Mixes or applies pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, or insecticides through sprays, dusts, vapors, soil incorporation, or chemical application on trees, shrubs, lawns, or botanical crops. Usually requires specific training and State or Federal certification.

This career is part of the Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources cluster Plant Systems pathway.

A person in this career:

• Mixes pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides for application to trees, shrubs, lawns, or botanical crops.
• Fills sprayer tanks with water and chemicals, according to formulas.
• Lifts, pushes, and swings nozzles, hoses, and tubes to direct spray over designated areas.
• Identifies lawn or plant diseases to determine the appropriate course of treatment.
• Covers areas to specified depths with pesticides, applying knowledge of weather conditions, droplet sizes, elevation-to-distance ratios, and obstructions.
• Starts motors and engages machinery, such as sprayer agitators or pumps or portable spray equipment.
• Connects hoses and nozzles selected according to terrain, distribution pattern requirements, types of infestations, and velocities.
• Cleans or services machinery to ensure operating efficiency, using water, gasoline, lubricants, or hand tools.
• Provides driving instructions to truck drivers to ensure complete coverage of designated areas, using hand and horn signals.
• Plants grass with seed spreaders and operates straw blowers to cover seeded areas with mixtures of asphalt and straw.