Ohio pesticide and fertilizer record rules for lawn care companies

Who regulates lawn care applicators

The Ohio Department of Agriculture licenses pesticide businesses and commercial applicators under Ohio’s pesticide law, Ohio Revised Code Chapter 921. Its pesticide rules are Ohio Administrative Code Chapter 901:5-11. The Department’s Pesticide & Fertilizer Regulation Section also administers fertilizer, under Revised Code Chapter 905 and the fertilizer applicator rules in Administrative Code Chapter 901:5-4.

The Department may enter premises during regular business hours to inspect and copy books, pesticide application records, contracts related to pesticide business activities and financial responsibility (insurance) documents.

Sources: Ohio Revised Code Chapter 921, Pesticides, Ohio Administrative Code Chapter 901:5-11, Pesticides, Ohio Revised Code Chapter 905, Agricultural Additives, Fertilizers, Lime, Ohio Administrative Code Chapter 901:5-4, Fertilizer Applicators, ODA: Ohio Pesticide Certificate and Training Updates

Licenses you need

• Pesticide business license: no one may own or operate a pesticide business, which includes applying pesticides to another’s property for hire, without one. The Department says it is needed by anyone hired to apply any pesticide to someone else’s property in Ohio. The business must employ at least one commercial applicator for each business location, keep a copy of the license displayed at each location, and is responsible for its employees’ handling and use of pesticides.
• The business license costs $35 per licensing period, which runs October 1 to September 30; a renewal not postmarked before the period ends costs 50 percent more.
• Insurance: commercial general liability plus a professional liability policy or an endorsement covering the property you treat, covering bodily injury, property damage, products and completed operations, with at least $300,000 general aggregate, $300,000 per occurrence and $300,000 products and completed operations aggregate. A certificate of insurance or binder goes in with the application.
• Commercial applicator license: needed to apply pesticides for a pesticide business without direct supervision and to apply restricted use pesticides. Lawns are Turf Pest Control (Category 8), which also covers ornamental weed control; insects and diseases on trees and shrubs, and weeds in beds, are General Ornamental Pest Control (Category 6a). You pass a core exam and at least one category exam. The license costs $35 per period (October 1 to September 30, 50 percent more when late). The Department says applicants must be at least 18 from January 1, 2027.
• Recertification: every three years, retake the exams or complete at least 5 hours of approved training in those three years, with at least 1 hour of core material and half an hour for each licensed category. The Department says a license not renewed by September 30 can still be renewed by March 31 if the hours were done before September 30.
• Trained servicepersons: unlicensed employees may apply pesticides only under the direct supervision of a commercial applicator located within 25 miles or two hours of the work site, and the Department says they must work for the same company. Before their first exposure to pesticides they read the Department’s “Safety Training Guide for Trained Servicepersons” or take equivalent employer training; the employee and their supervisor sign that it was done, and the employer keeps it for the whole employment and three years after.
• When the supervising applicator is not there, the label of the pesticide being applied must be readily available to the crew at the worksite, and the applicator must be present whenever the label requires it.

Tip: The Department says new certification and training rules take effect January 1, 2027: supervisors may then be up to two hours or 60 miles away, people using restricted use pesticides need an annual refresher, and commercial applicator records must include the applicator’s license ID number.

Sources: Ohio Revised Code Chapter 921, Pesticides, ODA: Pesticide Regulation, ODA: Pesticide Businesses, Ohio Administrative Code Chapter 901:5-11, Pesticides, ODA: Commercial Applicator, ODA: Direct Supervision, Trained Servicepersons & Non-Certified Applicators, ODA: Ohio Pesticide Certificate and Training Updates

What to record for each application

Each commercial applicator keeps a record of all pesticide applications made by the applicator and the trained servicepersons they supervise, general use and restricted use alike. For lawn and ornamental work, OAC 901:5-11-10(A)(2) has you record, in English and on the date of application:

• The name of the responsible commercial applicator and the names of the trained servicepersons who applied it under their supervision
• The name and address of the person contracting for the service
• The date of application
• The type and size of area treated
• The location of the treatment area, if different from the customer’s address
• The trade (brand) name and EPA registration number of each pesticide
• The total amount of each pesticide product used
• If diluted, the total volume of the use dilution applied
• The type of equipment used
• The time the application started and was completed, or, if it was not completed, when work stopped for the day
• The wind direction, wind speed and air temperature

Mosquito and tick spraying is a different category (10d, mosquito, house fly and other vector control), and OAC 901:5-11-10(A)(1) gives it its own list: the responsible applicator and trained servicepersons, the customer’s name and address, the date, the pests to be controlled, the locations and methods of treatment, the trade name and EPA registration number, the application concentration or dilution and total volume applied, and the start and finish times.

Within 10 days after the date of completion, the commercial applicator turns in a copy of each record to the business location the application was made from (or to their employer, if the employer is not a pesticide business). Failing to keep the required records and making false records are both prohibited. A violation is a second degree misdemeanor on a first offense and a first degree misdemeanor after that, and civil penalties can reach $5,000 for a first violation and $10,000 for a later one.

Sources: Ohio Revised Code Chapter 921, Pesticides, Ohio Administrative Code Chapter 901:5-11, Pesticides

How long to keep records and who can ask for them

• Pesticide application records: the business keeps them 3 years from the date of application and makes them available to the Department.
• Customers and residents: on request, or when the label requires it, give each customer and resident of the treated property a printed or legibly written statement of the pesticide applied, the amount, the date and anything else the label requires.
• Neighbors who asked for notice: keep their name, address and phone number for 3 years, and tell them before deleting it.
• Trained serviceperson training sign-offs: for the employee’s whole employment and 3 years after.
• Report to the Department by phone within 48 hours any human illness needing medical attention that is, or is said to be, caused by a pesticide you or your crew used, with a written report within 7 days; report property damage over $500 in writing within 10 days.

Sources: Ohio Revised Code Chapter 921, Pesticides, Ohio Administrative Code Chapter 901:5-11, Pesticides

Customer notice, posting and lawn signs

Ohio’s lawn notification rule, OAC 901:5-11-09, applies when commercial applicators and their trained servicepersons apply lawn pesticides in any municipal corporation or subdivided area of a township. A residential lawn is turf around a home of four units or less. On a residential lawn:

• Before or at the time of the application, give the person whose property is treated, in writing: the brand or common name of each lawn pesticide, its chemical type (fungicide, herbicide or insecticide), any label instruction that applies to the customer, your company name and phone number, the date and time of the application, any other information the label requires, and the statement “Lawn posting signs must remain in place for twenty-four hours following lawn application.” If they are not there, it may be left at their home.
• Post signs at conspicuous points, including within five feet of each common access point: at least 5 by 4 inches, on a dowel or other support with the bottom edge at least 14 inches off the ground, weatherproof for 24 hours, in plain sight, and with no logos or advertising on the face. The sign reads “LAWN CHEMICAL APPLICATION” with a crossed-out circle showing a person, child and dog on grass between “KEEP” and “OFF”, then “ABUTTING RESIDENTS MAY RECEIVE ADVANCE NOTICE” with your company name and phone number. Your employees may not take the signs down for 24 hours.
• Neighbors: when the occupant of an abutting home has asked you in writing (with their name, mailing address and phone number), make a reasonable attempt to give them the date and approximate time and your business name and phone number on or before the business day before. Homes across a right-of-way, or touching at a single point, are not abutting. A neighbor who asks after an application gets the written information about it.

On a commercial lawn (turf other than a residential lawn), the same information with the date and approximate time goes to the person on site responsible for the property, and the signs go up. On a public lawn such as a park or school yard, the information goes to the person responsible, and either the signs go up or a permanent sign of at least 8 by 10 inches reads “PERIODIC APPLICATION OF LAWN PESTICIDES - INQUIRE AT:” with where to ask. The rule does not apply on agricultural district land, for public utility maintenance, or for declared nuisance pests that need immediate treatment. Separately, a restricted use pesticide whose label requires notice to nearby occupants or posting with re-entry times may not be applied until that is done.

Source: Ohio Administrative Code Chapter 901:5-11, Pesticides

Fertilizer rules

Ohio’s fertilizer applicator certification is required to apply fertilizer for agricultural production, which the law defines as growing plants mainly for sale on more than 50 acres; it is written for farms. The certificate costs $30, and commercial pesticide applicators do not pay the fee. We found no lawn or turf nitrogen or phosphorus limit, blackout dates or water setback in Ohio law apart from the western basin rule below, and counties, townships and cities may not regulate how fertilizer is used or applied.

• Western Lake Erie basin: no person in the basin may surface apply nitrogen or phosphorus fertilizer on snow-covered or frozen soil, or when the top two inches of soil are saturated from rain. Granular fertilizer may not be surface applied when the local forecast gives more than a 50 percent chance of more than one inch of rain in 12 hours. These limits do not apply when the fertilizer is injected, worked in within 24 hours, or applied onto a growing crop; ask the Department whether a lawn counts as a growing crop.
• The basin is the St. Marys, Auglaize, Blanchard, Sandusky, Cedar-Portage, Lower Maumee, Upper Maumee, Tiffin, St. Joseph, Ottawa and River Raisin watersheds. A violation carries a civil penalty of up to $10,000, each day counting separately; the rule sets up to $2,000 a day for a minor violation and up to $10,000 a day for a major one.
• A business applying custom mixed fertilizer to lawns keeps the invoice or document of sale for all fertilizer it applies for one year and shows it to the Department on request.

Sources: Ohio Revised Code Chapter 905, Agricultural Additives, Fertilizers, Lime, Ohio Administrative Code Chapter 901:5-4, Fertilizer Applicators, Ohio Administrative Code Chapter 901:5-1, Fertilizer

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

Hand the customer the application statement (or your own written notice) at the application and post the lawn signs: GroundsQuote prints both, but handing over and posting are yours. Report illness and property damage to the Department yourself, and keep a copy of each label where the crew can reach it (crews can open the label kept in GroundsQuote from the job on their phone).

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 Ohio sources, checked on October 10, 2026. Read them for the full text and any changes since.

• Ohio Revised Code Chapter 921, Pesticides
• Ohio Administrative Code Chapter 901:5-11, Pesticides
• ODA: Pesticide Regulation
• Ohio Revised Code Chapter 905, Agricultural Additives, Fertilizers, Lime
• Ohio Administrative Code Chapter 901:5-4, Fertilizer Applicators
• ODA: Pesticide Businesses
• ODA: Commercial Applicator
• ODA: Direct Supervision, Trained Servicepersons & Non-Certified Applicators
• ODA: Ohio Pesticide Certificate and Training Updates
• Ohio Administrative Code Chapter 901:5-1, Fertilizer