Let's clarify a little. Are you saying you won't use any pesticide, including those considered organic? In that case "pesticide free gardening"? I always considered organic to be the whole package, no chemical fertilizer, no lingering pesticides, no herbicides. But there are "organic" pesticides, like Bt, which I am comfortable with. Some, like pyrethrin, maybe not.

Rotenone was once promoted by the organic movement as a safe insecticide. Then it was discovered that it can cause Parkinson's.

People, smart are not, are always going to make persuasive arguments that support their continued reliance on whatever methods work for them because they've decided to use those methods and to not open their minds to other methods. I try not to get hung up on semantics. There are some organic or natural things I won't use, and some synthetic ones I will use.

Maybe the phrasing you're searching for could be Earth-Friendly, Earth-Kind, Ecologically-Friendly, Nature-Friendly, Nature-Kind, Low-Spray, Pollinator-friendly, etc. None of those implicitly say they are solely organic, and leave the exact nature of the group/its methods open to interpretation.

I refer to the way I garden as mostly organic or sustainable, but I'm not 100% organic and never will be. However, I don't like spraying anything at all in my garden, organic or synthetic in nature, so I bet I don't spray anything in my garden more than once or twice a year. When I do spray, I try to directly spray the specific pest where I see it on a specific plant....and I don't spray every plant....just the plant or plants where I am seeing pests that cannot be controlled any other way and which do massive damage. If I have to use an organic pesticide, I prefer a formulation that is granular so that the pest has to actually ingest it in order for the pesticide to kill them. That way I'm not randomly killing all sorts of beneficial insects when what I'm trying to target is one particular pest. I prefer to use other methods that don't involve spraying anything because I don't want to eat veggies, herbs or fruits that have been sprayed, and I don't want any sort of spray on my flowers that will negatively impact the pollinators, butterflies and birds. I mostly use beneficial insects for pest control and some hand-picking and either crushing or drowning of the pests, or I just ignore their damage. Some people spray constantly. I just can't do that because, whether the spray is organic or synthetic in nature, it still affects parts of the ecosystem beyond the pest being targeted.

Some organic products that were believed safe in the 1960s, 70s, 80s and beyond now are being linked to some health issues, as Dorothy noted, which reinforces my belief that organics are not automatically safer than synthetics.

Dawn, I love to read your replies. They are always highly organized and clear - an indication that you have given considerable thought to how you garden.

Yesterday I attended our rose society meeting, and realized that so many other feel as I do that a separate group would be redundant, and serve little purpose. I need to bring up my specific questions to the group as a whole, and possibly encourage others to think or act as I do.

Thanks again,

Sammy

Gardening Naturally

Sustainable and natural.