Maybe Not So Green

**Jeff Ball j*@usol.com**

Suzie, you are one of my favorite people in the whole world, and yes  
you need to spread the word for your clients.  But for those of us on  
the street, that eco green is still more talk than do.  The Bonide  
Company is number two in sales of pesticides in this country and have  
way more organic products than the number one company - Ortho.   Yet  
last year, their total sales of organic products represented less  
than 5% of total sales.  People are still mostly buying the synthetic  
chemicals.  I personally do not believe that there is any increase in  
vegetable gardening, and certainly no increase in organic vegetable  
gardening.  The main reason is that organic vegetable gardening is  
hard and time consuming and now I can buy almost anything I can grow  
for a reasonable price at the organic grocery store.  I try to keep  
up with new product introductions in the pesticide industry.  In the  
past two years or three, there have been only a very few new  
introductions on the organic side.  On the synthetic side, the  
herbicides are more powerful and the insecticides are more broad  
spectrum.  The heavy hitters are what people are buying.  On the plus  
side, many of the new products are in fact less toxic to the  
environment than the predecessors.  It takes much less active  
ingredient per 1000 square feet to do the job.
When SUV sales start going down in a big way, when the MacMansions  
start getting smaller and more heat efficient, and alternative energy  
research starts to get the big bucks, I'll jump on the eco chic  
bandwagon.

Jeff Ball
jeffball@usol.com
810-724-8581
Check out my daily blog at www.gardeneryardener.blogspot.com
Check out my extensive web site at www.yardener.com

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