Continued from "Can we do without pesticides in the garden? » with their impact on the environment. If you missed the first articles in the dossier, I invite you to read them by clicking on the following links:
The pictogram below proves it. A large number of phyto products, even EAJ (use authorized in gardens), carry this pictogram representing a dead tree and a fish in the same state. It is sometimes noted on the label that the treatments should not be done within 5 meters a water point, basin, pond, river, ditch …especially for some well-known weedkillers.
Reminder:ditches should not be weeded chemically!
Bees, auxiliaries, insects in general, micro-organisms but also birds and rodents, pay a heavy price because of phyto products. It would be wrong to think that herbicides only kill grass...
But "organic" products also have their share of responsibility in the destruction of living organisms indirectly.
The use ofcopper (Bordeaux mixture or others) has a disastrous effect on the populations of soil micro-organisms (bacteria, mycorrhizal fungi, etc.), as well as on earthworms. Copper is not leachable and successive applications increase the copper level in the soil from year to year. Copper is a bactericide and a fungicide.
The statement "use authorized during flowering , and during periods of exudate production without the presence of bees remains difficult to apply. Bees and other auxiliaries are great travelers and there is no evidence that they will not come to the flowers that have just been treated.
Chickadees feast on caterpillars. But if the latter are treated, even with an "organic" product containing Thuringian bacillus, the pantry is empty and the tits go elsewhere (or starve...). Same thing with ladybugs...
Plant products do not stay where they are sprayed . Heat causes vaporization, wind carries droplets and vapours, rain washes away; therefore, here are indirect but real sources of pollution.
Phyto products have a real impact on the environment . Should we therefore eliminate all treatments and live only on random pickings? Without going to extremes, the amateur gardener must be aware of the effects of phytoproducts in order to measure their impact and change their habits. We'll see how to get there.
To be continued…
