I'm just starting to calm a bit from being quite miffed when I got home. As we pull into the driveway hubby says why do we have a stake in the front yard? I'm like I dunno (we have construction going on next door, assumed it was from that) as I get out of the car I smell poison. I said man someone sure sprayed something. Then I see the stake he was asking about. Says Martinez Lawn Services, I'm thinking this is their way of advertising and I said no this isn't gonna fly, keep your dang stakes and signs out of my yard. Then I saw a bunch of stuff hanging on my door and one was from the same company, wanting $80 for Ant treatment (guaranteed for a whole damn year, so this crap sticks around) and weed spraying for 291 Blackhaw NOT my 291 Hawthorn They sprayed/treated the wrong damn house! I have worked hard trying to not use chemicals on this house for 3 years now and they ruin that in less than an hour. I also just saw a mason bee in my front flower bed which I have been trying to attract and ladybugs/larvae in the front yard. Now I am worried about them. I'm so miffed!
no it cant, he has told me what he used for the ant killer but still hasn't said what weed killer he used or if he used them in the front flower bed. Luckily the ant killer is an over priced flea killer so Im hoping its not gonna kill the lady bugs and bees.
Oh Misti, I am sooo sorry! I would be livid!
I can't believe they didn't check with someone at the house. I'm pretty sensitive to chemicals but there are some people who are so allergic that they could die from something like that. Very irresponsible!
I know, this could have been a lot worse for them that is for sure. It kills me though that I have worked so hard to keep Monsanto out of my lawn and guess what they sprayed it with Glyphosate
Plan A -
Don't bother talking to the man who did the spraying - he is the 'little guy' - have the lawyer talk to the owner of the company. It does not need to go to court; you can get a monetary settlement.
Plan B -
There is also a small chance that the man might be a scam artist. Some of them travel to different areas, do some small amount of work, then ask for payment. He only needed to spray enough stuff that the odor could be detected and then try to charge you for the entire job. Walk the neighborhood and see if there are any of his signs on other properties; if so, alert the police and the newspaper.
Yes Danita he sprayed the lawn with the Glyphosate. He didn't spray the front flower bed with it but he did use the over priced flea killer in it. So my Sage is useless to me this year. The Ant killer (flea killer) has a 1 year guarantee. It just kills me ugh. I'm so glad we had our back gate locked so my veggie gardens and fruits were safe. That might have done me in.
Greene I am considering a lawyer. I don't think it was a scam as he is not asking me to pay. He left the bill with his address (It's a home based business) and the address of the house he was supposed to spray. I didn't see a lot of other signs around. I have to find out now how long this crap is gonna be in my yard. I feel sick just thinking about it.
yea I guess I can't really do anything unless I can prove DAMAGES. Apparently weed killer and bug sprays are common enough its like I got a freebie rather than poisoned.
Misti, I feel so sorry about what happened.
I don't know the laws in the USA, but I hope you will be able to get compensation for what they did in your garden.
Jonna
Well, if he sprayed Glyphosate on your lawn then it should be brown and dead soon. That would be damages that even the ordinary, non-gardening person would consider unacceptable. Besides trespassing, he stole from you the environment which you have worked diligently for years to create. He endangered your health and took away your ability to use and enjoy your land as you wish. Saying that you got a "freebie" would be like saying that the people, who had their house robbed of its precious possessions by the burglar who then left behind "something" in their restroom, got a "freebie." (At least that perpetrator was caught and arrested from that dumb move.)
I think Greene is right that you need to contact an authority. Forcing them to be more accountable for their actions could help someone in the future. I mean, what if the next person they do this to is one of those people that are deathly allergic to their chemicals or have children, who play in the yard, that are?
Thank you all. Anyone have any knowledge on how long this will be in my soil?
oh goodness I hope the lawn doesn't turn brown and die. I had read where some said theirs did and others seem to use it all the time. One lady said they used True Green and that's what they used and after 7 years their lawn was dead. I have also read its a watered down Agent Orange
Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Roundup. It's a broad-spectrum systemic herbicide so kills everything including grass (well, except for "Roundup Ready" genetically-modified crops.) Are you sure he didn't say he used something else on the lawn?
I just read that Roundup/Glyphosate can be used on fully-dormant Bermuda grass in the winter. It must be completely dormant and brown with no speck of green or it will kill it (or severely injure it.) I can't imagine that your grass is still dormant at this time of year, though. Is it?
It may take a week or two to see the grass die after a Glyphosate application.
I agree. Get you an attorney. Also, go out now before rains come and go around your yard and take you some soil samples. Send them off to your Extension Agent and have them send it over to the soils lab. They may do it for free or charge you 20 bucks for the analysis.
You can also have the Extension people come out to check out your yard and such for free. That what the government pays them for. Call your local University and ask them for the numbers.
Go after them. You have too many years, too much money and too much love and caring that you have put into your place to just let them get away with it. There lots of lawyers who will work go after somebody and than take their cut out later.
Go take pics of your yard now too, before any chem damage may show up. Some of them chems work fast and like Danita said, some can take a bit of time.
I'd do like Poison said too and call the papers and call the BBB too.
If nothing else, you can take to small claims court yourself. Get your pics, make sure you don't lose the paper he put on your door and figure out what it may cost you to replace any plants, plus yard, plus worry and cost of loss of beneficials.
Also call your nearest University and talk to a Soils professor. They can help with telling you more about the chem and how long it may or may not stay around. They also might have some suggestions too.
nope Danita, it is already growing and greening up. We have already mowed it a couple times now. I will grab a pic or two in the am and call the University to see what they can tell me/suggest. Then I may call an attorney. yea what he used is called Foresters Non selective herbicide and it has:
Misti, I wish I had thought of this earlier, but you may want to hose off the leaves of anything that may have been sprayed asap. Even plants that weren't directly sprayed but had herbicide drift onto them in the wind can be damaged so you may want to hose those leaves off too. (I've heard tomatoes are really sensitive to it.) It might be too late but it could be the difference between partial and total death. Again, I'm so sorry about this situation.
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(At least that perpetrator was caught and arrested from that dumb move.)
