Not only should pesticides be used carefully, existing laws regarding pesticide applications and licensing requirements for conducting a business should also be complied with. There are three categories of licenses, (local occupational license, limited certification for  commercial landscape maintenance license, or a pest control business license and a certified operators certificate) that could apply to persons who practice landscape maintenance as a business.

In most cases, if a person or company is providing services that only include mowing, edging, landscaping, and fertilizing, only a county or municipal occupational license is needed. (This does not apply to “weed and feed” or “insect control” applications.)

• If a person or company also applies any herbicide (even a granular product of a pesticide coated onto fertilizer), fungicide, or insecticide, to residential lawns or plant beds, a license for pesticide application is required from the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) Bureau of Entomology and Pest Control. Failure to obtain a license can result in fines up to $5,000. This includes the application of “weed and feed” or “insect control” pesticide/fertilizer mixtures to lawns.

• If the only pesticides applied by a person or business are herbicides and “caution”-labeled insecticides applied to plant beds or along the edges of pavement, then a limited certification for commercial landscape maintenance license is needed from the Bureau of Entomology and Pest Control. For this category, each applicator must have a license. This does NOT allow the application of pesticides to turf or the use of insecticides labeled “Warning” or “Danger,” or the application of “weed and feed” or “insect control” pesticide/fertilizer mixtures to lawns.

• If any application of any pesticide is made to a lawn as part of a service provided by a person or business, then a pest control business license and a certified operators certificate are needed from the Bureau of Entomology and Pest Control. This includes the  application of “weed and feed” or “insect control” pesticide/fertilizer mixtures to lawns.

• Government employees and private business employees who are applicators also need a pesticide license to make any  applications to lawns or ornamental plants. This includes the application of “weed and feed” or “insect control” pesticide/fertilizer mixtures to lawns.

• Information on how to obtain these licenses can be obtained from FDACS Bureau of Entomology and Pest Control at (850)\ 921-4177 or at http://www.flaes.org/aes-ent/.