Comments on: Have a Healthy Garden with a Hint of Hazmat…

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 15:34:43 +0000

Great post Rebecca. Very good tips for those of us looking to minimize the hazmat levels in our yards. And no, I wouldn’t have drank the latte either. Now if it was my beer they fell into….

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 21:04:37 +0000

Wow – thanks for the compliment! And yes, I view the term ‘slightly pithy’ as a compliment (snarky is a bit too harsh, but pithy has a gentle ring to it)….I’m with you – strictly organic for my veggies. I might drink a Sluggo-laced latte, but I wouldn’t want to eat a tomato pumped full of chemicals….

By: Scott

Scott — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 19:12:43 +0000

Rebecca, found ya through Blotanical, nice to read a slightly pithy blog. I truely understand your approach to pesticides. I will stand strong with O.G. techniques for veg but with ornamentals it is occasionally worth a short walk on the dark side. As Arnold said “I’ll be back”
Scott

By: Frances

Frances — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 10:24:37 +0000

Hi Rebecca, sometimes we are forced to make decisions between only evils, not good versus evil. You are doing the best you can and thanks about the slug recommendation. They are a terrible bane in certain lower areas of our slope and we stopped using any product when a couple of dead birds were found a few years ago. Whether I would drink that latte, I think not, but am glad you survived!
Frances

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 22:47:25 +0000

I’m absolutely, 100% okay with you ‘dissenting a bit’ You’re so knowledgeable and level-headed, I completely respect your opinion and if it struck a chord with you, I totally ‘get it’. As I mentioned, I don’t feel good about it either, but justify it a bit with the fact that I use it very, very sparingly. I appreciate your recommendation of Serenade and will certainly give it a try. I think all of us gardeners love the earth, birds, plants and bugs (most of them at least) and don’t want to hurt anything, yet grapple with how to get the upper hand when things get out of balance. I just had a beautiful rose bush go up in flames – well not flames, but thrips. The thrip infestation occurred so quickly there was nothing I could do but severely prune the bush to stubs and spray the organic spray on it. It’s a tough decision, I agree.

By: Genevieve

Genevieve — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 22:12:41 +0000

Rebecca, I was using imidacloprid/ Bayer Advanced on the roses and Rhodies I maintain until this year, but when I sat down to really think deeply about it, I could not justify its use to myself anymore.

I go into my feelings on it more in this post (scroll down to A Note About Non-Organic Control:
http://www.northcoastgardening.com/2009/06/how-to-kill-thrips-organically/#more-1219 )
, but basically I researched and found that imidacloprid is very toxic to birds, and I have actually seen birds eating bugs off roses, so it isn’t a stretch to my imagination that the bugs could be full of toxin and dying, the bird comes and eats some bugs, and then the bird dies.

I also felt some concern about the fact that it’s toxic to soil microbes and earthworms, which are very helpful in supporting pest-free conditions in the garden.

I still use the Bayer on a few of the roses I maintain that absolutely cannot have any spots or mildew or else I get fired (and someone less organic comes in to replace me), but for my more relaxed clients, I’m using a combination of organic controls and have had decent success with Serenade, a biological fungus control. More about it here:

http://www.northcoastgardening.com/2009/07/organic-rose-flower-pest-control-spraying-pests/

Hope it’s cool that I’m dissenting a bit – this struck a chord with me because I have struggled with my use of Bayer this year and really had to confront my desire to use it, because it is so simple and long-lasting for us pros to use for clients.

I’m trying to avoid it where possible, but it is hard because the organic alternatives do need to be sprayed more often. It is tough!!

By: Miss Daisy

Miss Daisy — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 20:57:10 +0000

I had to whip out the hard stuff this summer when my garden was infested with ear wigs! I could NOT get rid of the suckers with natural means and so I got down and ugly with the hard stuff. Killed them instantly and saved my garden.

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:10:33 +0000

Haha! I’m either brave or dumb – probably a combination of both. To be honest, the snail bait added a nice little ‘zing’ to my latte – really perked me up!

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:05:39 +0000

Lovely to meet you & to read your posts from Italy (one of my very favorite places on this planet!!). Wish I could send you some ‘black market’ Bayer to help with your spider mites!!

By: Sue in Milan

Sue in Milan — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 14:47:59 +0000

Just found your blog through Blotanical – I hope we’ll see you around there a lot.

Thanks for the tip about the spray for red spider mite – they’re the bane of my existence, and like you I try not to use nuclear bombs on the plants – but often find myself giving in. I’ll have to see if I can get hold of it here. Probably not …

By: Autumn Belle

Autumn Belle — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 14:27:40 +0000

This is a hilarious but informative post.

By: Daffodil Planter

Daffodil Planter — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 06:09:53 +0000

Well, you’ve set the bar pretty darn high for anyone who wants to test a product in her garden! You won’t catch me drinking any compost tea. Brave you!

By: TheGardenAngel

TheGardenAngel — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 05:33:37 +0000

You NEVER fail to make me laugh…it is so good for the soul. As you know I am the queen of organics…organic food…organic household products…heck…I even have an organic robe! But…when it comes to my Brugmansia’s I break down…they are one of my favorite flowers and I just can’t bear to see them suffer. I also use the Bayer systemic product once a year and it works beautifully. I do feel a little guilty but I have just enjoyed an entire season of the most beautiful, pest free Brugmansia blooms ever! So…next spring I will covertly treat them again while hiding the empty product bottles in someone else’s recycling bin! My strictly organic neighbor would give me an earful!