What is the answer?

[macgardener]

Neighbour sprayed simazine along boundary while I was working in the garden, didn't even have the courtesy to call out over the fence to see if anybody was there first. Now that she knows about my "problem" she will let me know in future.
These days I usually try not to get into conversations with people unless I already know they are intelligent and open-minded enough to bother with. Too disheartening otherwise. I'm sorry but I wasn't blessed with the sort of charismatic personality that people are influenced by and I have enough problems in my life without going looking for more battles to fight. But since the issue came and hit me in the face I felt compelled to speak up.
When I tried to carefully suggest the wider issues of chemical use she responded with the usual "I have the right to do what I want on my property, I'm not fussy about things like that, we all have to die of something sometime, you can't spend your life worrying about things like that..."
Has anybody ever thought of something effective to say to such people?

[spadlet]

Something I read the other day reminded me of this thread. Does your neighbour like any animals/widllife?

[macgardener]

Oh yes, she likes animals. Her dogs were standing right next to her as she was spraying.

[spadlet]

Do you know much about the ecology of the area you live in? I'm at a loss when it comes to Australia, other than there's Eucalyptus forests that require natural forest fires to regenerate. So I'll suggest the principles of my idea and if you think it's worth considering you can let me know if you know/can get hold of the information. Or maybe someone else on the forum will have some expertise.

First of all, find out what is likely to naturally colonise her lawn without the spraying. Then find out what animals it would attract. It might also be worth seeing if there are any plants that attract particular birds/animals she may like that would be happy in the conditions, even if they wouldn't colonise naturally (natural colonisers would be best though).

Then wait for opportunity. A few ideas might be if her dog likes chasing birds (so she might like to get more birds in her garden to give the dog some excercise or something) or if you can find out if she is particularly fond of any of the plants/creatures that might naturally colonise her garden.

As soon as you can find a hint of an oportunity, either plant some things to attract said creatures to your garden (then hopefully show her how they like your garden and if she shows an interest you can explain why they like your garden and how easy it would be for her to make an equally attractive area for them in her garden, maybe along your boundary ) or you could get her a plant or two as a present and show her some pictures or somehting of the nice little creatures they could attract if she decides to give them a chance.

But don't mention the spraying. Just try to get her interested in the alternatives, if and when opportunities arrise. Hopefully she'll change her mind about putting the effort into spraying when she could have a more interesting garden than an expanse of lawn or she might at least consider shrinking the lawn a bit.

That's my only idea at the moment anyhow.

[forfismum]

Or you could get hold of some seeds of Field Bindweed [Convolvulus arvensis ]and blow them over the fence into the thicko's garden . Or we could send you a baby mole to pop over the fence ?

[macgardener]

Thanks Spadlet. I understand what you're suggesting and in the right circumstances it would be a good idea. But my neighbour was spraying the paving. I asked her if she'd heard of the weeding wands that brush or wipe the weedicide directly onto the weeds and she declared that they don't work. We saw someone using one in a park in Tasmania which we thought was a more responsible way to do it considering there were members of the public strolling around the area. Presumably they don't do it just for show, it must have some effect on the weeds. But of course it takes more time and precision than spraying the once a year stuff.
Anyway, back to my neighbour. She has dogs from the dog shelter, she has replaced her front lawn with garden beds, she has installed a water tank, I imagine she thinks of herself as quite caring and responsible. But when it comes to a choice between extra work or availing herself of a legal widely-used quick and easy product, I guess it's easier to write me off as an over-worrying greenie nutcase. I don't think pesticide use is an issue that the majority of people round here are ready to embrace just yet.
Forfismum, please don't encourage wicked thoughts!

[Cricket Tragic]

MacG, we had this discussion on another thread and it looks much like it was about a similar event. Then I suggested you should talk to your neighbour about your concerns. You need to make sure you are not antagonistic, people don't like being shouted at. Try to look at the issue from their side before you start. Identify why they are applying this herbicide and exactly what your concerns should be.

Simzine doesn't move in the soil like atrazine does, so your side is unlikely to be affected except through spray drift. In most states in Australia it is illegal to allow spray drift, so if this is the problem focus on that instead of their use of herbicides. Suggest they use a lower pressure or coarser nozzle to minimize spray drift. You might also let them know that coarse droplets will make simazine work better than fine droplets.

They are quite correct about wipers and simazine-based products. These do not work all that well with wipers. You would use a wiper with glyphosate. Your observation of wiper use in a park would almost certainly be glyphosate, as parks tend to be very wary of using soil active herbicides on the somewhat erroneous view that soil active herbicides always kill trees.

[S]

macg, im like you, these days i dont bother talking to people til i can work out their level of consciousness...i see what they eat and drink generally and make some logical assumptions some people are as useless as tits on a bull and all this love thy neighbour crap.......
time for a story?
our neighbour. a ghastly human specimen. also known as 'big fat troll'. she cleared 2x 100 year old healthy native trees illegally. ripped up her entire garden. concreted most of the property. sprayed roundup everywhere most especially near our vege patch on the boundary. thats just a small part of neighbourly discontent. i wont go into it, but all i will say is..my husband found a new late night urination spot and our dogs crap on her front lawn regularly.

we call it .. balance.

[forfismum]

S You could also take up playing Bass guitar very loudly

[macgardener]

Cricket Tragic, I'm not sure what you mean about simazine and wipers. My understanding is simazine is a once-a-year product that you apply over the whole surface, therefore logically you would spray, and glyphosate is a product to be applied to the weeds as they come up, so wiping/brushing would be as good if not better than spraying. They are two different approaches to weed control, one being nuke the area and forget about it and the other involving targeting each weed with the least amount of the safest chemical. I think my neighbour's response has more to do with her attitude than any technical questions about whether simazine works in a wiper.
Bottom line for me though is why didn't she check if anybody was nearby before spraying poison. I was sitting in my own garden minding my own business when I smelled POISON. Currently in this jurisdiction she is allowed to make that choice for her herself, but she shouldn't make it for ME. A simple considerate "hello, anybody there" would have saved me much anguish. Btw I didn't shout at her. Under the circumstances I managed to stay reasonably calm, and then came inside and had a long water-wasting shower while bawling my eyes out. If people don't like "being shouted at" I can tell you people don't like getting caught in spraydrift either! I don't understand why people on the receiving end of thoughtlessness are made to feel like they have to work so hard to see the other point of view and be nice and conciliatory. I wonder if a bit more OY WOTCHIT! might do the world some good?
S, I'm so sorry you have such a horrible neighbour. Glad you have managed to achieve some . . . balance. I hope the "big fat troll" finds an expanse of concrete more to her liking elsewhere and somebody nice moves in to replace her.