Over the fence

Is it feasible to ban pesticides in commercial growing’?

- Andy Houghton,Niamh Jones

Andy Houghton is a professional grower for a large bedding plant nursery situated in the Midlands

Gardeners at home will always encounter pests and disease of some sort or another on the plants they choose to grow. Traditionally, chemical control such as the use of pesticides has been the first line of defence, but as attitudes have changed, so has the choice of control methods.

The newer options for controlling pesticide have sometimes proven better, but also sometimes worse, as commercial growers have discovered in recent years. While in my own garden at home I prefer to keep chemical use of pesticides to a minimum, at the present there just aren't good enough alternatives to pesticides suitable for large plant nurseries.