Does it bother you when neighbors use pesticides on their lawn?
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Anonymous
The big deal is that pesticides have health risks to humans. They are implicated in cancers (leukemia, lymphomas specifically), and do you really want to risk your families health (and pet health) for a nice looking lawn? I don't understand that. Our lawn looks like crap, with tons of weeds and clover (more weeds than actual grass) and we keep it mowed short so from a distance you can't tell. I would never want to risk my families health for a perfect looking lawn. Makes no sense to me. If you wear shoes in the house or have dogs then you are tracking it all through your house, into your carpets where it can be absorbed for years, then your baby is crawling on those carpets. Yuck. Not to mention what it does to wildlife walking through or eating vegetation in your lawn. Do you think that the rabbits and birds want to be eating that stuff? I don't know anything about scorpions, but we do not have a pest company prophylactically spray for anything, nor do we ever use a pest company. If we have ants we set out Terro traps outside, not inside, and that takes care of the problem in a day or so. Spiders we don't care about--we get lots of them but they aren't harmful so we leave them alone. We get a lot of bugs but I just ignore them--who wants toxic pesticides sprayed in their house where kids and pets can ingest that stuff? Cockroaches would be the only pest I would be concerned about, but we avoid bringing them in by not keeping boxes or grocery bags in the house (a common way they get in), and keeping things very clean. But if I did get them I would try all other non-toxic or natural methods first before resorting to a pest company. |
Anonymous
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No, it doesn't bother me. For the time it's actually in the air, it doesn't worry me.
FWIW, I doubt people actually let their kids "roll around" on their lawns while the stuff is actually on there. A good rain or watering, and a cut.. and it's gone. |
Anonymous
| I have kids and a dog.. nobody is on the lawn after it has been sprayed. |
Anonymous
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I do not spray and our year is full of clover. We only use organic compost in our garden. Our kids are out there daily. I can't imagine having them play in that stuff.
Our neighborhood garden club is very active, focusing on organic materials, rain barrels, native plants, etc. I believe someone would speak to me directly if I started to spray. |
Anonymous
I mentioned, in a regretful, nonaccusatory way, that everything we put on the lawn ends up in the bay. Then she brought up the problem that once you start with that stuff, you're addicted to it--if you stop it the lawn goes to hell. I agreed, and pointed out the benefits of feeding the soil instead--aerating, composting, letting the grass grow higher so its roots would grow deeper. That doesn't just make the grass more competitive against the weeds, it also makes it more drought-resistant, and eventually you get to where it's very low-maintenance. Of course, you have to free yourself from wanting it to look perfect. There's absolutely nothing wrong with some clover in the lawn. She agreed that was not a bad point of view. As for the electric mower--I just mow the lawn. I've had a ton of people stop and ask me what it is, and where to get one. (I have a Neuton cordless electric.) |
Anonymous
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No one on our street uses chemicals, thank goodness. I garden for bees, butterflies and hummingbirds in the backyard. Our lawn has a healthy amount of clover. I would hate for something to drift over and affect the beneficials in my yard.
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Anonymous
Where do you think it goes? Doesn't it stay in the soil? |
Anonymous
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Are electric mowers that much better?
They're basically powered by coal... |
Anonymous
| It bothers me terribly. I have no idea what to do about it? Anyone have some suggestions |
Anonymous
You don't have to spray to prevent termites. Treat them only if an inspection finds them. It's a waste of money to treat to prevent. I had my house sprayed for scorpions and it didn't help. What did work was using a UV light to locate their areas outdoors (one fence and a tree near a rock wall). I sprayed those areas a few nights in a row with with a small bit of poison from a can. Better than having a ring of poison circumventing the house, and spraying the nests directly worked better to keep them from staggering into the house after spraying the exterior. As for the weeds, you could just mow them down and see if you can deal with how it looks. However it sounds like your neighbors are going to expect you to do the sharper image thing and use Roundup on your property. I haven't heard of the tubes for chemicals in house walls before. |
Anonymous
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I would go bonkers if I had to live near neighbors who did this! Thankfully, nobody on our little street sprays anything. I have told my children to stay away from grass with the little flags, however. We see some on our walks. |
Anonymous
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We do it all because our neighbors don't. Fleas and ticks from their dogs, wasps from dog poo then there are the creeping weeds from their crappy yards.
The ants that get out of control and not to mention the crickets. If we don't control THEIR moles, my yard would look like shit and we paid way too much for this grass to let it go to shit. If they don't like it, they can move. I don't care what my neighbors think. |
Anonymous
If you don't like crickets move to an apartment in the city. |
Anonymous
| Yes, bothers me a lot. |
Anonymous
This. Once dry, it is fine. FWIW, until you pay their mortgage you have no say OP. And to the one who converted their neighbor. Seriously? Told them to use an electric mower? LMAO My DH would roll eyes and carry on.........with his gas powered lawn mower. Get a grip |