The dividing line is whether the product is a pesticide, and crossing it changes everything.
What this covers
Liquid fertilizer, granular fertilizer, plant food, hydroponic nutrient, soil amendment, pesticide, herbicide, fungicide and rooting hormone. Nine products that sit side by side in a garden centre and are not governed alike.
Fertilizers and pesticides are different worlds
A fertilizer feeds a plant. A pesticide kills or controls something, and it may not be distributed or sold in the United States unless it is registered with EPA, with the label approved as part of that registration.
Which means the label is not yours to write
Nine required elements, in prescribed places, at a prescribed minimum size, approved before sale. The front panel carries the ingredient statement by default, and the EPA registration number and establishment number both appear.
And the container has a standard of its own
A liquid pesticide in a container of five gallons or less has to pour in a continuous, coherent stream with minimal dripping, and a rigid container for a dilutable product has to rinse out to 99.99 percent of each active ingredient.
That second number is unusual enough to repeat
Ninety-nine point nine nine percent of each active ingredient removable by rinsing. That is a specification about the inside surface of the bottle, the shape of its shoulder and the absence of anywhere for residue to sit.
Then possibly a child resistant closure
Required where the product meets a toxicity criterion and the labeling recommends or can be read to permit residential use. Both conditions, and the second one is a question about your own copy.
Rooting hormone is the one people miss
A plant growth regulator is a pesticide under the statute. It is sold in a 10 to 250 mL container next to the seed trays and it is not in the same regulatory category as the compost beside it.
What the shelf looks like
579 containers, median 125 mL, 42 at a litre or more, with 30 child resistant closures, 19 trigger sprayers and 18 spouted closures. It serves the concentrate and the ready-to-use spray well, and the bulk granular end thinly.
References
40 CFR 156.10, general labeling requirements for pesticides. The label carries the name, brand or trademark; the name and address of the producer or registrant; the net contents; the EPA registration number; the EPA establishment number; the ingredient statement; hazard and precautionary statements; directions for use; and the use classification. Required text must be "clearly legible to a person with normal vision", set in 6-point or larger type, on a clear contrasting background, not obscured or crowded, and placed so as "to render it likely to be read and understood by the ordinary individual under customary conditions of purchase and use". The ingredient statement is normally required on the front panel.
law.cornell.edu40 CFR 165.25, standards for nonrefillable pesticide containers. A container for a non-hazardous pesticide complies with the DOT provisions applicable to a Packing Group III material. A container of 5 gallons or less holding a liquid pesticide must "allow the contents of the nonrefillable container to pour in a continuous, coherent stream" and minimise dripping. A rigid container of 5 gallons or less for a dilutable product must achieve "at least 99.99 percent removal of each active ingredient" under the prescribed test procedure.
law.cornell.edu40 CFR 157.22, child-resistant packaging for pesticides: "Unless exempted under 157.24, a pesticide product must be distributed and sold in child-resistant packaging" where it meets a toxicity criterion and "the product's labeling either directly recommends residential use or reasonably can be interpreted to permit residential use". The toxicity criteria include an acute oral LD50 of 1.5 g/kg or less, an acute dermal LD50 of 2000 mg/kg or less, an acute inhalation LC50 of 2 mg/litre or less, irreversible eye damage or corneal involvement persisting 21 days or more, and tissue destruction or severe skin irritation at 72 hours.
law.cornell.eduThe Davis Pack Supply catalog, measured 18 October 2026. The growing inputs shelf is 1,075 rows: 579 containers and 496 closures, derived from three packaging archetypes across nine leaves. 276 PET, 203 HDPE, 85 glass, 14 PP and 1 LDPE, from 10 to 9,464 mL with a median of 125 and 42 containers at 1 litre or more. The closures include 30 child resistant, 19 trigger sprayers and 18 spouted.
