Date: Sun, 20 Jul 1997 13:41:42 -0400 (EDT) From: Derek Glidden <dglidden@illusionary.com> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg2709$foo@default> Subject: Malathion
I live in Hillsborough County, which is one of the counties around
West-Central Florida that the gov't, in it's infinite wisdom, has decided
to devastate with county-wide Malathion spraying because of the discovery
of a few Mediterranian Fruit Flies in a few groves. (Why don't they just
spray those and nearby groves? Why do they spray my neighborhood, which
isn't within 10 miles of a citrus tree? I won't try to guess.)
Anyway, gov't bashing aside, what possible threat is this to my plants? I
have just recently bought several Nepenthes, a couple of which are
outside, as well as a number of other species.
I've noticed brown spots on some of my other plants outside, which don't
look like bug problems, and look more like burns. When the Malathion
comes down from the planes and helicopters, it lands as little droplets
all over the place. (About 1 droplet per cm^2 on average, from looking at
my car after a spraying) I can't help but suspect that my plants are
being burned from those droplets of insecticide sitting on the leaves for
hours at a time before I can come home from work and hose them off or
before it rains. Unfortunately, inside my apartment isn't a good
environment for the plants, because I don't like it 90 degrees and 80%
humidity myself. :) I have a terrarium that the indoors plants stay in,
but it's not big enough for a couple of the biggest Nepenthes. I can't
figure out any way to cover the plants outside and still allow them to get
rain and sunshine.
Malathion has also recently been discovered in the tap water. I'm not
using it to water the plants (I buy distilled water for that) but if it's
in the water table, I'm sure it's going to get back into the system
somehow, and for the ones outside, it's probably being evaporated and
coming back down in the rainwater.
Also, obviously, most of the bugs in the area are either dead, or, for the
ones who aren't immediately killed by it, probably contain high
concentrations of Malathion. Is that going to harm the plants if/when
they get caught? Should I try to prevent them from feeding, and how well
will these plants survive without ANY insect food? (And on a similar
note, any suggestions to anything I can go *buy* for the terrarium
plants? I've read crickets, but having seen how disgusting crickets live
from also being a herp person, I'm a little leery of that idea.)
Any suggestions or advice? Maybe I can sue? :)
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Derek Glidden http://www.illusionary.com
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