It's an ecoSYSTEM. Mess with a piece of it and you mess with the whole!




http://qz.com/107970/scientist...

I feel we are just way overusing chemicals -- from pesticides, fungicides and herbicides, to antibiotics and antibacterials. And it's going to be a very difficult trend to reverse.

I am afraid we are at the "tipping point". I have seen ZERO honeybees this season, a few bumble bees, no lightening bugs, and only solitary butterflies. Even the cabbage whites, who ALWAYS travel in pairs - I've only seen 2 this season, and they were not together. It's Fall weather in July. I'm feeling rather bleak about it.

Future could be bleak for farmers and gardeners if these practices continue unabated.

Oh goodness, I just fear.

Seriously, it's so dire here in my neighborhood, I'm feeling quite doomed.
I hope I am wrong.
Swaths of native wildflowers (aka "weeds") need to be replaced and we need a moratorium on pesticides.

http://www.kktv.com/home/headl...

It's both the pesticides/fungicides and the disappearance of native plants (aka 'weeds') from gardens. Not to mention those nurseries and landscaping companies that aid and abet the consumer taste for non-natives. And then of course there's all the media coverage encouraging fear of bees and distaste for bugs, with the implication that a happy yard is a bug-free one. We need change on so many levels in order to stop these trends...

This is why I feel so doomed.
It's so much to change in so little time.

Personally, I'm planting native plants, sowing seeds of clover, and begging the Universe to turn it all around.

I stopped mowing my lawn after I realized earlier in the season that it had an impact on my skipper population. At first I expected hip-high overgrown weeds, but instead the grass stopped growing and laid down flat, and it's actually easy to walk on. Clover has sprouted up everywhere. The bees and skippers love it. Also, I hear crickets now every time I go outside, and I used to rarely hear crickets in my suburban yard.

I am also planning to mulch less, and throw out fewer plant trimmings, since I realized I was probably throwing away butterfly eggs, larvae, and cocoons by over-mulching and over-cleaning. Now I am more careful.

It's also the attitudes of people that need to be changed & re-educated. Just an example.... when we bought this house & moved in, between what they had left inside the house & what they left in the shed & what they left in the garage.... there was a pick up truck load of poison of varying kinds. From Raid for home insects (at least 12 cans ) to gallon jugs of poison for this plant "pest" & poison for that plant "pest", herbicides, fungicides & the list goes on & on. Then you have to add in the "fertilizers" they left; almost every one had either a fungicide or pesticide combo in the fertilizer. There were only 2 bags not containing anything but fertilizer. Oddly enough, 1 was Milorganite which I kept.

I had a hard time not freaking out about how toxic this house & property must be!!!!!!

My point is that the majority of people do not even think about what they're using as poison anymore. It's all become, "Oh, but that's okay. It won't harm humans." "I saw a bug, quick, go get the bug spray!"

I see a roach, I grab the flyswatter or if wasps build a nest in my cars crevices, I spray with alcohol.

Totally agree, Ann--and there are tons of pesticide-making companies very happy to keep all these attitudes going. 'Weeds' are bad, bugs are bad--let's go buy some more chemicals!

I was at a major Maryland nursery this past spring and asked about Viola walterii 'Silver Gem'. I was told that they didn't carry plants like that because 'most people consider them weeds'. Then I realized that there was not a single insect anywhere to be seen among acres of plants, and remembered the stories I've heard about some nurseries drenching their plants in pesticides before putting them out to sell. Now, I prefer going to the nurseries that feature native plants and have bees and butterflies flying among their stock. :-)

So, it is a lot of interconnected things--consumer beliefs, media that keeps those beliefs alive, companies that sell "-cide" products and services for the yard, and so on.

I do see occasional lights in the darkness, though--more and more nurseries deciding to stop the pesticide drenchings, more of them featuring natives, more awareness about the importance of bees and butterflies to our planet. Just have to keep working at it, as daunting as it seems!

And not to get OT here, but I think it is on topic to a degree.......
These chemicals we are putting on our pets & chemical pills we are giving them. Do we really believe it's not going to hurt our pets? Do we really believe when we put the topical junk on our dogs skin for fleas (you know the oily stuff you put on once a moth between their shoulder blades) that it is magic & won't get on us or that it won't hurt the pets? Seriously folks, this stuff is poison, plain & simple. Now they have the heart worm meds which contain flea & tick preventative PLUS worm preventative AND NOW they've added tape worm killer to that. Oh sure, let's give them this poison every month when they don't have tapeworms just so we make sure they don't ever get tapeworms. Huh???? Not only that, but tapeworms come from pets chewing fleas. If we are giving them stuff to keep them from having fleas then WHY do we need to poison them every month for tapeworms????????

Catmint20906 said:I stopped mowing my lawn after I realized earlier in the season that it had an impact on my skipper population. At first I expected hip-high overgreen weeds, but instead the grass stopped growing and laid down flat, and it's actually easy to walk on. Clover has sprouted up everywhere. The bees and skippers love it. Also, I hear crickets now everytime I go outside, and I used to rarely hear crickets in my suburban yard.

I am also planning to mulch less, and throw out fewer plant trimmings, since I realized I was probably throwing away butterfly eggs, larvae, and cocoons by over-mulching and over-cleaning. Now I am more careful.

Marvelous!
I killed off all my grass with cardboard and am replacing it with clover and low growing, flowering "weeds" that I find pretty.

flaflwrgrl said:...the majority of people do not even think about what they're using as poison anymore. It's all become, "Oh, but that's okay. It won't harm humans." "I saw a bug, quick, go get the bug spray!"

I know.
It's horrifying and spreading the alarm on the internet is all I know how to do besides keeping my personal life and property clean.

I wish I was a people person, I'd start a public demonstration group....

That made me sound really lame, didn't it?
It's beyond my skills and mental health problems to do something that public.
Instigating from online is all I have.
That and the fact I do speak up wherever I see "poor environmental practices".

We don't mow our 6 acres. We just mow the path we use for a driveway & narrow pathways here & there where we often walk & directly around the house. We will mow the rest come the end of September so we can harvest the pecans. I see lots of pollinators out there in the non mowed areas; not nearly as many butterflies or Italian honeybees as last year but lots of other pollinators. I am making a list now for my seed order this year. I will also be sowing crimson clover in the pecan orchard - it's a nitrogen fixer so when it dies off, it will feed the pecan trees. Win - Win!

Plants? heck, I'm going to spend a fortune in wildflower seeds this year.

crittergarden said:That made me sound really lame, didn't it?
It's beyond my skills and mental health problems to do something that public.
Instigating from online is all I have.
That and the fact I do speak up wherever I see "poor environmental practices".

No, you did not sound lame! We do what we can within the limitations life & circumstances put upon us.

Catmint20906 said: nurseries drenching their plants in pesticides before putting them out to sell. Now, I prefer going to the nurseries that feature native plants and have bees and butterflies flying among their stock. :-)

Neonicotinoids are SYSTEMIC pesticides and have been found in "bee friendly" plants sold at Home Depot, Lowe's, Walmart and Sam's club. Neonics STAY IN THE PLANT. So people are trying to do something GOOD for the pollinators are KILLING them because of the deception.

flaflwrgrl said:


And not to get OT here, but I think it is on topic to a degree.......
These chemicals we are putting on our pets & chemical pills we are giving them. Do we really believe it's not going to hurt our pets? Do we really believe when we put the topical junk on our dogs skin for fleas (you know the oily stuff you put on once a moth between their shoulder blades) that it is magic & won't get on us or that it won't hurt the pets? Seriously folks, this stuff is poison, plain & simple. Now they have the heart worm meds which contain flea & tick preventative PLUS worm preventative AND NOW they've added tape worm killer to that. Oh sure, let's give them this poison every month when they don't have tapeworms just so we make sure they don't ever get tapeworms. Huh???? Not only that, but tapeworms come from pets chewing fleas. If we are giving them stuff to keep them from having fleas then WHY do we need to poison them every month for tapeworms????????

Cycles of greed, disinformation, and consumers trusting the PR.