Pesticides have been irking the earth’s residents for thousands of years. But before we dive into it…what is classified as a pesticide?

***Warning You may learn something***

A pesticide is a substance or mixture of substances used for preventing, controlling, or lessening the damage caused by a pest. A pesticide may be a chemical substance, biological agent (such as a virus or bacteria), antimicrobial, disinfectant or device used against any pest.

Pests include insects, plant pathogens, weeds, birds, mammals, fish, nematodes and microbes that compete with humans for food, destroy property, spread or are a vector for disease or cause a nuisance.

Many pesticides are poisonous to humans.

Well it is not like we don’t know that already…I mean come on. By the 15th century, toxic chemicals such as arsenic, mercury and lead were being applied to crops to kill pests. Who would have known? It wasn’t long after that people started getting mercury poisoning, cancer and brain damage from these chemicals. Well, maybe we should try something different. Scientists over the years have tried and tested everything from, nicotine sulfate that was extracted from tobacco leaves to more natural pesticides derived from tropical plants.

In 1939, a gentlemen by the name of Paul Müller discovered that DDT was a very effective insecticide. It quickly became the most widely-used pesticide in the world. After that brilliant discovery synthetic pesticides became more common.

In the 1960s, it was discovered that DDT was preventing many fish-eating birds from reproducing, which was a serious threat to biodiversity. DDT is now banned in at least 86 countries, but it is still used in some developing nations to prevent malaria and other tropical diseases by killing mosquitoes and other disease-carrying insects.

Not much has changed since then besides the fact that more and more pesticides have been approved and banned. How good can something be if you have to wear a full protective suit and a respirator to mix and apply?

How about these facts:

They say that some synthetic pesticides can stay in the soil for up to 7 years. Chemicals that are no longer used but which are resistant to breakdown for long periods may remain in soil and water and thus in food.

Some pesticides come in granular form, and birds and other wildlife may eat the granules, mistaking them for grains of food. A few granules of a pesticide is enough to kill a small bird.

Pesticide surface runoff into rivers and streams can be highly lethal to aquatic life, sometimes killing all the fish in a particular stream. Application of herbicides to bodies of water can cause fish kills when the dead plants rot and use up the water’s oxygen, suffocating the fish.

Did you know that pesticides have been found in store bought orange juice. Many food crops, including fruits and vegetables, contain pesticide residues after being washed or peeled.

Major cities all across Canada and the United States and across the pond in Europe are recognizing that things need to change. Full blown pesticide bans have been put into place and bi-laws have been passed to make it illegal to apply said pesticides.

Round up for the longest time was my best friend…but as of late I have found other alternatives such as horticulture vinegar and a propane torch. Heck what happened to manual control?

Now I know that we are all concerned and that we have been concerned for a long time. And I know that some of this information you already know. But perhaps you will be able to perceive it differently from this rambling.

Can you image going to the grocery store and seeing “Do not eat” on all of the apples?

From The Lawn Blog my name is Richard Murphy.

Pretty much everything that shows up in your life is a direct result of those “beliefs” and “agreements” you are programmed with all your life. “no one ever got rich working 35-40 hours a week”, “money doesn’t grow on trees”, “you’ve got to watch every penny”, “employees will take advantage of you if you don’t watch them”, “you can’t make money doing x, y or z”, “you’ve got to be RIGHT THERE watching your business or all hell will break loose!”. I simply decided (often unconsciously) what things were going to be like and never gave it a second thought. I didn’t know what I was doing when I did that, but looking back, I realize that’s exactly how it worked. Now I’m living a great life, making all the money I need, looking for ways to make more and doing my fair share of charity work and donating to my favorite causes. Our family donates 10% of it’s income, roughly, to our church, daughter’s school and a local hospice cause - www.hvwa.org. In addition, we volunteer uncounted hours for those causes.

Now, I get up around 4:30 am, check email, take care of any web related work I need to do, meditate, head upstairs and spend a few minutes with my family, meet my employee when he arrives around 7 and take off and do estimates and landscape work from around 730-12. Then I usually take an hour nap, do some reading, and go to work on my computer for a while, doing investment and business research, writing letters or journaling. I play with my little girl and have dinner with her and my wonderful wife, Debbie. Then around 630-7, the little one is off to bed and my Deb I have some down time watching mindless television and talking with each other. Some weekends we sit in our living room and watch movies all day, other times we spend it with extended family or traveling … And I haven’t worked a weekend in 5 years.

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Jeremy Mushero
JM and Sons Lawn Specialists”

“Hi Ken,
I really liked your book. I think it hit home and the more others know about it the more they will read it.

Steve”

“Awesome book for beginner, Highly recommended and VERY reputable and Honest

Jim”

“Start your own amazingly profitable lawn care business” is the title of the book and it is one of The Lawn Blogs must reads. There are a lot of books on this topic out there but only a few can capture its reader. This book when you start to read it you want to finish it…you are able to take something with you, and apply it to your business. Great job Ken! We look forward to any future works.

Starting and Running a fun, profitable
lawncare and landscape business
Make $60-$80 per man hour doing what you love

Right now I am offering HALF OFF either the ebook or the ebook and accompanying program. Go to www.lawnguru.net and choose your option from the menu on the left (after reviewing the site of course!) - then use THIS coupon code on checkout:
C7815

Cheers and send me your questions at ken@lawnguru.net

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He wrote the book “How to start a lawn care business a whole new way.”

Some of the topics I want to cover with him:

Talking about his experiences of getting started and what happened when he bought too much new equipment.
The pitfalls of buying too much new too soon.
How ego effects business decisions.
Then we will talk about what marketing ideas worked and what didn’t.
When and how you should integrate your first employee into your business.
And this will be a fantastic topic Finance, Debt and Growth - “The 50/50 Rule and stay in the black with the 20% Rule!”

If you have other questions you would be interested in asking him, either make a post of it or call in that night.

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