Oregon pesticide and fertilizer record rules for lawn care companies

Last reviewed October 11, 2026 · 7 min read

The short answer

In Oregon, a pesticide operator (the business) keeps a record of every pesticide application it makes for others, general use and restricted use alike: the person it was applied for, the approximate location and size of the area treated, the date and approximate time (ODA asks for the beginning and ending time), who supplied the pesticide, each product’s trade name and strength (or its EPA registration number), the amount or concentration applied with any carrier and other materials, the specific site treated, the equipment used and the names and license numbers of the applicators. When an apprentice or immediately supervised trainee applies, the record also names the supervising applicator and license number. Keep records at least three years. Oregon has no lawn sign or customer notice rule for lawn work. ODA has announced a rulemaking to update the record rule, with adoption planned November 2026 to January 2027.

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

Who regulates lawn care applicators

The Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) enforces the State Pesticide Control Act, chapter 634 ORS. ODA’s pesticide rules, including licensing, license categories and application records, are OAR chapter 603, division 57; the record rule (OAR 603-057-0130) was last amended effective November 17, 2023.

A “pesticide operator” is a person who owns or operates a business that applies pesticides on the land or property of another, and a “pesticide applicator” is an individual employed by a pesticide operator who applies pesticides for others or applies restricted-use or highly toxic pesticides.

Cities, counties and other local governments may not adopt or enforce any ordinance, rule or regulation on pesticide sale or use, including notification of use, applicator training and certification, and licensing. They may still adopt a policy for pesticide use on their own property, and rules strictly necessary to comply with the building code, a fire code or a state or federal pesticide law.

ODA may impose a civil penalty of up to $2,000 for a first violation of the Act’s application, sale or labeling provisions and up to $4,000 for a later one, or up to $10,000 when the violation results from gross negligence or willful misconduct; any violation of the chapter is also a Class A misdemeanor.

Tip: ODA announced in 2026 a rulemaking to update the application record rule (OAR 603-057-0130) to federal criteria and Senate Bill 360 (2025) and to add standards for supervising noncertified applicators, with advisory committees in October–November 2026 and hearings and adoption planned November 2026 to January 2027. This page describes the rules in force now.

Sources: ORS Chapter 634, Pesticide Control (2025 edition), OAR Chapter 603, Division 57, Pesticide Control, ODA memo: Notice of Proposed Rule Amendments, Comprehensive Updates to Pesticide Application Records, Dealer Records/Distribution, Pesticide "Use" Definition, and Supervision Standards (OAR 603-057)

Licenses you need

Operator license: a business that applies pesticides to the land or property of others, or advertises that it does, must hold a pesticide operator license, and may only use licensed pesticide applicators or pesticide trainees to apply them. At least one owner or partner of a sole proprietorship or partnership, or one officer or employee of a corporation, must hold a pesticide applicator license, or the operator license is automatically suspended.
Commercial applicator license: the applicator must be employed by a licensed commercial pesticide operator, may only apply within the categories on the license, and needs the laws and safety exam plus at least one category exam.
Lawn category: lawn and landscape work falls under “Ornamental and Turf Pest Control”, with subcategories for insecticides and fungicides and for herbicides used in establishing and maintaining ornamental plantings and turf.
Fees: ODA’s annual license fees are $90 for a pesticide operator (one category, $15 for each additional category and $20 for each one added after the license is issued) and $50 for a commercial applicator ($7.50 for each additional category and $12.50 for each one added later). ODA lists the pesticide exam fee as $58 per exam per attempt.
Insurance: a pesticide operator must show ODA a public liability insurance policy or certificate (or a cash deposit, surety bond or other accepted proof) of at least $25,000 for bodily injury and $25,000 for property damage, and the license is automatically suspended if the coverage lapses. Outside structural and indoor pest control the coverage does not have to cover damage to the crops or property being worked on, and the insurer must notify ODA in writing at least 30 days before cancelling the policy.
Renewal: pesticide licenses expire on December 31. A consultant, applicator or noncommercial applicator who does not pay the renewal fee during the first month it is delinquent must also pass a reexamination or otherwise show the knowledge to ODA’s satisfaction.
Recertification: a commercial applicator must retake the exams every fifth year unless they earn at least 40 ODA-accredited credits during the five-year period, with no more than 15 credits counted in any one calendar year.
Pesticide apprentice: must be at least 18, pass a written exam (70 percent correct) within two years before the initial license application, and earn 8 credit hours each year to renew, 4 of them core credits. An apprentice may apply only within the supervisor’s license categories; the supervisor need not be on site but must be reasonably available, for example by phone or two-way radio.
Immediately supervised trainee: needs no exam, but the supervising licensed applicator must be on the application site at all times and available at the point of use within five minutes; a trainee who cannot identify the supervisor is treated as unlicensed. A trainee license and an apprentice license each cost the same as an applicator license, which ODA’s fee table lists as $50 a year.
Restricted use pesticides: they may be used only by an appropriately licensed applicator and bought only from a licensed dealer, and the buyer must show the license so the dealer can record its number. Apprentices and immediately supervised trainees are not certified applicators and cannot purchase restricted use pesticides.
Business changes: a pesticide operator must tell ODA in writing when its business information changes or a licensed applicator’s employment ends, and must report insurance changes or renewals during the year.

Tip: A person who does not advertise or hold out as being in the pesticide business and whose main work is maintaining small or home lawns, shrubs or gardens is exempt from both licensing and the record rule. The exemption does not cover restricted use or highly toxic pesticides, power-driven equipment or pesticides other than those ODA prescribes. ODA puts it this way: no license is needed for general use pesticides applied as part of landscape maintenance only when the use of pesticides is not stated in ads or contracts, the work is on small residential lawns or gardens, no restricted use pesticides are used, no fuel- or electric-powered sprayers or spreaders are used, and the work is not on a school campus. Anyone who applies or supervises the application of any pesticide on a school campus needs a license.

Some products are restricted on lawns and trees: pesticides containing clopyralid may be applied only to agricultural, forest, right-of-way, golf course or cemetery sites (so not to home lawns), and grass clippings from treated sites may not be provided for compost; products containing dinotefuran, imidacloprid, thiamethoxam or clothianidin may not be applied in any way to linden, basswood or other Tilia trees; and products containing aminocyclopyrachlor may not be applied where the roots of nontarget trees or shrubs may extend, or by any aerial method.

Sources: ORS Chapter 634, Pesticide Control (2025 edition), OAR Chapter 603, Division 57, Pesticide Control, ODA: Explore Licensing Requirements, ODA: Fees (pesticide licensing), ODA: Renewal and Recertification, ODA: Scheduling Your Pesticide Exams, ODA brochure: Commercial Pesticide Operator Responsibilities (updated 11/2025)

What to record for each application

Pesticide operators must prepare and keep a record of every pesticide application, general use and restricted use alike, on forms approved by ODA (ORS 634.146). ODA’s “Oregon Pesticide Application Record Requirements” sheet explains each item. Each record holds:

The name of the person for whom the pesticide was applied: the full name, address and phone number of the business or person who owns or controls the property, with no initials, nicknames or partial names
The approximate location of the land or property treated: the site address or a geographic description, and the size of the area treated (acres, square feet, linear feet)
The date and approximate time of application: the month, day and year and the beginning and ending time
The person who supplied the pesticides, by full name of the individual or business
The trade name and strength of each pesticide: the EPA registration number of each product, or the manufacturer, product name and formulation type
The amount or concentration applied: the amount of each product per unit of measure, the type and amount of carrier per unit of area (or the total applied to the site), and the amount and type of any other material such as a spreader-sticker, wetting agent or drift retardant
The specific property, crop or site treated; for ornamental applications, the general area, such as front yard, hedge or fruit tree
A summary of the equipment, device or apparatus used (for example backpack sprayer)
The names of the applicators or trainees who made the application; commercial applicators legibly add their full name and applicator license number

When a pesticide apprentice or an immediately supervised trainee makes the application, the record must also carry the names and license numbers of both the apprentice or trainee and the supervising applicator. ODA’s brochures add that records must be legible and must include any additional element the product label requires.

Neither the statute nor ODA’s rules set a deadline for completing the record or require weather conditions on commercial application records. Refusing or neglecting to prepare and keep the required records, or making false or misleading records, is a prohibited act.

Sources: ORS Chapter 634, Pesticide Control (2025 edition), OAR Chapter 603, Division 57, Pesticide Control, ODA: Record Keeping, ODA: Oregon Pesticide Application Record Requirements (7/2025), ODA brochure: Commercial, Noncommercial and Public Pesticide Applicator Responsibilities (updated 11/2025), ODA brochure: Commercial Pesticide Operator Responsibilities (updated 11/2025)

How long to keep records and who can ask for them

Keep application records at least three years from the date of application, available for ODA to review and inspect during business hours.
The employer of an apprentice or immediately supervised trainee keeps each record of their applications for three years and releases it to ODA for inspection.
ODA’s brochures tell applicators and operators to provide records to ODA, the Pesticide Analytical and Response Center (PARC) and licensed health care professionals when requested (the operator brochure adds USDA).
The only customer copy the statute requires is for an owner of field crops: on request, a written statement of the application within 40 days.

ODA’s pesticide use reporting rules (an annual report of all pesticide use by January 31) remain in OAR 603-057, but they bar enforcement for any year in which ODA does not provide a fully effective means to report. The Legislative Fiscal Office reported in 2019 that the laws behind the Pesticide Use Reporting System were set to sunset June 30, 2019 and that the program had been completely defunded in the 2011-13 budget; the bill to extend the sunset (HB 2980, 2019) stayed in the Joint Committee on Ways and Means.

Sources: ORS Chapter 634, Pesticide Control (2025 edition), OAR Chapter 603, Division 57, Pesticide Control, ODA: Oregon Pesticide Application Record Requirements (7/2025), ODA brochure: Commercial, Noncommercial and Public Pesticide Applicator Responsibilities (updated 11/2025), ODA brochure: Commercial Pesticide Operator Responsibilities (updated 11/2025), Legislative Fiscal Office: Fiscal Impact of Proposed Legislation, HB 2980 (2019), 4/2/2019, OLIS: HB 2980 (2019 Regular Session) overview

Customer notice, posting and lawn signs

Oregon’s pesticide statute and ODA’s rules have no lawn sign, posting, customer notice or neighbor notice requirement for commercial lawn and landscape applications, and local governments may not adopt one. Label-required posting still applies.

Schools are different, and the duties are the school’s:

Schools must have an integrated pest management plan and a plan coordinator who gives written notice of a proposed pesticide application at a campus at least 24 hours ahead to parents and guardians, adult students, administrators, faculty and staff, naming the products, their EPA registration numbers, the area, the date and the reason.
The coordinator or a designee places warning signs around the application areas reading “Warning: pesticide-treated area” with the expected or actual date and time of the application and the telephone number of a contact person, from no later than 24 hours before until no earlier than 72 hours after the application (in a pest emergency, as soon as practicable but no later than the application).
The school keeps its own records of each campus application, including the applicators’ names and license numbers, for at least four years; hiring a licensed applicator does not shift the school’s notice and record duties to the applicator.
On a campus, a pesticide may not be applied to an area where the school expects students before the label’s reentry time has expired.

Sources: ORS Chapter 634, Pesticide Control (2025 edition), OAR Chapter 603, Division 57, Pesticide Control

Fertilizer rules

ODA regulates fertilizer, agricultural amendment, agricultural mineral and lime products under ORS 633.311 to 633.479 and OAR 603-059; a “fertilizer” contains 5 percent or more of total nitrogen, available phosphate or soluble potash. The law licenses manufacturers and bulk distributors ($50 a year per business) and requires semiannual tonnage reports, but sets no fertilizer applicator license, application record, turf phosphorus or nitrogen limit, blackout date or setback for lawn work.

A person who mixes a custom fertilizer blend must keep a record of the purchaser, mixing date, a unique identifier and the guarantees for at least three years. A fertilizer labeled “no phosphate”, “phosphate free” or “phosphorus free” must contain less than 0.5% available phosphate, and a “low phosphate” fertilizer at least 0.5% but less than 1%. Fertilizer products that contain a pesticide (such as weed-and-feed) must meet every applicable provision of the pesticide law, and the fertilizer law yields to chapter 634 where they differ.

Sources: ORS Chapter 633, Grades, Standards and Labels for Feeds, Soil Enhancers and Seeds (2025 edition), ORS 633.311 to 633.479 (fertilizers), OAR Chapter 603, Division 59, Fertilizers, Agricultural Minerals, and Limes, ODA: Fertilizers (program page), ORS Chapter 634, Pesticide Control (2025 edition)

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

Oregon record items and GroundsQuote’s chemical application record
Oregon asks for	In GroundsQuote	Status
Name of the person for whom applied (full name, address and phone of the owner or controller)	Customer name, phone and mailing address	Recorded
Approximate location: site address or geographic description	Address, unit number (on the property), city, state, ZIP and county	Recorded
Size of the area treated	Area treated (sq ft)	Recorded
Date and approximate time (ODA: beginning and ending time)	Date and time applied, with a chemical’s own start and finish time when entered (offered on Oregon jobs), else the job’s start and finish times, recorded when the crew starts and finishes it (the office can correct them)	Recorded
Supplier of the pesticide (full name of the individual or business)	The chemical log records purchases with the supplier, but no supplier is tied to each application record	Partly
Trade name and strength (EPA registration number, or manufacturer, product name and formulation)	Product name, manufacturer, EPA Reg. No. and formulation, from the chemical’s setup	Recorded
Amount of product per unit area	Rate applied (per area) and total used	Recorded
Carrier type and amount per unit area, or total applied	Water or carrier (gallons, and the carrier when it is not water) and gallons of mix applied, required on Oregon jobs at Finish job	Recorded
Other materials (spreader-sticker, wetting agent, drift retardant) with amount and type	A chemical line per product: an adjuvant is recorded only when it is set up as its own chemical	Partly
Specific property, crop or site (ornamental: general area such as front yard or hedge)	Where on the property (front lawn, beds, fence line… or a description), required on Oregon jobs at Finish job	Recorded
Equipment, device or apparatus used	Equipment used, set on the job and required on Oregon jobs at Finish job	Recorded
Full name and license number of the commercial applicators who applied	Applied by: everyone riding with the crew that day starts checked, and the crew unchecks anyone who did not apply it, with each one’s license number when license-keeping is switched on	Recorded
Apprentice or immediately supervised trainee: their name and license number and the supervisor’s	Applied by with each person’s standing, Trainees and Supervised by, offered on Oregon jobs at Finish job, with license numbers when license-keeping is switched on; GroundsQuote does not check that the supervisor was on site or reachable	Recorded
Any additional element the product label requires	“Other records the label requires”, offered at Finish job on Oregon jobs; exported as “Other records required by the label”	Recorded
Records legible, kept three years, available to ODA	Saved records with their correction history, exportable at any time in Oregon’s column order	Recorded
Licenses, recertification credits, insurance proof and notices to ODA	Not handled by GroundsQuote: license numbers, categories and expiry and the insurance amount and insurer can be kept, but track credits, renew licenses and file with ODA yourself	Not recorded

ORS 634.146 says records are kept on forms approved by ODA; GroundsQuote’s export follows the record items but has not been submitted to or approved by ODA. Record the supplier of each pesticide and any adjuvant not set up as its own chemical yourself, keep license renewals, recertification credits, apprentice credits and the insurance or bond proof outside GroundsQuote, and check product restrictions such as clopyralid on home lawns and neonicotinoids on linden trees yourself.

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 Oregon 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 products, or only restricted use?

Both. Pesticide operators must prepare and keep a record of every pesticide application they make for others, general use and restricted use alike.

How long do I keep records, and who can see them?

At least three years from the date of application, available for ODA to review and inspect during business hours. ODA’s brochures also tell applicators and operators to provide records to PARC and licensed health care professionals when requested.

Does Oregon require weather or a deadline on application records?

No. Neither the statute nor ODA’s rules set a deadline for completing the record or require weather conditions on commercial application records. ODA does ask for the beginning and ending time of the application.

Do I need to post lawn signs in Oregon?

Are Oregon’s record rules about to change?

ODA announced in 2026 a rulemaking to update the application record rule (OAR 603-057-0130) and to add standards for supervising noncertified applicators, with hearings and adoption planned November 2026 to January 2027. This page describes the rules in force now.

Does Oregon limit lawn fertilizer?

Oregon’s fertilizer law sets no fertilizer applicator license, application record, turf phosphorus or nitrogen limit, blackout date or setback for lawn work. A “no phosphate” fertilizer must contain less than 0.5% available phosphate.