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PEI Municipality Pesticide Application Permit – Customer Information

Chinch bugs in the summer and grubs in spring and fall can cause significant damage to your lawn if not addressed as quickly as possible.  PEI municipalities including Charlottetown, Stratford, Cornwall and Summerside have passed cosmetic pesticide bylaws that restrict pesticide use within municipal boundaries.  The bylaws differ by municipality, but they all include the ability to treat serious insect infestations with a chemical pesticide provided a permit is obtained from the municipality and other mandated procedures are followed.  This memo explains the process so you can understand what is required and what is needed from you to make sure the insect problem is treated as soon as possible. 

1. Identify the Insect Problem – If you notice signs of possible insect damage contact Weed Man as soon as possible to diagnose the problem.  We do our best to identify possible insect infestations on our customers’ lawns before they cause too much damage, but we are not on your property every day.  Insect infestations can flare up quickly so call us if you think you have insect damage or see the bugs in damaged areas.  The sooner the problem is identified the faster we can get the process started.  If you require assistance identifying a possible insect infestation, one of Weed Man’s professionals will be happy to inspect your lawn for you.


2. Permit Application Signed – All municipalities require the homeowner to sign a permit application form before it is submitted to municipal staff for approval.  In an effort to expedite the process we email you a link to an online permit application form which you can sign using your mouse.  We then submit the form on your behalf. 


3. Permit Issued by Municipality – As soon as we have the signed form from you, we submit it to the municipality for approval.  Municipal staff have the right to inspect your property before issuing a permit to ensure the required infestation thresholds are present and they have a right to deny issuance of a permit.  Please note we have no control over the time it takes Municipal staff to complete an inspection and issue the permit.  In our experience, it takes municipal staff anywhere from 2 to 5 business days to issue a permit, depending on the volume of applications they have.  The municipality charges a permit fee of $50.00 which we pay on your behalf.  The permit cost is included in the invoice for your chinch bug application.


4. Pre-notification and Pesticide Application - Once we have the permit in hand, we are required to pre-notify your neighbours of a pending pesticide treatment, and wait 24 to 72 hours from that pre-notification to complete the application.  We do our best to schedule those as quickly as possible, but scheduling management and weather sometimes do add to the time it takes to complete these final steps.  Once the pesticide application is completed, we give you an invoice which includes the application and the permit cost.

Your Weed Man professional will be happy to answer questions about this process, the pesticide bylaws and how they apply to you and your property.  If you would like further information, call us at (902) 368-9333 or 1 (877) 434-9333 or email us at info@weedmanmaritimes.ca .  


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