his Q&A blog is open for all to participate. Feel free to ask your own questions and answer questions posted by others. I know all of you have a wealth of information and experience on healthy living and you are welcome to share it here. 
Garden
Mowing grass after spraying
Hi Debra, Our neighbor had Orkin come on Saturday, September 24 to fog, not spray, for mosquitos with Talstar Professional. They have a lot of property and part of their property goes behind our back yard. Now, since we have complained of reactions they don't fog towards our house now. But it still drifts because we still have reactions. Which means it probably drifted onto our grass.
Now it has rained a couple of times since then.
Now with me having MCS, my husband has MCS as well and so does our daughter, my question is, how soon can we get out and mow the grass and do some weedeatting around the house and yard and do this without having reactoins since they fogged for mosquitos next door? Thank you very much for the help.
Talstar contains bifenthrin, a pyrethroid insecticide that affects the nervous system of insects.
It is virtually insoluble in water, so it has high persistence in soil with a half life between 7 days and 8 months. It lasts longer than any other termiticide currently registered on the market.
Pesticides containing bifenthrin have been withdrawn from use in the European Union.
So, in terms of mowing the lawn, if there is any Talstar drift, it's going to be there a while. Half life is "the time when the expected value of the number of entities that have decayed is equal to half the original number." It's a probability, not an absolute. So minimum time before it will be gone is 14 days, and would probably be completely gone in 16 months.
Plastics Labeled #5
I've started a garden in pots. Although I know plastic (Labeled #5) is not the best of options it was all I could afford at the time and for the space I had .
I need to purchase more pots, but its getting rather pricey and was wondering if all plastic labeled #5 are all of the same food grade quality (Polypropylene)?
EX: Sterlite/Rubbermaid storage boxes or food storage containers compared to the plastic pots for planting? Is the material the same?
Thanks for your help on this matter.. As always its greatly appreciated!
#5 plastic, polypropylene, is one of the safest plastics. All polypropylenes have the same degree of safety.
Organic Gardening
I have been trying to grow a small organic garden in out city backyard. I used MiracleGro organic soil and rabbit manure for compost. The rabbits are fed a mixture of stuff including soy (?GMO) I'm watering with a regular hose and the outside water is unfiltered of course. My question is, what can I do to keep my produce as uncontaminated as possible? How much of the 'bad' water, chemicals from the hose etc. will end up on my produce. I'm hoping it will still be healthier than what I can buy in the store!
Well, it certainly will be better than non-organic produce you buy at the store. It won't have pesticides and it will be fresher.
That said, produce will absorb the chemicals from the water used for irrigation and will absorb air pollution as well.
But every step you take in the right direction is worth doing.
Poison Ivy
Hi Debra, My boyfriend and I have just moved into a new house, and as my botfriend discovered after mowing the lawn for the first time, it seems there are several poison ivy plants around the house (resulting in three--going on four--weeks of blisters and rashes for him). We rent the house, but we're in charge of landscaping, so it's up to us to kill it.
I was wondering if you had any suggestions on how to kill it. I have Borax and white vinegar on hand, which I've read some have used to kill plants, but I was wondering if you had a other suggestions. I'm not concerned about killing some of the surrounding plants in the process (they're mostly weeds, anyway), so anything would be helpful. Thanks! Adica
Annie Berthold-Bond has a homemade Poison Ivy Killer using salt and vinegar, but my husband says if you use salt, it will be a while before anything grows there again.\
My husband recommends trying steaming the plant and leaves with a steam cleaner. He's never tried this, but his logic says it would kill the plant (I myself am not sure it would kill the roots).
Readers, any experience with this to share?
Lawn Mowers
Hi Debra, We are looking for a healthy lawn mower that does not put out any fumes.
We have a very large yard and not smoothe, along with ditches that my husband mowes. My husband uses our landlords riding lawn mower to mow sometimes. My husband just killed our last push mower by trying to not kill a snake. He missed the snake and killed the lawn mower.lol!
The fumes from that push mower were horrible. I have a reel mower, that I love, but my husband does not like the way it cuts, so he goes back over what I cut.
I have googled electric lawn mowers, and I have found electric and battery operated lawn mowers. But because I cannot handle certain things that are battery operated, I thought that we should stay away from battery operated lawn mowers.
We saw at Home Depot some push mowers. They had electric and battery operated. And they are not cheap. One was self propelled. With a large yard and not smoothe, along with ditches to mow, what would you recommend?
The greenest lawnmower would be a reel mower, but I understand your husband objects.
Next best would be and electric or battery operated mower, because they don't emit fumes.
Lawn mowers are one of those things that I don't give a lot of attention to, because the best thing is to not have lawn, and plant fruits and vegetables.
That said, we do have lawn, and I'm working on converting it all to growing beds. My husband does the mowing with a gas push mower, and I stay indoors with the windows closed. Not the best choice, I'll admit.
Garden bark dust and MCS
My wife has extreme MCS, and is bothered by the dark red bark that a lot of people use. Is there a "safer" or "better" bark that we could suggest for our neighbors?
Readers, any suggestions?
English Ivy
Debra, We recently moved into a new (older) house. The yard/garden is overgrown with English Ivy. I have pulled up much of it. It is very pesky and keeps coming back. Is there a natural herbicide to eliminate the English Ivy? Thanks. JL
Readers, any experience with this?
Garden Weedmats/Statuary
Hi all,
Weeds seeming impossible, I 'm considering trying a polypropylene weed mat and wondering if it's considered safe. The only problem I can see might be whatever it is colored with (black). Compost no longer seems to block the weeds and I don't want to use any wood product for fear of termites (Florida). Any thoughts on safety of or experience with would be appreciated.
Also, I love garden fairies and was wondering if resin fairy statuary (or any avilable material) are safe for the garden environment? I haven't been able to locate any that say they are ecosafe. Should I be concerned? Thanks for any help.
I don't like using plastic in my garden. Instead of polypropylene weed mats, I suggest using cardboard boxes, which are free.
We did this in our garden, over lawn. You just open up the cardboard boxes and lay them down over the weeds, and cover with layers of compost and leaves. We're in Florida too and have done this quite successfully.
You might also consider growing a ground cover that would smother the weeds, or planting your plants closer together.
I don't know what kind of resin is used to make garden fairies. If you could find out, I could tell you how toxic it is.
problems with growing tomatoes
dear debra, can you help me with my tomatoes , they are always looking sick after a while and get a yellowing and browning off of the bottom leaves after a while they all get the disesse and die. what if anything can i do that is organic and safe too stop this dissease. ? thank you trina
I've grown a lot of tomatoes. In California, we grew them up lattice on the side of a deck that was ten feet above the ground, and they would grow all the way up to the top of the deck. Around September we would pick tomatoes from the deck and not even go down to the garden.
Here in Florida, we've had varying success as we learn this new climate. This year our tomato plants are doing better than in past years.
We have problems here with nematodes, and so we find it more successful to grow tomatoes in pots or hanging baskets than planting them in the ground.
Also, tomatoes are heavy feeders. In California, we used to put fish heads under each tomato plant when we planted it. Then we would sprinkle lots of black pepper around the plants to keep our cat and other animals from digging up the fish heads.
I'm not sure what disease your tomatoes have. You might be able to get some help from a local organic nursery or garden club.
Natural Grass Seed
Hi Debra
I was wondering if you could suggest a natural or organic grass seed for my lawn. I have been doing research and can not find anything that is chemical free, the closest thing i have found is a product sold at Whole Foods called Pearl's Premium. I have two large sections that need some grass. I also have small children that roll around in the grass. Any suggestions would be great. We do not use any chemical in or around our house. Thank you.
Here are two links to sites that sell organic grass seed: Gardens Alive! and Wildflower Farm.
And here's a link to a site with a lot of tips on how to maintain a healthy lawn without toxic chemicals: http://www.richsoil.com/lawn-care.jsp.
I just need to take this opportunity to mention lawn can also be planted with flowers for cutting or a kitchen garden with vegetables, fruits, and herbs.
