Texas Department of Agriculture Inspection

[PlantscapeSolutions]

I found on some news on how Texas views what herbicides require a license that blew me away. The way the wording reads to me is that all regulated pesticides sprayed on another's property for compensation require a license. I've thought that was the case for about a decade.

My definition of regulated pesticide is anything non-organic that requires a EPA registration number. This is not what the TDA's view is at all. The TDA only requires you to have a license if your using pesticides that are classified RU (Restricted Use) or are restricted by laws in place at the county level. At the county level any restrictions are usually for agricultural reasons.

According to the TDA inspector you can spray all you want without a license if the product sprayed is not restricted by the EPA or at the local level. If you have no license you don't have to keep records of you spraying because your not regulated.

But once you have a license like me you have to keep records of every drop you spray, the location you spray, the wind speed, temperature in some cases, the EPA product registration number, target pest, application rate, applicators name and so on. On spot spraying of beds just amount sprayed, location, and quantity, along with the EPA number was going to be good enough.

If it weren't for Top Choice being reclassified as an RU product in 2011 I would not really want a license now. You open yourself up to a lot of extra paper work that unlicensed guys do not have to deal with.

[Toy2]

You are correct, I got mine through the State, and when I used it we had to record all the info on a log book.........yet some of these Mexi's around here are using gas to kill weeds......crazy......

[XYZLawnPros]

If it is possible to explain to me what you are referencing besides all the paper laws you begged for permission to use, (signed your life over to them) then I might have an interest to a resolution for what you are asking.

Can you Mr. Plantscape Solutions do the work you need to do to earn a living and still be responsible without all the restrictions placed on you that you begged for permission to have the limitations on you in the first place?

The reason they have all these paper laws and licenses isn't because they want your money. It was intended to be a deterrent from irresponsible and incompetent people from using such products. The problem now is that there are to many people, and to many irresponsible and incompetent people that cry freedom. So the states and the government just give you your freedom to do anything, BUT AT A COST.

It ends up being the responsible and competent people paying for all the irresponsible and incompetent folk. Catching my drift yet?

[XYZLawnPros]

Originally Posted by Toy2

You are correct, I got mine through the State, and when I used it we had to record all the info on a log book.........yet some of these Mexi's around here are using gas to kill weeds......crazy......

Those "mexis" as you call them then would be a part of the irresponsible and incompetent human group. If they don't have a Visa or a driver's license, a social security number or passport, a certificate of live birth or a birth certificate, those types of people can't be prosecuted for their incompetency. You can't charge somebody that isn't filed into the slave rolls here in the good ole free USA (hah).

I remember way back in the early 1970's everyone in my city was using gas to kill off vegetation they didn't want. It was accepted practice apparently as long as it wasn't overdone. Thank goodness the government did step in and put a price on the heads of people that would continue to do that until today.
In my opinion the turfgrass we had in northern states back when I was a little boy in my own yard was much much MUCH better than the varieties that have infiltrated the lawns of today. The grass blades used to be so thick and soft yet extremely dark green with health and vitality. Just a tad of watering here and there and the yard could survive any turbulent heat waves or no rain for a month or 2.


You also have to look at it from a realists prospective as well. Do you think a large portion of these turf maintenance chemicals are any better for the earth than gasoline? In my opinion I would disagree.