Florida Pesticide Use Rules
About 5 of every 50 questions on a Florida Core practice exam come from this topic.
Sources checked
What to know
Florida law makes it unlawful for any person to apply a pesticide to, or let it drift onto, a person or area not meant to receive it. For organo-auxin herbicides like 2,4-D, Florida sets minimum distances from susceptible crops by wind speed and equipment, bans spraying above 10 mph, requires wind readings before spraying and every hour, bans highly volatile esters except citrus growth regulators, and requires records with hourly wind data for sprays over 5 acres a day. Off-label use is unlawful, but lower rates (with the customer's consent for commercial work), unlisted pests on labeled sites and label-permitted fertilizer mixes are allowed. Pesticides must not be handled, stored or discarded in ways that endanger people, feed, pollinators or water, restricted-use pesticides must be stored securely, and mixing and loading needs a physical gap or its equivalent at the water line. Restricted-use records are made within two working days, kept two years, copied to the customer within 30 days, and released immediately in a medical emergency. Licensees report damage from supervised applications, and a claimant who blocks inspection loses the claim. Florida adopts the federal Worker Protection Standard, requires oral label warnings before workers reenter fields treated in the past 48 hours, gives workers pesticide information on request and bars retaliation. FDACS may inspect premises and issue hold orders, and state law preempts most local pesticide ordinances.
Where it comes from
- § 487.031, F.S.
- Fla. Admin. Code R. 5E-2.033
- Fla. Admin. Code R. 5E-9.032
- §§ 487.159 and 487.160, F.S.
- § 487.064, F.S.
- §§ 487.1585 and 487.2051, F.S.
- Fla. Admin. Code R. 5E-2.039
- §§ 487.051, 487.071 and 487.101, F.S.
Try a practice question
A licensed applicator's boom spray of an insecticide drifts onto a neighbor's vegetable garden that was never meant to be treated. Under § 487.031(13)(e), F.S., how is this treated?
- AA prohibited act, because it drifted onto an area not meant to get it
- BA violation only if the neighbor files a written complaint within 30 days
- CLawful, since a labeled product was applied at the label rate
- DLawful, unless the product was a restricted-use pesticide
Show the answer
A prohibited act, because it drifted onto an area not meant to get it. Section 487.031(13)(e) makes it unlawful for any person to apply a pesticide to, or cause it to drift onto, any person or area not intended to receive it. Following the label rate does not excuse off-target drift, and the rule is not limited to restricted-use products.
§ 487.031(13)(e), F.S.