I'm not sure they can - or even should be - exterminated. They do fill a need, as is obvious by the number of these operations that abound. And while it is a noble undertaking to attempt to educate the gardening public that 'quality' landscape operations involve superior knowledge as well as more refined care techniques and possibly even a sensitivity to the environment, IMO most of it is going to fall on deaf ears. In many cases, the M,B&G operations do an adequate job at a reasonable rate and, truth be told, it doesn't require any particular skill to operate power equipment. The problem is when they ooze into other areas that do require more specific skills and experience. Hey! I can make money running a lawn mower - look how much more I can make if sell them on pruning, planting or garden design!! The non-gardening public that tends to employ these bozos don't realize that there is more involved to all of these other activities than simply owning a mower and pickup provides. I do believe there is room in the industry for both skilled and non-skilled practitioners. There are herds of homeowners in my area that feel that meatball sheared shrubs, topped trees and M,B&G/Chem-Lawn type lawn care is the only way to go. And there are just as many others that cringe when they see those pickups descend on the neighborhood. The challenge is keeping the two camps apart. I would think that including a clause in your contract that negates any warranty or guarantee of services if these type of businesses are used within a designated time frame would go a long way in easing your frustration. So the new sod has been churned up like it went through a blender - who is responsible for replacement? Certainly not you if they did not follow your care instructions. Going to the expense of replacing and laying new sod should have a major impact on how likely these folks are to try this cut-rate service again.

dbarron, I am already thinking of a sauce that is super sweet and hot for the acapulco...... it wasnt pleasant by itself but I have a couple ideas that would incorporate some other veggies i grow. N.E.... I am northern utah. Not much available hereb, that is I why i take every opportunity to collect seeds. Working on a germination/grow room now so I can get some super hots started soon for next season. Current super hots were started way late... hoping to bring a couple inside to ripen before the frost sets in... dj

I would follow growers advise quite closely for the chemical reason alone. If the label says not edible, don't eat it. However I don't think anyone would be idiotic enough to produce/breed a poisonous chilli, that would be criminal. Someone, somewhere will eventually eat it, if not direct from the store bought plant, fruit from it's seedlings etc. I bought a grafted lemon tree in full fruit and it was labelled as inedible for "ornamental purposes only". This irritated me as it grew extremely well when planted and produced fruit second to none. It produced flowers and fruit all year and good healthy foliage. For different reasons I then spent months tracking down it's wholesaler and then grower in Sicily, the wholesaler had already stopped stocking citrus. When I got to the bottom of it I was told it was a speciality lemon, specialite regionale (the Italian version) used for forcing and extremely edible, a highly prized variety grown on virus resistant stock. The middle men the wholesaler and exporter in a different country entirely said they had been treating the trees with systemic fungicides and pesticides when in full fruit at time of sale and thats why they were labelled as such. Of course they might not have been so enticing for the consumer had the label said "danger this plant has been treated with lethal toxic chemicals". And of course after a couple of years I had already tasted the fruit and decided they were stunningly delicious, both good for juice and zesting. I was more interested in the variety and graft stock used as it did so well. But had I been tempted to try the fruit straight away I might have become seriously sick.....so just shows. It can take awhile for systemic chemicals to be neutralised and in a short lived plant like a chilly pepper......not worth it. White fly apparently is a big problem in production of chilly pepper plants and is often difficult to eradicate without systemics, which are often used anyway to stop even a small possibility of an accidental infestation that could ruin an entire crop of plants. I live for the day ornamental pot plants and garden plants are labelled "organically produced", but when it says not for consumption believe it.

Maack, yes, European beech is a cinch to deal with compared to that finickiest of all N. temperate zone species-American beech. Ed, all beech cultivars to date are of European-not American-beech. That is, of common occurrence. David, many areas east of the Mississippi have undergone such a transition. Many areas were logged and cleardd witht eh assumption that agriculture was their future, only to find that rocky, acidic, droughty, or other soil or climate characteristics made that unprofitable. A common pattern then was one of owners giving up land for back taxes, with the then newly-formed govt. agencies stepping in to deal with the huge amount of tax-delinquent land on hand. Hence federal and state forests, etc. Many of these places are magnificent areas now, but were forsaken by human folly on the way to getting that way.