Login Now to visit your portfolio or Create An Account if you don't already have one.

Job Definition
Mix or apply pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, or insecticides through sprays, dusts, vapors, soil incorporation or chemical application on trees, shrubs, lawns, or botanical crops. Usually requires specific training and State or Federal certification.
Job Zone

Job Zone Two: Some Preparation Needed

These occupations usually require a high school diploma and may require some vocational training or job-related course work. In some cases, an associate's or bachelor's degree could be needed.

Interests
Realistic - Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others.
Conventional - Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas. Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow.
Enterprising - Enterprising occupations frequently involve starting up and carrying out projects. These occupations can involve leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business.
Knowledge
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.
Mechanical - Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
Skills
Operation and Control - Controlling operations of equipment or systems.
Equipment Selection - Determining the kind of tools and equipment needed to do a job.
Mathematics - Using mathematics to solve problems.
Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
Equipment Maintenance - Performing routine maintenance on equipment and determining when and what kind of maintenance is needed.
Tasks
Start motors and engage machinery, such as sprayer agitators and pumps or portable spray equipment.
Plant grass with seed spreaders, and operate straw blowers to cover seeded areas with mixtures of asphalt and straw.
Provide driving instructions to truck drivers to ensure complete coverage of designated areas, using hand and horn signals.
Clean and service machinery to ensure operating efficiency, using water, gasoline, lubricants, and/or hand tools.
Connect hoses and nozzles selected according to terrain, distribution pattern requirements, types of infestations, and velocities.
Cover areas to specified depths with pesticides, applying knowledge of weather conditions, droplet sizes, elevation-to-distance ratios, and obstructions.
Fill sprayer tanks with water and chemicals, according to formulas.
Lift, push, and swing nozzles, hoses, and tubes in order to direct spray over designated areas.
Mix pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides for application to trees, shrubs, lawns, or botanical crops.
Wages

In 2008, the California average annual wage was $36,160.00.

Most people employed in this occupation were paid between $20,770.00 and $54,160.00.

Outlook

During 2006, there were approximately 2,100 people employed in this field in California. It is projected that there will be 2,300 employed in 2016. This occupation will have about 20 openings due to growth and about 30 replacement openings for approximately 50 total annual openings. This occupation .

Colleges and Training
There are currently no programs listed for this occupation.
Similar Occupations
Pest Control Workers - Spray or release chemical solutions or toxic gases and set traps to kill pests and vermin, such as mice, termites, and roaches, that infest buildings and surrounding areas.
Landscaping and Groundskeeping Workers - Landscape or maintain grounds of property using hand or power tools or equipment. Workers typically perform a variety of tasks, which may include any combination of the following: sod laying, mowing, trimming, planting, watering, fertilizing, digging, raking, sprinkler installation, and installation of mortarless segmental concrete masonry wall units.
Plating and Coating Machine Setters, Operators, and Tenders, Metal and Plastic - Set up, operate, or tend plating or coating machines to coat metal or plastic products with chromium, zinc, copper, cadmium, nickel, or other metal to protect or decorate surfaces. Includes electrolytic processes.
Prepress Technicians and Workers - Set up and prepare material for printing presses.
Petroleum Pump System Operators, Refinery Operators, and Gaugers - Control the operation of petroleum refining or processing units. May specialize in controlling manifold and pumping systems, gauging or testing oil in storage tanks, or regulating the flow of oil into pipelines.
Grinding and Polishing Workers, Hand - Grind, sand, or polish, using hand tools or hand-held power tools, a variety of metal, wood, stone, clay, plastic, or glass objects.
Cleaners of Vehicles and Equipment - Wash or otherwise clean vehicles, machinery, and other equipment. Use such materials as water, cleaning agents, brushes, cloths, and hoses.
Notes
You must be logged in to take notes, click here to login.
Job Openings
Click here for job openings in California.