Author Topic: Do you use any pesticides?  (Read 3268 times)

AnnonAddict

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Do you use any pesticides?
« on: October 14, 2014, 10:55:56 PM »
I have found myself growing things completely organic for as long as I can remember. I decided to post this because just recently I am noticing most gardeners I know douse their plants in pesticides when it is not needed. I have a neighbor who lives extremely close to me and uses tons of pesticides when he doesn't even have problems with bugs to start with.

Whats your opinion?
Jackson

nullzero

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Re: Do you use any pesticides?
« Reply #1 on: October 14, 2014, 11:17:31 PM »
Pesticide use eventually leads to stronger bugs. I think the best protection is diversity of plants and inviting as many good bugs as you can into the garden. Pesticides make the food potentially harmful and add additional costs. For the home gardener your able to spot things and counter react with soaps and oils, hose spray, and releasing good bugs.

For industrial agriculture it makes sense why they use pesticides, massive scale of monoculture plants. Once XYZ insect gets established its able to spread easily, with no spiders or good bugs to fight them off (because they were killed from prior pesticide spray).
Grow mainly fruits, vegetables, and herbs.

buddyguygreen

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Re: Do you use any pesticides?
« Reply #2 on: October 14, 2014, 11:54:22 PM »
It also has to do with your soil, bad soil bad immune system for the tree to protect itself. Ive noticed my trees which were growing in 8 ph sand and suffering from all sorts of pest which I used neem oil on now after 2 years of adding beneficial microbes and compost the sand is alot darker with a 7.2PH, the trees are hardly being attacked. Not to mention all the lady bugs that are breeding. even tho it takes longer its better in the long run. now I dig out 5x5 feet of sand and fill it with 100% compost from the store so it will hold the beneficial microbes and what not more and acts as a perfect home for everything to breed. better cation exchange capacity. I know its expensive but now I save on water, fertilizer, and everything else you would need to use. Not to mention my time.  everything is growing faster and healthier than I knew possible. you just have to spend you money on shit(literally) ;D

From the sea

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Re: Do you use any pesticides?
« Reply #3 on: October 15, 2014, 06:23:57 AM »
i use oil and soap, but if something gets out of control i am not above nuking the little buggers. haven't had to in 2 years since i knocked back the white flys

Saltcayman

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Re: Do you use any pesticides?
« Reply #4 on: October 15, 2014, 06:31:42 AM »
I agree with buddy green.   Get your soil in balance and the whole system will come in balance...   With 8.2 ph clay/sand/limestone and zero organic matter, I had endless problems with scale, ants and whitefly.  After a few years of mulching , humates and microbes, hardly any problems.  I did use spinosad to get the fire ants in check...

Mark in Texas

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Re: Do you use any pesticides?
« Reply #5 on: October 15, 2014, 07:26:07 AM »
I can't believe any one would dose their plants with pesticides just because. Don't know about California but here in Texas we don't apply until we've identified the pest and asked the question "is treatment really necessary at this point?".  Pesticides and time/labor don't come cheap.

I rarely use pesticides in my veggie garden, don't have to, but like someone mentioned I have a monoculture farm of Xmas trees and if you don't spray with something like imnocloprid at least twice a year in central Texas you'll lose them to a deadly larvae of the Nantucket Pine Tip Moth that bores into the apical tips and destroys them.  Same with certain fungus diseases like diplodia. 

You have to get educated, follow directions and follow the "less is more" lifestyle especially with certain fungicides in the strobie family.....rotate them out so that the fungi don't become resistant.  Also, I have some pretty heavy thoughts on this subject posted recently if interested:  http://tropicalfruitforum.com/index.php?topic=12833.0

There is nothing that beats a non-toxic pesticide for white flies and ALL stages of ALL families of spider mites like Forbid 4F.  It is the silver bullet for mite control.

Mark
« Last Edit: October 15, 2014, 07:30:42 AM by Mark in Texas »

Mark in Texas

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Re: Do you use any pesticides?
« Reply #6 on: October 15, 2014, 07:33:55 AM »
Also, for you organic purists, you might wanna look into biofungicides or products that enable the plants to develop and internal tissue resistance to pests.  Keyplex comes to mind and so does Dyna-Gro ProTeks.  I use them both.  There are hundreds of studies regarding Keyplex.  Still have occasional problems but my plant material is pretty healthy and that's key to negating insect and disease pressures.

Mark

bangkok

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Re: Do you use any pesticides?
« Reply #7 on: October 15, 2014, 07:41:47 AM »
Also, for you organic purists, you might wanna look into biofungicides or products that enable the plants to develop and internal tissue resistance to pests.  Keyplex comes to mind and so does Dyna-Gro ProTeks.  I use them both.  There are hundreds of studies regarding Keyplex.  Still have occasional problems but my plant material is pretty healthy and that's key to negating insect and disease pressures.

Mark

Yes or use wood-vinegar.

Cookie Monster

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Re: Do you use any pesticides?
« Reply #8 on: October 15, 2014, 11:31:11 AM »
The typical knee-jerk reaction of the novice gardener is to wage war against even the smallest of pest invasions. Fortunately the major fruit tree crops here don't require pesticides. Fungicides are helpful though, especially for mango. But if you don't require a clean looking fruit, then you can even bypass that (with some reduction in crop size).

As buddy green mentioned, providing a healthy soil environment is the first step in disease / pest defense. A healthy / vigorous tree can outgrow damage from pests like the sri lankan weevil. I also added compost to my soil, in the form of several hundred cubic yards of tree trimmer mulch, and it's had a very positive impact.

But, at the commercial level, where the goal is to make enough profit to pay for land, input, and labor costs (and have some left over), maximizing production by using pesticides (whether organic or conventional) only when necessary is probably a necessary evil.
Jeff  :-)

simon_grow

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Re: Do you use any pesticides?
« Reply #9 on: October 15, 2014, 01:01:34 PM »
I try to grow organic but I'm open to using chemicals if need be. I've noticed my soil gets these white grub things, I believe they are eating the roots, any good way to get rid of these organically/chemically? I've had them since i bought my house but I just let let nature take its course.
Simon

ClayMango

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Re: Do you use any pesticides?
« Reply #10 on: October 15, 2014, 02:25:50 PM »
Pesticide use eventually leads to stronger bugs. I think the best protection is diversity of plants and inviting as many good bugs as you can into the garden. Pesticides make the food potentially harmful and add additional costs. For the home gardener your able to spot things and counter react with soaps and oils, hose spray, and releasing good bugs.

For industrial agriculture it makes sense why they use pesticides, massive scale of monoculture plants. Once XYZ insect gets established its able to spread easily, with no spiders or good bugs to fight them off (because they were killed from prior pesticide spray).

Um My spiders consists of mainly Black Widos.....yeah about those good bugs.
Thinking about joining a Fruitaholics anonymous support group...Fruit addiction has taken over my life!

gunnar429

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Re: Do you use any pesticides?
« Reply #11 on: October 15, 2014, 02:59:43 PM »
The typical knee-jerk reaction of the novice gardener is to wage war against even the smallest of pest invasions. Fortunately the major fruit tree crops here don't require pesticides. Fungicides are helpful though, especially for mango. But if you don't require a clean looking fruit, then you can even bypass that (with some reduction in crop size).

As buddy green mentioned, providing a healthy soil environment is the first step in disease / pest defense. A healthy / vigorous tree can outgrow damage from pests like the sri lankan weevil. I also added compost to my soil, in the form of several hundred cubic yards of tree trimmer mulch, and it's had a very positive impact.

But, at the commercial level, where the goal is to make enough profit to pay for land, input, and labor costs (and have some left over), maximizing production by using pesticides (whether organic or conventional) only when necessary is probably a necessary evil.

Yeah, first reaction is to get rid of "them"
After spraying, google the bug to see what it is.
Damn, those were ladybug cacoons.
 ;D >:( ;)
~Jeff

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