Mississippi pesticide and fertilizer record rules for lawn care companies

Last reviewed October 11, 2026 · 7 min read

The short answer

In Mississippi, anyone licensed or permitted for professional pest or weed control services must keep complete and accurate records of all work performed, general use pesticides included: the location, the kind of services performed, the date performed, the pest controlled, the brand name and EPA registration number of the pesticide used, the total amount of product used, the pesticide dilution rate, the total volume of diluted pesticide applied, and such other information as may be necessary for a complete record. A restricted use application adds the customer’s name and address, the size of the area treated, the site, the time, and the certified applicator’s name and certification number. Keep records for two years from completion of the work. The rules set no deadline for making the record and no lawn sign or customer notice requirement.

General information, not legal advice. Rules change and can depend on what you apply and where. Confirm what applies to your business with the Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce, Bureau of Plant Industry and the product label before you rely on anything here.

Who regulates lawn care applicators

The Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce’s Bureau of Plant Industry licenses professional pest and weed control services, registers pesticides, certifies applicators and registers fertilizer.

Anyone who receives fees for weed control or pest control services in Mississippi must be licensed under the Regulation of Professional Services law (the Department cites Miss. Code Ann. §§ 69-19-1 through 69-19-11). Its rules for commercial insect, rodent, plant disease and weed control work are Title 2, Part 1, Subpart 3, Chapter 11, Subchapter 01, last amended November 2, 2024. The Department says a lawn maintenance or mowing company that controls weeds with general use herbicides on property it does not own needs a weed control license even if it does not charge separately for the weed control.

A professional services license lets an individual use any pesticide, general use or restricted use, for hire; a commercial applicator certification card alone does not allow applying pesticides for a fee. A license or permit can be suspended, modified, denied, cancelled or revoked for, among other things, failing to keep or make available the required records, or making false records, invoices or reports.

Sources: MDAC Bureau of Plant Industry: Regulation of Professional Services, MDAC: Regulation of Professional Services – Frequently Asked Questions, MDAC: Pesticide Program, MDAC: Feed, Fertilizer, Lime, Soil and Plant Amendments (FFLSP), Miss. Admin. Code Title 2, Part 1, Subpart 3, Chapter 11 – Regulation of Professional Services (Subchapters 01–06, Subchapter 03 repealed; Subchapter 01 amended Nov. 2, 2024), MDAC: Laws & Regulations, Regulations Subpart 3 (Bureau of Plant Industry) index

Licenses you need

Categories: lawn work falls in Horticultural pest control (HCPL), for insect pests, plant diseases or pest animals of ornamental plants, shade trees and lawns, and Horticultural weed control (HCWL), for weeds in ornamental plants and turf, in residential, commercial, public, industrial and manufacturing areas.
Company License: no one may own or operate a business doing these services without first getting a Company License, which authorizes the company to solicit and perform services in its licensed categories and makes it the party primarily responsible for them. It expires three years after issue, and the Bureau must be told of a change of mailing address, physical location or company name within 10 working days.
Services must be performed by bona fide employees of the Company License holder: Operator License holders, Permit holders, and other credentialed or supervised employees.
Each office must be supervised by a credential holder: the principal office by an active Operator License holder in the categories performed, a branch office by an Operator License or Permit holder; no one may supervise more than one office. A company must always employ at least one Operator License holder as its primary operator; if that person leaves, it has 90 days to designate a replacement or the Company License is revoked.
Operator License: in the horticultural pest or weed categories, an applicant needs a degree from an accredited college or university with at least 15 semester hours (or the equivalent) in the category, at least two years of college or university training with special training in it, or a high school diploma or equivalent plus at least one year of experience with a licensed operator within the past two years. For the weed control categories, an applicant without a high school education may qualify with at least two years of experience with a licensed operator within the past three years.
Exams: the Operator License and Permit exams include the federal general standards for commercial applicators plus a separate exam for each category, and the passing score is 70%. An Operator License or Permit also serves as proof of commercial applicator certification in the corresponding category.
Permit: open only to a bona fide employee of a Company License holder who holds a Registered Technician Identification in the same category; a permit holder cannot own and operate a company.
Renewal: Operator Licenses and Permits expire 36 months after issue; to renew, the holder must show that within the 12 months before expiration they attended a Bureau-approved training course or retook and passed the exams.
Registered Technician Identification (RTID): an employee who holds neither an Operator License nor a Permit must have an RTID before making pesticide applications without direct on-site supervision; before getting it, they may work only under the direct on-site supervision of an Operator License holder, a Permit holder, or someone who has held an RTID for at least 12 months. The classroom and on-the-job training required before an RTID is issued (8 + 8 hours classroom and 40 hours on the job) applies to the wood destroying insect, general pest and rodent, and fumigation categories, not to the horticultural pest or weed categories.
Bond and insurance: before a Company License is issued or reissued, the company must furnish a surety bond of at least $2,500 for weed control categories, or at least $5,000 for insect, rodent and plant disease control (or for pest and weed control together). No liability insurance is required for weed control only; companies doing insect, rodent or plant disease control need general liability insurance of at least $100,000 per occurrence and $200,000 annual aggregate. Bond and insurance expire together, and the Company License is invalid when either expires.
Mississippi does not reciprocate professional services licenses with any state (out-of-state operators must pass the license exams), though it does reciprocate commercial applicator certification.
A Landscape Horticulturist License is required for landscaping and setting plants, but not for lawn maintenance such as mowing and fertilizing; a lawn maintenance company may not use “landscape” or “landscaping” in its business name.

The RTID application is signed by the responsible Operator License or Permit holder, who confirms the applicant is a bona fide employee and accepts responsibility for direct supervision (daily or routine contact) and being physically available whenever and wherever needed. The Operator License or Permit holder must keep employees’ training records for as long as the person is employed and at least one year after they leave. The Bureau must be notified within 10 working days when a Permit holder’s employment ends, and within 10 days when an RTID holder’s employment ends (the RTID is returned for cancellation).

Restricted use: a certified commercial applicator (not for hire) may buy and use restricted use pesticides; the Ornamental and Turf Pest Control category (3) covers restricted use pesticides in maintaining ornamental plants and turf, and certification lasts 36 months. A certified applicator may directly supervise a non-certified person’s use of a restricted use pesticide only if all the federal direct supervision requirements of 40 CFR § 171.201 are met first. A licensed applicator who sells pesticides only as an integral part of an application service the applicator performs is exempt from the restricted use pesticide dealer license.

Sources: Miss. Admin. Code Title 2, Part 1, Subpart 3, Chapter 11 – Regulation of Professional Services (Subchapters 01–06, Subchapter 03 repealed; Subchapter 01 amended Nov. 2, 2024), MDAC: Weed and Pest Control License and Permit, MDAC: Regulation of Professional Services – Frequently Asked Questions, MDAC “Professional Services Registered Technician Identification Application” (revised October 2024), Miss. Admin. Code Title 2, Part 1, Subpart 3, Chapter 09 – Pesticide Application Law (Subchapters 01–02), MDAC: Commercial Applicator Certification (Not for hire), Miss. Admin. Code Title 2, Part 1, Subpart 3, Chapter 08 – Pesticide Law (registration; dealers), MDAC: Pesticide Program, MDAC: Landscape Horticulturist Licensing

What to record for each application

Under Chapter 11, § 111.01, persons licensed or permitted for professional services must keep complete and accurate records of all work performed, general use pesticides included. Each record holds:

The location
The kind of services performed
The date performed
The pest controlled
The brand name and EPA registration number of the pesticide used
The total amount of product used
The pesticide dilution rate
The total volume of diluted pesticide applied
Such other information as may be necessary for a complete record

When an application involves a restricted use pesticide, the operator must also record everything the Pesticide Application Law rules require (Chapter 09, Subchapter 02, § 206):

The name and address of the person for whom the restricted use pesticide is applied
The location of the application and the size of the area treated
The crop, commodity, stored product or site of application
The time and date of application
The brand or product name and the EPA registration number
The total amount of restricted use pesticide per location per application
The name and certification number of the certified applicator

The rules set no deadline for making the record after the application.

How long to keep records and who can ask for them

Keep professional services records for two years from completion of the work. Certified applicators must keep complete and accurate records of all work performed for at least two years, holding the restricted use items listed in § 206.
Records must be available for examination by Bureau employees during reasonable business hours.
If records are kept outside Mississippi, the Company License application must include a plan acceptable to the Bureau for access to them.
The Commissioner or a representative may enter public or private premises at reasonable times to enforce the law and rules and may investigate complaints of injury or accidents from pesticide use.
The rules give customers no right to a copy of application records.

Sources: Miss. Admin. Code Title 2, Part 1, Subpart 3, Chapter 11 – Regulation of Professional Services (Subchapters 01–06, Subchapter 03 repealed; Subchapter 01 amended Nov. 2, 2024), Miss. Admin. Code Title 2, Part 1, Subpart 3, Chapter 09 – Pesticide Application Law (Subchapters 01–02), MDAC “Application for a Professional Services Company License”

Customer notice, posting and lawn signs

The professional services and pesticide application rules contain no customer notice, neighbor notice, registry or lawn sign requirement for lawn and ornamental applications; the only posted notices are the durable signs required after termite inspections and treatments. Label-required posting still applies.

All vehicles and mobile equipment used for professional services must be marked for easy identification with the company name. Pesticides stored or carried in anything other than the application device or the manufacturer’s original container must be labeled with the firm’s name, address and phone, the product name, the EPA registration number, the name and percentage of active ingredients, and the label’s signal word.

A tank-mix sample whose concentration falls outside the rule’s tolerance range around the concentration the applicator states is deemed inconsistent with the label (for example, a stated 1.0% must test between 0.88% and 1.24%).

Fertilizer rules

All brands and grades of fertilizer must be registered with the Department and the State Chemist before being sold in Mississippi (Mississippi Fertilizer Law, Miss. Code Ann. §§ 75-47-1 to 75-47-39). Registrants report the tonnage sold in Mississippi for the year ending June 30 and pay an inspection fee of 25 cents ($0.25) per ton on fertilizer sold in bulk or packages over 10 lbs (a 10% penalty, at least $10, if late); product registration is $50 per product under 10 lbs and $10 per product of 10 lbs or more.

The fertilizer rules deal with registration, grades, guarantees, deficiencies, custom mixing, permits and tonnage reports, and set no applicator license, application record, nitrogen or phosphorus limit, blackout dates or setbacks for turf. Lawn maintenance, including fertilizing, does not need a Landscape Horticulturist License.

Sources: MDAC: Feed, Fertilizer, Lime, Soil and Plant Amendments (FFLSP), MDAC “Fertilizer Tonnage Report” (Rev 7/8/24), Miss. Admin. Code Title 2, Part 1, Subpart 3, Chapter 03 – Fertilizer, MDAC: Landscape Horticulturist Licensing

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 Mississippi, Finish job asks the crew for the details Mississippi lists, and the records export with the columns in Mississippi’s order. Here is each item Mississippi lists, set against what the record actually holds. Keeping the record complete and correct is still your responsibility.

Mississippi record items and GroundsQuote’s chemical application record
Mississippi asks for	In GroundsQuote	Status
Location	Address, unit number (on the property), city, state, ZIP and county	Recorded
Kind of services performed	Service, from the job	Recorded
Date performed	Date and time applied, recorded when the crew starts and finishes the job (the office can correct them)	Recorded
Pest controlled	Target pest, set for each chemical on the job	Recorded
Brand name of the pesticide used	Product name, as entered in the chemical’s setup	Recorded
EPA registration number	EPA Reg. No., from the chemical’s setup	Recorded
Total amount of product used	Total used	Recorded
Pesticide dilution rate	Mix ratio, set on the job and required on Mississippi jobs at Finish job; use dilution (%) is offered as another way to state it	Recorded
Total volume of diluted pesticide applied	Water or carrier and gallons of mix applied, set on the job and required on Mississippi jobs at Finish job	Recorded
Such other information as may be necessary for a complete record	Rate applied, area treated, equipment used and the weather at start and finish; the rule is open-ended, so what else belongs on the record is your call	Partly
Restricted use: name and address of the person for whom applied	Customer name and mailing address	Recorded
Restricted use: location and size of the area treated	The property’s address and area treated (sq ft)	Recorded
Restricted use: crop, commodity, stored product or site of application	Where on the property (front lawn, beds, fence line… or a description), offered on Mississippi jobs at Finish job	Recorded
Restricted use: time and date of application	Date and time applied	Recorded
Restricted use: brand or product name and EPA registration number	Product name and EPA Reg. No., from the chemical’s setup	Recorded
Restricted use: total amount per location per application	Total used	Recorded
Restricted use: name and certification number of the certified applicator	Applied by, with each person’s license and certification numbers when license-keeping is switched on, and Supervised by, offered on Mississippi jobs when the person applying is not certified	Recorded
Employees’ training records, kept while employed and at least one year after they leave	Training and ID records for each person, with a copy of the paper; GroundsQuote does not track how long they are kept	Partly
Direct on-site supervision of employees without an RTID, and 40 CFR § 171.201 for restricted use supervision	Not handled by GroundsQuote: it warns when a restricted-use chemical has nobody certified applying or supervising it, but does not track RTIDs or on-site supervision	Not recorded
Company License, Operator License, Permit and RTID renewals and notices to the Bureau	Not handled by GroundsQuote: license numbers, categories and expiry can be kept, but applications, renewals, training credit and notices are yours	Not recorded

On Mississippi jobs Finish job asks for the mix ratio and the gallons of mix applied, and offers where on the property and the supervisor; what else makes a complete record is for you to judge. Keep licenses, renewals and Bureau notices, the surety bond and insurance proof, vehicle marking and service container labels, tank-mix concentrations and any plan for records kept outside Mississippi 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 Mississippi 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

Do I need records for general use pesticides, or only restricted use?

Both. Persons licensed or permitted for professional services must keep complete and accurate records of all work performed, general use pesticides included. A restricted use application adds the items in Chapter 09, Subchapter 02, § 206, such as the size of the area treated and the certified applicator’s name and certification number.

Is there a deadline for writing up the record?

The rules set no deadline for making the record after the application. Records must be kept for two years from completion of the work and be available for examination by Bureau employees during reasonable business hours.

Does a mowing company need a license to spray weeds?

The Department says a lawn maintenance or mowing company that controls weeds with general use herbicides on property it does not own needs a weed control license even if it does not charge separately for the weed control.

Do I need lawn signs or to notify customers in Mississippi?

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

We found none. All brands and grades of fertilizer must be registered before being sold in Mississippi, but the fertilizer rules set no applicator license, application record, nitrogen or phosphorus limit, blackout dates or setbacks for turf.