Abstract

HARDER, F.K. 1987. Can a landscaping business survive if it halts pesticide spraying? Am. Nurseryman 166(4): 57-58, 60.

Like hard core chain smokers going cold turkey after a lifetime with the habit, we at Harder Landscape Contractors, Inc. said "no" to spraying pesticides. But we did have some anxiety and misgivings. Two years later, we have no remorse of loss—only the conviction that our company did right by our customers and our business. The decision was hardly arbitrary. For more than four decades, our family-owned company successfully applied pesticides. Without passing judgement on the safety claims made for modern pesticides, I began to share an uneasiness with a growing number of dissenters in the industry. More to the point, pesticides have become synonymous with poison in the public's opinion. The decision to spray or not to spray could affect our financial future. Since we have decided to eliminate pesticides, we reduce the opportunities for pest infestation by buying only top quality nursery stock. Before installing any vegetation, we send soil samples to agronomists for analysis. We also consider air quality when making plant selections. For maintenance operations, we program an intensive schedule of preventive tree care. Pruning, feeding and watering nuture growth. Sure, we were mildly hurt by the loss of our pesticide profit center. But, spraying only brought in about 5% of our gross volume.

• © 1988, International Society of Arboriculture. All rights reserved.