Pesticide licence in New York: categories, exam and renewal

This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. The source is the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, called DEC below, which certifies pesticide applicators in New York. The parent page, pesticide licences by country, has the national background.

At a glance

Item	What DEC says
Agency	New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Bureau of Pesticides
Levels	Commercial Apprentice (uncertified), Certified Commercial Pesticide Technician, Certified Commercial Pesticide Applicator
Category for trees and turf	3A, Ornamentals, Shade Trees and Turf; 3B is Turf only
Exam routes	Remote proctored at home, computer-based at a test center, paper at regional offices on a limited basis
Recertification	Every three years for commercial certification
3A credits for recertification	10 over the three years

Who needs certification

The DEC page on pesticide applicator and technician certification says a commercial application is any application that is not a residential or private one. It defines a residential application as general use pesticides used on property the applicator owns or leases. The page names four credentials: a Certified Commercial Pesticide Applicator, a Certified Commercial Pesticide Technician, a Commercial Pesticide Apprentice and a Certified Private Pesticide Applicator.

Apprentice, technician and applicator

The DEC page on how to become a certified commercial applicator or technician describes three steps. A Commercial Apprentice is uncertified, at least 16 years old, and works under the direct supervision of a certified applicator employed by the same business. The apprentice first gets eight hours of instruction and 40 hours of supervised pesticide use experience, documented.

A technician can use general use pesticides without supervision, and restricted use pesticides only under a certified applicator. To sit the technician exams, an applicant is at least 17 years old and meets one of three tests: a DEC-approved 30-hour course in the intended category within the last five years, an associate's degree or higher covering the listed topics, or two years of verifiable apprentice experience in the last five years. A full applicant who skips the technician step shows three years of verifiable experience in the category within the last five years. A technician can petition to upgrade after one year of experience plus 12 hours of category recertification training, or after two years of experience.

The category for tree work

The DEC certification category chart lists 3A, Ornamentals, Shade Trees and Turf, as the maintenance and production of ornamental and shade trees, shrubs, flowers and turf. Category 3B covers turf, golf courses and turf disease control for aesthetic purposes. Category 2 covers forests, including forested areas within urban settings, and category 6A covers right-of-way vegetation control along highways, power lines and pipelines. The page says commercial technicians cannot hold more than one category, while an applicator can add categories after one year of verifiable experience in the new one.

Exam

An applicant for first certification, or after two years of lapse, passes the core exam and one category exam. DEC says it offers three formats: a remote exam on a personal computer watched by a live proctor through camera and microphone, a computer-based exam at an approved test center with an in-person proctor, and paper exams at DEC regional offices on a limited basis. Registration is online through DEC's nForm tool or on a paper form. The pages read do not state an exam fee.

Recertification

Commercial applicators and technicians recertify every three years, private applicators every five. DEC says an application goes in 4 to 6 weeks before the certification card expires and no sooner than six months before. Payment follows an invoice. The page lists a recertification fee of US$450 every three years for a commercial technician, and US$450 for one category plus US$150 for each added category for a commercial applicator.

The credit chart lists 10 credits for 3A over the three-year cycle. Its footnote says core credits count toward every category, but at least 25 percent of the credits must be specific to the category held.

Reciprocity

The DEC reciprocity page says reciprocal certification is for initial certification only, for non-residents who hold certification in the state they live in. A New York resident does not qualify, and neither does anyone who has ever held New York certification. DEC lists the states it has agreements with, and a chart maps home-state categories to New York categories, with notes such as one year or two years of verifiable experience in a given state.