The horror...the horror!

So now that you've been through your first season without your precious juice, how's everyone dealing with the pesticide bylaw?

No, this is not a Halloween post. It is merely to see the effects of the chemical free society we now live in when it comes to our lawns. Many of you now co-habitate with a text book of every weed known to man lurking on your lawn, yet, no effective means to rid yourself of all of them.

Personally, I can live without the pesticides, since there are effective organic methods to control pests; Nematodes, Neem etc. However, herbicides? Well, that's a different matter altogether, especially since Weedman has, supposedly, God's gift to lawn care, Sarritor, all tied up and available to the highest bidder only.

It takes small operators, like me, out of the running and I'm forced to play mad scientist with Top Gun, (based on fatty acids), and Horticultural Vinegar, trying to dumb the mixtures down so they don't kill your grass along with the weeds.

But even if I could get Sarritor, would I use it?

I've seen it be quite effective and fail miserably. Why? Probably a number of factors.

Back in the Spring I did a blog on the product amid extensive research and determined, like previous weed control methods, Sarritor had to be applied in certain conditions to be effective. As you know, the larger the company, the less likely they are going to give a damn about ideal conditions for the application, (see my post on Nematodes last month).

Therefore, you have adequate control on some lawns and not others.

If this product was the bomb in weed control, do you think that my business would have tripled in 2009; most of it from dissatisfied customers from bigger companies who say they use Sarritor?

If this product kept the lawns weed free, do you think Green Lawn, who also have Sarritor in their arsenal, would still be pulling weeds naturally as the first line of defence?

People are starting to wake up from the scare tactics of, "we are the only company who offer effective weed control for your lawn".
Fool me once.

Six bills a year for lawn care is too much, unless you have the larger square footage, especially for an application that is so hit and miss.

As long as the bottom line is, how many applications per day and maximum profit margin, do you think these companies are going to take the time to do what really needs to be done to keep a lawn looking good?

Or is this frightening scenario going to continue?