Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 15, 1990< TAG: 9104050104
SECTION: LAWN & GARDEN PAGE: 2 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: Charles Stebbins / correspondent
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It is a continuation of a trend that began in the 1960s with a rising concern for the environment and human health.
It is a return to the ways of their grandparents, who mostly used elements of nature to control nature in the home garden and farm field.
People of times past used nature's way because that was most available, but people today are wing it because many of them believe the wide range of chemical pesticides and fertilizers are being overused.
Whatever the reason, there seems to be a brisk demand for natural, or organic, pesticides and fertilizers for the home garden.
One of the best indicators is the rapid growth of the Necessary Trading Co. of New Castle. This company is one of the country's leading exponents of organic gardening and farming.
Bill Wolf, the owner and president, said his volume has been increasing 30 percent annually for the last 10 years. It is now at 50 percent, he said.
To keep up with demand, he said, the company has had to double its office space in the past year. His staff also has doubled.
Necessary Trading is a full-line supplier of natural, or organic, pesticides, fertilizers and ingredients for improving the soil.
It manufactures about 12 natural products and distributes about 200 others through its store in New Castle, by mail order and through authorized distributors. It also sells wholesale to other suppliers, Wolf said.
The use of natural ingredients is recommended by many experts in the field.
Lowell Gobble, Virginia Tech Extension agent in Roanoke County said many people with small gardens can get by with little or no chemical spray. "Many homeowners can garden successfully with a minimum use of chemical pesticides," he said, adding that the extension service encourages that.
And Gobble has a method of his own that gardeners can try. In simple terms, "feed the scourge."
"If six tomato plants will supply my needs, then plant eight," he said.
In effect that lets the insects have two plants, leaving the other six for the gardener.
Shelley Kapitan, an extension service horticulturist in Gobble's office, said there are a lot more products available now for non-chemical gardening. Most people use an integrated approach, she said - mostly organic, but with some chemicals for tough insect and disease control. Area stores report high interest.
Eileen Houston, an area supervisor for garden supplies for Hechinger, said requests for natural-type pesticides and fertilizers is high.
"We're having more demand this year," she said.
Houston attributed this to a greater awareness in the environment.
"People are becoming more intelligent about environmental concerns," she said.
Hechinger, she said, carries a full line of natural gardening products, including two of the big trade names in the field, Safer and Ringer.
Kent Agnew, one of the owners of Agnew Seed Co. in Roanoke's City Market area, agreed. He said the demand for non-chemical products through his store is "fairly large."
"There is a substantial number of people who ask for that type of product," he said.
Agnew carries a large line of non-chemical products.
People of former times used natural methods mostly through the trial-and-error method. But today organic gardening has the refinement of scientific research.
Not only has modern science defined the capabilities of various methods, it also has created some.
The line of Safer organic products is a soap mixture called insecticidal soap. It is made with fatty acids from plant and animal sources.
The products destroy insects' membranes but have little effect on beneficial insects or the environment. It claims to be harmless to humans.
A Safer mixture for general use costs about $6 for an 8-ounce bottle up to between $35 and $40 for one gallon. It is mixed with water so an 8-ounce bottle can be stretched into four gallons of spray.
by CNB