Jerry Coleby-Williams, ABC Gardening Australia presenter and organic gardening expert, talks to Jo Immig about why we need to stop using hazardous pesticides in our gardens and opt for safer solutions to solve pest problems while being kind to the environment and our health.

A champion of organic gardening methods, Jerry Coleby-Williams has been a long-term advocate for getting rid of hazardous pesticides in gardens by going back to basics, working with nature, nourishing the soil and using simple organic remedies.

Jerry hopes the Safer Solutions project will help home gardeners build the self-confidence necessary to maintain safe and healthy ornamental and productive gardens, minus the hazardous pesticides. “It’s all about taking small, meaningful steps that will give results,” he says.

Jerry honed his gardening skills in high profile places like the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (UK) and the Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney where he was responsible for establishing an organic management programme. More recently he’s been working closer to home, transforming a classic Aussie back lawn in suburban Brisbane into an organic oasis providing much of his family’s food needs.

Why we need to get off the pesticide treadmill in the garden

Whether it’s the convenience, slick advertising or lack of time and know-how, the fact is a lot of hazardous pesticides get used in home gardens. Some are ending up in our waterways and are a problem to remove. Wildlife like Tawny Frogmouths and lizards often get killed because they’ve been inadvertently exposed to garden pesticides. The impact on soil organisms can also be devastating.

Jerry has a sobering message for us all, “You and I are part of a gigantic experiment with all living creatures. The consequences of industrial chemical use, like pesticides, on human, animal and environmental health are poorly understood. Yet evidence continues to mount that even limited exposure to residues from pesticides registered for use and applied at legally permitted rates can have harmful effects”.

Tens of thousands of chemicals get used daily in a variety of products, including pesticides, yet few have ever been comprehensively tested for their long-term impacts to people and nature. In the home and garden, it’s children who are at greatest risk because pesticide exposures can affect early childhood development, with life-long consequences.

Start by nourishing and aerating the soil

The foundation for all healthy plants is a healthy soil, brimming with beneficial organisms says Jerry. “Gardeners wanting to eliminate pesticides from the garden must first start with nourishing the soil. This takes patience but the reward is avoiding half of the common gardening problems.”

If soils lack vital minerals and microorganisms, are too acidic or alkaline, then the plant will be behind the eight ball from the start. It’s not unlike our own bodies, we need to eat well and nourish ourselves to give us the best chance of warding off disease and illness.  (For more detail, see Creating Healthy Soil)

We may also need to change our gardening habits. Lawn is a classic example according to Jerry.  Most lawn weeds succeed where soil is compacted and lawns have become thin from mowing too low.  Poor drainage, lack of food and acidity will also encourage them.

“One way to overcome compaction and improve drainage is to aerate the soil using a fork or mechanical aerator.  Applying a balanced organic lawn fertiliser, adding lime to counteract acidity and mowing lawns higher creates healthy, vigorous turf that can smother lawn weeds.” {mospagebreak title=page 2&heading=page 1}

Choose the right plants

Putting the ‘right plant in the right place’ is a common gardening mantra. Jerry recommends, “Growing plants suited to your region, soil type and micro-climates in your garden” as a basic guide to choosing the best plants.

In the changing climatic conditions and tough Australian environment, choosing water-wise plants is also important. All plants need good aftercare if they are to thrive, he says.

Aim is to substitute hazardous pesticides with organic remedies

By ditching hazardous pesticides, Jerry says it will prevent pests building up resistance to pesticides (a common problem with regular pesticide use), and will also stop lingering pesticides from building up in our bodies and environment where they can do damage further down the track.

Jerry gives the example of the commonly used garden pesticide dimethoate, used to spray plants to control sap-sucking and chewing insects.  “Dimethoate is a persistent organophosphate pesticide that works by attacking the nervous system of insects.  Plants sprayed with dimethoate become poisonous to pests. Natural pest predators like ladybirds, feeding on contaminated pests can also be killed. Survivors can accumulate and pass this poison on to their offspring”.

“Even small traces of dimethoate in treated food plants can still may affect our health, especially children. We’re all different and some are far more sensitive than others” he says.

Instead, Jerry recommends substituting with white oil, an organic-approved product which works by blocking the insect’s breathing pores and suffocating it, but with the added benefit that it doesn’t hang around. “Because of the way it works pests will never develop resistance like they do with systemic pesticides. Plants and crops do not become toxic so there’s no possibility for contamination of people, natural pest predators or the environment."

”Another case in point according to Jerry is glyphosate, the active in well-known products like Roundup, which is perhaps the most widely used systemic herbicide in Australian gardens. “People have been sold the idea that glyphosate is ‘safer than table salt’, but its overuse is resulting in resistant weeds and there’s been significant problems with the wetting agent used in some formulations which was shown to kill fish and tadpoles”, he says.

New concerns are emerging about glyphosate products and their potential to cause endocrine (hormonal) disruption to mammals. Some studies suggest that exposure may also be linked with increased risk of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. In the garden it can harm beneficial soil fungi and bacteria, increasing the severity of some plant diseases. (For a summary of research with links see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyphosate)

As an effective organic substitute for annual and perennial weeds Jerry suggests the contact herbicide, Interceptor derived from extracts of pine oil. “It’s most effective when ambient temperatures exceed 21degrees. The herbicide works by stripping the protective waxy cuticle from leaf surfaces, causing desiccation. Weekly spraying exhausts even hard to kill weeds, like nutgrass”.

With global warming a reality we must all accept and adapt to, a significant personal contribution we can make is to reduce our reliance on petrochemical based pesticides. There is good research to show that organic gardening methods ‘lock up’ more carbon in soils. “By making our own green remedies we also avoid the added emissions from the manufacture and transport of pesticide products around the globe. Gardening with nature encourages self-reliance  and is ultimately the most sustainable way to garden”, Jerry concluded.