New Here! and a Question

sugarsunshine · #1 05/21/12, 12:51 PM

Hi we are new here! My husband and I live in the suburbs in Florida, but we are quickly outgrowing our small yard due to a very delightful gardening habit.

We are under contract to buy 10 acres of property. Our plans are to have a small organic garden. Nearby, or about several hundred yards away is a fernery. We are very concerned about pesticides invading our space from the fernery, as we are downhill. Does anyone here have experience with growing organic food while protecting it from neighbors pesticides? Any questions we should ask them, like when they spray, what type of pesticide, etc.

Has anyone grown organic food and had it tested and found pesticides from other nearby gardens/farms? Eventually we’d like to sell our organic food, and of course our family will be eating the food as well so we want it to be as safe as possible.

We plan to keep bees as well, and of course that is added concern.

The ferns are kept under black screen like tarps and there are a lot of trees surrounding the fernery between the properties. Also, there are a lot of cows on another adjacent property.

Alice In TX/MO · #2 05/21/12, 12:57 PM

I don't think ferns require a lot of herbicides or pesticides. Also with them screening the plants, they may be organic also! Make a field trip and talk to them about horticulture.

sugarsunshine · #3 05/21/12, 01:07 PM

hi Alice,

Yes, we plan on meeting them before closing. There are signs posted that say "warning, pesticides"

FreeRanger · #4 05/21/12, 02:22 PM

I wouldn't worry. These days most people using pesticides try to use as little as possible by only applying as needed and in the area needed. Money is a factor.

Also you should look into what it takes to be "organic" on your place. I think (haven't looked into it in a long time) that you need to maintain a 25 foot buffer, on YOUR side. That's what we do even thou we aren't certified organic.

Welcome to HT, where you will get many answers and some of them might be true! LOL!

PS, please add your state to your profile, you will get better answers, especially when it comes to farming.

oregon woodsmok · #5 05/21/12, 03:27 PM

I wouldn't worry about it.

The warning signs are probably more to keep the thieves and sightseers out, but go and talk to them. Sprays are much too expensive to douse the neighbor's place, so it is unlikely that they will spray your property.

rockhound · #6 05/21/12, 04:02 PM

The obvious solution is just NOT buying that property and look for one where such possible problems like overspray wouldn't exist. That is gonna be tricky to find unless it's on top of a mountain somewhere. I agree with the other posters, farm chemicals are way too expensive to waste. After you talk to the fernery you can still research chems used on ferns, it won't hurt to know all you can. I hope you can work it out so you have your garden space and not worry about it. Good luck !

MO_cows · #7 05/21/12, 04:29 PM

It sounds like you are concerned with runoff from rain, since you are "downhill" from the commercial grower? If so, it should be so diluted from the rainwater as to be negligible. Also if there is a planted "buffer zone" between your garden area and their property, anything that does run off should be soaked up. Like the buffer zones along riparian areas.

sugarsunshine · #8 05/22/12, 08:08 AM

Thanks Everyone!

geo in mi · #9 05/22/12, 08:28 AM

Welcome to the forum. The National Organic Program rules allow you to sell up to $5000 worth of products as 'organic' without going through the formal certification process. However, you must comply with all the rules of the NOP. In order for you to go USDA ORGANIC you must go through a certifying agent, and one of the rules involved is that you (and the agent), the organic producer will have to provide the plan of buffers and diversions to keep stray, or banned substances out of your operation from neighboring non-organic sources.

So, depending on the scope of your plans, you should decide if if you can actually create those buffers and runoff diversions beforehand.

For a complete look at the NOP rules: Electronic Code of Federal Regulations:

Hope this will help.

geo

ronbre · #10 05/22/12, 09:04 AM

I would put up some barrier plants (read about them in Gaia's garden by Toby Hemenway, avail at most libraries, 2nd edition)..I do that to prevent Juglone from our walnuts and also to prevent noise and pollution from the road.

IN GROUND barrier plants that are quite useful are Jerusalem Artichokes..plant them on the property line or if the property line is on the NORTH go in a bit so you can put some evergreens behind them ..JA's grow 8 to 10 feet tall and will make a nearly imprenetable hedge, and they will stop a lot of surface runoff..the evergreens will stop higher up spray (but may die if there are herbicides sprayed on them)..

inside the line of evergreens plant some evergreen fungii, (see fungi perfecti), to suck up toxins..but DO NOT EAT THEM...as they will hold the toxins in them.

then inside the line of JA's put something with a long taproot that will suck up any remaining toxins that might seep in..that should give you a barrier and a nice privacy fence, hedgerow and will provide nesting sites for critters.