I've been informed today that the neighbors are going to spray our common fence for termites. This common fence is inches away from my organic vegetable garden. I've been reading up on the chemical Termidor to see what I'm dealing with. Evidently it is considered one of the leading poisons to kill termites, so the fact that this company is using it is not anything out of the ordinary. It is not that I don't want the termites gone, after all if they are in the fence they can spread to my house, but dealing with all that poison is an issue. When I read more about the product at the manufactor's website, it stated that the chemical should not be injected into the ground where edible plants were growing.
Hmm.
My chiles have been successfully overwintering in my side yard. They survived the brief bout we had with frost conditions and seem quite happy. A few even have pods on them, although there are no new flowers to be seen. I don't want them sprayed with poisons or growing where poison has been injected into the ground inches away, so I'm considering digging them up and placing them into pots as I continue to deal with the termite situation.
Will I even have a garden after all this? I simply don't have enough information to judge this yet.
4 comments:
Hi! I found your blog because I was searching the same thing...our neighbors put termite poison in their yard...which is actually also our yard, and we grow our food organically! I can't find much...so far we decided not to plant next to where they put the poison, but closer to our house (which is slightly uphill.) We're in a city so of course, tiny little plots of land.
Did you find any good websites or info that you could share?
medamoso@yahoo.com
Thanks!
Put "Termidor" into your favorite search engine. Hundreds of sites will come up. The one that I found most useful was the scientific explaination from the australian company that makes the chemical. There they state that the product is NOT safe for food plantings and that the earth will remain poisoned for several years. The best way to deal with this product is to not have it injected into your yard.
I see that this is a very old post. hopefully you can still comment on it. could you tell me what was the outcome of the termidor question. I understand it can last up to 10yrs. if the soil is not disturbed. I'm concerned about my own organic garden. I just found out the termidor that was sprayed 6yrs. ago is exactly where our extended garden lies. however I'm hoping all the digging out of the soil there has cleansed it......
Yes, the stuff is toxic and it extends several feet beyond where it is sprayed. This was my concern at the time since my side yard is only 6 feet wide and the chemical would have completely covered it. I garden on raised beds and completely import the soil so it probably would have been okay...but frankly I'd rather be safe.
I don't know how large of a garden you are planning, but you might want to consider putting down a barrier and then creating a raised bed for your organic garden. I did that for mine and it has worked out well all these years.
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