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Mosquito spraying after Hurricane Harvey
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Author:  Dabbler [ Thu Sep 21, 2017 9:27 am ]
Post subject:  Mosquito spraying after Hurricane Harvey

I missed any news announcements that our neighborhood was to be sprayed with the Dibrom administered by Pentagon plane (?!?!) last evening 9-20-17. I had covered plantings that attract masses of bees days ago when I DID HEAR that spraying would begin in west Houston, and I thought our zip code (near Barker Reservoir) had already been sprayed. Last night there were still numerous walkers and dogs outside about 8 o'clock when what looked like a low-flying jet whizzed down a major street in our subdivision flying east to west just above rooftops emitting trails of spray. I observed this while walking south to north about a football field's distance away from the sighted spray plane. A friend and I turned to walk the opposite direction and decided to knock on a neighbor's door to borrow towels to cover our noses before continuing to our houses. We were inside that neighbor's house about 10 minutes and just as we started to open the glass storm door to step back outside, I saw a horizontal row of five bright headlights really low in the (west) sky speeding directly towards us on a return fly-over. Fortunately, we barely dodged a direct spraying. My angst is about the limited news coverage about the spraying schedule. There appears to have been only one initial announcement listing zip codes, but with no pinpointed spraying schedule. (Oh, the Director of Houston Health Department's Mosquito and Vector Control -- Dr. Mustapha Debboun -- had said days earlier on KHOU-TV's news show that the spray has been used for over 25 years "and it has not hurt anybody." He casually said beekeepers had been forewarned to cover their hives and that people should just stay inside during evening hours -- but how many evenings?

My question to you: I have a newly planted vegetable bed of organic transplants of kale, collards, parsley, etc -- and lingering crops of okra and cucumbers that were exposed to the wafting chemical. (Thankfully, our neighborhood did not get any of the polluted flood waters.) Will successive drenchings of Garrett Juice and/or liquid seaweed "detox" my new vegetable plants, or should I pull them up and start over? I had not mulched yet, so my organically enriched soil got some of the drift, too. What, if anything, should organic gardeners do for our ornamental plantings?

Author:  northwesterner [ Thu Sep 21, 2017 3:06 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Mosquito spraying after Hurricane Harvey

Call Howard on Sunday and ask him this question. I could give you an educated guess here and you and a couple of other people will read it. This question needs to be asked on the air and let him tell lots of people what they can do about the spraying and the conditions in general as he understands them.

Good luck.

Author:  Dabbler [ Sun Sep 24, 2017 7:47 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Mosquito spraying after Hurricane Harvey

I missed church this morning to tune-in to the on-line show (Howard's show is not broadcast on a Houston radio station, unfortunately), but was unsuccessful in receiving the signal.
I went ahead and called the number posted on this website to ask questions during the show (1-866-444-3478). The recorded message said I had reached the Research Center and said to leave a message for a call back.

I do hope you, or someone else, asked the question of how to treat Houston soils contaminated by flood waters AND
edible plants sprayed with Naled, though not flooded. I hope to find today's broadcast in the podcast archives.

Author:  northwesterner [ Sun Sep 24, 2017 9:27 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Mosquito spraying after Hurricane Harvey

You can stream the program live with the phone app. They have been talking about mosquito spraying this morning, though I've been in and out of the house myself and haven't heard all of the remarks. The number you have is the one that works during the live radio program. The rest of the time it's a business number.

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