Leave me the birds and the bees ... please!
Like Joni Mitchell in her song “Big Yellow Taxi,” Faraaz Abdool pleads for his beloved birds: not many will survive the onslaught of toxic chemicals used to rid backyard gardens and agri-holdings of pests. What should we be doing to protect the crops? All photos courtesy Faraaz Abdool
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| Bees are valuable pollinators |
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| A poisoned bee lies dead after crawling around convulsing. (Dead bees have been turning up ever since a new neighbour moved in next door to us, he sprays constantly) |
Let’s not debate what makes a
pest a pest. Instead, let’s figure out how we decide what is fit to be freely
dispensed into the environment. There is a wide selection of bottles and cans
available in your local plant or agro-shop – herbicides and pesticides and
insecticides – which do the jobs of getting rid of weeds, “pests” and insects.
First of all, do we take the time to read the labels? The sad truth is that
most of us don’t, taking for granted that a sense of responsibility is the
characteristic of the manufacturing industry; they wouldn’t produce anything to
harm a living thing, would they?
Almost immediately after my
neighbour cracks a container of insecticide or kerosene, the nauseating odors
overload my olfactory senses. Once poured or sprayed on plants, in soil or in
drains, the rest of the work is done by the elements. Gradually we are learning
exactly how far-reaching the effects of a single action or exposure can be.
Once released into the environment, the carriers of these chemicals are water
and the air itself. Fumes travel fastest.
A large portion of these
products are pesticides, some of the more potent ones reserved for only the
most serious of infestations. These are compounds which generally do not
discriminate among possible targets, and herein lies the gravest concern. Just
as antibiotics have been known to exterminate both bad and good bacteria, so
too, in our homes and gardens we must exercise caution in applying a
broad-spectrum control measure that’s designed to kill.
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Ladybird beetles feed on all stages of the hibiscus mealybug.
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| Earworms are known for making holes in fruits, which eventually turn brown and rot. Wasps feed on earworm larvae. |
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| An orb-weaver spider wraps a large brown moth. Moths like these are often responsible for the voracious caterpillars which decimate leafy crops. |
Pesticides target animals and
fungi which feed on the leaves, stems, fruits and roots of our crops. We must
ask ourselves however, how were these same fruiting plants and leafy crops able
to survive to adulthood, bear fruit and procreate successfully for the
thousands of years before pesticides were invented? Surely, there must have
been some form of governance in the natural world to ensure a balance.
As usual, we humans have upset
this balance. We have destroyed pristine forest, scrubland, almost every
habitat on the planet – for two of the most basic human necessities, shelter
and food. In doing so, we have severely cut into the intricate web of life that
exists harmoniously in nature.
So what really happens when we
spray our gardens with pesticides? For starters, even though one would spray a
pesticide to get rid of a pesky caterpillar that’s making holes in your
tomatoes, the caterpillars don’t go down alone. Predators like spiders and
crickets that feed on insect larvae and eggs also die off eventually. The
problem here is that typically, predators take longer to re-populate an area as
the base levels of the food chain need to be solid enough to support them.
Consequently, fast-breeding insects like flies and shield bugs are the first to
take advantage of the small scale post-apocalyptic setting. Without predators
of eggs and larvae, these supposed pests tend to overtake the landscape,
superficially justifying the need for another application of pesticides.
The effects of the poison are
not swift by any means, sometimes it can take many hours for even small
invertebrates to die, during which time some may become disoriented and behave
unnaturally, becoming easier prey for insectivorous birds and mammals.
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| Birds such as this Grey Kingbird that feed primarily on insects are some of the most at-risk species for "accidental" poisoning. |
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| Broad-winged Hawks are one of the few species of raptor found on Tobago, and like any apex predator are subject to the effects of bio-accumulation. Lizards and small mammals that feed on poisoned insects pass the poison up the food chain when they are consumed by birds of prey |
Birds especially are at risk
from the effects of pesticide use after eating infected victims such as
grasshoppers and earthworms, even if the dose of poison is not immediately
lethal. These sub-lethal doses can cause anything from muscle paralysis to
general lethargy. This in turn reduces their reaction time, reduces their
ability to catch and dispatch prey effectively consigning them to a slow
descent into starvation. In fact, a 2014 study determined that pesticide use in
agricultural areas on average claims the lives of up to 10 birds per hectare
each year.
Naturally, the ideal situation
would be to have no pests and no need for pesticides at all. Unfortunately in
most urban, suburban and agricultural areas, the natural balance is not even a
ghost of what it once was and it may even seem necessary to reach for the spray
can. But hold on, let’s look at a few natural, long-term options.
Monoculture or the practice of
using a piece of land to yield a single crop is a human invention, and fundamentally
flawed and in opposition to the natural order of things. Mixed cropping will
restore some semblance of balance to the soil and the immediate environment.
Each plant would contribute and require different nutrients and minerals from
the soil, pests cannot properly adapt to the myriad of different plants and
therefore cannot establish themselves in epidemic proportions as they would in
a monoculture setting. Crops like beans grow well with a number of other crops
such as cucumber, corn and eggplant. The practice of complementary planting is
part of the philosophy called permaculture.
Biological control is the goal
for long-term, self-sufficient mitigation of the effects of pests. Each animal
that is classed as a pest is prey for another animal, so we must strive to
provide homes for the predators. Ladybird beetles feed on aphids and the
dreaded mealy bug. Wasps, spiders, frogs and lizards feed on insects and therefore,
they are all friends of the gardener.
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| Cane Toads never pass up an opportunity for a meal, and feed on a variety of insects and insect larvae that are considered pests. |
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| Frogs like this Charlotteville Litter Frog feed on slugs and small insects and are a very useful method of biological control - these die off when pesticide is sprayed. |
Should desperation set in, at
the very least let us try to stick with all-natural deterrents such as onion,
garlic, pepper, marigold, wood ash and even milk. These non-toxic alternatives
can be applied as powder or diluted into a spray and scattered with the same
level of convenience as the chemical pesticides we have come to believe in. The
difference here is that non-toxic pest deterrents don’t wipe out songbirds or
frogs or bees and certainly don’t leave a massive weight on the conscience.
What’s a little hole in the cucumber from your own garden?
References
Ministry of Food Production
(2012): Management of Pests & Diseases
– A Home Gardener’s Manual
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