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Do We Need Pesticides, Herbicides?

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MONICA BRANDIES

The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 18, 2009

Many growers think we need pesticides, and the production of these killers has been big business for decades.

And for those same number of decades, organic growers have insisted we don't need them.

For many years, the arguments offered by organic growers were considered ridiculous. But since the book "Silent Spring" was published by Rachel Carson in 1962, there has been a slow but steady swing of the pendulum, even by big business - at least a little more in the direction of natural, poison-free growing.

We still have a long way to go.

In my early gardening days, I had been trained to think pesticides were essential. My family had a greenhouse where insects reigned, and we tried everything to control them. We sprayed. We set off smoke bombs, wearing gas masks and scared our kids to death and backed out as we lit one after another along the greenhouse aisles.

Once, we had a crack in our glass house, and the neighbors called to tell us smoke was billowing out.

"Don't worry," we said. "It's just a bomb we set off."

Now, I can't believe we did that.

We never did succeed in controlling the insects with that poison, but we nearly killed a toddler son at one point.

We escaped the greenhouse and traded it for a small acreage and large old farmhouse we loved. Then an uncle gave us a subscription to "Organic Gardening" magazine in 1966.

At the time, it seemed pretty far out. Before long, though, I was convinced organic gardening made sense, and I wrote for that magazine for many years. I'd rather face any number of bugs I can see - most of them harmless - than chemical poisons I can't see.

What a relief I felt to abandon the spraying and not feel guilty. By improving the soil and mulching, we grew better plants that did not attract the pests, which are nature's way of eliminating the weak and the stressed. Mulch helps immensely with weed control, improves soil and saves moisture.

We learned to choose the most disease-resistant cultivars for our garden. You can grow beautiful roses and spray every week, or grow heirloom and disease-resistant roses, still quite beautiful, with no spraying at all.

When we moved to Florida, our next-door neighbor, Bernie, came over that first night to welcome us.

In the course of the conversation, he said, "You will want to have your yard and your house sprayed on a regular basis."

We came to love Bernie, but we did not take his advice. My husband, David, spreads boric acid the kind that comes in large, insect-repellant packages around the perimeter of the house every March. He also puts out some bait traps indoors, but only as needed.

In the garden, I use few pesticides - except for mosquito spray, when there is a threat of some dire disease and the insects are biting badly.

I know many people who use no insecticides or fungicides, only herbicides as needed on vines, paths and other areas - most of the RoundUp variety. I have even tried it, but it didn't work for me.

Maybe I didn't use enough, because I still remember the farmers spraying their fields with weed killers when my family lived in Iowa - sometimes when there was enough wind to carry the poison smell to our kitchen and curl the leaves on the grape vines just outside our kitchen door. I'll take the weeds.

Cleaning plants with a strong spray of water will remove most insects, eggs and disease spores. If that fails, add insecticidal or dish soap to the water you spray on the plants.

You can buy and turn loose beneficial insects. For example, lady bugs eat aphids. And there are safe sprays and dusts, such as Bacillus thuringiensis, or Bt. Any product containing this that will kill insects in the worm stage safely. But if you want butterflies, you don't even want to use soap in the spray, and you don't have to.

More people are growing gardens well without using dangerous chemicals. Even many Iowa farmers are going organic.

It's another piece of evidence that the world is getting better, not worse.

Today's Pick

Heavenly bamboo, Nandina domestica, is an evergreen shrub that grows all over Florida but tends to be more colorful the further north you go. It likes partial to full shade but will withstand full sun. Mine has enjoyed our cold winter and never looked better. It can grow to 8 feet tall and grows small, shiny leaves that turn a coppery red in winter. The leaves are compound and lacy, medium-green in summer but with red new growth. White flowers grow in upright clusters and are not especially showy, but the orange berries hang in beautiful clusters. The berries are poisonous and perhaps a bit tempting to children, so warn them. The foliage is good for bouquets. Immerse it in tepid water for a few hours to make it last longer.

Now's The Time To ...

•Prune like crazy. So far, I have done the roses, hibiscus, plumbago and duranta for shape and size. I pruned the silver shrimp, Salvia forsythia, lion's ear, candy corn and bush sunflower drastically to remove dead growth. I cut the cassia by the front door way back and pruned the frilly hibiscus it was covering, and also cut dead growth from the blue gingers and one sad croton.

•My narrow-leaved Mammey croton died back badly in the freeze, but it's coming back from the roots. The wide-leaved Petra croton had hardly any damage at all, even in more exposed places, so it is definitely much more cold-hardy.

Upcoming Events

•The Suncoast Native Plant Society meets at 7 p.m. today at the Hillsborough County Extension Office, 5339 County Road 579, Seffner. Donald Roberts and Robert Fischer will speak about the Coastal Conservation Association. The meeting is free and open to the public. Call (813) 317-5497.

•The Tampa African Violet Society will meet at 10 a.m. Friday at the Sadie Park Recreation Center, 510 East Sadie St., Brandon. Therese Lynam will present African Violet Growing Basics. There will be a plant drawing and growing tips. Admission and parking are free. Contact Mary Lou Harden at (813) 689-8700 or Mina Menish at (813) 681-1910.

•The Horticulture Vocational Program at the Falkenburg Road Jail will hold a plant sale from 8 a.m. to noon March 27. The program needs fertilizer, equipment, labels and soil. The jail is at 520 N. Falkenburg Road, Tampa.

Monica Brandies can be reached at monicabrandies@yahoo.com.

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