After working seasonal jobs for many years and needing to pay back some student loans I graciously took a job working as an Integrated Pest Management specialist. The job was for a decent sized private tree company in Southampton NY treating ornamental trees and shrubs. Although i had knowledge about plant and tree identification I needed to learn a whole new skill set to become a successful IPM specialist.
I rode along with other specialists to learn how to mix and manage my pesticide tanks and learn pest identification. For the first year I was paired with a seasoned specialist who had been doing the job 4+ years. In that time I inundated with a lot of information about best practices and legality of applying pesticides. New York State had many restrictions on what kinds of pesticides were allowed and how they are applied. For instance it wasn't until working in CT as an IPM specialist with Bartlett tree experts that I injected a pesticide into the soil around the roots, much like fertilization.
We sprayed broad spectrum insecticides on properties and the only thought was given to if bees were present nearby. I am grateful that tree companies take precaution to curb the affect they have on bees but that is not the only important species to be on the lookout for. During my training we were applying a fungicide, Agri-fos, to Beech tree bark to curb Phytopthora root rot. Being the newbie i figured the people doing this for years know what affect they have but the best information the specialist has is the product label.
Product labels are created by test that the company performs themselves and the U.S government allows them to foot the bill for testing and accept the results at face value. This saves the government money upfront and allows the free market to poison enough people that the courts will mandate the restrictions that should have been in place before countless lives are disrupted. Uninformed people will continue to pay for chemical tree care and continue to have the same problems, this is not natural.
Soil life has not gotten a lot of press the last 2,000 years but it is being quickly realized that it is a make or break situation. Tending to the soil life emulates natural systems and provides all the nutrients your plants could ever want, the best part is they will dictate what they need from the soil. By providing compost or compost tea we can inoculate the soil with a diverse amount of life. As an applicator we knew that we were killing thousands of bugs every day we sprayed chemical. Later I learned how much damage I was doing to the soil biota not only under the target plant but due to overspray. Many chemicals are designed to be safe to mammals but neurologically damaging to many other types of life. Over 5 years of actively spraying my biological kill count is several degrees of magnitude greater than the average American which, by association, has one of the most destructive lifestyles.
We can change this easily! the only sacrifice we need to make is seek the right information and endure the possibly unsightly transition to a native garden or low maintenance yard. Check out the info on the site and resources pointing to reputable sources of relevant information. Do not hesitate to reach out and ask through email @ native.habitat.ct@gmail.com or through the contact form at the bottom of the site. Thank you for your time and check out some other topics
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