Neighbors spraying, should I give up gardening? (lawns, growing, bugs)

[antinimby]

My neighbors on two sides use weed killers and pesticides on their yards. One does it herself (I have more to say about this nutty lady but will save it for another time) and the other has professionals that come in to treat their whole property regularly. I am certain the other ones do as well. So basically I am surrounded by pretty much all sides by neighbors that chemically treat their properties. We are the only one that do not.

The fences are not high and have lots of gaps and/or openings. One side is a chain link type and the other sides are picket fences.

I try to grow an organic vegetable garden (peppers, tomatoes, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, basil, cucumbers, okra, snow peas, etc.) and some fruit (mainly strawberries for now) but because of so much spraying, I am beginning to feel like it's not a good idea anymore. Interestingly, no one else around does any food gardening. They are all obsessed with nice looking lawns and flowers.

[Nodpete]

I would keep gardening. If nothing else, the neighbors spraying is keeping the bugs away from your yard. As long as you wash your veggies I wouldn't worry. Like you, we are the ONLY ones who have a garden in our neighborhood. Of course, that doesn't stop them from wanting to share our crops. I purposely brag about how good everything tastes. Especially the raspberries. "Let them eat store bought"

[in_newengland]

I would be upset too but I would keep on gardening. I don't know if their spraying will be of any benefit to you because they are probably killing off bees that pollinate--and who knows what else? Lady bugs?

I called off a retirement move to the South because they sprayed pesticides from airplanes twice a week! Great. Poisons falling right onto my organic garden. I see why they have to do it down there with the mosquitoes carrying dangerous diseases but it would have gone for six months! Up here they might have to do it for a few weeks at the end of the summer.

Your produce will still have fewer pesticides than those in the store that have been sprayed directly. Yours will also have come from healthy soil with actual nutrients, not synthetic chemicals.

[antinimby]

^ You are right. I was just reading up on "woolly apple aphids" that are appearing on my young apple trees (I grew them from seed last year and now they are taller than me!) and it appears that these aphids multiply when their insect predators are killed by pesticides.

So yes, all that spraying is actually making things worse for me as far as pests go because the beneficial insects are killed off.

So depressing living here.

[ukrkoz]

Oh please. That crap they use WILL get into your soil and plants. Washing will do nothing.
I feel your pain. Whatever they are spraying is toxic, period. Unfortunately, this is how people are - ignorant and inconsiderate not just of others, but of themselves too. They are product of society and know no better.
Option 1 is to talk to neighbors and ask them to ensure that NOTHING from their side gets onto yours. What will be tough, but they have their rights but you have yours. Also, it may be a good idea to introduce them to organic vegetation control. Vinegar. Salt. Steam.
Will it fly - who knows. Will it offend neighbors? Very likely. Do you want to have it with neighbors? No. That's the easiest way to turn life into ongoing nightmare.
Option 2. Protect your garden. Green house. I'd also plant dense hedge on chain link side as additional deterrent and then, if they kill it - well, then you have recourse.
But inexpensive DIY green house will protect your plants. Esp with raised garden beds.
We like blackberries. We have plenty of them. They were shared along fence line with our neighbor until he hired someone to come and spray them on his side. What, inevitably, killed them about 3 feet wide strip on our side. Hired hand does not give, they spray. We still have plenty left, but I did sneaky thing. I am in good standing with guy who mows neighbor's property. So I approached him once and asked him, if he was the one to spray the shrubs. I knew it's not him yet... So I griped to him and such, blah blah... Human psychology is very simple. Of course he passed the word onto the owner.
Next time my wife was working on that side fence area, where we have long strip of raspberries, same guy talked to her and mentioned that owner was sorry that happens, he does not want any trouble with neighbors and such.
Who's the messenger? Mower guy. Owner now knows we are not happy with toxins coming into our property. I bet it will not happen again.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

For a start, you can tell if the weed killers are making it onto your property because if they are, your plants are all dead by now.

The insecticide is expensive and I am sure that your neighbors are not spraying your place as well as their own. If they spray when it is windy, which they should not be doing, you might get some drift. If the wind is not blowing, you aren't going to get any of their spray.

Instead of quitting the gardening, I suggest that you invest a few dollars in low tunnels and grow inside the tunnels. That will keep everything off your plants.

If you quit growing and start buying at the Farmer's market, there is just as much chance that they have wind drift pesticides on their produce and you have no way of knowing. The "organic" that is shipped in from overseas, there is no telling what you are getting. It's not like there is any "organic" testing going on.

[David A Stone]

If you aren't noticing damage to your plant foliage, you have nothing to worry about.


When I was dairy farming, I sprayed herbicides on corn fields for both myself and got hired by neighbors.


I never had a complaint of damage to neighbors' lawns or gardens that were real close to the property lines.


Back then I was spraying with Atrazine and any damage to lawns or gardens would be quite visible.

[antinimby]

Yes, I am worried about the spray that floats over and also the seepage from the ground. As luck would have it, our property is lower than one of my neighbors and when there's heavy rains, the runoff comes onto and floods our yard.

And no, they spray regardless of whether it is windy or not. These people are not concerned about these things. If they were, they wouldn't be using them so casually and regularly.

Now, about that nutty lady neighbor. She takes obsession of a neat yard to a whole other level. She sprays over onto our yard anything she deems unattractive, including our plants and flowers. I have told her before nicely not to do so. That didn't work. I then told her a second time, this time less than politely. That seemed to have worked for sometime but recently, she started spraying again. I will post pictures later to show you what I mean.

[Ultrarunner]

I know someone in a similar situation and she went a different route...

Put up one of those 10 x 16 greenhouses and has tons of produce, uses less water and has extended her growing season.

It was not cheap but she said it was money well spent and productivity is way up as she gardens organically...

Mom had the best grapes growing on a property line fence... the neighbors were family friends... when they passed and that home sold... the new neighbors started spraying and it was long before the 40 year old vines died...

Don't get me wrong... I will and do spray poison oak which I am deathly susceptible... over the years of selective and methodical application I have eliminated 99% of it... no more worries of getting it from pets or balls that went astray...

[David A Stone]

The OP complains that he sprays on windy days and that she gets spray drift on her property.


I don't recall her mentioning that in her OP.