Hello Gardeners, I’m Amanda McNulty with Clemson Extension and Making It Grow. In order to get a pesticide license to buy restricted use products, and to apply any pesticide commercially, farmers, growers, exterminator’s, and landscape professionals must pass exams. For a private applicator license, people take a day-long course at a local extension office.
For a commercial license, you must study a core manual, pass that and then take special exams for such categories as landscape and turf or aquatic. Both groups must also earn a specified number of recertification credits over a number of years. Clemson and the commercial landscape and nurserymen’s associations offer trainings throughout the year where new information and advice on pesticide use are presented and people receive continuing education credits. These programs teach applicators how to use the correct product in the correct way and at the right time, protecting the environment.
