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Herbicides are currently the most popular solution in the battle .... Custom Search 
Commercial
herbicides
are currently the most popular solution in the battle of curbing the growth of unwanted foliage, in fact millions of pounds are used by agribusiness and our government on an annual basis; but unfortunately, this practice has created a problem which is becoming out of control.
Just because herbicides are designed to kill plants;, that, however; does not prevent them from killing living creatures, and especially birds. Because of their toxicity, these chemical formulas have a profound effect regarding the alteration of the habitat in which the birds live, feed, and reproduce. Plants form the foundation of the food chain, and are essential for the survival of every animal in that food chain. Animals and plants have co-evolved to rely upon each other in our natural ecosystems. Birds depend on plants as the basis of their food supply and the removal of a plant species directly reduces that supply. Herbicides also kill plants that the insects rely upon which in turn, reduces the available food supply for the insect eating birds. When these poisons are transported from the applications site to rivers and streams through runoff and evaporation, aquatic life is altered, affecting birds such as waders, shorebirds and fish eating raptors. Plants also provide shelter and nesting areas for birds as well as contribute to the make up of a habitat by affecting the temperature, humidity and rainfall over a geographic area which will affect all animal life even humans. The home gardener it will probably not use enough herbicides to create this problem, but on an accumulative basis, their usage adds up to a very serious condition. Fortunately there are other general methods of controlling weeds that are available to the home gardener.
This method involves removing the weeds while they are small and preventing them from producing mature seeds. It consists of plowing, rototilling, hoeing and hand pulling. These methods give immediate results and require little if any specialized equipment, but the main disadvantage is that it works only on growing weeds and may need to be repeated quite often
This method includes mulching, solarization, and multiple or wide roll planting. Organic mulches reduce weed growth, retain soil moisture and influence the soil temperature. The use of clear plastic sheeting captures the radiant energy the sun, thereby raising the soil temperature to levels lethal to many weed seeds. The plastic sheeting is placed over bare moist soil during the summer fallow period. Anchor the plastic sheeting by placing soil along the outer edge. The top layer of the plastic should be kept clean to maximize solarization efficiency. An occasional dusting or rinsing with a garden hose should be all that is necessary
As mentioned above, chemical weed control should be used only when absolutely necessary. In addition to the above minuses, not following instructions accurately or not cleaning your spray equipment after each usage may result in harm to the applicator, the environment, or the crop. . The bottom line is; do not use these chemicals indiscriminately because they are a poison and have a rather long life in our soil and our bodies.
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