I share a fence with my neighbor, who has various plants and flowers on his side, while I have a vegetable garden with cucumbers, tomatoes, and peppers. He recently sprayed Spectracide Triazicide on his side, and I'm concerned that some overspray may have drifted into my garden. Is it safe to use around vegetables, especially since we give these veggies to our little ones? I've talked to him about the issue, and he's willing to stop using it, but I'd like to get some input from the community on whether it's necessary for him to switch to something else, like traps for Japanese beetles.
3 Answers
While I'm not an expert on the food safety aspect, a landscape designer strongly advised against using Triazicide on my property because it can kill beneficial garden organisms. There are better, targeted options available that won't harm everything in the garden.
I doubt your plants will be affected much by the overspray since the Japanese beetles can be a bigger threat to your veggies. But if your cucumbers are really close to the fence, that's where you might run into trouble with pollinators getting hurt.
Triazicide is known to harm beneficial insects like bees, so it might be worth suggesting to your neighbor that he use Japanese beetle traps instead. This way, he can control the beetle problem without risking the health of your garden or the pollinators.
Yeah, protecting the bees is a big deal! Hope he's open to making that change.
It's definitely more about my kids eating the plants than the plants themselves. I’ll chat with him about using a physical method to manage the beetles instead.