Arizona pesticide and fertilizer record rules for lawn care companies

Last reviewed October 11, 2026 · 8 min read

The short answer

In Arizona, a licensed pest management business and its applicators must make and keep true and accurate records of every treatment they perform, including treatments under a warranty, for at least three years, and make them available to the property owner or their agent within three business days of a request. After a treatment in or around a residential building of four or fewer units, the business must immediately give the person who asked for it a written notice naming each pesticide by trade name and carrying the state’s warning statement. The statute leaves the contents of the treatment record to the Department’s rules. Arizona’s fertilizer law sets no application records or turf limits.

General information, not legal advice. Rules change and can depend on what you apply and where. Confirm what applies to your business with the Arizona Department of Agriculture, Pest Management Division and the product label before you rely on anything here.

Who regulates lawn care applicators

For-hire pest management in Arizona is regulated by the Pest Management Division of the Arizona Department of Agriculture under A.R.S. Title 3, Chapter 20 (§§ 3-3601 to 3-3633). “Pest management” includes managing pests, including weeds, in or around structures, in ornamental shrubs and trees, along rights-of-way and in lawns or cemeteries, and for-hire work on golf courses. The “business of pest management” covers offering, advertising, bidding on or performing pesticide applications, as well as inspections, inspection reports, recommendations and estimates about infestations.

The chapter does not apply to pesticides used directly in commercial crop and animal production, or to golf courses when the work is not for hire. Pest management is a matter of statewide concern, and counties, cities and towns may not regulate it further. The Director adopts the rules for licensing, recordkeeping and production of records, treatment report requirements, equipment, advertising and the use, storage and application of pesticides.

Pesticide use in general (growers, sellers, custom applicators) is a separate program run by the Department’s Environmental Services Division, whose rules are to exempt pesticide use already regulated under the pest management chapter.

Sources: A.R.S. Title 3 (Agriculture) index, Arizona Legislature, A.R.S. § 3-3601 Definitions, A.R.S. § 3-3602 Applicability of chapter; state preemption, A.R.S. § 3-3603 Powers and duties of director, A.R.S. §§ 3-361 to 3-377 Pesticide Control (§ 3-363 shown)

Licenses you need

Business license: anyone in the business of pest management must hold a business license from the Division, and a person who advertises or offers the work is presumed to be in the business. Employees working for a business licensee do not need a business license of their own.
Financial security: a business license needs proof of financial security (insurance, bond, deposit or similar) of at least $500,000, kept up for the whole license period; if it lapses or falls short the license is suspended. Liability insurance used as security must carry a pesticides and herbicides endorsement (among others for the license categories), and any deductible may not exceed 1% of the total security per occurrence unless the excess is otherwise secured.
Qualifying party: a business may not do pest management in any category without a qualifying party registered in that category, who must be a certified qualified applicator. The qualifying party is responsible for the training, equipping and supervision of all the business’s applicators.
Branch offices: each branch office must be registered before it opens and supervised by a registered branch supervisor.
Applicator certification: the categories include “ornamental and turf pest management”, alongside structural, wood-destroying organism, right-of-way, aquatic and fumigation categories. New applicators and new qualified applicators must submit fingerprints for a state and federal criminal records check, or a current fingerprint clearance card.
Supervision: no one may apply pesticides in a category (other than wood-destroying organisms or fumigation) unless certified in that category or working under the direct supervision of an applicator certified in it. “Direct supervision” means working under the instructions, control and responsibility of a certified applicator who is available for consultation even if not physically present. Only a certified applicator may make recommendations about pest management.
Applicator registration: the Director may require a business to register or identify all its licensed and unlicensed applicators, and a business that uses unregistered applicators can be disciplined.
Fees for the business license, branch office, branch supervisor, qualifying party, applicator certification, qualified applicator certification and applicator registration are set by rule, and late fees may be charged. The Director oversees the approval and content of continuing education courses.

Herbicide-only landscapers: a person doing lawn, garden, shrub or tree maintenance who applies herbicides for weeds is exempt from licensing unless they use restricted use or “danger” herbicides, sterilants or pre-emergent herbicides, offer weed management as their primary service or advertise it, use application equipment holding more than 5 gallons of mixed liquid herbicide or use more than 25 pounds of non-liquid herbicide at an address in a day, work in a crew of two or more herbicide applicators, treat a school or child care facility, or apply herbicide where they did no maintenance that day.

Tip: A business licensee, qualifying party, branch supervisor or applicator can be held jointly responsible for someone they supervise if they fail to train, equip or supervise them properly or fail to keep records of that training, equipping and supervising. Not answering the Director’s requests for that information fully and on time is prima facie evidence of a failure to train, equip or supervise.

Unlicensed pest management can bring a cease and desist order and civil penalties of up to $1,000 for a first and $2,000 for a second occurrence, and doing it with reckless disregard for health and safety is a class 6 felony. After an opportunity for a hearing the Director may revoke, suspend or refuse to renew a license, impose probation, require supplemental continuing education, or impose a civil penalty of up to $1,000 for each violation.

Sources: A.R.S. § 3-3615 Business license; financial security, A.R.S. § 3-3611 License and registration exemptions, A.R.S. § 3-3616 Qualifying party; registration, A.R.S. § 3-3601 Definitions, A.R.S. § 3-3617 Branch office; branch supervisor, A.R.S. § 3-3614 Applicator certification; categories, A.R.S. § 3-3624 Unlawful acts; violations; classification, A.R.S. § 3-3603 Powers and duties of director, A.R.S. § 3-3621 Disciplinary action; grounds; procedure, A.R.S. § 3-3618 Fees, A.R.S. § 3-3613 Landscapers; records; civil penalties, A.R.S. § 3-3622 Joint responsibility; burden of proof

What to record for each application

Licensed businesses and applicators must make and keep true and accurate records of the treatments they perform, including treatments under a warranty or guarantee. Making false or fraudulent records or reports is grounds for discipline.

The statute leaves the contents of those treatment records to the Director’s rules (recordkeeping and production of records requirements), in the Arizona Administrative Code, Title 3, Chapter 8. We could not confirm the current text of those rules from an official source, and they may list more record items than this page does, so check A.A.C. Title 3, Chapter 8 for the full list.

Landscapers exempt from licensing under the herbicide exemption (above) must give each customer a treatment record when they apply herbicide for weeds, holding:

The address of the location of the herbicide application
The date of the application
The trade name or common name of the herbicide applied
The amount of herbicide applied
The name of the person who did the treatment

An exempt landscaper who does not keep or give these records gets a written warning the first time, a civil penalty of at least $50 the second time and up to $1,000 for a third or later violation.

Sources: A.R.S. § 3-3624 Unlawful acts; violations; classification, A.R.S. § 3-3603 Powers and duties of director, A.R.S. § 3-3613 Landscapers; records; civil penalties

How long to keep records and who can ask for them

Keep treatment records for at least three years after the date of treatment.
Make treatment records available to the property owner or the owner’s authorized agent within three business days of their request.
Exempt landscapers keep records with the same information they gave the customer for at least six months after the treatment.
With at least 24 hours’ notice (less when there may be an immediate risk to public health and safety), the Director may require a business, qualifying party or applicator to produce specific records, and not producing them on time is grounds for discipline.
The Director’s agents may enter any property, office or service vehicle where pesticides are used or kept to inspect pesticide use, storage, application and disposal, worker safety materials and pest management records.
A business must let the Division promptly inspect the pest management records at its office when an employee or owner is there with access to them, and may not deny the Division’s agents access to a job site during a treatment, including to take pesticide and soil samples. The Director may also monitor a licensee’s compliance while it is providing pest management services.

Sources: A.R.S. § 3-3624 Unlawful acts; violations; classification, A.R.S. § 3-3613 Landscapers; records; civil penalties, A.R.S. § 3-3603 Powers and duties of director

Customer notice, posting and lawn signs

After a treatment in or around a residential building of four or fewer units, the business must immediately give written notice to the person who asked for the treatment (or their agent), naming each pesticide used by trade name.
For ongoing treatments at other locations (larger residential buildings and commercial sites), the business must give written notice to the person who asked for them before the first application and whenever new or additional pesticides are used, or immediately after each treatment.

Every one of these notices must carry this statement of precaution, printed conspicuously in at least 8-point type: “Warning--pesticides can be harmful. Keep children and pets away from pesticide applications until dry, dissipated or aerated. For more information contact [business license name and business license number] at [telephone number].”

Schools and child care facilities: only a certified applicator may apply pesticides there. The business or certified applicator must notify the school or facility at least 72 hours before any application, giving the date and time, the location and area, the brand name of each pesticide, the business’s name, address, phone number and contact person, and a statement that more information, the label and the safety data sheet are available from them. School districts give pupils, employees and parents at least 48 hours’ notice; child care facilities give parents and staff 48 hours’ notice and post signs at application areas, and any contracted applicator must give the facility enough information to complete those postings.

For an emergency application of a toxicity category III or IV pesticide, or a public health agency’s nonresidual vector control application, at a school or child care facility (both exempt from the 72-hour notice), the treated area must be posted immediately with a sign at least 8½ by 11 inches giving the pesticide name, EPA registration number, date and time of application and the business and applicator’s name and phone number, with a copy at the main entrance, left up at least 48 hours.

Arizona’s pest management statute contains no lawn-sign or posting requirement for residential or commercial lawn applications and no neighbor notification or registry.

Sources: A.R.S. § 3-3621 Disciplinary action; grounds; procedure, A.R.S. § 3-3606 Pesticide applications at schools and child care facilities, A.R.S. § 15-152 Pest management at schools; notice, A.R.S. § 36-898 Child care licensees; pesticide application; notice, A.R.S. § 3-3601 Definitions, A.R.S. § 3-3602 Applicability of chapter; state preemption, A.R.S. § 3-3603 Powers and duties of director

Fertilizer rules

No one may manufacture or distribute commercial fertilizer in Arizona without a commercial fertilizer license ($125 a year per place of business), unless they only pass on a licensee’s packaged or bulk product as labeled.
Each brand and grade of “specialty fertilizer” (fertilizer distributed for non-farm use, including lawns, home gardens, golf courses, parks and cemeteries) must be registered by the company named on its label.
The distributor who sells to the ultimate consumer files quarterly tonnage statements and pays an inspection fee per ton.
Fertilizer labeling is of statewide concern and may not be further regulated by counties, cities or towns.

Arizona’s fertilizer article covers licensing, labeling, registration, inspection and tonnage reports, and sets no application records, nitrogen or phosphorus limits, blackout dates or setbacks for turf.

Source: A.R.S. §§ 3-261 to 3-284 Fertilizer Materials (§ 3-272 shown)

Reports filed with the state

The pest management statute requires no routine monthly or annual pesticide use report from lawn care businesses. Termite work is different: within 30 days after a termite pretreatment, new-construction or final grade treatment, initial corrective termite treatment or wood-destroying insect inspection report, the business files a termite action report with the Division and pays its fee.

On notice from the Department of Environmental Quality, anyone who uses a pesticide on the groundwater protection list (soil-applied by ground equipment or chemigation, or followed by flood or furrow irrigation) must report that use on the state’s form, by the deadline set for custom application reports.

Sources: A.R.S. § 3-3631 Termite action report form; exemption, A.R.S. § 49-305 Groundwater protection list; regulation of pesticides on list, A.R.S. §§ 3-361 to 3-377 Pesticide Control (§ 3-363 shown)

How GroundsQuote’s chemical records line up

GroundsQuote keeps an application record for each chemical a crew puts down on a job. On a job at a property in Arizona, Finish job asks the crew for the details Arizona lists, and the records export with the columns in Arizona’s order. Here is each item Arizona lists, set against what the record actually holds. Keeping the record complete and correct is still your responsibility.

Arizona record items and GroundsQuote’s chemical application record
Arizona asks for	In GroundsQuote	Status
A true and accurate record of each treatment, including treatments under a warranty or guarantee	The chemical application record for each job, saved when the crew finishes it; on Arizona jobs Finish job also offers where on the property, the mix ratio, water or carrier and the supervisor; corrections are kept as history	Recorded
Exempt landscaper: address of the application	Address, city, state, ZIP and county	Recorded
Exempt landscaper: date of the application	Date applied	Recorded
Exempt landscaper: trade or common name of the herbicide	Product name, as entered in the chemical’s setup, with its active ingredients	Recorded
Exempt landscaper: amount of herbicide applied	Total used	Recorded
Exempt landscaper: name of the person who did the treatment	Applied by: everyone riding with the crew that day starts checked, and the crew unchecks anyone who did not apply it	Recorded
Written notice to the customer naming each pesticide by trade name	The application statement lists each product by name; it is ready once the job’s chemicals are recorded, and giving it to the customer (printed, left or emailed) is yours	Recorded
The warning statement with your business license name, license number and phone, in at least 8-point type	The application statement prints Arizona’s warning statement with your business name, phone and business license number (when license-keeping is switched on)	Recorded
Records of training, equipping and supervising your applicators	Each person’s training, ID copies and certificates are kept beside the records; equipment issued and day-to-day supervision are not tracked as such	Partly
School or child care facility: notice at least 72 hours before an application	Not handled by GroundsQuote: give the notice yourself; you can log it on the customer’s page (Chemical notices & contracts)	Not recorded
School or child care facility: 8½ by 11 inch sign for 48 hours after an application exempt from the 72-hour notice	Not handled by GroundsQuote: make and post the sign yourself	Not recorded
Groundwater protection list use report, when the Department of Environmental Quality gives notice	Not handled by GroundsQuote: file it yourself; the totals export by county, supervisor or product for any dates can help	Not recorded
Business license, applicator certification and registration renewals and continuing education	Not handled by GroundsQuote: each person’s license number, category and expiry can be kept, but renewals and continuing education are yours	Not recorded

We could not confirm the current text of the Department’s rules (A.A.C. Title 3, Chapter 8), which may list more record items than this table, so check them before relying on it. Give the customer the application statement (or your own written notice) right after each treatment, send any school or child care notices, and keep the business license, financial security, qualifying party and applicator registrations, fingerprints and continuing education outside GroundsQuote.

Everything a GroundsQuote application record holds

When:: Date and time applied (when the job was finished), job start and finish times (the office can correct them), each chemical’s own start and finish when several go down on one job, and when people may go back onto the lawn (from the label’s re-entry interval)
Where:: Customer name, phone and mailing address, street address, unit number, city, state, ZIP and county of the property, and where on the property it went (front lawn, beds, fence line…)
Who:: Everyone who applied it (the crew riding that day starts checked) and the person supervising, trainees and people who planned it, with each one’s standing (certified, registered technician, trained, not certified or registered), license number, certification or ID number, category and expiry, and the business license when license-keeping is switched on
Product:: Name, type, manufacturer, EPA registration number, state registration number, EUP / Section 18 / 24(c) number, active ingredients, scientific name, concentration, N-P-K and slow-release %, formulation, restricted-use flag, signal word, re-entry interval, the label’s precautions, and copies of the label, safety data sheet and fact sheets on file
Amounts:: Rate applied (per area), area treated in sq ft, total product used, mix ratio, use dilution (%), water or carrier (gallons, and the carrier when it is not water), gallons of mix applied, devices placed, lb of N and P per 1,000 sq ft
Job:: Target pest and the equipment used (both set on the job), the vehicle or sprayer’s license plate, where it was mixed and loaded, permit number, other records the label requires, the supervisor’s instructions, whether the drift plan was used, a review sign-off with the reviewer’s license number and corrective action, a map of the treated area attached to the job, service and crew; your business name, address and phone
Weather:: From the nearest weather station at the start and finish (temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction, gusts, rain in the last hour, conditions), and the conditions on site: the crew confirms the station reading or enters the wind, direction and temperature they measured
Your state:: Each job follows the rules of the state its property is in: Finish job asks for the details that state lists and waits until they are filled in, and the records export in that state’s column order
Paperwork:: An application statement for each job to print, leave or email (each product with its EPA number, active ingredients, type, purpose, rate, amount and mix, where on the property, the date and time, who applied it, the re-entry time and your notes for the customer, with the state’s own lines), and lawn signs laid out from the state’s rule
Kept beside the records:: Each person’s training, ID copies and certificates and what they are responsible for; neighbor requests and notices, registry notices and attempts, notices given to customers, signed waivers and contracts, each with a copy of the paper; soil tests per property; incidents, disposal and purchases in the chemical logs; totals for a year or a month by county, supervisor or product; whether a customer agreed in writing to get application information by email
Changes:: Corrections are saved as history; the earlier record is kept
Reminders:: Finish job reminds the crew of the state’s own steps (a record deadline, trainee paperwork) and warns when a restricted-use chemical has nobody certified applying or supervising it; the schedule lists chemical jobs left without a record in states with a deadline

See how it works on the job in chemical records and field tools, or read about GroundsQuote for lawn treatment companies.

Official sources

Everything on this page comes from these Arizona sources, checked on October 11, 2026. Read them for the full text and any changes since.

Keep application records as the crew finishes the job

Set the chemicals each service uses once. The crew sees the planned amounts for each lawn, and finishing the job saves the record with the product, rate, area, applicator and weather.

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Questions

How long do I keep treatment records in Arizona?

At least three years after the date of treatment, and you must make them available to the property owner or their authorized agent within three business days of a request. The Director can also require specific records with at least 24 hours’ notice.

What must I give a homeowner after a treatment?

After a treatment in or around a residential building of four or fewer units, immediately give the person who asked for it a written notice naming each pesticide by trade name, with the state’s warning statement (“Warning--pesticides can be harmful…”) and your business license name, license number and phone number, printed in at least 8-point type.

Do I need a license if I only spray weeds while maintaining lawns?

Not always. A person doing lawn, garden, shrub or tree maintenance who applies herbicides for weeds is exempt unless, among other things, they use restricted use or “danger” herbicides, sterilants or pre-emergent herbicides, advertise weed management, work in a crew of two or more herbicide applicators, or exceed the 5-gallon or 25-pound limits. Exempt landscapers must still give each customer a treatment record and keep it six months.

Does Arizona require lawn signs after a treatment?

We found no lawn-sign or posting requirement for residential or commercial lawns in Arizona’s pest management statute. The only posting it requires is at schools and child care facilities after an application exempt from the 72-hour notice.

Does Arizona have a turf fertilizer law for lawn care companies?

We found none. Arizona’s fertilizer article covers licensing, labeling, registration, inspection and tonnage reports, and sets no application records, nitrogen or phosphorus limits, blackout dates or setbacks for turf.