RED DEER – More municipalities are calling for a ban on pesticides to control weeds and insects, but some of the non-chemical solutions may not be as benign as they hoped.
Herbicides can cause problems if used improperly, but many alternative products are equally dangerous, said Darren Dillenbeck of Dow Agro- Sciences Canada.
He compared some of these products to herbicides at a recent Alberta Invasive Species Council meeting in Red Deer.
For example, a homemade concoction using boiled rhubarb leaves works well as an insecticide but must be handled with care.
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“It is very natural. It’ll kill all insects and it will kill people. It is incredibly toxic,” he said.
Products that contain acetic and citric acid are corrosive and only burn off the target plants rather than killing the root system. As a result, more of these products are required than the traditional chemical herbicides.
“Citric acid is not obtained by squeezing lemons,” he said. “It is a biochemical process utilizing sulfuric acid, calcium hydroxide and other chemicals.”
Plastic mulch is not commonly used in Western Canada, but fossil fuels are required to manufacture the polyethelene.
About 1,328 pounds of mulch are required to cover an acre to prevent weed growth. It raises the soil temperature by about 10 C, which may kill microorganisms in the subsurface. There is also the question of where to dispose the plastic.
Other weed cont rol options include hand pulling, mowing, burning and plowing, which require fuel to reach the fields and run the equipment.
“In a lot of cases it makes a lot of sense and it works well in small areas,” he said.
Education is needed to show the public that alternative measures carry their own risks.
Many natural products are exempt from regulations in the United States, but in Canada they go under the same testing, regardless of the source.
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