Bad air between neighbors

Question: How dangerous is the vapor from a neighbor's insect-control system that discharges a fog or mist three times a day on the south border of my yard?

The prevailing wind in my area is from the south, thus blowing the full effect of the pesticide vapors across my lot.

We have been trying to be organic for the past several years and thought we were on the way, but this has us very upset.

The chemical is pyrethrin, and it looks like a gas.

Any ideas on how to deal with this would be appreciated.

T.W., Dallas#

Answer: Natural pyrethrin is an organic pesticide, but it's quite toxic and hard on people with allergies. It is very toxic when sprayed on a continuing basis. If the mix contains PBO (piperonyl butoxide), *it is even more toxic and dangerous.

Besides the toxicity aspect to humans and pets, this type of mist spraying will kill all the beneficial insects in the garden. I would give the neighbor a very short time to shut it down.

Question: Recently, a 100-year-old red oak at our house was struck by lightning. It is now putting out green leaves, but the bark of the tree is split from top to bottom.

Will the tree survive? Can you tell me what to do?

K.T., Alabama#

Question: Last year, we bought five live oaks from a man who was selling trees throughout our neighborhood. Since they were so big, we had him plant them. Our concern is that he left the wire around the root balls when he planted these trees, and we are worried that the wire eventually will harm them.

Is it necessary to remove this wire? And, if so, how do we go about it?

We also purchased two Afghan pines from this man. They were beautiful when they were planted, but now they seem to slowly be turning brown. What can we do to bring them back from misery?

G.R., Dallas#

Answer: First, stop buying trees from door-to-door salesmen.

Wire around the ball is usually much less of a problem than the burlap left on top of the ball and synthetic ropes and bindings. Both of these can cause long-term problems.

Remove the soil from the top of the root ball and cut the burlap off, and the wire, too.

The most serious problem for Afghan pines, which usually are sold as Eldarica pines, is too much water.

These are desert trees and, although they grow very well for the first eight to 10 years, moist soil in residential gardens and commercial landscapes starts to take its toll as the trees mature.

Sounds like your trees may have been planted too low or in a poorly drained area, both of which will speed the drowning process.

Question: We have not gone totally organic due to a serious allergic reaction to fire ants. However, we have tried almost everything known to mankind.

Fire ants are stealing one of my greatest joys - to be free to work in our flower garden and care for the landscape.

We're also having a serious problem with whiteflies.

J.G. Dallas

Answer: One of the main reasons I do not recommend toxic synthetic products is that they don't work. That's why we still have so many fire ants, and, if anything, they are getting worse. Organic methods are the only way to really control these imported pests.

There have been no fire ants at our residence for more than 10 years, and that's no accident. Control is a three-step process, not the often quoted two-step approach. First, drench the problem mounds with a mixture of compost tea, orange oil and molasses. Use equal amounts of each product to make the concentrate, and then use 4 to 6 ounces per gallon of water to make the drench. Commercial products are available for those who don't like to make home brews. Garden-Ville Anti Fuego and GreenSense Soil Drench are two examples.

Next, apply beneficial nematodes to problem areas as the budget allows. These organisms also will control termites, grub worms, fleas, thrips and other soil-dwelling pests. Finally, go organic. Fire ants don't like the competition that comes along with healthy soil and strong biological activity. Fire ants don't like microbes, they don't like other insects, and they don't like other ants.

I've had little problem with whiteflies since going organic. Spray weekly with compost tea or Garrett Juice with 2 ounces of orange oil or d-limonene added to each gallon.