Jim Fizzell’s
Hort Advisory Question 3 —
The safe use of chemicals
(continued from page 26) Chemical misuse is more common than one would expect. We have been called in for more than one case, as we traveled throughout suburbia, I have seen lots of instances where the chemicals used killed desirable plantings. Much of the damage has been due to home gardeners who watch too much TV and don’t really listen to what the ads say. We see dead spots in lawns where Glyphosate was used to kill broadleaf weeds. The common response from the owner is that the TV ad showed the stuff being used, and the owner didn’t realize that glyphosate is for weeds in the pavement, not in the lawn. Another problem occurs when the broadleaf herbicides are used on home lawns and the over-spray or drift hits neighbor’s gardens. But it is not just the amateurs who get in trouble. Unfortunately, there are some people who cut grass for hire and will get a package of chemicals from Walmart to treat a customer’s lawn, doing damage. More troublesome is the professional that improperly uses a product damaging desirable plants. We’ve seen this on some public turfgrass, on some residential lawns, on ornamental tree plantings, and on one high school football field. All were seriously damaged or totally killed off. In these cases the persons doing this actually possessed valid pesticide licenses. In all of these instances, home gardener or professional horticulturist, the problem stems from not reading and following the label instructions correctly. The statute regulating pesticide use is the Federal Environmental Pesticide Control Act, FEPCA. Pesticide labels are legal documents. They contain all the information necessary to buy, mix and use the material in the package. The packager spends a tremendous amount of money to get the label approved by the EPA which is the agency responsible for enforcing the law. It is illegal to use a pesticide in any manner other than that specified on the label. Obviously that means that someone must read the label,whether it’s a home owner buying an insecticide for the garden or a professional landscape. If nobody reads the label, and dameage occurs. who’s to blame? If the home gardener gets in trouble for misuse it is usually
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in his garden and he has only himself to blame. Where a commercial landscape firm misuses a material because the label was not consulted, it can result in a major cost. And there is no one else to blame... not the manufacturer, or the supplier... no one! All persons applying pesticides for hire must be licensed. This includes the wheelbarrow operator who buys the bag of weed killer at the big box store. Even if it is the same pesticide that any home gardener can buy and use without a license, a person getting paid to apply must posess a license. The reasoning for requiring a license is to demonstrate that a professional who can pass the licensing exam will use the materials safely. One of the questions on the pesticide exam asks when the label should be consulted: When buying the material, when mixing the material, when applying the material, or all of the above. Obviously, it is all of the above. The difficulty arises in actually reading the label. Labels are long and the print is small. This does not relieve one of the obligation. There are sections on the labels that the user must read. There are sections that may not apply to the situation at hand which may be skipped. If you are applying a chemical to turf, it is probably not necessary to read the sections for rice or nut trees, for instance. However, if there is question as to whether a chemical might injure the desirable plants in the vicinity, it would be advisable to look at all the plants the chemical might control. If the material is to be used around rose bushes, it might be smart to see if it will control multiflora roses in a woodland planting. If it controls bluegrass in nursery plantings, maybe it should not be used on the lawn. As we have emphasized at all the pesticide clinics, it is incumbent upon the person who will make the decisions on using the pesticide to read the label, and to understand it. Remember, if you misapply the product, you are in violation of the law and you have no one to blame but yourself.
The Landscape Contractor February 2016
(continued on page 30)