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Pesticides Can Help or Hinder Your Garden, Depending on How You Use Them

Release Date: 06/12/2000
Contact Information: Robert Koethe

Gardeners throughout New England are again facing the annual question: to spray or not to spray. As the seeds and bulbs we buried safely beneath the ground rise above the soil, gardeners are working hard to protect their fragile gardens and lawns without harming their family's health or the environment.

Because of the power of pesticides, we must choose them thoughtfully and use them carefully. Pesticides can provide quick relief from pests, but they're not the best solution to every pest problem. Pesticides can help us produce an adequate and safe food supply, but they can harm people, pets and plants if used incorrectly, and may pollute the soil and water. Before you decide to use any pesticide, consider some basic questions.

1. What's causing the problem in your garden? Finding the cause is the first step to correcting a problem. Some problems may resemble those caused by pests, but may be caused by other factors such as too much or too little soil moisture, soil that is too acidic or not acidic enough, or air pollution. If it is a pest problem, identify the pest before you try to control it.
2. Do I need to control it? The importance of controlling a pest varies with the situation. While you may be willing to tolerate some weeds in your lawn, certain pests present serious threats.
3. How do I control it? Before using a pesticide, consider other ways to manage bugs, weeds, and other pests. Pests can often be controlled through your choice and care of plants, housekeeping and home maintenance practices, as well as the way you take care of pets. For example, the right mowing height can reduce pests 50 to 80 percent; Sometimes the need for pesticides can be reduced or eliminated. Caterpillars such as tomato hornworms and beetles such as the lily leaf beetle may be removed from some garden plants by handpicking.

Through the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996, EPA has worked aggressively to lower the risk of pesticides by researching the effects of pesticides on the environment and public, using children as a standard. Unsafe pesticides are taken off the market, and industry is encouraged to produce safer alternatives. This month, for example, EPA banned home uses of one of the most common insecticides and reduced its application in agriculture. The agency banned chlorpyrifos -- sold under the trade names Dursban and Lorsban -- because it may be harmful to children's nervous systems and possibly brain development.

EPA also has a program to make sure pesticides are used in ways that are safe to people and the environment. This effort includes a campaign to get better, clearer labels on pesticides. The Consumer Labeling Initiative has prompted many manufacturers to rework their labels. When pesticides are part of the solution to a pest problem, the basic rule is: Read the Label First!

• Read the label before you buy a pesticide to determine which product is right for your problem and how much you need. Buy only as much as you need for the application, or, at most, a season in order to prevent storage and disposal problems.
• Read the label before you use a pesticide to learn how and when to apply it. The label will also suggest precautions to prevent injuries to people, animals, plants and property. Three "signal words" on the label indicate the level of toxicity, or danger of the pesticide. Labels that say "caution" represent the least toxic category and the products range in toxicity from relatively non-toxic to slightly toxic. The word "warning" indicates the product is moderately toxic. "Danger- Poison" appears on very toxic products rarely used in a home; ingesting just a few drops to one teaspoonful would kill a person.
• Read the label before you store and dispose of the product.Store pesticides in original labeled containers in a secure location out of the reach of children. According to data from the American Association of Poison Control Centers, in 1998 alone, an estimated 73,260 children in the U.S. were involved in common household pesticide-related poisonings or exposures. Never store pesticides in application equipment or food containers. It is always safest to dispose of pesticide waste with hazardous waste, and laws in many states require that pesticides be treated as hazardous waste.

Robert Koethe is a Pesticides Specialist with the New England office of EPA.