No Spray Signs: Frequently Asked Questions

A ‘Do Not Spray Sign’ is a visible warning to warn applicators not to spray harmful chemicals on or near your property. No Spraying Signs indicate to visitors, neighbors, and road crew against spraying in your area. Many states and counties require posting ‘No Spray Zone’ or ‘Do Not Spray’ signs where they can be easily seen.

Bee Farms: Signs are great for protecting honey bees and other pollinators, which can be killed immediately or within hours of exposure to pesticides with acute toxicity.

Agricultural Farms: No Spray Signs must be posted in buffer zones and entrances into your farm.

Organic Gardens: Signs are a must-have at organic gardens because herbicide and pesticide sprays can negatively affect the growth of vegetation in organic fields and gardens.

Residential Areas: No spray signs are ideal for yards and homes where residents are sensitive to chemicals, and kids and pets play on the lawn. Signs can be posted on the side of the road or on streets adjacent to private property.

Placement is also crucial - for example, Lincoln county wants these signs to be placed just off the shoulder of the road with the face of the signs facing oncoming traffic. According to an official circular, the ‘NO SPRAY’ sign should be placed at the location residents wish to have the County spray application stopped, whereas the ‘SPRAY’ sign must be placed at the location past the property where the County operator can resume spraying.

At the national level, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulates the use of pesticides.

In addition to individual state laws, the following federal acts play a discerning role in pesticide usage:

- Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA): This law governs the registration, distribution, sale, and use of pesticides in the country. The framework established in FIFRA for pesticide regulation gives power to states (usually the state's agriculture office) that have met certain requirements and provides for oversight by the EPA.

- Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA): This act sets tolerances (maximum residue limits) for pesticide residues in food.

- Food Quality Protection Act of 1996 (FQPA): This act amended FIFRA and FFDCA by raising safety standards for new pesticides used in food products. The amendments required older pesticides and previously set tolerance levels to be periodically re-assessed.

- Pesticide Registration Improvement Act (PRIA): This law has the framework for the fees and timelines associated with pesticide registration actions.

- Endangered Species Act (ESA): The act requires EPA to assess the risk of pesticides to threatened or endangered species and their habitats.

EPA defines pesticide drift as “the movement of pesticide dust or droplets through the air at the time of application or soon after, to any site other than the area intended." Pesticide droplets are produced by spray nozzles used while spraying pesticides on crops, forests, turf, and home gardens.

Following practices can help reduce spray drift:

- Direct the pesticide spray only to the treatment area.
- Use the largest droplet size consistent with acceptable efficacy.
- Do not spray near storm drains, drainage ditches, gutters, or surface waters.
- Wait for calm weather conditions to spray (when the wind speed is less than 10 mph). Pesticide application must not be done when rain is predicted within the next 24 hours.
- Rinsing application equipment, such as watering cans, low-pressure hand wands, backpack sprayers, etc., over the treated area will prevent runoff to water bodies or drainage systems.
- In the case of granular product application, sweeping the product back from the driveway, sidewalk, street, or other hard impervious surfaces, to the treated area of the lawn or garden will restrict runoff to water bodies or drainage systems.
- When watering treated areas, look up the watering-in instructions on the label, and ensure you do not water the treated area to the point of runoff.

The United States Department of Agriculture defines a buffer zone as “an area between a certified production operation or portion of a production operation and an adjacent land area that is not maintained under organic management."

A buffer zone also called the “no-spray zone" must be big enough or have other features (like windbreaks or a diversion ditch) to prevent contamination by prohibited substances like pesticides applied to adjacent lands. A buffer zone can be a 10 feet strip to as large as 300 feet, depending on the type of application.

EPA mentions that the No Spray Zones are the areas between the closest point of direct pesticide application and the nearest site boundary to be protected unless otherwise specified on a product label.

EPA and many states and tribes have restrictions and policies for controlling spray drift, including requirements of no-spray zones for certain or all pesticides. EPA requires detailed pesticide label statements that must include the use of no-spray zones.

Following are the ‘no spray’ regulations for organic farms:
- To reduce drift, fine spray formulation is not recommended for pesticide application (use droplets greater than 150 microns) at very low pressure. Use a large solid cone or fan spray nozzle that will produce larger droplet sizes.
- Do not spray in windy or gusty conditions (over 5 mph).
- Determine wind direction. If the wind direction is moving pesticide droplets away from the target area, do not spray.
- Do not spray during thermal inversions when the air closest to the ground is warmer than the air above it.
- When possible, avoid spraying at temperatures above 90°-95° F, ideally not over 85° F.
- It is usually best to apply pesticides in the early morning or late evening when there is less wind. However, avoid very calm and stagnant air conditions, which have the potential to cause a persistent “chemical cloud"" that can slowly move downwind.
- Lower the boom height to reduce the chance of wind-related drift.
- Water-based sprays will volatilize more quickly than oil-based sprays. However, oil-based sprays can drift farther because they are lighter, especially above 95° F.
- Use drift control/drift reduction agents called adjuvants.
- Check your system for leaks.
- For liquid and dry formulations applications, use shrouds or skirts attached over or behind the application equipment to prevent spray droplets and pesticide particles from becoming airborne.
- Ensure the machine is adjusted to direct the spray into the tree canopy. Use only the nozzles that deliver the spray to the tree.

Yes, pesticide drift can damage a neighboring property and may lead to litigation for farmers or land owners of lands where pesticide application has taken place. The impact can be more serious if the neighboring land raises crops or livestock other than yours, operates an organic farm, or is a property like a golf course, apiary, or a residential community.

In certain instances, liability insurance specifically designed for chemical spray drift may allow farmers/landowners to mitigate this risk.

A riparian area is a buffer zone (as narrow as 2-3 meters to as wide as 30 meters) between the land and a water body like a river or a stream. Riparian areas can be damaged by pesticides which can further affect the water quality to a great extent. Riparian buffers can significantly remove nonpoint source pollutants like pesticides in surface water runoff if properly installed and maintained. These buffers as agricultural field borders help reduce aerial drift of ground-applied pesticides.

Several studies have conclusively proven that riparian hedgerows are effective pesticide drift reduction tools and can potentially reduce the harmful effects of pesticides drifting onto adjacent aquatic ecosystems. Vegetative barriers in riparian zones have been known to reduce spray drift deposition from conventional or low-drift nozzles into water bodies by 24 to 99%.

Multiple federal, regional, state, and local have been running to restore riparian areas across the country. States and private owners are increasingly using signs that prohibit pesticide sprays and mowing in riparian zones to keep vegetation and water bodies protected.

According to the National Pesticide Information Center, all pesticides have some level of toxicity for kids and pets, especially because of their proximity to the ground and outdoors. Pesticides are difficult to remove from essential organs like the liver and kidneys of kids. Dogs, cats, and pet birds also absorb pesticides by exposure to plants treated with pesticides. The risk depends on the type and quantity of pesticide a child or pet is exposed to.

The U.S. has 30-40 million acres of lawn, much more than occupied by corn, soybean, and wheat. EPA’s last survey shows that 88 million homeowners use pesticides on their lawns. However, there is a decline in the usage of conventional pesticide-active ingredients in homes and gardens, thanks to people recognizing the harm pesticides have done to our bodies.

Now, homeowners are moving away from the age-old mindset of maintaining neatly-manicured lawns and adopting natural techniques to control pests, including growing weeds, wildflowers, and other native plants.

It is often said, “life on earth as it is today would not exist without bees". Sadly, bees are declining worldwide, and pesticides use is one of the leading causes. Pesticides are toxic to honeybees, which are valuable pollinators of 95 crops with a considerable farm value of $10 billion annually grown in the United States. Disrupting this natural interdependent ecosystem can have a significant long-term detrimental effect on our planet.

Protecting honeybees from pesticide poisoning and other lethal effects have become the need of the hour. Along with carefully reading pesticide labels that carry specific statements to protect bees, ‘No Spray’ zone signs aid applicators in understanding exactly where not to spray.

Growers, homeowners, and beekeepers must take careful steps to reduce the hazard of pesticide exposure to bees.

One of the key examples has been the ‘No Mow May’ movement, where an estimated 5,000 homeowners participated by letting their lawns grow wild the entire month, hoping to feed bees and other beneficial pollinators.