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Pesticide Handlers, Sprayers, and Applicators, Vegetation
Mix or apply pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, or insecticides through sprays, dusts, vapors, soil incorporation, or chemical application on trees, shrubs, lawns, or crops. Usually requires specific training and state or federal certification.
Also Known As:
Chemical Applicator
Integrated Pest Management Technician (IPM Technician)
Lawn Specialist
Lawn Technician
Licensed Pesticide Applicator
Pest Control Technician
Pesticide Applicator
Spray Applicator
Spray Technician
Tree and Shrub Technician
Wages
Annual wages for Pesticide Handlers, Sprayers, and Applicators, Vegetation in United States
Job Outlook
Average
New job opportunities are likely in the future
United States
2034 Projected Employment
30,700
4% Change From 2024
Explore Pesticide Handlers, Sprayers, and Applicators, Vegetation video
Tasks you might complete in a day.
- Connect hoses and nozzles selected according to terrain, distribution pattern requirements, types of infestations, and velocities.
- Mix pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides for application to trees, shrubs, lawns, or botanical crops.
- Lift, push, and swing nozzles, hoses, and tubes to direct spray over designated areas.
- Cover areas to specified depths with pesticides, applying knowledge of weather conditions, droplet sizes, elevation-to-distance ratios, and obstructions.
- Start motors and engage machinery, such as sprayer agitators or pumps or portable spray equipment.
- Fill sprayer tanks with water and chemicals, according to formulas.
- Identify lawn or plant diseases to determine the appropriate course of treatment.
- Plant grass with seed spreaders, and operate straw blowers to cover seeded areas with mixtures of asphalt and straw.
- Plant grass with seed spreaders, and operate straw blowers to cover seeded areas with mixtures of asphalt and straw.
- Clean or service machinery to ensure operating efficiency, using water, gasoline, lubricants, or hand tools.
- Clean or service machinery to ensure operating efficiency, using water, gasoline, lubricants, or hand tools.
- Provide driving instructions to truck drivers to ensure complete coverage of designated areas, using hand and horn signals.
Subject areas you may need to master.
- Production and Processing - Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
- Sales and Marketing - Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
- Design - Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
- Building and Construction - Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.
- Geography - Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
- Fine Arts - Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
- Therapy and Counseling - Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
- Transportation - Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
- History and Archeology - Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
- Communications and Media - Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
- Administrative - Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
- Chemistry - Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
- Education and Training - Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
- Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
- Psychology - Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
- Public Safety and Security - Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
- Mathematics - Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
- Computers and Electronics - Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
- Economics and Accounting - Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
- Philosophy and Theology - Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
- Mechanical - Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
- Foreign Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
- Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
- Food Production - Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
- Physics - Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
- Engineering and Technology - Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
- Biology - Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
- Sociology and Anthropology - Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
- Medicine and Dentistry - Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
- Law and Government - Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
- Telecommunications - Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
- Personnel and Human Resources - Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
- English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, and rules of composition and grammar.
Strengths you may need in this role.
- Troubleshooting - Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.
- Management of Material Resources - Managing equipment and materials.
- Operation and Control - Using equipment or systems.
- Operations Analysis - Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
- Equipment Selection - Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
- Critical Thinking - Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
- Installation - Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.
- Quality Control Analysis - Testing how well a product or service works.
- Systems Analysis - Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.
- Time Management - Managing your time and the time of other people.
- Coordination - Changing what is done based on other people's actions.
- Management of Personnel Resources - Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
- Writing - Writing things for co-workers or customers.
- Monitoring - Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
- Programming - Writing computer programs.
- Judgment and Decision Making - Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.
- Operations Monitoring - Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.
- Equipment Maintenance - Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.
- Instructing - Teaching people how to do something.
- Social Perceptiveness - Understanding people's reactions.
- Science - Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
- Complex Problem Solving - Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
- Repairing - Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
- Speaking - Talking to others.
- Active Listening - Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
- Learning Strategies - Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
- Persuasion - Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.
- Reading Comprehension - Reading work-related information.
- Active Learning - Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.
- Service Orientation - Looking for ways to help people.
- Technology Design - Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
- Mathematics - Using math to solve problems.
- Management of Financial Resources - Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.
- Systems Evaluation - Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.
- Negotiation - Bringing people together to solve differences.
- Peripheral Vision - Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
- Explosive Strength - Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
- Gross Body Equilibrium - Keeping your balance or staying upright.
- Visual Color Discrimination - Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
- Oral Expression - Communicating by speaking.
- Trunk Strength - Using your lower back and stomach.
- Dynamic Strength - Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
- Spatial Orientation - Knowing where things are around you.
- Static Strength - Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
- Flexibility of Closure - Seeing hidden patterns.
- Finger Dexterity - Putting together small parts with your fingers.
- Control Precision - Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
- Night Vision - Seeing at night or under low light.
- Hearing Sensitivity - Telling the difference between sounds.
- Auditory Attention - Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
- Speech Recognition - Recognizing spoken words.
- Fluency of Ideas - Coming up with lots of ideas.
- Written Expression - Communicating by writing.
- Perceptual Speed - Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
- Speed of Limb Movement - Quickly moving your arms and legs.
- Visualization - Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
- Glare Sensitivity - Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.
- Deductive Reasoning - Using rules to solve problems.
- Arm-Hand Steadiness - Keeping your arm or hand steady.
- Inductive Reasoning - Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
- Manual Dexterity - Holding or moving items with your hands.
- Multilimb Coordination - Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
- Extent Flexibility - Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Sound Localization - Noticing the direction that a sound came from.
- Problem Sensitivity - Noticing when problems happen.
- Time Sharing - Doing two or more things at the same time.
- Reaction Time - Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
- Wrist-Finger Speed - Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.
- Far Vision - Seeing details that are far away.
- Response Orientation - Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
- Near Vision - Seeing details up close.
- Category Flexibility - Grouping things in different ways.
- Speech Clarity - Speaking clearly.
- Oral Comprehension - Listening and understanding what people say.
- Mathematical Reasoning - Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
- Gross Body Coordination - Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.
- Depth Perception - Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.
- Speed of Closure - Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
- Stamina - Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.
- Written Comprehension - Reading and understanding what is written.
- Information Ordering - Ordering or arranging things.
- Dynamic Flexibility - Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Memorization - Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
- Rate Control - Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.
- Originality - Creating new and original ideas.
- Number Facility - Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
- Selective Attention - Paying attention to something without being distracted.
Average Education Attained
Highest level of education earned by people in this career.
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Content sourced from United States Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration ("DOLETA") and the Minnesota Department of Employment & Economic Development ("DEED")