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Company sprayed pesticide on garden
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Posted by
Karen365 MD (
My Page) on
Tue, Nov 27, 12 at 9:01
| HELP! Advice is needed on how to proceed. My organic garden beds were sprayed with CrossCheck Plus, which is the chemical Bifenthrin, on my previously organic raised bed veggie garden, blueberry bushes, and strawberry bed. The blueberries and the raised bed were actually sprayed twice. I am LIVID, as the company was 1. supposed to not spray the garden at all the first time and 2. use only OMRI approved products the second time. Oh, and they also sprayed Lesco Horticultural Oil (mineral oil). After they sprayed the CrossCheck the first time and I complained, I was told that it breaks down quickly, is related to chrysanthemums, and is perfectly safe after it dries. Well, it's extremely toxic to fish and aquatic invertebrates, highly toxic to bees, and not approved for use on food plants. The raised bed currently has broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, spinach, radishes, carrots, bok choi, strawberries, and asparagus ferns with green growth above the soil. So, can anyone help me decide whether or not I can safely eat these veggies this fall, or in the spring, or if I need to remove EVERYTHING growing, or if I also need to remove my organic soil mix and start over completely. Thank you! |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Company sprayed pesticide on garden
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- Posted by RpR_ 3-4 (My Page) on
Tue, Nov 27, 12 at 15:24
If you have a sprinkler, water the area heavy.
Wash the items thoroughly before consuming. |
RE: Company sprayed pesticide on garden
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| It's not systemic (aka, it doesn't "invade" plant tissues) so it's not totally evil stuff as far as human consumption goes. Wash everything after harvest like RpR said. It can persist in the soil for months, but it's only "danger" is on the surface of things. |
RE: Company sprayed pesticide on garden
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| Karen, I would call your spray company and ask them the dates that they applied this product and the hort. oil. If they will give you the rates of application (ounces per gallons of water), that would be helpful, too. You have every right to ask for that information and they should provide it willingly upon request. Then, you should call the manufacturer YOURSELF (the toll free number will be on the label) and tell them what happened and what you should do. Don't trust these idiots any further. If you would like me to help with this, please let me know. I talk to chemical companies often and know the lingo. I'm also very familiar with Lesco products. Just email me. |
One important thing...
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| I forgot to say....STAY OUT OF THE SPRAYED AREA UNTIL YOU ARE CERTAIN THAT IT'S SAFE. |
RE: Company sprayed pesticide on garden
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| I guess I was curious as to how we got to the spraying situation. |
RE: Company sprayed pesticide on garden
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| Bifenthrin is a pyrethrin. She's on top of most of the info about it given her initial post. It's not very water soluble, and it's slower to break down during cold times...but a little time, a little moisture, a little sun/wind, and washing the surfaces of harvested veggies takes care of most of it. Erring on the side of total safety, I wouldn't eat anything off the plants over the next couple of weeks while water/wind/sun goes to work on making it mostly inert. A good washing of anything harvested after that should take care of most of the residue that nature doesn't take care of. It's a lot more dangerous to fish than humans (by a huge amount). It doesn't invade plant cells and become part of the plant. It sits on the surface. |
RE: Company sprayed pesticide on garden
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Bifenthrin is a pyrethroid, a synthetic form of pyrethrin and is not approved for use on food crops and is not something an organic gardener should be using. At the very least the company should not be expecting payment for spraying it and should pay you the value of the food that has been sprayed.
Washing the food may diminish what you consume, if you are going to. |
Here is a link that might be useful: About Bifenthrin
RE: Company sprayed pesticide on garden
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| "extremely toxic to fish and aquatic invertebrates, highly toxic to bees, and not approved for use on food plants" Why would you want stuff like that on your property at all? |
RE: Company sprayed pesticide on garden
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| I did not want any of that stuff on my property! My dear husband contracted with the company without my knowledge. I was also not involved in the selection of the product, but got involved after their technician sprayed my blueberries and strawberries even though he had been instructed to avoid the food garden. It was then that supposedly a note was made on our account to only use OMRI products, which they obviously later ignored. DH says he chose to have the yard sprayed to control mosquitoes, ticks, ants, and other pest insects. Thank you all for your advice so far. It sounds like the consensus is it's okay to eat the veggies eventually, but wash, wash, wash beforehand. |
RE: Company sprayed pesticide on garden
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| A common misconception is that to control insect pests you spray poison around to kill them, which will also poison the beneficial insects that could help control the pests. Killing off the beneficials, and these broad spectrum poisons can also harm birds, opens the garden to even more of the insect pest species. |
RE: Company sprayed pesticide on garden
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| I basically agree with you kimm. Unless you have an acute invasion like termites, I think it best to go light on the chemicals. Even with termites it would help to be aware that certain practices and situations make it easier for them to move in...like wood piled near the house and too short a gap between wood and soil around the perimeter of the house. |
RE: Company sprayed pesticide on garden
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| Karen, just realized you are brand new here, so sorry for not saying hi before, and welcome to Gardenweb. I hope you will realize the strong disagreements here are aimed at particular ideas, not people, especially you who we do not know. But it shouldn't be surprising that people are ready to go, gloves off, on this subject on this forum. I hope you'll regard the info, if not the tone(s), dispassionately. It doesn't sound like this spraying was in response to any particular invasion, to "control mosquitoes, ticks, ants, and other pest insects" It's not reasonable to think that spraying anything in your yard could stop mosquitoes from flying in. When including ticks and ants, it would also be necessary to spray all of the tree leaves and branches. Maybe DH should stay inside, it's not possible or desirable to control nature that degree because it's necessary to be surrounded by toxins to do so. The veggies at the grocery store may be the safest best at this point. At least they probably only sprayed stuff approved for use on food, and it was probably applied professionally. |
RE: Company sprayed pesticide on garden
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| I did not want any of that stuff on my property! My dear husband contracted with the company without my knowledge. I was also not involved in the selection of the product, but got involved after their technician sprayed my blueberries and strawberries even though he had been instructed to avoid the food garden. It was then that supposedly a note was made on our account to only use OMRI products, which they obviously later ignored. DH says he chose to have the yard sprayed to control mosquitoes, ticks, ants, and other pest insects. Thank you all for your advice so far. It sounds like the consensus is it's okay to eat the veggies eventually, but wash, wash, wash beforehand. |
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