Avoid This All-Too-Common Garden Disaster

The phone calls come in every year and they break our hearts . . .

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An eager gardener – novice or seasoned – has accidentally used a sprayer, one that was previously filled with herbicides, on their beautiful garden or container plants. This year’s Spray-N-Grow Micronutrients or Bill’s Perfect Fertilizer gets mixed with last year’s herbicide residue and the results are disastrous.

 

Use Different Sprayers for Different Applications

Before this happens at your house, take this simple step to avoid the situation. Buy several sprayers, each dedicated to a different use. (Discounts are available on multiples of some models for this very reason.)

Label each unit with the type of liquid it will contain; “Spray-N-Grow”, “Pesticide”, “Herbicide”, “Fertilizer”, etc. Use a permanent marker to write on the tanks or affix a piece of water-proof tape with the information. Then reach for the unit that matches your intended use with confidence.

 

Don’t Let This Happen to You

Before you assume that this mix-up could never happen to you, think about how busy things get during the height of gardening season.  Soil preparation, planting, trimming, fertilizing and more. Whew!

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Considering the repercussions should this slip-up occur, horticultural experts view this approach as practical garden insurance. And we all know that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.