Jim, How do you burn your beds ? Do you scatter straw or leaves on them, and then touch them off/, or do you use a "weed burner"? I've always used the "scatter" method, in years past, but last fall (December, actually" I used a weed burner........and I *think* I may have "cooked" a couple
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As to the chemical use, I try to follow the directions....all of them......and feel that "responsible " has little chance of harming anything but the "targeted" culprit, but, in a "perfect world", I suppose that since I haven't seen a borer in years....I shouldn't be spraying for them, but I'd rather be pro-active, than re-active. Big agriculture gets a lot of 'flack" as being the most harmful as to chemical use...but, in my opinion, it's the" home user" that's the real culprit.....a lot (but of course not all) of the farm users have application done 'professionally " done, and take a LOT of precautions....both for safety reasons , as well as "monetary" reasons......it's business ,with a 'bottom line", and chemicals,and fertilizer are far to expensive to 'waste' by over-application. The biggest percentage of "home" users, on the other hand, by the product...often on the recommendation of a friend who had "good luck" with it.....and use it, without proper personal protection, either for themselves or the neighbors who are down-wind, for insects or diseases they really don't have, or, in the case of fertilizers, on soils that don't need it....and then dispose of the left-overs, or packaging materials, by putting it in the garbage, and sending it to be buried in a landfill.
There is a place for "chemical" controls, companion planting, and manual controls ("squishing", or in the case of weed control..pulling instead of spraying) in both our gardens and yards, as well as in our orchards and fields....as long as there is 'responsable" and "intelligent " use ! Use your County extension program to help you actually identify the insect, or disease, follow, or at least consider their recommendations, get a soil test....often insects and disease target plants that are "stressed ' by improper fertilization ,watering, or incorrect ph.....read,...and follow...the directions on the products you use....dispose of them, and their packaging in the correct way. All our gardens are different, we all have different priorities as to what is 'acceptable" for use in our gardens and homes, and we can all find ways to manage the insects, disease, and weeds in our little corner of the world....WITHOUT poisoning either ourselves, OR the planet.....and we can love trees and plants without actually "hugging" them....and we don't need to wear sandals and beads to use manual weed control.....and we don't need to "farm" 10,000acres to treat our iris bed as a 'business', and manage it accordingly
....I'll put my soapbox away
