Indiana pesticide license for lawn care: fertilizing a customer's lawn counts too
Checked October 2026
In Indiana, a lawn care company that applies pesticides or fertilizer to turf for hire needs a pesticide business license from the Office of Indiana State Chemist, plus at least one certified applicator. Turf work, including fertilizing customers' lawns, is Category 3b, and beds fall under 3a. The business license and each applicator license cost $45 a year, exams cost $55 each, and liability insurance of $300,000 is required for pesticide use only.
Fertilizing a customer's lawn for pay is licensed work in Indiana. The Office of Indiana State Chemist (OISC) at Purdue says so on its business license page, which requires a license from any firm that applies pesticides, "or fertilizers to ag fields or turf," for hire. Plenty of lawn companies here start with fertilizer and plan to deal with the license once they add herbicide. OISC doesn't wait for the herbicide. Pages read 2026-10-01.
Category 3b takes the fertilizer route
Purdue's certification page lists Category 3b, Turf Management as including fertilizer application onto customers' lawns. OISC's category list describes 3b as pesticides or fertilizers on turf, and 3a, Ornamental, as pesticides on landscape beds, fence lines, driveways, sidewalks and residential parking areas. A crew that does lawns and beds needs both 3a and 3b.
Category 14 sounds relevant and isn't. It is agricultural fertilizer for crop production.
The $300,000 rule stops at pesticides
The business license needs a certificate of insurance filed with OISC. The insurance rules set minimum coverage at $300,000 in general liability, as a combined single limit for bodily injury and property damage. The policy has to be issued in the business's name as printed on the license, and the proof gets refiled each time the policy expires. The State Chemist may be listed as certificate holder.
The business license page adds that the certificate is for pesticide use only, not fertilizer. Read plainly, a fertilizer-only company files no certificate, though neither page spells that out, so ask OISC. A customer's contract may demand coverage anyway.
A combined single limit means one $300,000 pool for injury and property damage together. Whether a plain general liability policy pays for a burned lawn depends on exclusions the state doesn't address, and the pesticide applicator insurance guide goes through them. The certificate of insurance guide shows how to get the holder line right.
Two licenses on one form
Passing the exams makes you certified, and certification alone doesn't let you spray. A certified applicator must also be licensed, a wallet-size credential, before buying, using or supervising pesticides. OISC treats the business and the person as separate licenses. The firm must employ at least one certified applicator, and an applicator license can go only to a certified applicator. One application for credentials covers both. The form, revised 03/24 and read 2026-10-01, lists these annual fees:
| Credential | Fee |
|---|---|
| Pesticide business license | $45 |
| For-hire pesticide applicator license | $45 |
| Registered technician | $45 |
A one-person company that sits Core and Category 3b pays $110 in exams and $90 for the two licenses, $200 by our sum, plus $55 more for 3a. Every credential expires December 31, and the form asks whether you want yours issued immediately or the next January 1. File in October and an immediate license runs about three months before it lapses, so pick January 1. For comparison, the pesticide license table puts Maryland's business license at $150 a year and Georgia's at $55.
Exams, $55 a try
Purdue says exams are $55 each, by appointment at more than 20 sites through Metro Institute, with a government photo ID. You sit the Core exam, then the category exam. Core covers pesticide law, pest biology, formulations, safety and label comprehension. The category exam moves on to pest identification, application technique, equipment and calibration. OISC says no paper exams are given after training, so everything goes through the online scheduler. It allows three attempts per exam in a twelve-month period, and the clock starts at the first failure.
Preparation has three routes: self-study from the manuals, an eLearning course (3a has one), or a classroom session. The 3b classrooms run January through March, so an autumn start means self-study, or the Core eLearning while you wait.
Technicians can start without exams
Not everyone on the truck needs certification. A registered technician can apply general-use pesticides for hire under off-site supervision of a certified applicator, and the supervisor need not be present. Technicians can't apply restricted-use products and must be 18. Purdue gives three ways in: attend in-person training, finish the online training, or pass the Core exam. Then email OISC to say the credentials form, with its $45 fee, will follow within five days. Hiring is also a payroll question, covered in the workers' comp guide.
Certification lasts five years, then 20 hours
Passing the exams makes the certification valid for five years, expiring December 31 of the fourth year after the year you qualified. Pass in 2026 and it runs to December 31, 2030. The license is a separate annual renewal.
To renew without retesting, Category 3b needs 20 continuing certification hours and 3a needs 15, per OISC's category list. No one program can supply more than half the hours. A technician needs 8 hours for a five-year renewal.
An applicator from another state can ask for an Indiana license on the strength of the home license by enclosing a copy with the credentials form. Ohio's page lists Indiana among the states whose residents get a reciprocal Ohio license.