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Date: 08/20/2025

Pesticide Handlers, Sprayers, and Applicators, Vegetation

Mix or apply pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, or insecticides through sprays, dusts, vapors, soil incorporation, or chemical application on trees, shrubs, lawns, or crops. Usually requires specific training and state or federal certification.

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    Work Activities

    Work Activities

    • Clean or service machinery to ensure operating efficiency, using water, gasoline, lubricants, or hand tools.
    • Provide driving instructions to truck drivers to ensure complete coverage of designated areas, using hand and horn signals.
    • Plant grass with seed spreaders, and operate straw blowers to cover seeded areas with mixtures of asphalt and straw.
    • Connect hoses and nozzles selected according to terrain, distribution pattern requirements, types of infestations, and velocities.
    • Lift, push, and swing nozzles, hoses, and tubes to direct spray over designated areas.
    • Start motors and engage machinery, such as sprayer agitators or pumps or portable spray equipment.
    • Fill sprayer tanks with water and chemicals, according to formulas.
    • Mix pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides for application to trees, shrubs, lawns, or botanical crops.
    • Plant grass with seed spreaders, and operate straw blowers to cover seeded areas with mixtures of asphalt and straw.
    • Cover areas to specified depths with pesticides, applying knowledge of weather conditions, droplet sizes, elevation-to-distance ratios, and obstructions.
    • Identify lawn or plant diseases to determine the appropriate course of treatment.
    • Clean or service machinery to ensure operating efficiency, using water, gasoline, lubricants, or hand tools.

    Skills

    • Installation

      Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.

    • Operations Monitoring

      Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.

    • Complex Problem Solving

      Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.

    • Monitoring

      Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.

    • Science

      Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.

    • Writing

      Writing things for co-workers or customers.

    • Reading Comprehension

      Reading work-related information.

    • Systems Analysis

      Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.

    • Management of Material Resources

      Managing equipment and materials.

    • Instructing

      Teaching people how to do something.

    • Negotiation

      Bringing people together to solve differences.

    • Active Listening

      Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.

    • Equipment Maintenance

      Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.

    • Troubleshooting

      Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.

    • Learning Strategies

      Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.

    • Management of Financial Resources

      Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.

    • Programming

      Writing computer programs.

    • Operation and Control

      Using equipment or systems.

    • Mathematics

      Using math to solve problems.

    • Persuasion

      Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.

    • Repairing

      Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.

    • Coordination

      Changing what is done based on other people's actions.

    • Systems Evaluation

      Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.

    • Critical Thinking

      Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.

    • Equipment Selection

      Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.

    • Social Perceptiveness

      Understanding people's reactions.

    • Active Learning

      Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.

    • Judgment and Decision Making

      Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.

    • Management of Personnel Resources

      Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.

    • Service Orientation

      Looking for ways to help people.

    • Quality Control Analysis

      Testing how well a product or service works.

    • Speaking

      Talking to others.

    • Time Management

      Managing your time and the time of other people.

    • Operations Analysis

      Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.

    • Technology Design

      Making equipment and technology useful for customers.

    WorkKeys®

    Applied Math
    3
    Workplace Documents
    4
    Graphic Literacy
    3

    Abilities

    • Dynamic Strength

      Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.

    • Peripheral Vision

      Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.

    • Speed of Closure

      Quickly knowing what you are looking at.

    • Memorization

      Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.

    • Oral Expression

      Communicating by speaking.

    • Fluency of Ideas

      Coming up with lots of ideas.

    • Far Vision

      Seeing details that are far away.

    • Control Precision

      Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.

    • Multilimb Coordination

      Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.

    • Oral Comprehension

      Listening and understanding what people say.

    • Written Comprehension

      Reading and understanding what is written.

    • Dynamic Flexibility

      Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.

    • Time Sharing

      Doing two or more things at the same time.

    • Auditory Attention

      Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.

    • Manual Dexterity

      Holding or moving items with your hands.

    • Spatial Orientation

      Knowing where things are around you.

    • Number Facility

      Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.

    • Information Ordering

      Ordering or arranging things.

    • Hearing Sensitivity

      Telling the difference between sounds.

    • Trunk Strength

      Using your lower back and stomach.

    • Depth Perception

      Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.

    • Gross Body Coordination

      Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.

    • Speech Clarity

      Speaking clearly.

    • Response Orientation

      Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.

    • Perceptual Speed

      Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.

    • Selective Attention

      Paying attention to something without being distracted.

    • Sound Localization

      Noticing the direction that a sound came from.

    • Inductive Reasoning

      Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.

    • Extent Flexibility

      Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.

    • Visualization

      Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.

    • Written Expression

      Communicating by writing.

    • Visual Color Discrimination

      Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.

    • Near Vision

      Seeing details up close.

    • Reaction Time

      Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.

    • Stamina

      Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.

    • Finger Dexterity

      Putting together small parts with your fingers.

    • Static Strength

      Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.

    • Category Flexibility

      Grouping things in different ways.

    • Speed of Limb Movement

      Quickly moving your arms and legs.

    • Mathematical Reasoning

      Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.

    • Problem Sensitivity

      Noticing when problems happen.

    • Flexibility of Closure

      Seeing hidden patterns.

    • Arm-Hand Steadiness

      Keeping your arm or hand steady.

    • Wrist-Finger Speed

      Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.

    • Originality

      Creating new and original ideas.

    • Rate Control

      Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.

    • Explosive Strength

      Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.

    • Night Vision

      Seeing at night or under low light.

    • Deductive Reasoning

      Using rules to solve problems.

    • Glare Sensitivity

      Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.

    • Gross Body Equilibrium

      Keeping your balance or staying upright.

    • Speech Recognition

      Recognizing spoken words.

    Knowledge

    • History and Archeology

      Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.

    • Philosophy and Theology

      Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.

    • Telecommunications

      Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.

    • Communications and Media

      Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.

    • English Language

      Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.

    • Personnel and Human Resources

      Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.

    • Therapy and Counseling

      Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.

    • Geography

      Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.

    • Building and Construction

      Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.

    • Economics and Accounting

      Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.

    • Sociology and Anthropology

      Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.

    • Mathematics

      Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.

    • Transportation

      Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.

    • Law and Government

      Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.

    • Foreign Language

      Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.

    • Mechanical

      Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.

    • Administration and Management

      Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.

    • Physics

      Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.

    • Administrative

      Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.

    • Customer and Personal Service

      Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.

    • Engineering and Technology

      Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.

    • Sales and Marketing

      Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.

    • Food Production

      Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.

    • Computers and Electronics

      Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.

    • Public Safety and Security

      Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.

    • Medicine and Dentistry

      Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.

    • Design

      Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.

    • Production and Processing

      Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.

    • Biology

      Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.

    • Education and Training

      Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.

    • Fine Arts

      Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.

    • Chemistry

      Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.

    • Psychology

      Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.

    Career Video

    Additional videos and more information available on CareerOneStop

    Pay

    • Ohio Annual Salary 47890/yr
    • Typical Salary
    • Ohio Hourly Wage 23.02/hr
    • Typical Hourly Wage

    Ohio Employment Trends

    • Currently Employed 570
    • Yearly Projected Openings 70

    Typical Education

    Personality

    Realistic: People interested in this work like activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions.They do well at jobs that need:
    • Dependability
    • Attention to Detail
    • Independence
    • Cooperation
    • Integrity
    • Self Control

    Tools

    • Chemical resistant gloves
    • Facial shields
    • Flow sensors
    • Fog or mist generators
    • Goggles
    • Hand sprayers
    • Hazardous material protective apparel
    • Hazardous material protective footwear
    • Laboratory graduated cylinders
    • Notebook computers
    • Personal computers
    • Respirators
    • Safety glasses
    • Seeder attachment
    • Spray truck
    • Sprayers
    • Stop watch
    • Tablet computers
    • Tape measures

    Technology

    • Analytical or scientific software
    • Data base user interface and query software
    • Electronic mail software
    • Geographic information system
    • Inventory management software
    • Office suite software
    • Spreadsheet software
    • Web page creation and editing software

    Tags

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    Workforce Supply Tool

    Workforce Supply Tool

    The Workforce Supply Tool provides statistics for the occupations in highest demand throughout Ohio.

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