Tennessee pesticide license lookup and requirements for lawn care
Checked October 2026
Tennessee's Department of Agriculture runs public searches for commercial applicator certifications and for charter companies. A lawn care business needs three things: C03 Ornamental and Turf certification ($25 exam), a Horticulture, Lawn and Turf license ($150 exam, $20 per category per year), and a pest control charter ($200 a year) backed by a $10,000 surety bond and liability insurance of $250,000 per incident and $500,000 aggregate. A person who sprays only glyphosate has a lighter route.
Most people searching this term want to check whether a sprayer is legitimate, and the Tennessee Department of Agriculture (TDA) answers that with two public searches. Owners come second. For them Tennessee is the state where the company and the person are both licensed, and where the personal license takes two years under a licensee, a related degree or a license from another state.
Looking up a license
The department's commercial applicator page links a certification status search where you search by TDA number or name and the end date shows when the certification expires. Entries read "Current" or "In Renewal Period." There is a second, separate charter company search, which showed 1,711 entries when we opened it, with each company's address and county. On the charters page the department notes that the license number shown for a charter is the charter's own number.
There is no separate search page for the personal license, but the certification search shows it. In the records we opened, a C03 line sat beside an HLT line for the lawn and turf license, each with its own status and period. If a company says its sprayer is licensed, ask for the TDA number, look for the HLT line in the certification search, then check the company's charter.
Three layers
Tennessee's certification page says the Tennessee Application of Pesticides Act requires any company providing custom pesticide application to hold a pest control charter, one for each location. A charter needs at least one licensee in each category of service the company offers, and a licensee can be listed on only one charter.
The license for lawn work is Horticulture, Lawn and Turf (HLT), which covers pests and diseases of shrubs, trees, lawns and turfgrasses on residential and commercial lawns, parks and athletic fields. An HLT applicant must hold C03 Ornamental and Turf certification. Certification itself is the bottom layer, a lower level of testing that covers technicians and solicitors working under a licensee.
What happens without a charter
Operating without one is a Class A misdemeanor, with a fine up to $2,500 and up to 11 months 29 days in jail, per the department's FAQ. There is no volume exception. The department's suggestion if you spray rarely is to subcontract the work to a chartered firm.
From C03 to a chartered company
- Get C03 certified. The exam is online through a state testing vendor and costs $25 per attempt. In-person sessions are offered on selected dates through the University of Tennessee's pesticide education program. The department suggests studying the category manual plus the core manual.
- Qualify for the license exam. The certification page requires two years of verifiable experience working under a licensee in the category, or a four-year degree in a related field, or a similar license from another state. You must be commercially certified before the exam date.
- Sit the license exam. It is online, costs $150 paid when you open it, mixes questions with specimen identification, and needs 70%. Results show at once but are provisional until the department reviews the recorded session. The department suggests the license manual for your category plus the Tennessee Laws and Regulations manual.
- Pay the license fee, $20 per license category per year, pro-rated.
- Get the company chartered with a licensee on the roster.
Technicians who aren't licensed register as solicitor/technician under the charter, with a pro-rated quarterly fee that the department quotes by phone at 615-837-5340 or 615-837-5148. Each application also needs at least one commercially certified person on site, and licensees are expected to work full time at the chartered firm.
Fees as the agency pages state them
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Certification exam | $25 per attempt |
| License exam | $150 |
| License | $20 per category per year, pro-rated |
| Charter | $200 per year, pro-rated |
| Surety bond (non-structural charter) | at least $10,000 |
These are the amounts on the Tennessee pages as read 2026-10-01. The charters page says licenses and charters expire June 30 of odd-numbered years, while the fees are quoted per year.
Insurance and bond for the charter
The charter needs liability insurance of at least $250,000 per single occurrence and $500,000 aggregate, plus a surety bond of at least $10,000, per the charters page. The $50,000 bond for a new company's first three years and the errors and omissions coverage apply to structural and wood-destroying categories, not lawn work. Both documents have to show the charter's physical address and carry current expiration dates, and the department lists missing or expired charter insurance and bond among its common violations. Charter holders report changes to the application within 30 days.
The bond is a separate document with its own expiration date. Your insurer files a certificate and your surety files a bond. The charter limits describe how much, not what is covered, so have your agent confirm the policy answers chemical claims through an applicator endorsement. The endorsement is explained in the pesticide applicator insurance guide. For the certificate itself, see the certificate of insurance guide, and for other states' figures, the pesticide license hub.
Continuing education
Certifications run on a three-year cycle. The department's CEU table lists 18 points for C03 over a full cycle, with fewer if you certify partway through. Points earned before you pass the exam don't count, and an applicator who falls short must retest. One wrinkle: that page still announces the cycle that ended June 30, 2026, while the charters page gives the new cycle as 2026 to 2029. The department's own record for a C03 holder in the new cycle showed 07/01/2026 to 06/30/2029 and 18 required points. Confirm your points with the department at 615-837-5188 before you plan your year.
Records of each custom application are kept for at least two years, and the charters page lists the fields.
The glyphosate-only exception
Category C09, Limited Herbicide Applicator, exempts a certified applicator from the charter, licensing and standard record-keeping rules for glyphosate. The conditions are tight: a single hand-held nozzle on a tank of 25 gallons or less, a pump no faster than 1.5 gallons per minute, the business name and certification number on company vehicles, application records kept two years, and no uncertified person applying even under supervision. See the charters page.
Reciprocity
Tennessee honors other states' certifications under agreements, not their licenses, and South Carolina gives Tennessee applicators full commercial reciprocity.