Tennessee pesticide and fertilizer record rules for lawn care companies

Last reviewed October 10, 2026 · 7 min read

The short answer

In Tennessee, a commercial applicator must keep a record of every custom (for-hire) pesticide application, general use as well as restricted use, and of each restricted use application they make or supervise: the applicator’s name and certification number, the product’s trade name, the address and date, the target area and pest, the total amount, the percentage use dilution, the rate, and the property owner’s or tenant’s name, plus the EPA number and time of application for restricted use products. Keep records 2 years and give the owner or tenant a copy within 48 hours of asking. Tennessee’s fertilizer rule sets no turf application limits or records.

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

Who regulates lawn care applicators

The Tennessee Department of Agriculture regulates custom (for-hire) pesticide application under the Tennessee Application of Pesticides Act of 1978 (T.C.A. § 62-21-101 et seq.). Its rules for applicators are Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. chapter 0080-09-04, “Pesticide Applications”, with license and certification categories and testing in chapter 0080-09-02.

The rules apply to anyone in the business of commercial pest control, meaning advertising, offering or selling pesticide applications for a fee, and to anyone who makes or supervises an application that needs certification. “Pesticide” covers general use and restricted use products alike. The older chapter 0080-06-14, “Pest Control Operators”, was repealed effective June 30, 2016.

Sources: TDA Pesticides: Certification, Licensing and Charters, Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. ch. 0080-09-04 Pesticide Applications (PDF), Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. ch. 0080-09-02 Service Categories and Testing (PDF), Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. ch. 0080-09-01 Classification and Management of Pesticides (PDF), Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. ch. 0080-06-14 Pest Control Operators (repealed, PDF)

Licenses you need

Pesticide charter: required for each office of a business doing commercial pest control, so each location needs its own. The Department says you need one even if you charge only for your service and not for the pesticide, however little pesticide work you do. A charter needs at least one licensee in each category of service offered, and a licensee can be on only one charter.
Charter fees on the Department’s 2026 application: $200 a year for the charter, $25 per license category per licensee and $25 per solicitor or technician registration, prorated by quarter. Charters and licenses expire on June 30 of odd-numbered years; renew by July 1, and a late charge applies after July 16.
Bond and insurance: a $10,000 surety bond, or $50,000 if the charter has any structural license category (WDO, GRC, FUM, BDC); the Department’s charters page says the $50,000 applies to new charters for the first 3 years, then $10,000. Liability insurance of at least $250,000 per incident and $500,000 aggregate. If the bond or insurance lapses the charter expires at once, with a 30-day grace period to show valid coverage.
Pest control operator license for lawn care: Horticulture – Lawn and Turf (HLT), to supervise custom applications in landscapes not tied to a structure, such as disease in residential and commercial lawns. It requires Ornamental and Turf (C03) certification, age 18, and a related degree, or one year of work needing the certification plus 12 related college credits, or two years of such work. The Department lists the license exam at $150.
Fire ants, fleas and ticks on residential and commercial lawns fall under the General Pest and Rodent Control (GRC) license, which requires C07 certification; HLT does not cover pests in or around structures.
Certified applicator: Ornamental and Turf Pest Control (C03) certification is required to make, solicit or supervise a custom or restricted use application to lawns, turf and ornamental plants. Applicants must be at least 16 (no restricted use products under 18), pass with 70% or higher, and pay $25 per exam; there is no other fee for commercial certification or recertification.
Recertification: certifications run on a three-year cycle ending June 30 (June 30, 2023 and every third year after), so the current cycle ends June 30, 2029. A C03 applicator needs 18 continuing education credits per cycle (one credit = a 50-minute hour), at least half from external trainings, or retests. Credits are prorated for those certified partway through a cycle.
Employees: no one may apply pesticides that need certification unless certified or under the direct supervision of a certified person. The Department says at least one commercially certified person must be on site at each application. Every solicitor and non-clerical employee must be registered with the Department.
Glyphosate only: Limited Herbicide Applicator (C09) certification covers custom glyphosate-only applications incident to lawn and landscape maintenance. A C09 applicator is exempt from the charter, license and full record rules if they use a single hand-held nozzle on a tank of 25 gallons or less, show the business name and certification number on vehicles, record the date and property address of each application and keep it 2 years, and let no uncertified person apply.
Report changes to your charter, license or certification information within 30 days.

Tip: The Department tells consumers a pest control company may do business in Tennessee only if its charter number is visible on its vehicle. The Department also says operating as a custom applicator without a charter is a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $2,500 and up to 11 months 29 days in jail.

Sources: Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. ch. 0080-09-04 Pesticide Applications (PDF), TDA Pesticides: Certification, Licensing and Charters, TDA: Application for the TN Pest Control Applicator License and Charter (PDF), TDA Pesticides: Pesticide Charters (with FAQ), Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. ch. 0080-09-02 Service Categories and Testing (PDF), TDA Pesticides: Pesticide Applicators – Commercial (including CEUs), TDA Pesticides: Pesticide Consumer Tips

What to record for each application

Under rule 0080-09-04-.06, commercial applicators keep a record of each custom (for-hire) pesticide application and each restricted use application that they make or supervise. Each record holds:

The applicator’s first and last name and certification number
The trade name of the pesticide, as it appears on the label
The address where it was applied
The date of the application
The target area (for example the plant, house, business or building treated)
The target pest; for a mixture applied together, which pests each pesticide targeted
The total amount of pesticide applied
The percentage use dilution
The application rate
The first and last name of the property owner or tenant
For restricted use pesticides only: the EPA registration number and the time of the application

The Department’s FAQ lists the same items and adds the last 4 digits of the applicator’s Social Security number. You may not falsify any part of a record. A violation can bring stop-work orders, denial or revocation of a charter, license or certification, injunctions, and civil penalties or criminal charges, and charter holders, licensees and certified applicators answer for violations by their agents.

Sources: Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. ch. 0080-09-04 Pesticide Applications (PDF), TDA Pesticides: Pesticide Charters (with FAQ)

How long to keep records and who can ask for them

Keep application records for 2 years from the date of application.
On request, give the property owner or tenant where the pesticide was applied a copy of the records within 48 hours.
Keep records readily available for inspection, and give the Department full information on how any application was made and where the pesticides came from.
The Department may enter a location where it believes commercial pest control is done to examine equipment, pesticides and application sites and to examine and copy records.
The Department tells consumers they may ask for a copy of the product label and safety data sheet, and to see the applicator’s certification or license card.

Sources: Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. ch. 0080-09-04 Pesticide Applications (PDF), TDA Pesticides: Pesticide Consumer Tips

Customer notice, posting and lawn signs

We found no lawn-sign, posting or customer pre-notification requirement for turf applications in the Department’s pesticide rules. Apart from the federal Worker Protection Standard posting on farms, the only warning signs they require are for fumigations poisonous to humans. On request, customers are entitled to a copy of their records within 48 hours (above).

Sources: Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. ch. 0080-09-04 Pesticide Applications (PDF), Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. ch. 0080-09-02 Service Categories and Testing (PDF), Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. ch. 0080-09-01 Classification and Management of Pesticides (PDF), Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. ch. 0080-09-05 Worker Protection (PDF)

Fertilizer rules

The Department licenses those who distribute commercial fertilizer in Tennessee and says it does not register individual fertilizer products as part of licensing. Its commercial fertilizer rule, chapter 0080-05-10, covers labeling, guaranteed analysis, fees and deficiencies of fertilizer sold in the state. It sets no applicator certification, application record, nitrogen or phosphorus limit, blackout dates or setbacks for turf.

Sources: TDA: Feed, Seed, Fertilizer and Grain Forms, Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. ch. 0080-05-10 Commercial Fertilizer (PDF)

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

Tennessee record items and GroundsQuote’s chemical application record
Tennessee asks for	In GroundsQuote	Status
Applicator’s first and last name	Applied by: everyone riding with the crew that day starts checked, and the crew unchecks anyone who did not apply it	Recorded
Applicator’s certification number	License number, kept only when license-keeping is switched on	Partly
Trade name as on the label	Product name, as entered in the chemical’s setup	Recorded
Address where applied	Address, city, state, ZIP and county	Recorded
Date of application	Date applied	Recorded
Target area	Where on the property (front lawn, beds, fence line… or a description), set on the job	Recorded
Target pest, per pesticide in a mixture	Target pest, set for each chemical on the job	Recorded
Total amount applied	Total used	Recorded
Percentage use dilution	Mix ratio and gallons of water or carrier, set on the job; not shown as a percentage	Partly
Application rate	Rate applied (per area)	Recorded
Property owner’s or tenant’s first and last name	Customer name	Recorded
Restricted use: EPA registration number	EPA Reg. No., from the chemical’s setup	Recorded
Restricted use: time of application	Time applied is when the job was finished, not each product’s own time	Partly
Last 4 digits of the applicator’s Social Security number (Department FAQ only)	Not kept	Not recorded

Turn on license-keeping so each record carries the applicator’s certification number. For a customer’s copy within 48 hours, the application statement for each job carries most of the record (each applicator’s certification number when license-keeping is on, but never the last 4 digits of a Social Security number, which GroundsQuote does not keep); the full record is in the export. Keep the charter, bond, insurance, employee registrations and continuing education credits 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), 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, 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, with each one’s standing (certified, registered technician, trained, not certified or registered), license 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, N-P-K and slow-release %, formulation, restricted-use flag, signal word, re-entry interval, and a copy of the label on file
Amounts:: Rate applied (per area), area treated in sq ft, total product used, mix ratio, water or carrier, gallons of mix applied, lb of N and P per 1,000 sq ft
Job:: Target pest and the equipment used (both set on the job), service and crew
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
Changes:: Corrections are saved as history; the earlier record is kept

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 Tennessee sources, checked on October 10, 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.

Start your 30-day free trial

Chemical records are on the Pro and Business plans.

Questions

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

Both, for for-hire work. Tennessee’s rule covers each custom (for-hire) pesticide application as well as each restricted use application. The EPA registration number and the time of application are required only for restricted use products.

Can my customer ask for their application records?

Yes. On request, you must give the property owner or tenant where the pesticide was applied a copy of the records within 48 hours. Keep records 2 years from the date of application.

Which license covers fire ants, fleas and ticks on lawns?

The General Pest and Rodent Control (GRC) license, which requires C07 certification. The Horticulture – Lawn and Turf (HLT) license, which requires C03 certification, does not cover pests in or around structures. A structural category such as GRC on your charter also raises the surety bond to $50,000 (the Department says for a new charter’s first 3 years).

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

We found none. The Department licenses fertilizer distributors and its commercial fertilizer rule covers labeling and sale; it sets no applicator certification, application records, nitrogen or phosphorus limits, blackout dates or setbacks for turf.

Other states

Pesticide and fertilizer record rules by state →