I’m not talking about war, I’m talking information. Specifically information on what we use in or on our lawns and gardens. This rant isn’t promoting or ridiculing any product or philosophy. It is however questioning sources of information. The number one source is the “World Wide Web”. When doing research remember anyone can post anything on the net. Folks come in saying “I found a website that said Malathion makes a good car wax” ranks up there with “I read on the web that dried molasses cure’s warts”. Maybe, but I would use a car wax and go see a doctor.
There are folks that have very steadfast opinions about what they will or will not use for a given situation and rightfully so. Being that we live in America, we have choices. Those choices should be researched in a thorough manner from reliable sources. I spend a lot of time researching information on the web and have found an enormous quantity of conflicting information there. My rule of thumb is “find three”. If I can’t, then I consider the information suspect. One of my favorites is that there is no scientific evidence that cedar repels insects. Maybe but that means 500 plus years of folks using cedar chests is just a trend.
Just because you found what you were looking for doesn’t mean you have to do it or use it. My most recent example is last year when my cucumbers were invaded by cucumber beetles. I know what to spray but I don‘t like spraying insecticides in my garden, even organic ones. The rest of the garden was doing great so I elected not to spray anything. Yes, I lost my cucumber crop and folks might say I made the wrong decision. I made a choice to sacrifice the cucumbers so as not to disrupt the ecosystem of the other crops. Bottom line is the choice is yours, but choose carefully.
