Using chemicals on your vegetable plot (bumped from 2005)

[Jaxom]

Was prompted to start this poll by one or two people earlier.
Jax

[j.flett]

chemicals

i tend to use organic chemicals ie elder leaf solution to kill aphids,nettle & rhubarb as pest controlers,do they count as chemicals????

[sewer rat]

Organic chemicals ?

I doubt that your organic solutions can be classified as chemicals, certainly not for this poll started by Jaxom after a query raised by Catriona. Would be interested in hearing about any organic home made solutions that others use intheir gardens or on their plots. Geordie started a thread on Comfrey and everyone seemed really into it, so maybe we can all help to spread the organic bible by sharing our own ideas and recipes.
Rat

[Jaxom]

Just thought I should point out that I classed chemicals in this poll to be something made in a laboratory from things found on the periodic table.
Organic solutions made from plant matter can also be developed in the laboratory but they are also often originally based on old-fashioned home remedies used by gardeners for generations.
As a postscript….. DDT is classified and considered as an organic chemical in the scientific world, but I would never consider using it on my vegetables.
Jax

[andrewo]

Slug pellets

I'd be interested to know what damage slug pellets have on the ground, I try to contain mine in traps.

When I have aphid problems I use a solution of organic soap and water to spray but would love to hear any other organic solutions.

My garden use to be a parking space so it has taken 5 years to get nature back in. This year I noted an abundance of hover flies and ladybirds (I try now not to be too tidy and have log piles and bamboo canes stored outside over winter).

But I would like to go fully organic. Not because it's the in thing but because it's getting back to basics, and keeping alive trends, solutions and innovation that has been lost to chemicals and quick fix solutions.

Andrewo

[Ja9]

Slug pellets are really the only thing I succumb to using , the so called ' organic ' ones. I don't like to but as the hedgehogs can't get in to the veg plot as it has rabbit netting around it, it seems the only way to save some crops.
The hedgehogs do a fab job of keeping slugs at bay in the rest of the garden!

[Newton]

Oops I lied.....I use slug pellets!

[Feral007]

I'm with what everyone has mentioned so far about getting back to basics not being 'trendy'. The word Organic has been jumped on by the media so much that everyone seems to hate the word now ;(

But I remember my father growing crops all my llfe and until I was in my teens he used the methods he'd always used. He made me a cabbage moth/other flying insect trap for the garden out of a couple of empty drink bottles. I have to get the kids to drink some soft drinks so I can make some in prep for next season.
I just figure looking after your crops is looking after your own body and the soil and air around us as well. And I like 'in season.' I remember as a kid how exciting it was when it was fruit season. We lived next door all mulberry season - the tree was larger than a house and all the kids in the street lived in it from dawn till after dusk - and kept silk worms too. And then plum season we lived in our chook yard as that's where the fruit trees grew.

[Snadger]

Theres no poll like an old poll................

[veggiechicken]

It's like a trip down Memory Lane - except I don't remember it first time round!

[MojoJojo]

What is meant by "chemical"?

[VirginVegGrower]

I don't use them.

[Matt94]

Hmmm, im surprised that over 40% of people never use chemical on their plot!! Maybe people see the word chemical and associate it with a bad thing, i know that i class alot of chemicals as good things for my plot, for example fertiliser's (the majority being made from natural ingredients!). Infact the only 'bad' chemical's i use on my plot are slug pellets and the occasional squirt of bug killer on my fruit trees!

[Kaiya]

made in a laboratory from things found on the periodic table.

Everything is made from things found on the periodic table

I voted none, but I do use BFB and soap, and soap at least is very much an artificial chemical. So I suppose I voted in the spirit of the poll, i.e. not using non-organic chemicals, rather than all chemicals per se.

For me it's an issue of cost - I ain't paying for things I don't need.