spraying veg/fruit plants
Juniper81
Posts: 9
hello all,
can anyone tell me if it is safe to eat crops from plants that have been sprayed with insecticides, before the crops were produced please?
it isnt clear on the label...says harmfull to the environment, but does not state if harmfull to us...growing crops for the kids, please help 
0
Posts
I'm no expert and happy to be wrong but most of the stuff we buy in supermarkets is sprayed with insecticides before harvesting and arriving at our door.
What is the spray you are concerned about?
The fact that "most of the stuff we buy in supermarkets is sprayed with insecticides befosre harvesting and arriving at our door" is one of the reasons I prefer to eat what I've grown myself - then I know it's not been sprayed.
Sprays that are designed to be used on vegetables should have details on the pack of how long after spraying you should leave them before harvesting.
If you can't find it, try Googling the brand you used.
and think before you spray with anything that's harmful to the environment. You are part of the environment.
In the sticks near Peterborough
I agree with Nutcutlet; why would you even buy a chemical that is harmful to the environment? And what are you spraying against?
i have Roseclear... and i want to keep my pumpkins and tomatoes pest-free...i had some green aphids on the pumpkins, and have squished them between my fingers so far, was just curious if they could be sprayed.
I love the environment,and would not harm it if can be helped. i bought Roseclear as it was recommended to me by other gardening friends...
thank you for all your replies, they have been helpfull
to Dovefromabove,
how do you keep your crops pest-free? i would love to be able to do this without spraying
The biggest pest in my veg garden at the moment is our neighbour's cat whose digging is damaging my runner bean seedlings.
I can honestly say that we haven't had a problem with pests in this garden - we encourage wildlife and have lots of bluetits and hedgehogs visiting. If we get aphids on the roses I just brush them off with my fingers - that removes most of them but leaves some for the ladybirds and bluetits. In the past I've also sprayed with a solution of Ecover washing up liquid and water which seems to deter them, but I'm not fanatical about removing every one - unless we leave some food for the predators we'll lose them and then the aphids etc will take over!
I also don't use slug pellets - and we don't get much damage at all. We have big orange slugs and I leave them alone as they only eat rotting vegetation and smaller slugs. What with them, the birds and the hoggies we seem to have achieved a balance.
I collect snails wherever I see them and put them in plastic flowerpots placed on on their side in shady corners with a bit of lettuce or similar - the snails stay put for a while and the hedgehogs know where to find them
A member of my family is huge vegetable producer for the big supermarkets - even the most environmentally concious of them use pesticides unless they are Certified Organic as they cannot produce the quality the public has grown used to without. Supermarkets get complaints if a customer finds a caterpillar on a cabbage
whereas I would regard it as evidence that the cabbage hadn't been doused in pesticide 
I also try not to over-feed the plants - soft growth is so susceptible to pests and disease.
In my small garden I cannot be self sufficient, but I grow what I hope I can grow well without the use of pesticides.
I might try buying some ladybirds or ladybird larvae - just to see what happens
i am trying to acheive the same as you Dove, i sometimes find a frog in the garden but we never have hedgehogs dont know why