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10 easy ways to get your neighbors really angry
Thursday, June 05, 2008
I frequently get calls about problems caused by a neighbor's actions. Here are my top 10 situations in no particular order. In many cases the actions were taken with no intent to damage a neighbor's property or environment.
• Spraying for weeds, insects or diseases on a windy day or a hot day (higher than 85 degrees), which allowed the spray material to drift onto a neighbor's property.
Extras
• Planting a tree on the property line not realizing that in a few years the tree will grow so that half of it will extend onto your neighbor's property. Once in a while neighbors will plant poisonous plants like Taxis.
• Attempting to kill weeds, shrubs, etc., on a property line with a product designed to be taken up by the roots of the plants. We sometimes forget that the roots of shrubs and trees growing on the neighbor's property extend underground over the property line. Likewise, spraying a wide area one foot on either side of a fence line with a nonselective weed killer for target plants can create problems.
• Establishing a compost pile on or near the property line and filling it with not only grass and leaf clippings, but meat and other table scraps, which draw rats.
• Keeping eight horses on three acres of pasture. This creates a mud lot and fly breeding area. Generally, each animal should have one and a half to two acres of pasture, assuming we feed hay in July and August and late fall and winter. This mud lot situation can be a source of nutrient-rich polluted water moving offsite into water ways and ponds resulting in algae blooms, fish kills, etc.
• Allowing your dogs to stray onto the neighbor's property.
• Permitting your children to ride their four-wheelers on a neighbor's property without permission.
• Building your horse barn along a property line across the fence from your neighbor's swimming pool or patio. The flies/odor may be a problem.
• Allowing your children to swim or fish in a neighbor's pond without their permission and unsupervised.
• Spreading manure from your livestock operation on your fields July 2-3 especially if your property is south or west of your neighbors. The smell may overshadow the smell of steaks being grilled over the barbecue on July 4.
Some of you can probably share other situations.
Hay and straw
We are constantly updating the hay and straw list found at greene.osu.edu. Click on agriculture and natural resources and scroll down to hay and straw list.
If you wish to update your listing or be added to the list, please contact our office and ask for Sue Stormont.
Preparing for bagworms
Over the next few weeks, our old friends, the bagworms, will begin to hatch.
The larvae normally spin down on strands of silk to be picked up by the wind and blown to new trees. Remember that bagworms infest dozens of plants.
Neonicotinoids are NOT the insecticides of choice. If you can spray entire trees, then any of the pyrethroids will work well. Spraying during the last two weeks of June will knock out the larvae before they cause any real damage.
If you wish to use a bio-based material, such as BT, I normally recommend two applications. Make the first application, and then a second application 10 days later.
Homeowners also can use products such as Bug-B-Gone Insect Killer, Bug-B-Gone Multi-Purpose, Malathion 50 or 57 liquid or Orthene L.4 percent liquid. Always follow label restrictions.
OSU organic guide online
Ohio State University's new Transition Guide to Certified Organic Crop Management ($15) can be bought online through Ohio State University Extension's new, secure eStore, estore.osu-extension.org/productdetails.cfm?PC=2120.
Published by the Organic Food and Farming Education and Research program, the book explains the rules and realities of switching to organic production. Grains, fruits and vegetables are the focus.
"It's the only manual of its kind in Ohio," said OFFER Coordinator Deb Stinner, "and there are very few like it anywhere else in the United States. It helps make the federal guidelines for organic crop production understandable and is filled with both practical and scientific information about things farmers can do to meet these guidelines."
Read an excerpt at www.ag.
ohio-state.edu/~news/story.php?id=4606.
Orders of 50 or more copies get a 10 percent discount.
Contact this columnist at (937) 372-9971 or (937) 427-2883, ext. 5052 or e-mail mahan.2@osu.edu. The OhioLine Web site is at ohioline.osu.edu.
