Apply Pesticides Safely - use approved Lawn Treatment Operatives

We all know that Pesticides get a bad name in the media and press. Lawn Treatment companies should have qualified and skilled lawn technicians capable of following the product labels, making applications of lawn care products correctly but most of all, a grasp of what they are employed to do when visiting a clients' lawn.

The actual amount of pesticide concentrate applied to a domestic lawn is on the face of it very minimal when you work on the basis of 5 litres of selective weed killer being applied in a minimum of 200 litres of water per hectare - 10,000 square metres. So a 200 square metre lawn has applied to it 100ml of selective weed killer and 4 litres of water and around 6 Kg of lawn fertiliser per each visit.

All Lawn Operatives making applications of pesticides must be registered and approved with the National Proficiency Tests Council - NPTC, having achieved certification in the safe use and application of pesticides relevant to their application equipment being used.

They would have undertaken two days of classroom instruction, day one in the legislation, health and safety aspects of pesticides, storage, product labels and personal protective equipment as well as disposal of washings and first aid measures and reporting. Day two would be more hands on getting to grips with the workings and safety features of their knapsack, the equipment they will calibrate correctly to apply the liquid products to your lawn.

If you would like to be trained in Pesticide Use, our Sister company Weed Free provides an on site Pesticide Training Service in accordance with the NPTC Certificates of Competance & Pesticides Training Schedules.

We can add as a foot note that all our lawn technicians at The Lawn Company and Weed Free, a leading contract pesticide application company for the professional sports turf industry are approved to apply pesticides and we are also BASIS Registered qualified and permitted to give sound pesticide advice. BASIS is An Independent Registration, Standards and Certification Scheme Serving Pesticide, Fertiliser and Allied Organisations and Interests.

If your Lawn Treatment Company are recommending pesticides as part of their service and giving advice about these pesticides, their key advisory personnel should be registered with BASIS. We doubt that many actually are.....