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Crop and Pest Management Guidelines

A Cornell Cooperative Extension Publication
Skip Navigation LinksHome > Cornell Guidelines > 2024 Trees and Shrubs Table of Contents > 1 Pesticide Information > 1.11 Neighbor Notification
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1.11 Neighbor Notification

Title 10 of Article 33 of the Environmental Conservation Law requires that before any commercial lawn application is made in New York State, the applicator must enter into a written contract with the owner (or owner's agent) of the property where the application is to be made. Title 10 also requires posting of visual notification markers prior to a pesticide application. Contracts and posting requirements do not apply to commercial nursery, greenhouse, or other agricultural production operations. (Title 10 can be found at https://www.dec.ny.gov/regulations/8875.html.)

Title 10 also allows counties and New York City to pass a local law to "opt into" additional notification requirements for lawn applications. (Lawn applications include pesticide applications to ground, trees, and shrubs). Referred to as the "Neighbor Notification Law", these requirements include posting of visual notification markers by homeowners for residential lawn applications, posting of informational signs at stores selling general use lawn care pesticides and, for certain commercial lawn applications, procedures for 48-hour advance notification to occupants of dwellings, multiple dwellings, and other structures on abutting property having boundaries within 150 feet of the application site. Certain pesticides or applications are exempt from the 48-hour prior notification including:

  • Directed aerosol sprays from containers 18 fl. oz. or less used to protect individuals from an imminent threat from stinging and biting insects.
  • Nonvolatile insect or rodent bait in a tamper-resistant container.
  • Materials classified by EPA as exempt under 40 CFR 152.25 (the so called "minimum-risk" or 25(b) pesticides).
  • Materials classified by EPA as reduced-risk pesticides or biopesticides.
  • Horticultural oils and soaps that do not contain synthetic pesticides or synergists.
  • Granular pesticides (solid pesticides applied to ground that are not a dust or powder).
  • Pesticides injected into a plant or the ground.
  • Spot application of pesticides from a manually pressurized or nonpressurized container of 32 fl. oz. or less to an area of ground less than 9 sq. ft.
  • Applications to the ground or turf of any cemetery.
  • Emergency application of pesticides to protect human health, provided an effort is made to give written notice and notification is also given to the Commissioner of Health.

NYS pesticide regulations (Section 325.41) describe the notifications pesticide applicators making commercial or residential lawn applications must do in counties or cities who have opted in to the Neighbor Notification Law. The regulations also discuss placement and wording for signs at stores selling general use lawn pesticides. More details on Neighbor Notification Law requirements are found on-line at dec.ny.gov/environmental-protection/pesticides/laws-regulations/neighbor-notification. Contact the county government to determine if they've opted in to the Neighbor Notification Law.