Using pesticides?

Answer 1

It is a necessary evil, although pesticides are not always the answer!!! Pesticides should be a last resort.

A pest problem can often be corrected easily by changing watering habits or by moving the plant from full sun to partial shade. It all depends on the type of plant and its requirements for growth!

You will often kill off natural enemies that could have done the job when using pesticides. Then that makes the problem even worse (no more natural enemies to eat the bad guys that survived).

People often misuse pesticides, which has given them a bad name! If people would just follow the recommendations on the product label, we wouldn't have so many problems!

One of the main reasons why we need pesticides is because people cannot eat fruit with spots on them. For example, oranges. People cannot and will not buy oranges with spots on them. Spots on oranges are not going to kill you!! You peel off the spots anyway before you eat them, so what is the problem?

That is my 2 cents!

Answer 2

I use pesticides, but I take care to use the least toxic ones available. There is no point in using poisons when natural remedies are effective. For example, you can control snails and slugs with the traditional baits like Corry's Slug & Snail Death, or Deadline, but those are very poisonous to pets, and many dogs have become very ill or died because they ate it. Or you can use an iron phosphate product like Sluggo, Escarot-Go, or Garden Safe Snail and Slug Bait, which is just as effective and doesn't harm pets and wildlife. It eventually breaks down into iron in a form that the plants can benefit from.
When you have bugs on your plants, you can use the toxic sprays, or you can use something much gentler that won't harm you, your pets, the birds, the beneficial insects like ladybugs and bees, etc. A dilute soap mixture in a sprayer will kill aphids, whiteflies, budworms, etc., and horticultural oil sprays will suffocate almost any insect that it lands on.
Gardens Alive has a great mail order and online catalog that carries "environmentally responsible products that work." You can learn a lot about ways of managing pests in your home and garden without resorting to toxic chemicals by checking it out. More and more the big box stores like Home Depot are carrying some more environmentally responsible products, too. If you do a little research, you can find out what to look for when you choose pest control products.

Answer 3

Yes, often.
Roundup to kill weeds and Sevin to kill bugs on the veggies in garden. Also sprinkle granules of bug killer around house in the Spring to kill ants and chiggers.

Answer 4

Nope. The inside is my domain ... anything that strays in there, I relocate outside. (Unless, of course, it's a destructive pest like termites, but I haven't had any of those.)

If it's outside, that's their domain.

You don't have to kill things just because you don't like them.

Answer 5

yes,you almost aleways have to!i use sevin dust,its not harmful for humans or animals ,in matter of fact,you can even use it on animals for fleas and such

Answer 6

Not on myself.