Grow Your Own Magazine

Your digging away, enjoying yourself and then you smell something strange.........no it isnt any type of manure and it isnt the latest brand of whoever might be smoking....its the inconsiderate allotment holder who cannot speak!"
Why do some people start spraying pesticides or weedkillers, without consulting anyone else, dont they think of other people, which direction the wind might be blowing on a particular day?

If your going to spray anything, consider others around you, speak with people, consider the weather factor!

I know how you feel, I live next to a field and the farmer seems to always be out there spraying something!!!! When I first moved here I was told rather bluntly 'don't walk in the field - we spray the crop'.....the footpath runs right through the field!!!!! Hello? Does the spray not drift 1/2ft onto the path? AGGGHHH!!!!
and breathe!

Are but you are going to get even it is more fun when you fire up your new Honda noise machine give a extra bit of throtle when the anoying one is about jacob

LOL ahhhhh yes.........LOL

Actually you can complain to your allotment rep if you can't bring yourself to speak to the offender yourself. I think you'll find that it's a condition of the allotment leases that no-one interferes with anyone else's plot, and if you can smell his spray (weedkiller or insecticide) then it's landing on your plot and interfering with your growing system.

Too right Rustylady. One of my neighbours throws pesticides about like they're going out of fashion. Just between you and me I have been known to sweep his slug pellets up and bin them five minutes after he's left the plot.

Well, it's my wildlife too!

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Resistance is fertile

Paul, it's not the slug pellets that bother me so much, as you say you can sweep them up. It's the a*****e with a weedkiller spray that drifts onto your plot and kills all your seedlings that really bugs me. Not so much of a problem at the site I'm on now, but was on previous one (one guy in particular) who we all suspected of selling his produce - who would ever eat that many cabbages for one family?

Yes I have reported them but our allotment officer really does not do anything, and writing to the council drives you insane.......lol @ paul and the slug pellets.good on you

I really don't know what I'd do about that. I guess pressuring the allotment rep is the only way forward - if he does nothing you could always put a formal complaint in writing... why you should have to is beyond me though.

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Resistance is fertile

I know........what worries me is that he has left his plot to overgrow......think about this....he grows all season and then lets everything rot down, him and another........then when it comes to the next season out comes pesticides, weedkillers.......and starts again. Why no-one knows and yet the allotment officerlets him get away with for the past 3 years, keeps giving him 'chances'.

I am in process of writing a formal letter of complaint again!

i love it i get the 1954 bulldog rotorvator out and boy what a noise and when they ask me to turn it off i just say i didnt ask you to stop spraying did i lol

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why not email me for recipe ideas they are all welcome email at thecookingwizard@yahoo.co.uk

have you spocken to the person involved???

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http://newplot.blogspot.com/

rain rain go away

Yes but they ignore me saying they garden their way and I do it my way!

I do feel for you, on the plus side more and more people are realising that these sprays are a waste of money. I can't think of one famous gardener now who doesn't claim to be organic or to try to be organic.

Some people on a plot near ours spent a whole day spraying the whole thing with glyphosphate and then were surprised and dismayed when the weeds grew back. They never came back to the allotment again.

If they'd just started digging over a bit at a time they'd have saved all that time and money and they'd probably still be enjoying growing their own now...

I am a properly qualified horticultural sprayer and we are trained to be aware of our impact on the environment. I don't think it's ok for any Tom, Dick or Harriet to spray away with no guidance, but perhaps that's one for the Town Hall wallahs to sort out.

Is there any way you can 'screen' so that the spray gets caught in that and not all over your site?

janeyo

also lol at paul and his sweeping up the slug pellets - bet the chap thought the slugs had had a great meal... so how come they were still there?!

Whether you are for or against slug pellets is irrelevant but I don't like the idea of going on anyone else's plot for what ever reason. Could become a case of what's good for the goose is good for the gander.

I know this comment is not going to be very popular on this thread but it's something I'm pretty passionate about.

The essence of the training is that one shouldn't spray if there is any chance of spray drift and this should be highlighted to anyone who might want to spray. We are urged to use face masks for most chemical applications but I sometimes wonder about their efficacy as I can still smell them ( the chemicals ) so they can't be 100% can they?

I cannot put up a screen to stop the spray coming on my plot.......only if I could. I approached him again yesterday and asked him to consider others around him, he said THAT he paid the rent on his allotment and could do what he liked with it. He said I was being a fuddy duddy, so I asked a couple of other plotholders to support me but it didnt change his view.
He then proceeded to bring out a HUGE yellow sprayer filled with the stuff, I explained that its windy and you cannot possibly need to spray anything else.....he then had to leave....and left it behind. Another plotholder went and emptied the weedkiller into another tub, then poured plain water into his sprayer....he sprayed everywhere, smirking at me but I feel deep down it was I who was smirking. Although it wasn't right, this person has no right to invade others people soil, plants and shrubs. (The weedkiller is being stored safely and will be disposed safely if necessary).

No people shouldnt really go on others allotments.......I agree BUT all Paul did was sweep up slug pellets, he didnt break and enter, didnt take anything. I feel that allotment holders should consider all around them, thats how communities are built.

Most allotment holders on our site are armchair gardeners and when they come up and have work to do, it is too much......on our site 12 people only come up once in a blue moon, they leave veges to rot, allotments grow out of control and then they may give up, so some poor person has to tackle it all.

Our allotment officer is too soft and I feel that she is the main cause of allotments overgrowing. When I was secretary of our society, I made a proposal that new allotment holders should be given a 12 month probationary tenancy, that way if they do not work their plot, then they can be kicked off but it has sadly, not been put in place and with a waiting list of over 200, something really should be done.