Spring Sounds and Signs

By mid-April the sounds and signs of spring are distinctive. Birds begin their morning tweeting and twittering almost before sun up, no, they're not online. If the bird bath isn't refilled with fresh water before eight am they let me know with a loud chirruping chorus. A couple of blue jays seem to be the most vocal band leaders. Usually I hear them before I see them while I'm enjoying my morning oatmeal and coffee. Click here - jeer, jeer, jeer to hear their high pitched hellos. These greetings are unmistakable, so is their stunning assorted shades of blue, black and white-gray coloring. 

Ferris on our mostly weed free lawn, May 2018

 
The sound I generally loathe is the wailing of the mow-blow and go companies, which are on our block or neighborhood just about every day during the outdoor growing season. I'm hesitant to complain because I'm part of this seasonal noise pollution since we mow once a week. Of course our mowing noises are nowhere near the raucous made by other mowers ... not! Yard care companies are just getting started for the season. Lawns are growing quickly, like watching puppies mature on Facebook. 


 
Not to make this blog a total rant (I do love the bird noises), but I also don't like seeing all the yellow warning "pesticides applied" signs throughout my neighborhood and Washington Park. I know people are busy, they don't like weeds in their yards and they don't have time or perhaps any desire to dig weeds on their days off or in their spare time, which they also don't have. 

If they didn't spray I'd probably complain about the weed seeds that are blowing down the street from their boulevard to ours. I already have a boat load of bindweed from the immediate neighbor's front yard, which goes and goes and grows, as you know. So I pull and pull and pull. 

Many of my neighbors, friends and blog readers have their yards sprayed by landscape companies. I mean no criticism.

What products are companies using when they spray lawns? Without writing a long weed primer here's what I know. The chemicals used can be different formulations of selective weed killers, that means the chemicals will target specific weeds and not grass turf. There are pre-emergent products that prevent weeds from germinating in the spring, these are mostly the grassy weeds like crab grass. Post-emergent chemical lawn treatments obviously mean the weeds are growing and need to be killed now or by Saturday when guests are coming over. The specific chemicals used, or their trade names aren't easy to find on lawncare company websites so you'll have to specifically ask them what they will be using - if you want to know.

You may be curious if and how these products may affect human, animal, insects, pollinators and landscape plants. I've linked to some helpful sites below. Keep in mind that reputable companies always leave full instructions about after care when walking on or entering sprayed landscapes.

After companies spray, they also leave a note on the door explaining what was sprayed that day, including the list of chemicals and the amount used. They also leave the bill in a handy mail in envelope. A note like this happened to blow over to my sidewalk not long ago and this company used MCPA, Mecoprop-p and Dicamba for their "customized lawn plan."

On walks we steer clear of these treated yellow sign areas for several weeks. It's more difficult to steer while walking in the park because they specifically spray the tree and shrub mulch rings where Ferris loves to smell and do his business. 

Pets and Pesticide Use

PetMD

Purdue University College of Veterinary Medicine

Distribution of 2,4-D in air and on surfaces inside residences after lawn applications: comparing exposure estimates from various media and young children.

Detection of Herbicides in the urine of pet dogs following home lawn chemical application

Herbicide Drift and Drift Related Damage

How to Reduce Bee Poisoning from Pesticides