I’m curious how many of you have your Pesticide Certification. I will be grafting approx. 450 apple trees this spring, which will be planted out in a nursery bed for one year. It seems getting my Pesticide Certification would make ordering chemicals a lot easier and cost effective (buying in bulk, etc). NY DEC has the info on their website, I’m thinking certification is fairly standardized for the US.
No, it varies by state. Also, it can also vary by type and level. Further – your state might require a separate “site” certificate that permits restricted (non-consumer) agricultural pesticides to be applied at that location.
For example in California licensing includes: residential contractor, personal applicator (typical for farmers and orchardists), aircraft application, and perhaps a few more. Some of these are interrelated or prerequisites of another. Above those (in CA) there is a pesticide advisors license and a license for sellers of restricted pesticides (non-consumer grade). The former is required for the latter.
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Yes, here in New York I would be under the: Private Pesticide Category - #22 - Fruit. It would cover both personal and commercial growing of fruit on my property or property that I lease for such purposes.
I have my RUP card. It is handy to have, but cant say that I have needed it for most chemicals that I normally use.
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You may want to check and see if the chemicals you will need require a license in your state. Some chemicals that are not very toxic to mammals are extremely toxic to bees and are restricted for that reason.
I’m not aware of any savings as a result of the license but the license requirements vary state by state.
The exam in my state was not too difficult but it requires several pesticide classes each year to keep active.
If you have a license, the pesticide inspector may drop by from time to time to check your spray records
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In my state, there are basically two categories - Private and Commercial. Commercial requires recertification every year and the fees are more expensive. Private lasts 5 years. With a Private, you can’t spray someone elses property for money. Commercial you can. Commercial has more specific categories which you have to be certified for (i.e. forestry, residential, etc.) Private is a more general certification.
You can buy chemicals at “wholesale” prices without an applicator’s license. They are just packaged in quantities which cover large acreages. The only advantage for me to have a certification is that some of the chemicals I prefer to use require an RUP license.
This is all changing. There has been a big push to standardize all states with the same RUP licensing. Last I read, it was supposed to happen sometime in 2018, but I don’t know that all states will be in compliance by then.
So, California ‘taxes’ you several times if you want to apply pesticides. Just one more reason glad I don’t live there.
No they don’t. Instead, they insure you don’t apply the wrong class of pesticide next to a school, a sensitive waterway, etc.
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