Announcement for a 2 Day Pesticide Core Skills Course on Oʻahu, September 4-5
Posted Aug 20, 2025
LOCATION
Pearl City (zip code 96782) on Oʻahu
DATES & TIMES
September 4-5, 2025. 8:00AM -
5:00 PM each day.
INTRODUCTION
This in-depth two-day short course is about
handling pesticides, including herbicides, in ways that will reduce risks to
people and our environment. It will be conducted by an instructor from the
College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources, University of Hawaiʻi at
Mānoa, training personnel from HIOSH, and HDOA Pesticides Branch.
The course does not include the exam for restricted use pesticide certification. (If you want to take one of the certification exams offered by the
Hawaiʻi Department of Agriculture, read the note “EXAMS FOR CERTIFICATION” near
the bottom of this page.)
WHO WOULD BENEFIT?
The course would benefit people who
want to be better informed about handling pesticides properly or prepare for
the Hawaii Department of Agriculture’s examination for restricted use pesticide
certification.
Current certified applicators will earn 8 re-certification credits (CEUs) in all categories by attending this course.
TOPICS
The instructors will discuss the topics covered by the
study guides in the basic or “core” study packet, which provide general information
common to all categories of certification exams. Certain topics such as
identification and life cycles of specific pests and specialized equipment and
calculations are covered only by the study guides in “category-specific” study
packets, not in the short course. So if you plan to take a certification exam,
you should also study the “category-specific” study guides, such as those in
the “Private 1,2,3” study packet, the “Commercial 2 Forest pest control”
study packet, or the “Commercial 7a,b,c,d,e pest control” study packet. (The
complete list of categories of study packets is at
https://cms.ctahr.hawaii.edu/epp/Education/Study-Guide-Packets.)
The basic or “core” topics to be covered in the short course
include:
| Day
|
Time
|
Topic
|
| 1
|
8:00AM- 9:00 AM
|
Labels
|
| 1
|
9:00 AM-10:00 AM
|
Laws
|
| 1
|
10:00 AM-10:30 AM
|
Environmental considerations
|
| 1
|
10:30 AM- 11:00 AM
|
Pest Management
|
| 1
|
11:30 AM- 12:00 PM
|
Application
|
| 1
|
1:00 PM- 1:30 PM
|
Resources
|
| 1
|
1:30 PM- 2:00 PM
|
Practice questions
|
| 1
|
2:00 PM- 4:30 PM
|
Exercises
|
| 1
|
4:30 PM- 5:00 PM
|
Practice test
|
| 2
|
8:00 AM-12:00 PM
|
Equipment Demo and Calibrations
|
| 2
|
1:00PM- 5:00PM
|
Field Practice 1
|
REGISTRATION
Deadline for registration is August 20, 2025.
Enrollment is limited to 20 people.
If you have a disability and may need accommodations to
participate, contact dragich@hawaii.edu by August 20, 2025
Fee for registration is $115.30 per person. The fee is for the two
days’ presentations, materials, supplies, and classroom handouts. No food or beverages will be
provided. The fee for taking an exam for restricted use pesticide certification
is not included. (If you plan to take one of the certification exams offered by the
Hawaii Department of Agriculture, read the note “EXAMS FOR CERTIFICATION” near
the bottom of this page.)
Registration link is here
STUDY GUIDES
Study guides for certification exams are not
the same as the classroom handouts. You should get the study guides if you plan
to study for a restricted use pesticide certification exam. The guides are
offered as individual downloadable files and as printed booklets. The printed
guides for a certification category are sold together as a “packet”. But you are not required to buy the
printed versions. Anyone may download them free-of-charge from
https://cms.ctahr.hawaii.edu/epp/Education/Study-Guide-Packets.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Contact dragich@hawaii.edu or call (808) 956-6008.
EXAMS FOR CERTIFICATION
Test takers must make an
appointment to take the exam to qualify for certification to buy or use
restricted use pesticides in Hawaii. The Hawaii Department of
Agriculture’s employees will sign up a test taker for a specific location, date
and time. The exam fee is $50. (This fee is not included in the $115.30 fee for
the short course.) Read more about the exams at
hdoa.hawaii.gov/pi/pest/pesticide-applicator-certificationrecertification-2/
FREE BOOKLETS AVAILABLE BEFORE SHORT COURSE BEGINS
For a free copy of the booklet, “Test Your Math Skills,” contact the instructor or
download it
HERE. The leaflet
presents exercises and answers that will help trainees refresh basic math
skills needed to understand the instructor’s calculation examples. Trainees who
find the exercises difficult will get more benefit from the short course if
they get tutoring before the course begins. The exercises review (1) common
fractions and their decimal number equivalents, (2) rounding-off, (3) percent,
(4) conversions between • seconds and minutes • ounces and pounds • fluid
ounces, pints, and gallons • square feet and acres, (5) reading tables, and (6)
calculating square feet of rectangular areas. Test-takers must have these skills
to answer some of the questions in the certification exams.
You can download another free leaflet, Practice Analyzing an Insecticide Label,
HERE.
Study the examples to boost your pesticide label reading skills, which you will
need to plan a pesticide treatment or to prepare for the Hawaii Department of
Agriculture’s restricted use pesticide certification exam.