SOME ARE, SOME AREN'T. WE DON'T KNOW WHAT HE'S SPRAYING. ARE WE TALKING ABOUT A COMMERCIAL ORCHARD OR A HOME ORCHARD? HAVE YOU TRIED TALKING TO THE ONE DOING THE SPRAYING?
AND WHY ARE WE YELLING?

In my opinion the fear of the sprays is usually more overblown than the sprays are.

Nevertheless, if maybe you could work something out with your neighbor where he could call you in advance then you could shut the windows or doors before he sprays....on the day or morning this is scheduled.

But a personal request from me is this: be nice to him.....he is helping to feed people.

I wouldn't want to live next door to a commercial orchard in the east and I'm a certified sprayer who protects scores of orchards. That said,many an orchardist pulls a mist blower behind them in an open tractor and lives in the poisonous mist for a good part of the growing season.

They probably don't get a lot of bug bites out there but besides that it is surprising that these individuals don't have health problems that spike through the chart when compared to the general population. As I understand it, they don't, so you can draw comfort from that as your exposure is tiny in comparison.

I agree with posts above.

I used to live next door to a home orchard. It was pretty big, they ran a farm stand all summer and fall. They were good neighbors. I asked them to give me a call when they were going to spray so that I could close my windows (and put in ear plugs so I could sleep late) and they always did. They also gave me free cider when it was ready.

There's a balance. The owner has a responsibility to avoid spraying under excessively windy conditions. However, it's unrealistic to expect you will never get a whiff of pesticides while he's spraying. Even under the best conditions with a 2mph wind, you're going to smell the chemicals. This is especially true if emulsifiable concentrates are being used, which are easily detectable by our sense of smell, even in the smallest concentrations. Many times it's the petroleum based emulsifier you smell, not the pesticide.

However, as I mentioned, it's best to avoid spraying when the wind is above 10-12 mph.

I agree with the advice that you're concerned you should contact the owner and explain your concerns and your situation with COPD.

However, as background information, understand there are numerous challenges that make it difficult, and sometimes impossible to spray under ideal conditions.

Pests can sometimes be very active in an orchard and do a tremendous amount of damage in a small time frame. In those conditions, most farmers are glued to the weather forecast looking for the soonest and best opportunity to get the spray on.

Additionally, the orchard (or field) has to be dry enough to get the equipment in.

Coupled with that, sometimes there is a significant amount of acreage that has to be covered, so that it's difficult to get it all sprayed while the conditions are ideal. This is especially true if there are multiple fields/locations.

Lastly, sometimes the weather just flat changes. The weather forecast may allow a small window early one morning to apply a spray. After that it's rain, windy, etc. for many days. The owner gets out there early in the morning, fills the tank, adds the chemicals, then the wind picks up, despite the forecast (this has happened more than once to me, it's frustrating). At that point a decision has to be made whether to go ahead and spray the pesticide, or wait and hope for better weather. If better weather does not come, the farmer may have a tank of pesticide that is no longer any good (pesticides start degrading the moment they are mixed in the tank water). He also may suffer crop damage because he didn't get the spray on when it was needed.

I'm not making excuses if someone is routinely spraying under excessively windy conditions. Just pointing out it can be very difficult to balance all the factors and always spray under ideal conditions.

You've received some good advice.

One thing to take into consideration when you purchase a house near any sort of farm, you are going to get farm activities near your house.

If there is livestock, there are going to be smells. If there are plants, there are going to be sprays and fertilizers. No matter what kind of farm it is, there is going to be noise.

You chose to live next to an orchard, so you get to live with orchard activities. The farmer can not stop farming. That's how he makes his living.

So if you can't tolerate being next to a farm, your best option is to move. I'm not being a smart aleck and I'm not being harsh. Literally, your two options are to put up with it, or move to a new place that isn't near a farm.

"One thing to take into consideration when you purchase a house near any sort of farm, you are going to get farm activities near your house."

That annoys me. Here people buy their one acre yards out in the country and then complain to the county about the smell of hog farms. Don't move to the country and try to turn it into the 'burbs.

That's why I asked if it was home or commercial. If it's commercial deal with it or move. If suburban we all have to make compromises to live near each other, some of us are just better at it than others.

Whoever was doing the spraying may have been totally unaware that it was causing a problem for you. Agree with the suggestion above to contact the person and calmly explain your situation and see what can be worked out. I had a spray rig operator stop at the end of a field, turn around for his next pass and wait as I approached on the road knowing the wind would blow his drift towards me when I passed by in my vehicle. Just before I got downwind from him he started the spray and headed off. This is a unique situation in that he hates my guts, I and others think he behaves like an a*s. He isn't typical of spray rig operators around here with respect to his behavior in the field.

It's not a matter of who's there first, it is a matter of zoning.
If you move to an area that is zoned agriculture and you're going to live in an area that is worked with agriculture.
Move back to the city if you don't like it.

Go for your court order and I hope it's countered with a loss of income lawsuit.

Call in the lawyers! That ought to settle things, geeze. I repeat, talk to the person 1st and see what can be amicably worked out.

Bonnan spoke candidly about the way many feel. " There is the legal matter of property rights and "quiet enjoyment" and it doesn't matter who was there first. If blackman01 lives in Pa I suggest he calls the DEP tomorrow. Anybody sprays my property they quickly have a court order on there hands."

Ouch! I guess we have a political disagreement then....I work as much as anyone with applying foot sox on apples (and pears sometimes) in public spaces where we use ZERO sprays whatsoever.....and personally I like the idea of having perfect fruit without any pesticides that harm another species.

But there is a bigger concern than this and this is very very clear to me after watching things for a number of years....the restrictions on the homeowner are becoming greater and greater in terms of what he can do in his backyard and the pests are becoming increasingly sophisticated in terms of the damage they can inflict.

What does that leave? It leaves the homeowner caught in the middle....and that is an awful thing. This is reasonably clear, in my opinion. I do not want to trust government and Big Business and Big Agriculture to have all of the power for fruit growing....or food....or anything else.

I do not own a gun....I never have. But I believe our country is stronger by allowing the homeowners to be able to protect themselves.....and deeply distrust the media and the government that would try to emasculate the homeowner from having any power themselves.

No one likes pesticides....but we need to ease up on making it too difficult for those who use them....the fears of the health benefits are overblown....and I have reasons for saying that....I do not want to see efforts to DIS-empower the homeowner....on that....or on fruit....and it is precisely the talk of lawsuits for spray overblow which is so crippling for people to do what is essentially reasonable in most cases.

End of sermon....I just think the subject is pretty important....because I can see the way things are going in this country.....or so it seems...and I want to see the homeowner be empowered to grow his own fruit....I won't pursue that thought on this particular thread anymore....I realize there is a counter-argument.