Whether these discussions are seen to promote "fear" depends on your view point. Would the fact that someone spreading synthetic fertilizers be told they are contributing to the pollution of our water be considered fear mongering? In my opinion it would be fear mongering if one were told that use of synthetic fertilizers = environmental pollution and was not told organics can do the same. Run off from manure treated fields is a significant problem for well water supplies. We know from many studies that the source of nitrates and phosphorus in our water supply comes from lawn fertilizers often applied in excess because some people fell that if a little is good more would be better. I am certain you are correct, but how much pollution comes from organic gardeners that naively believe organic = safe and thus show no regard for environmentalism with their use of all things labeled organic? Again, the manure fields polluting water ways comes to mind. I think ignorance is something to be feared. Anytime one sets out to casually enjoy a hobby like gardening often results in an ignorant person giving it a go. Not stupid or unconcerned, just ignorant, not knowing the facts. I think most folks do care and given true, unhyped facts would make an honest effort to be safe and environmentally friendly. I think the untrue fear mongering just sets those of us who care about the environment back several steps as folks who would change their methods a bit to be more environmentally responsible see nonsense claims about this or that being super bad when they really aren't or seeing claims about this or that being inherently safe when it isn't. See enough biased lies and one is likely to just ignore everything else and remain ignorant. Again, not stupid or unconcerned, just ignorant because the true facts are harder to come by than the biased 'facts' which often are not true. I do not wish to encourage organic methods through fear, but I do wish to encourage safe, fun, environmentally friendly methods through education. Methods that are within the reach of anyone, do not require one to be wealthy or have unlimited time on their hands, just methods that work the very first year and do little harm to the environment and result in tasty, healthy harvests. We can't encourage the next generation to grow some of their own food by using scare tactics since they are more internet savvy than we are and they will quickly spot a blowhard. We can't convince a budget strapped, long hour working parent to grow their own using expensive or labor intensive methods, but we can all work to present true, unbiased facts for consideration. Come to think of it, why would we want to do anything contrary??

LOL! what we're talking about is roses, not extremes now. The original intent of my post was to encourage newbies who are just starting out to consider organics as a possiblity. Newbies and those of us who have just 15-25 roses, organics is perfect for us because we have time and energy for the upkeep that organics require. It is a more thoughtful process of research, thinking things through. And even better is when one is able to bring in ladybugs and praying mantis (for those who have larger, open spaces where they can thrive). O.k. now I'm going to start on some interesting articles about the organics as "food for thought". The 2nd link is super interesting! it's a pow-wow of new info for me... http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/gate/archive/2000/05/03/green.DTL http://www.pesticide.org/factsheets.html#alternatives http://www.pallensmith.com/index.php?id=1614 http://www.organicrosecare.org/articles.php I just hope newbies will give organics a chance, that's all. GreenCure and my hot pepper spray are not toxic to me. My hybrid teas are flourishing, they're healthy, and the blooms are still pretty. They're not the tour gardens that DollsandRoses has spent so much time, years of loving care for. She's got a huge beautiful garden and I'm sure the BS is driving her mad with the constant rain. So I would never ever lift a judgmental finger on her for any final decision she makes... For simple me, with a teensy garden, all I want is a garden full of bumblebees, a healthy happy dog who can play frisbee in the grass without fear of cancer, and my roses just the way they are! I would be so happy as long as they continue to grow as well as they have. Last year my dog was not healthy for an entire month, diarrhea and runny stools from grubkiller that already had been rained on 2 days before I let her out to play frisbee in the grass for only 5 minutes. So I do think that synthetic pesticides are just plain out bad news for living creatures. Even Wikipedia warns about Sevin, a very! popular pesticide for roses... Here is the direct link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sevin and here is what it says: Carbaryl is a cholinesterase inhibitor and is toxic to humans. It is classified as a likely human carcinogen by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA.)[1] It kills various beneficial insect and crustacean species along with intended pest victims, so care must be taken when spraying where beneficial nontarget species are present. Carbaryl is acutely toxic to honeybees, destroying colonies of bees foraging in an area where the chemical has been applied. Michael, thank you for introducing the more accurate term synthetic chemicals... As Michael refers, the premise is that our organic fungicides and organic repellents (planting of herbs, care of the soil) is earth-friendly... The ingredients are easily broken down and are re-absorbed into the natural cycle and into the soil.

While this is an old post I thought I would revive it. My two lychee, and three pineapple guava have been decimated by these weevils. After reading articles on how hard they are to control, a couple of months ago I decided to go out every evening and early morning to do battle armed with needlenosed pliers and a bright white LED flashlight. The bright light seems to stun or immobilize them long enough to crunch them. At first I was getting several dozen per day and now I am down to well less than 10 nightly. It's a pain but it only has taken me 3 or so forays per night at around 5 minutes each and my trees have rebounded nicely. I figure I am seruously interrupting their reproductive cycle, I have actually "interrupted" many pairs in what appeared to be the act of mating. What is not clear from what I read is WHERE their eggs are deposited. I read both in the ground AND on leaves but many agree that the young go into the ground to mature. So I recently sprinkled sevin dust at the base of the trees to see if I can get the cycle broken for good.

Thank you everyone for the excellent feedback. I will spend lots of time studying the UF bug identification pages. And thank you for the encouragement Silvia. I didn't let my initial foray into vegetable gardening daunt me too much. I chalked it up to learning and even got 12 pints of roasted habanero salsa, a few pounds of sun-dried (dehydrator, LOL) tomatoes, a few quarts of pickles and a few pints of hot pickled okra before the whole thing crashed and burned. I read as much as I can as often as I can and try not to bug people with too many questions. I was the person in college and grad school who everyone hated because I was always waving my arm wanting to know how and why. So this morning I had a Hitchcock moment. Every morning I walk through the yard and carefully inspect everything. I noticed lacy leaves all of the way down on the bottom of some tomato plants. I can't bear to throw a seedling away when I thin, so after everything got potted I had about 12 plants left. I stuck them in the new in-ground veggie bed I put along the back of the house. I plucked a leaf off and turned it over. It was CRAWLING with dozens of almost microscopic worms/caterpillars. Like I said, I'm Mrs. Magoo even after implant surgery. I could see they were greenish and had some kind of stripe. They were so small that I didn't think I could squash them with my foot or roll the leaf up and squeeze them. I ran to the bird bath and shoved the leaf under water. Then I went back and carefully combed the bottoms of all of the plants. I found 5 or 6 more leaves like that and drowned them too. Now I'm curious about whether moths lay dozens of tiny eggs at a time or if the eggs hatch multiple caterpillars? It's time for another Bt spray anyway. I try to do it after irrigation nights. Today is dark and overcast and looks like rain so I may have to wait until tomorrow. I figured I'd let the babies drown good and proper and then change the water in the bird bath later. I should have taken a picture but my phone was in the house. I should throw them in a jar with mesh over the top and add a few leaves to see what they turn into after a bit. Snakes, worms and caterpillars gross me out so badly!