I agree that the fight against the chemical/drug giants is a very worthwhile one. The injection that could save eyesight is being pushed by the makers at £1000 a go, while they downplay their own alternative at £79!! Thus the NHS cannot afford to save people’s eyesight. So we are paying an inclusive-of-treatment fee of £450 a go privately. The White House, yesterday, was ordering us to have the NHS use US drugs.
To continue this rational discussion:
1. Most of us DO care for life around us. Most particularly about the health of our families. But I would rather use my own discretion in treating the food I grow than buy market produce heavily doctored chemicals.
2. To do this successfully, having tried Nature’s Own Treatment, I have found it necessary to start the year with a clean greenhouse. The treatment is contained therein & is no threat to the neighbourhood.
3. Unfortunately, I am not a good enough Christian to ban the killing of all pests – ants in the store cupboard, silver fish in the linen cupboard, flies in the larder, cockroaches in the kitchen (if we had them!), caterpillars on the Brassica (finger & thumb). I take great care in the use of slug bait (under cover) & I do not use yellow ‘Trappits’ which catch more hoverflies than whiteflies. Finger & thumb again on Peppers etc. I do use predators for RSM – difficult to see, let alone squidge - & let them do Nature’s work. I would love to leave it all to Ladybirds, but last year we only saw about half a dozen in the whole garden. And that’s not because we spray open crops – our only treatment being Bordeaux on Potatoes, which is a service to our neighbours as well as to ourselves!.
4. Sulphur? Don’t let the word scare you. It’s very useful on plant wounds against Botrytis - &, in passing, it has wide use in medicine.
Just one person’s view on life.