Pesticides are chemicals that are used to eliminate plant, fungal, and animal pests. Most often, pesticides are used by homeowners, farmers, and landscaping/lawn service companies. Although over 223 different chemicals can be used to maintain lawns, only 35 are used for over 90% of lawn upkeep. The following chemicals are those most often used.

Examples of products that include the chemicals listed include Weed-B-Gon, Round-up, Rose and Flower Dust, and Fung-Onil Fungicide.

Balan, Dacthal, and Betasan are used for treating crabgrass. 2,4-D, Dicamba, and MCPP are used for treating broad leaf weeds. Triumph, Oftanol, Diazinon, and Chlorpyifos treat chinch bugs and grub, while 2,4-D, Dicamba, and MSMA are used during fall weed treatments.

The amount of pesticides used is tremendous. It is estimated that homeowners and lawn care companies use 70 million pounds of ACTIVE pesticide ingredients each year. This total is in addition to 815 million pounds from agriculture. In all, about 885 million pounds of pesticide chemicals are used each year. This is in the United States alone.