Not So Simply ‘Natural’

Several weeks ago I read a news article about how the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, or DEP, had conducted some preliminary testing of two herbicides in conjunction with the State Department of Transportation.You see, the DEP owns lots and lots of land upstate around the city’s water supply reservoirs. A number of state roads traverse these areas of the Catskills, and for decades chemical herbicides have been used to control vegetation along these highways. The DEP has been looking for a more environmentally sensitive way to control weeds in the proximity of the reservoirs, and I assume they’d like to get away from products like or similar to glyphosate (Roundup) and 2-4-D.

The article went on to tell how two “natural” herbicides had been tested along these highways by the Department of Transportation, or DOT. One was Burnout 2, which is an organic combination of clove oil, citric acid and mineral oil, and the other is called Finale, whose active ingredient is Glufosinate-ammonium. Delving a bit further, we find that the active ingredient is an ammonium salt that happens to be a broad-spectrum, systemic herbicide produced by soil bacteria. So, it’s considered “natural.”

The research done by the DOT and DEP showed that the Burnout 2 controlled only 5 percent of the weeds, while the Finale controlled more than 95 percent of the weeds, and for a long time. So is this “natural” herbicide persistent in the soil, and does this add to its effectiveness?

I began to look around for this natural product Finale, and I couldn’t find it at any local garden centers—and that got me really, really curious. I went online to get a copy of the Finale label to see what else I could find out, and there, under “Directions for Use,” it says, “Not for use in Nassau and Suffolk counties.”

Hmmm? They can use this upstate near drinking water reservoirs, but you can’t use it on Long Island. OK, well, we have sandy soils and maybe it leaches through our soils and down into the water table faster than in upstate soils. But it’s natural, how can it be so potentially harmful that it can’t be used on Long Island?

I’m afraid that while we’ve all been getting on the natural and organic bandwagon we’ve lost some of our perspective. Neither of these terms means the related products are innately safe and can be used without respect and some knowledge of their modes of action as well as how they can still affect us and our environment.

This goes for fertilizers as well as garden chemicals. Fertilizers, either chemical or organic, can still pollute our bays, streams, and wells. This is especially true in sandy soils, where organic matter is not as common as in “heavier” soils, where organic fertilizers can become bound to organic material and are somewhat less likely to leach down into the water table.

There’s an outstanding plant that many of us grow in our gardens called Ricinus communis. While not hardy up here, it can still grow 6 to 10 feet tall in our gardens in one summer and has large red to green leaves with striking red seed pods. Inside these pods are small, bean-like seeds that we know as castor beans from which castor oil is made.

Obviously the plant is natural, and it can certainly be grown organically. But any wise gardener and parent knows that these beans are very poisonous, and I remember my father telling me to never, ever go near this plant. And when the beans are dried and ground, the resulting powder is a powerful poison that has a long and storied history steeped in politics and espionage. This powder, ricin, is said to be one of the most poisonous naturally occurring substances known, and only 1 milligram can kill an adult human. But it’s natural and organic.

There is a colorless, odorless crystalline material found in a number of plants, including jicama, goat’s rue and Verbascum, and it was discovered to be a very effective insecticide. It was isolated in the late 19th century and became known as rotenone. It’s non-selective and thus effective on a broad range of insects from caterpillars to beetles. Under warm conditions it breaks down very quickly, leaving behind very little residue. Yup, it’s organic and it’s natural and very effective in small quantities, and a light dusting on plant foliage would protect them for days.

Well then, why don’t we use it? We used to. It was used to kill head lice on humans and mites on chickens and livestock as well as pets.

So, why don’t we use it anymore? A couple of reasons. Remember, it’s non-selective, meaning it kills all insects, both good ones and bad ones. That’s a trait in an insecticide that we try to avoid. But even more important, rotenone is highly toxic to fish. Even small amounts carried in the wind and landing on any body of water can be toxic to any fish. In fact, the primary use for rotenone these days is to kill invasive fish in bodies of water so that native species can be reintroduced.

Composting. What a great idea, and it’s become a way of life for many of us not just at home but as community efforts as well. Many of us have our bins and piles, and gone are the days of burning our fall leaves and sending our grass clippings to the landfill. Landscapers, landscape contractors and many villages and towns now bring their organic debris to commercial composting facilities, where this material is reprocessed back into humus and soils. But some recent testing by the county and state have shown that some of these commercial composting facilities are inadvertently polluting the groundwater below their facilities.

How can this happen? It’s all natural and organic, right? Well, those herbicides, fungicides and fertilizers that go into all those grass clippings that end up in these commercial compost facilities seem not to just disappear. They seem to be reappearing in the groundwater below.

I think the bottom line is simple. There’s no free ride. Put something in and chances are it’s just going to come out somewhere else. We need to be cognizant of what we use in our gardens and landscapes in relation to where they come from, what they do and where they end up.

It’s not as simple as labeling something natural or organic. It’s not simple at all. But if you leave a small footprint, the result can often be a small to negligible impact that won’t come back to haunt us. Give this some thought the next time you find it necessary to spray for insects, apply that weed killer and feed your lawn, garden and trees.

Maybe find a way to take care of your stuff while doing no harm? Keep growing.