Louisiana landscape horticulturist and irrigation contractor licenses: which work needs which

Louisiana's page on nursery and landscape licensing names three yard jobs that need no license: cutting lawns, edging and hand-weeding beds. It leaves out hedge trimming. The statute behind the page names hedges, then takes the exemption away from commercial customers, which matters to anyone with business accounts. The sources are the Department of Agriculture and Forestry's licensing page, the Horticulture Commission's law (Title 3) and its rules (Title 7), all read on October 1, 2026.

The agency names three unregulated jobs, and the statute adds conditions

R.S. 3:3816(1) exempts an individual doing certain gardening activities, such as mowing, edging, hand weeding, or trimming of hedges and shrubbery, under the direction and responsibility of the property owner. Paragraph (3) says that exemption does not apply to services performed for commercial establishments. The agency's page states mowing, edging and hand-weeding as unregulated with neither condition, and doesn't name hedge trimming at all.

So for a business customer, hedge and shrub trimming has no named exemption on the pages we read. The agency's table lists "bush pruning" under the landscape horticulturist license, the one that covers maintaining nursery stock. Whether routine trimming counts as that is the Commission's call, and tying the two together is our reading, not the statute's. Before bidding a commercial shrub-trimming contract, ask the Commission whether a crew without a licensed person on the payroll may do the work.

Tree pruning, trimming and removal belong to a separate arborist license. Grass seeding and hydro-seeding fall under a seed dealer's license, per the agency's own table.

The horticulturist license covers planting, sod and maintenance

A landscape horticulturist license authorizes bed preparation, plant installation, sod installation, pruning, fertilizing and landscape maintenance, and operating a nursery. It does not let you draw landscape designs for a fee. You may sketch where nursery stock goes if the drawing carries your name, the words "Landscape Horticulturist" and your license number. The statute lets you use that drawing in your own bid, and bars anyone from using it to solicit bids for materials or services the Commission regulates.

The exam is 50 questions, and plant growth, installation and maintenance, and plant classification each carry 14% of it. You pass at 70%. You must be 17 to sit the exam and 18 to hold the license, and a passing score is good for five years, per the exam application. The agency's page lists no experience requirement and no continuing education for this license.

Sprinkler work has its own license, and a plumbing board in the middle

Anyone who constructs, installs, connects, repairs, maintains, improves or alters part of a landscape irrigation system, wiring included, needs the irrigation contractor license. The irrigation exam has 59 questions, and pressure loss calculations alone account for 18% of it. Only three questions cover Louisiana's horticulture rules.

This license carries conditions the horticulturist license doesn't:

• a written contract with the property owner naming the services and the price, which must include the Commission's complaint phone number;
• a certificate of liability insurance on file with the Commission;
• a water supply protection specialist endorsement from the State Plumbing Board before connecting to a public or private water supply or installing a backflow device (no plumber's license is required for the endorsement);
• a continuing education seminar once every three years.

A person working on irrigation for an agricultural or forestry use, or on property that person or their employer owns, manages or leases, is exempt from the license under R.S. 3:3816. Other states' sprinkler rules are on the irrigation license hub.

One licensed employee can carry a company, with limits

The statute lets a business charge for regulated work if it holds a license, has a regular employee who holds one, or the person doing the work is employed by or directly supervised by a license holder. A regular employee means a license holder working at a place of business 32 or more hours a week. A license holder may be the licensee for only one business. Each violation is a separate offense, each day counts again, and the civil penalty is up to $500 for a first finding, $1,000 for a second and $1,500 after that. If the licensed employee quits, the company no longer has a licensed person on staff, and the pages we read give no grace period for replacing one.

The license number goes on the truck

Licensees must display a license number on both sides of every vehicle that carries advertising or signs for the business, in lettering at least two inches high and legible at 25 feet. The number is the last four digits of the license preceded by two letters: LH for a landscape horticulturist, IC for an irrigation contractor.

Two fee schedules, both from the agency

	Agency web page and exam form	Title 7 rules, revised January 2025
Exam or retake	$150	$114
License, issue or renewal	$125 a year	$100

The statute allows a license fee between $75 and $150 and an exam fee up to $350, so both schedules fit inside it. The agency page also gives a range of $125 to $175 for annual license and inspection fees, and says every license expires January 31. The rules add a $25 late fee after 15 working days. Online testing through the department's vendor, Everblue, carries an extra fee the pages don't state. The question to ask: which schedule is current for a new exam and license, the web page's or the rule's?

Big jobs add the contractors board

For a project outside a home that costs $50,000 or more, a Louisiana State Licensing Board for Contractors license is also required, and the department's page lists a Landscaping, Grading, and Beautification classification among the options. The contractors board separately defines home improvement as work on an existing residence worth $7,500 or more, and lists home improvement projects over $50,000 under its residential license. Whether a planting job counts as home improvement isn't stated on the pages we read. The landscaping license hub puts Louisiana's thresholds next to eight other states.

The irrigation filing is the only insurance rule we found

Of these two licenses, only the irrigation contractor has an insurance requirement we could find. The rule asks for $25,000 for personal injuries and $50,000 for property damage, each separate accident, with 30 days' notice to the Commission before cancellation. The agency page gives the same dollars per person. A zone that fails a year after the install is a completed operations claim, the kind the landscaping insurance page explains, and a customer's contract can ask for more than the rule does. The Commission may waive the filing for a licensee who only consults.

Arborists must show liability and workers' compensation proof, if applicable, at renewal. The general liability guide covers the maintenance route that needs no filing, and the workers' comp guide covers the crew.

What we could not confirm

The agency's pesticide licensing sits on a separate page we did not read. The extra fee for Everblue online testing isn't stated.