestions I, I typically get
that I want to cover right quickis, um, is what happens when,
you know, the label only callsfor long sleeves and long pants,
closed toed shoes.
That's pretty much anypesticide.
And quite frankly, my motto isalways, always better to be
(30:05):
safer than sorry.
Even when I'm in my backyard,just applying fertilizers or
even if I'm applying organicoptions, because we talked in
the last presentation about thefact that they could be
injurious as well.
I always have at least longpants on closed toed shoes, most
likely gloves if I have themavailable.
(30:28):
Um, I can't say how many timesI've been driving through
neighborhoods and I see peoplein shorts and flip flops making
applications of whatever's inthat tank.
Obviously that's notappropriate, but right when you,
yeah, when you spray in longpants, it may be that you get a
little bit of contaminants onyour clothes.
What do you do then?
(30:50):
So the recommendation is always,always to have a separate
washing system for yourpesticide clothes.
If you're just making anapplication in your backyard of
an over the counter productsthat make sure you wash those
clothes completely separate fromthat of your family or your
(31:11):
regular clothes that have notbeen exposed to pesticides.
You might want to wash them onmultiple cycles.
I've heard anywhere from two isrecommended, three is better.
Just make sure you get a littleof that contaminant and all of
that rinsate out of there andout of the washing machine.
But also it's important once youtake those clothes out of the
(31:31):
washing machine to run it on acycle with no clothes in the
washing machine to make sure youget any of that contaminant out
of the washer itself, uh,recommended that, uh, if you
have the capability to takethose clothes and hang them on a
clothesline exposed fully asmuch as possible to sunlight
(31:52):
because, UV light also breaksdown pesticides.
So yeah, when doing that asopposed to just throwing them in
the dryer, which of course youhave to do the exact same, uh,
that's a little bit moredifficult.
Um, it's always recommended totry to, to hang them on a
clothesline because the airallows it to dry, allow, it
exposes that pesticide to theelements, but also it gets
(32:14):
exposed to the sunlight and thatcould further break down any
residues that are on the clothesthemselves.
So that's another recommendationthat you can take that, you
know, some people, you know,again, you know, when you make
application after application orif you're not familiar with
making applications, these arethings that people might not
consider.
But it just helps protect youand helps protect your family
(32:36):
and it helps protect theintegrity of the clothes you're
wearing.
Another question I get is, wellwhat happens if I accidentally
spilled a pesticide on on myselfor I spill some on my jeans?
If you have an exorbitant amountof pesticide on your clothes, it
might just be worth it to justdispose of them rather than try
to clean them just because thehigher the concentrate, the more
(32:58):
that's going to build upresidues in your washer,
especially if you're sharingthat washing machine with your
family.
So that's another thing.
So a lot of, a lot of what I'vebeen talking about today seems
like common sense and it is, butwhen you're out making
applications and you have allthese things on your mind or you
know you've got to get to onelocation, you've got to make
(33:20):
multiple application in thecourse of the day, you're in a
rush.
Sometimes you know theappropriate considerations for
the proper use of personalprotective equipment and also
the proper care, of personalprotective equipment is, is not
necessarily followed to a tee.
And in the midst of not having,um, personal protective
(33:43):
equipment, replacements topurchase or that are available.
If we do make these mistakes,these are things that we're
going to have to really focus onbecause you know, that that one
box of gloves, maybe all youhave left for the remainder of
the year.
I, I don't know what the currentsituation is going to lead to,
but...
Jessica (34:01):
R ight.
Leslie (34:02):
But yeah, I mean it's not necessarily novel
information, but really takingcare of your personal protective
equipment is only going toensure that it takes care of you
in the long run as well.
So all of these things arereally important to consider.
Labels don't include thatinformation just to make it seem
really boring when you have toread them.
(34:24):
They're there, for your safety.
Jessica (34:26):
Yeah.
Leslie (34:26):
So make sure that these pesticides are being applied in
the appropriate way, um, in away that is going to generate
successful pest control, butalso in a safe and sustainable
way.
So when in doubt, always readthe label, follow the label.
Jessica (34:44):
Always, always, always.
Well, uh, that was really goodinformation today and definitely
much needed during these times.
(35:04):
So I want to thank you again forbeing on my podcast.
Leslie (35:07):
Thank you for having me.
I had a lot of fun.
Jessica (35:10):
Yeah, always good.
Thanks everyone for listening.
If you enjoy this podcast, don'tforget to hit the subscribe
button on Apple podcast,Stitcher, Google play, or
whatever app you're using tolisten to this podcast.
Want more information?
You can visit us at our website,grantextension.nmsu.edu follow
us on Facebook at NMSU, GrantCounty, CES, Snapchat at Grant
County NM 4-H, shoot us an emailat grant@nmsu.edu or give us a
call,(575) 388-1559.
(35:14):
New Mexico State University is an equal opportunity,
affirmative action employer andeducator.
NMSU and the U.S.
Department of Agriculturecooperating.New Mexico State
University is an equalopportunity, affirmative action
employer and educator.
NMSU and the U.S.
Department of Agriculturecooperating.New Mexico State
University is an equalopportunity, affirmative action
employer and educator.
NMSU and the U.S.
Department of Agriculturecooperating.
Jessica (35:14):
Hooky with Sloane by Bird Creek Creative Commons—
Attribution 3.0 Unported— CC BY3.0 https://creativecommons.
Sound Effects provided bySoundsnap
Welcome to the Extension Connection podcast.
The Grant County CooperativeExtension Service is here to
help connect you with researchbased information about economic
development, energy and water,farm and ranch, yard and garden,
natural resources, health andwell being, and our very popular
youth development program 4-H.
I'm your host, Jessica Swapp,the 4-H and agriculture agent
here in Grant County, NewMexico.
We are part of New Mexico StateUniversity's College of
Agricultural, Consumer andEnvironmental Science and we are
here to serve you.
So let's get started.
(00:50):
Hi everyone.
I thought it might beappropriate to ask Dr.
Leslie Beck back onto thepodcast.
Um, just because everybody'sdoing a little bit more yard
work nowadays.
Um, life has kind of changed forall of us, so we're getting
outside, we're doing yard work.
Um, and I thought it wasimportant to touch base with her
on the safety aspects of, um,some of the things you might be
(01:15):
doing outside.
Um, as you know, there's ashortage on, uh, protective
equipment.
So we kind of dive deep into,um, what we need to do and what
can be done and the properprocedures, um, that need to be
taken in order to, to get thingstaken care of in your landscape.
So I hope you'll enjoy
Speaker 1 (01:35):
[Weed eater sound effect]
Jessica (01:41):
Welcome to the podcast today.
Um, I have a guest that you'veheard from before, Dr.
Leslie Beck who is the extensionweed specialist and she's coming
back on the podcast today totalk about some different, um,
subjects as they relate towhat's going on right now.
(02:02):
So, um, some things about, uh,protective, personal protective
equipment, otherwise known asPPE.
There's some shortages.
Um, she's gonna kind of give usthe heads up on all of that.
So welcome to the podcast today,Leslie.
Leslie (02:16):
Thank you for having me.
I'm so excited to be here.
Jessica (02:20):
I'm glad to have you back.
Yeah, so your info on the wholedandelion thing, like totally
cursed me cause my lawn wastaken over by dandelions shortly
after I released that podcast.
I'm blaming you.
Leslie (02:38):
Well, you know, it's my fault as the weeds keep coming
back.
T hat's why my voice sounds theway it does today.
I think they're getting theirrevenge on me allergy wise.
S o hopefully I won't cough andsneeze.
But the good thing is, is thatbased on what we talked about,
you're raring to go in the fallwhen it's the most opportune
time to get them right?
Jessica (02:56):
Right.
I attempted to control them alittle bit and then I just, I've
just given up at this point ifit's green it gets to stay.
Leslie (03:07):
Yeah and that situation, they just kind of
look at you and go, neenerneener you know.
Jessica (03:10):
Yeah they straight up were like, ha ha lady, you don't
scare me.
So, but speaking of, uh, youknow, weeds and weed management
and stuff, um, with the COVID-19stuff that's going on, um, you
know, when you're using, uh,some of these herbicides, you
(03:31):
need to protect yourself withpersonal protective equipment.
But that's, that's becoming kindof a, there's a shortage coming
with that.
Do you want to talk about that alittle bit?
Leslie (03:41):
Yeah.
We're, we're getting a lot ofquestions about what, what we
can anticipate with the upcomingor actually the, uh, personal
protective equipment shortagethat we're experiencing now that
quite frankly, I don't see, youknow, becoming less of an issue,
uh, by the end of the year even.
I think personal protectiveequipment is going to continue
to be scarce, mostly because itis being diverted to essential
(04:03):
workers, uh, medical personnel,uh, workers in the field,
workers in the fields and atsupermarkets, things along those
lines.
And honestly, I think that'sabsolutely appropriate.
So what we're going to talkabout today, or I hope we're
going to talk about today isjust a couple of considerations
when, uh, when making thesepesticide applications, uh, and
(04:23):
what type of personal protectiveequipment to use.
You know, what kind of languagethat we need to look at on the,
or what do we need to look at onthe label to know what we need
to apply and how we can notnecessarily think about
alternatives.
And I'll explain about whythat's important in a moment,
but really take intoconsideration a lot of the
things that we teach in ourpesticide applicator trainings
(04:44):
about a safe usage of personalprotective equipment, but also,
uh, maintenance, uh, personalprotective equipment, uh, taking
care of your PPE in order toextend the life or the
effectiveness of that PPE aslong as possible, if it is
indeed something that can bereused.
So we'll talk about that.
Jessica (05:02):
Right.
All right, so I'm going to letyou just roll right into it.
Tell me everything I need toknow.
Leslie (05:11):
Well, I think one of the big, one of the big
questions that we're gettingright now that I kind of want to
really focus on here at the verybeginning because I think this
is the most important thing toconsider moving forward when we
start talking about PPE andlabels and everything, is that
we're getting a lot of questionsabout whether or not a lot of
these, uh, homemade, uh,personal protective equipment
(05:32):
that has been recommended foruse, uh, when you're out and
about to try to protect you from, uh, you know, infection from
Covid-19, especially homemademasks and whether or not those
have applicability and pesticideapplicator applications as well.
And I'm here to tell you, and,and NMDA will completely back me
up on this, that, um, the labelis law
Sound Effect (05:56):
danger, danger.
Leslie (05:58):
And that's not a euphemism that is a, that is a
real legally binding contract.
And therefore, DIY and otheraspects of PPE that aren't
mentioned are there that goagainst the recommendation in
the label itself are notapplicable in pesticide
application.
So the DIY mask, um, I've seenpeople using, uh, uh, Walmart
(06:21):
sacks and plastic sacks to covertheir hands when they're at the
gas station.
And that's absolute absolutelyapplicable in that tiny
situation for a limited amountof time.
But when you're out making apesticide application, that's
not going to work.
It's going to be cumbersome.
You're not going to have yourhands free in order to, in order
to do what you're doingappropriately and safely.
So these have no applicabilityand pesticide applications and
(06:45):
mainly because they also,they're not, uh, they don't
protect you against the actualpesticides themselves.
Some of these chemicals, youknow, have the ability to bypass
some of these filters and theseplastic bags and everything like
that.
That's why the label recommendspecific types of gloves or
specific types of respiratorsthat you have to have to wear.
(07:07):
And if that's the case, you haveto go with the label every time.
Jessica (07:11):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So following the label, I mean,this is really for your own
good.
Leslie (07:16):
Absolutely.
Jessica (07:16):
It's just for your own protection.
Leslie (07:18):
Absolutely.
And that's, that's, you hit thenail right on the head that
these recommendations are in thelabel in order to protect the
applicator, to protect from aunintentional offsite damage,
things along those lines.
So if it says to use a specifictype of respirator in the label,
then you don't have the optionof maybe reaching for another
type of respirator that youstill have in your, in your
(07:41):
storage.
So what I wanted to do is, uh,is really, uh, talk about that.
And also another thing toconsider that I get a question
about quite frequently is thatif your tank mixing, uh,
different pesticides together inthe same tank, in order to
broaden the spectrum of the pestthat you're able to control,
which label do you follow as faras personal protective
(08:04):
equipment?
You know, cause there might beone label and there's one label
for one product, there's onelabel for another product, which
one do you follow?
And in that situation, alwaysfollow the most restrictive
language, um, in one of herlabels.
So if one label calls for theuse of a respirator and one
label doesn't, then you wear therespirator, when you're tank
mixing those products together.
Jessica (08:25):
Right, right.
Leslie (08:27):
So that's another thing to consider as far as safety
goes.
That's a question I get quitekind of frequently too.
Jessica (08:32):
Yeah.
Yeah.
And so, you know, if you, ifyou're gonna apply something
that you need a respirator forand you don't have a respirator
right now, it's probably not agood time to try to buy one or
find one.
Um, what is your advice on that?
Probably just shouldn't, uh,probably should look for some
alternatives, don't you think?
Leslie (08:52):
Absolutely.
Yeah.
So, you know, the, the firstthing to do is always try to
make sure that you have theappropriate personal protective
equipment in your storage if youcan find it.
So if you make applications thatutilize this protection,
personal protective equipmentquite frequently, then you may
want to try to see if you canfind, um, a product in order to
(09:15):
purchase in order to build upyour stores.
But of course, like we said,that's going to be difficult.
And quite frankly, I find thatbecoming more and more difficult
as we progress.
So one of the alternativescertainly is to consider the
effectiveness of alternativepesticides that don't require
the use of a respirator, thatthere's many of them out there.
(09:35):
Herbicides specifically.
There's only a handful of themthat actually require a
respirator during mixing andapplying.
But of course when you'retalking about other pesticides,
insecticides, fungicides,rodenticides, you know,
depending on what kind of pestyou're applying, respirators are
certainly more prevalent.
Um, and so if you can find analternative pesticide that
(09:58):
doesn't require the use of arespirator but still garners the
same amount of pest control, uh,then maybe it might be worth,
you know, switching your, uh,the pesticide that you're,
you're typically applying justin the midst of a shortage at
least.
Uh, just because again, thosethings are not available.
Jessica (10:20):
I was going to say I mean if all else fails.
I mean, I think that, you know,controlling the weed or
protecting your own health.
I mean, we're going to chooseourselves before we control, you
know, the weed, you know?
Leslie (10:35):
Absolutely.
Yeah, certainly.
And you know, so there's a lotof questions about um, uh, where
that language is within the,within the label itself.
So one of the things that I alsowant to point out, especially in
regards to respirators, is thatit's really important to read
(10:55):
the entire language of the labelbecause there might be different
areas of uh, pesticide exposurethat you have to a respirator
for.
So say the label, my, uh,specifically recommend wearing a
respirator when you're mixing orwhen you're measuring out the
product, if it's a powder,something along those.
(11:16):
So the other thing is thatapplicator's should always note,
uh, any changes or anyrecommendations for what we call
re-entry intervals.
That acronym is REI intervalsand post-harvest intervals, PHI
if you're in agriculture.
And what that is, is that is a,is a specific amount of time
(11:37):
recommended in the label thatyou're going to re-enter the
area that has been, uh, that hasbeen sprayed for a certain
amount of time after thatapplication that perhaps you
need to be using personalprotective equipment for.
So say for 24 hours after youmake an application, if you want
to enter this area, you have tomake sure you have a respirator
(11:57):
or you have to have certainequipment on and in that case,
the alternative is always there,might be to just completely
restrict access to that area asmuch as possible just so you
don't have to depend on having alimited supply of respirators
just to reenter that area ifthat's possible.
Again, probably the best thingwould be to try to make
(12:18):
applications of a pesticide thatwill generate the same amount of
pest control but not require theuse of the respirators.
Jessica (12:25):
Right.
Right.
Leslie (12:27):
So some people are questioning, a lot of the
questions that I get is like,well, I have this product, do I
need a respirator?
And of course my, my answer isalways read the label.
Uh, currently I have anextension publication that's in
the review process, so hopefullythat'll be coming into print
within the next few weeks.
(12:48):
Um, that is really covering theair of the information that
we're talking about today that I, uh, that I wrote with, uh,
other professors.
Dr.
Amanda Skidmore and PhillipLujan, as well as
representatives from New MexicoDepartment of Agriculture,
Steven Baca and Nathan Abramson.
And what we have in thispublication along with, uh, the
section on respirators isreferences to a couple of
(13:11):
websites.
So some universities arestarting to put together a
comprehensive list of pesticides, uh, and, and what their
category is or what theirrequirements are for a certain
PPE, specifically respirators.
So some of them are just listingas many, uh, products as they,
(13:33):
uh, as many pesticides as theypossibly can within their state
that are labeled within theirstate and determining whether or
not they need a respirator ornot.
Some of them are going for theapproach of only listing
pesticides that don't require arespirator in the current
situation.
So these are really goodresources, quick resources.
But of course, you know, onceyou look up a product on this,
(13:55):
on this list to see whether ornot it requires a respirator or
not, the recommendation isalways to go back to the label
and make sure that thatrecommendation is still up to
date.
Because labels change all thetime.
As we know.
So when in doubt, the label islaw and whatever it says on the
label that you need to wear,that's what you need to wear.
Jessica (14:15):
Right, right.
And, uh, what about, um, youknow, some things on IPM?
Leslie (14:23):
So absolutely.
So in the absence of, uh, yeah,in the absence of, uh, the
proper PPE that's recommended bythe label, if there's not a
comparative pesticide that would, uh, generate this, the
appropriate level of pestcontrol that's available, that
doesn't require a respirator.
(14:43):
But one of the things that wecan always depend on, and quite
frankly, I would say one of themost important aspects of any
type of pest management, weed,insects, diseases, vertebrae
pest, is incorporatingintegrating pest managment.
There are other managementtechniques that we can utilize
such as a preventative measures.
(15:06):
So in the case of weeds, I thinkwe've talked about some of these
in the other podcast.
I have a feeling we're, I thinkwe're scheduled to probably do a
more in depth podcasts in thefuture on integrated pest
management to really go intothese categories that I'm
talking about.
But, um, a preventative measure.
So in the case of weeds,preventing weed seed from coming
into your area in the firstplace.
(15:28):
So when you go out hiking orwalking, check the bottom of
your shoes to make sure youdon't have goat heads on the
bottom of your shoes.
You know, if you do pick themout before you go into your
property, that's preventativemeasures.
These have mechanics.
So the use of tools in order toremove or damage or prevent the
weeds from germinatingsuccessfully.
(15:48):
So most people ask me, what'sthe most effective method of
organic control?
And that would be your hands.
Haven't developed a resistanceto them yet.
And they're pretty effective atwhat they do depending on the
weed, of course.
Um, there's also culturalcontrol.
So there's a little bit ofconfusion as to what the
difference between cultural andmechanical control is.
Cultural control is any of theinputs that you put into your
(16:11):
desirable plant.
So say you have a garden in yourbackyard, you're going to water
that garden, you're going tofertilize that garden.
You're probably going to putmulch down in order to prevent
weeds from coming up in thegarden because the healthier
your plant is, the morevegetables and the more fruit
that you get from it.
But also the more it's able toout compete, uh, weeds that are
(16:32):
starting to come up during theseason.
So the healthier the plant is,the more competitive it is with
the weeds as opposed tomechanical control, which is
just the use of tools.
Yes, I do.
I do also any questions onbiological control?
Quite a bit.
Um, we'll probably talk aboutthat in more in depth.
But biological control is onlygoing to be applicable with
(16:52):
certain weeds and certaininsects in many cases.
And as far as how effective theyare, um, they can injure the
weed.
They're a great tool to have inyour tool belt, but for the most
part, it's not ecologicallysmart for them to kill their
hosts because once they do,there's no more food.
So you can't really depend on,you know, going out into your
(17:15):
backyard and releasing all ofthese wonderful insects that are
going to only eat your fieldbind weed in your backyard.
Because field bindweed growsvery quickly.
The insects are probably small.
They can't cause enough damagein the short enough amount of
time to actually kill the weeds.
The other thing is they'reprobably going to fly over into
your neighbor's yard, rightwhere you want them to say no,
(17:41):
they don't really pay attentionto, Oh well you, you've
purchased me online so I need tostay in this yard.
But um, so the idea is is thatthe more you combine these
management practices together,hopefully the less we have to be
dependent on herbicides so wecan reduce our inputs.
Now, herbicides and pesticidesabsolutely have a place in
(18:03):
integrated pest management, butthe idea is that we exhaust all
of these other options thatcould be effective against the
weed, depending on the weed.
And then we save our herbicideapplications for the big, the
big bad guys that really don'trespond to these other
management practices very well.
Therefore we reduce our inputs.
But utilizing IPM is, is, isdoing a lot of what we talked
(18:26):
about on our last podcast is, isreally focusing your management
on the biology of the weed.
So even when utilizing handtools there's an appropriate
time to do that.
You want to do it before theseed forms or before the plant
gets so large and the root getsso deep that you don't get all
of it when you pull it up.
Then the same with herbicides.
(18:46):
You want to make applicationswhen the plant is actively
growing when its young becauseif you wait until the pigweed
plants is as tall as me and I'mroughly 5'10", um, it's way too
mature.
It's just not going to respond.
And therefore any herbicidesthat you apply is nothing but a
wasted application, somethingthat's been put into the
environment that doesn't need tobe there and it's not going to
(19:07):
generate the goal that you hadintended in the first place.
So IPM can be an appropriate useof all of these management
practices.
And again, targeting ourmanagement specifically for the
weed.
And quite frankly, in theabsence of, in the absence of
the use of pesticides,particularly, particularly if we
don't have access to therequired personal protective
(19:30):
equipment as designated by thelabel, then that's pretty much
all we have at our disposal.
It could be a very, veryeffective tool and quite frankly
should be utilized even when youare making pesticide
applications, if that makessense.
Jessica (19:47):
Right, right.
Yeah.
There's a time and a place foreverything.
Leslie (19:51):
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
So as we were talking about, youknow, that's, that's what we're
here for as far as extension.
If you don't know what the weedis in your landscape, you know,
they can send you a picture.
If you're not sure, you can sendit to me and we'll work as hard
as we can to identify that weed.
Cause that's the first step.
Once that's the case startputting, We can start building
(20:11):
an entire management practiceutilizing all of these different
practices and where applicableand when that's going to be the
most opportune time to do so.
Yes.
I completely agree.
So is there anything else youwant to share with us today?
Well, I mean there's a, there'sa couple of other, uh, parts of
(20:35):
personal protective equipmentthat I wanted to just kind of
address.
Um, going back to respiratorsjust for a moment.
I, I'm sorry, I didn't, uh,mention this when we were on the
subject.
Um, the other important thing toconsider with respirators is, is
just general, um, practicegeneral practices like during
(20:56):
applications and when removingyour personal protective
equipment that can also maintainthe integrity of your respirator
for an extended period of time.
So when you're makingapplications, and this is one
thing that they're talking aboutwith the homemade masks, with
the covid situation, is that ittends to give people a false
sense of security and thereforethey're touching their face more
(21:18):
often because they're wearing amask.
Jessica (21:21):
Ah...
Leslie (21:21):
And so when you're making a pesticide application
and you have your gloves on thathave been mixing these
pesticides that have been wornwhen spraying pesticides, you
certainly don't want to reach upand make adjustments to your
mask or take your mask off orjust put it back on when you
have contaminants on your hand.
There's a hierarchy when, uh,when removing personal
(21:43):
protective equipment to makesure to limit the amount of
contamination, uh, for certainother pieces of equipment.
So with respirators, um, andmost people who are people who
have pesticide applicatorlicenses, know this, you
actually have to have a trainingin order to, to, uh,
appropriately wear and size yourrespirator mask.
(22:08):
And the idea behind that is itthat if your mask fits
appropriately, you're wearing itappropriately.
There's no need to, um, put asuse your hands to continually
make adjustments.
It shouldn't be flipping, itshould be moving, it shouldn't
be bothering you.
Um, and the other thing is thatit's important to wear your
respirator correctly.
(22:29):
So one of the things that, Idon't know if you've seen it, uh
, when you ended up goinggrocery shopping, like I do
people walking around with masksand their nose is sticking out
the top and it's like, uh...
Jessica (22:39):
Yeah, what's the point?
Leslie (22:45):
And you know, granted it is annoying when you're
wearing a mask.
I have glasses and every time Iwear my mask cause I breathe, my
glasses fog up.
But, and it's annoying.
I completely get that, but atthe same time, that also tells
me that that map is probablyappropriate because if, if
things are having a difficulttime getting out, they're
probably having a difficult timegetting in too, um, which leads
(23:08):
to the fogging of your glasses.
So, um, uh, the other thing isthat when you're making a
pesticide application, oneindication that you know, it's
not as always as easy as justputting a mask on because if
it's not fitted appropriately,you don't have the training to
know if it's fittedappropriately, then you're still
exposed to inhalation of thosepesticides.
(23:29):
So anytime you're making anapplication and you have a
respirator on and you can smellthe chemical aspects of that
application, odds are you'reprobably not wearing a
respirator correctly.
The other thing is to maintainsafety.
If you have a respirator that ismore permanent, that has filter
inserts, anytime you put thatrespirator on and you can smell
(23:52):
residue of the pesticide inthose filters, it's time to
change those filters.
So if you don't have filtersafter that point, then of course
that's when we have to startconsidering maybe alternate
methods of control, even usingalternate pesticides that don't
require that respirator.
But the other thing that I didwant to touch on that I get, uh,
(24:13):
quite a few questions on is, uh,is gloves.
What do we do in the absence ofgloves?
Because, uh, just likerespirators, those disposable
gloves are, are really hard tofind right now and especially
hard because everybody's wearingthem as well.
They should be.
So one of the things I wanted topoint out is that, uh,
(24:34):
especially people who wereessential workers, they really
don't have a choice in thatinstance.
They need those disposablegloves, medical personnel, when
they go from person to person,they have to be able to dispose
or to take off those gloves,throw them away, change them
out, in order to protectthemselves and the people that
they're dealing with.
The benefit with pesticideapplications is that we, we have
(24:56):
quite a few options for, uh, uh,for gloves at our disposal that
have a little bit more longevitythan say, the disposable nitrile
gloves, which are going to bethe ones that are really hard to
find right now.
There are different, um, uh,there are different, uh, sorry.
(25:17):
Uh, there are differentmaterials that comprise gloves
such as neoprene, uh, butylgloves, barrier laminate, vicom.
Some of these are gonna be moreexpensive, some of these thicker
, um, they may not be applicablein every application sense just
because the thicker they are,the more cumbersome they are.
But, um, uh, and in many cases,the label will make a
(25:41):
recommendation of wear glovesthat are waterproof or wear
gloves that are chemicalresistant.
And that that's a designationthat's important to understand
because if a glove is waterproofonly, it may not be resistant to
, uh, uh, to penetration fromcertain chemicals.
And so that was not appropriatein that situation.
(26:03):
But if you are wearing, uh, orif you are utilizing gloves that
have more longevity such as the,uh, such as the butyl, uh,
rubber or neoprene barrierlaminate, vicon, um, as I'm
talking about with respirators,it's really important to follow
that sort of chain of commandwhen you're, uh, when you're
(26:26):
cleaning, removing pesticides oryour personal protective
equipment after making anapplication.
So in many cases, the firstthing you do is you take off
your gloves.
Well, depending on the gloves,there are certain ways to remove
those gloves in order tominimize the contaminants your
bare hand.
The other thing is the firstthing you do after removing a
(26:47):
glove is you wash your handsregardless of if it's disposable
or whatever the material is.
Um, but if the material isthicker and is meant to be used
for application afterapplication, you know, you would
wash those gloves first beforetaking them off so you can wash
the gloves in soap and water inthe same way that you do your
hand before removing thosegloves.
(27:09):
Once you do, you wash your hands.
The other thing is that you wantto make sure that you're
removing your gloves when goingfrom task to task.
So if you just got done mixingyour herbicide, your, uh,
herbicide mixture and putting itin the tank and you're going to
get the in the vehicle to, youknow, take the tank out to the,
uh, area of your field in whichyou're going to make the
(27:31):
application.
You need to take your glovesoff, you need to change them or
you need to clean them.
Otherwise you're going to getcontaminants on the steering
wheel and in the cab of whatevervehicle you're using in order to
pull the, um, uh, to pull thesprayer.
So, you know, load up all oftheir stuff, get into their
(27:52):
truck, go to the next locationwithout changing their gloves.
And that just helps to spreadcontamination all through the
cab.
You could get that on yourpersonal clothes.
If you take that home, then allof a sudden there's
contamination in midst of yourfamily.
So it's really important to makesure that you're changing your
PPE.
You're cleaning your PPE andyou're removing it appropriately
(28:14):
to minimize carrying,contamination beyond the task
that you're doing.
Uh, the other thing that Ididn't talk about with
respirators that would apply togloves that would apply to, um,
really any personal protectiveequipment is storage adequate
storage.
So obviously you might not bemaking pesticide applications
(28:35):
every single day.
So if you have respirators andgloves and Tyvek suits that are
meant to be used in multipleapplications situations, you're
going to want to store thoseappropriately.
You want to store the you tomake sure that they're clean
before putting them away forstorage.
Um, you want to make sure thatyou're not storing them in the
same place that you store yourpesticides or that they would be
(28:58):
exposed to pesticides.
So instead of just throwing themin the backseat of your truck,
you know, maybe once your glovesdry or your respirator dry, put
them in a plastic bag or putthem in a Tupperware that
protects them from beingcontaminated from other sources.
The other thing is that you wantto make sure that you store this
equipment out of direct sunlightbecause of course, sunlight, UV
(29:22):
light, break down certainmaterials.
And if your gloves, say forinstance, are sitting in their
appropriate Tupperware containerthat's fully exposed to the
light, next time you go andreach for them, they may be more
brittle and they have tears andtherefore they can't be used as
your personal protectiveequipment because the materials
have been compromised.
(29:45):
Um, I guess another one of thequestions I, I typically get
that I want to cover right quickis, um, is what happens when,
you know, the label only callsfor long sleeves and long pants,
closed toed shoes.
That's pretty much anypesticide.
And quite frankly, my motto isalways, always better to be
(30:05):
safer than sorry.
Even when I'm in my backyard,just applying fertilizers or
even if I'm applying organicoptions, because we talked in
the last presentation about thefact that they could be
injurious as well.
I always have at least longpants on closed toed shoes, most
likely gloves if I have themavailable.
(30:28):
Um, I can't say how many timesI've been driving through
neighborhoods and I see peoplein shorts and flip flops making
applications of whatever's inthat tank.
Obviously that's notappropriate, but right when you,
yeah, when you spray in longpants, it may be that you get a
little bit of contaminants onyour clothes.
What do you do then?
(30:50):
So the recommendation is always,always to have a separate
washing system for yourpesticide clothes.
If you're just making anapplication in your backyard of
an over the counter productsthat make sure you wash those
clothes completely separate fromthat of your family or your
(31:11):
regular clothes that have notbeen exposed to pesticides.
You might want to wash them onmultiple cycles.
I've heard anywhere from two isrecommended, three is better.
Just make sure you get a littleof that contaminant and all of
that rinsate out of there andout of the washing machine.
But also it's important once youtake those clothes out of the
(31:31):
washing machine to run it on acycle with no clothes in the
washing machine to make sure youget any of that contaminant out
of the washer itself, uh,recommended that, uh, if you
have the capability to takethose clothes and hang them on a
clothesline exposed fully asmuch as possible to sunlight
(31:52):
because, UV light also breaksdown pesticides.
So yeah, when doing that asopposed to just throwing them in
the dryer, which of course youhave to do the exact same, uh,
that's a little bit moredifficult.
Um, it's always recommended totry to, to hang them on a
clothesline because the airallows it to dry, allow, it
exposes that pesticide to theelements, but also it gets
(32:14):
exposed to the sunlight and thatcould further break down any
residues that are on the clothesthemselves.
So that's another recommendationthat you can take that, you
know, some people, you know,again, you know, when you make
application after application orif you're not familiar with
making applications, these arethings that people might not
consider.
But it just helps protect youand helps protect your family
(32:36):
and it helps protect theintegrity of the clothes you're
wearing.
Another question I get is, wellwhat happens if I accidentally
spilled a pesticide on on myselfor I spill some on my jeans?
If you have an exorbitant amountof pesticide on your clothes, it
might just be worth it to justdispose of them rather than try
to clean them just because thehigher the concentrate, the more
(32:58):
that's going to build upresidues in your washer,
especially if you're sharingthat washing machine with your
family.
So that's another thing.
So a lot of, a lot of what I'vebeen talking about today seems
like common sense and it is, butwhen you're out making
applications and you have allthese things on your mind or you
know you've got to get to onelocation, you've got to make
(33:20):
multiple application in thecourse of the day, you're in a
rush.
Sometimes you know theappropriate considerations for
the proper use of personalprotective equipment and also
the proper care, of personalprotective equipment is, is not
necessarily followed to a tee.
And in the midst of not having,um, personal protective
(33:43):
equipment, replacements topurchase or that are available.
If we do make these mistakes,these are things that we're
going to have to really focus onbecause you know, that that one
box of gloves, maybe all youhave left for the remainder of
the year.
I, I don't know what the currentsituation is going to lead to,
but...
Jessica (34:01):
R ight.
Leslie (34:02):
But yeah, I mean it's not necessarily novel
information, but really takingcare of your personal protective
equipment is only going toensure that it takes care of you
in the long run as well.
So all of these things arereally important to consider.
Labels don't include thatinformation just to make it seem
really boring when you have toread them.
(34:24):
They're there, for your safety.
Jessica (34:26):
Yeah.
Leslie (34:26):
So make sure that these pesticides are being applied in
the appropriate way, um, in away that is going to generate
successful pest control, butalso in a safe and sustainable
way.
So when in doubt, always readthe label, follow the label.
Jessica (34:44):
Always, always, always.
Well, uh, that was really goodinformation today and definitely
much needed during these times.
(35:04):
So I want to thank you again forbeing on my podcast.
Leslie (35:07):
Thank you for having me.
I had a lot of fun.
Jessica (35:10):
Yeah, always good.
Thanks everyone for listening.
If you enjoy this podcast, don'tforget to hit the subscribe
button on Apple podcast,Stitcher, Google play, or
whatever app you're using tolisten to this podcast.
Want more information?
You can visit us at our website,grantextension.nmsu.edu follow
us on Facebook at NMSU, GrantCounty, CES, Snapchat at Grant
County NM 4-H, shoot us an emailat grant@nmsu.edu or give us a
call,(575) 388-1559.
(35:14):
New Mexico State University is an equal opportunity,
affirmative action employer andeducator.
NMSU and the U.S.
Department of Agriculturecooperating.New Mexico State
University is an equalopportunity, affirmative action
employer and educator.
NMSU and the U.S.
Department of Agriculturecooperating.New Mexico State
University is an equalopportunity, affirmative action
employer and educator.
NMSU and the U.S.
Department of Agriculturecooperating.
Jessica (35:14):
Hooky with Sloane by Bird Creek Creative Commons—
Attribution 3.0 Unported— CC BY3.0 https://creativecommons.
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