CHINCH BUG VIII: PHOTOGRAPHS

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Control of Chinch Bug Without Pesticides
and Other Ecological Lawncare Practices

VIII. PHOTOGRAPHS

1. Chinch & No Chinch in '03

2. Weeds and No Weeds in 2007

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A healthy lawn is resistant
to chinch bug

1. Chinch and No Chinch in HRM in 2003

Click on individual images at right to see larger versions OR select All Images/Large Versions (300 kb) on one page.

Photographs at right were taken on Aug. 29 in a neighborhood where more than 50% of properties had significant chinch bug damage.

The level of damage illustrated in the photos was common in newer developments where closely mowed turfs lay over thin, sandy, low organic matter soils in highly exposed situations.

What was more notable than the damage, however, was the presence of entirely undamaged lawns in the midst of the damaged lawns.

One might speculate that pesticides were used on the undamaged lawns, and not on the damaged lawns. However, the juxtaposition of lawns heavily damaged by chinch bug (treated or not treated with pesticides) and completely undamaged lawns (not treated with pesticide) is a well known phenomenon; ^[L1] it shows very clearly that a healthy lawn is resistant to chinch bug.

Pooh on Lawns
"What is a healthy lawn"? asked Piglet.

"A healthy lawn is one that is resistant to pests and diseases," replied Pooh.

"What makes a lawn healthy?" asked Piglet.

"Now, that's the interesting question," said Pooh.

Chinch

No Chinch

Photographs by David Patriquin

2. Weeds and No Weeds (2007)

Pooh on Weeds

"What do you make of it?" Piglet asked Pooh.

"I don't want to talk about it" said Pooh.

Piglet persisted. "Do you think it could be Weed 'n Feed"?

"Of course not", said Pooh, "we have a Pesticide By-law", and he continued to mow his lawn.

& a physician's perspective:

May 15, 2010
The Guelph Mercury

Dandelions are not a threat

In the aftermath of the province's ban on cosmetic pesticide some are making it sound as if dandelions are some sort of catastrophe. Let's get a little perspective here. We're talking about small edible plants that harm neither people nor animals.

Unlike the pesticides that were once used across Ontario, dandelions do not increase our risk of cancer, birth defects, or neurological illness. Let's be clear on what actually threatens us.

Gideon Forman, executive director, Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, Toronto

A visit to this same neighborhood and several others on 14 August 2007, four years after the visit above and into the 5th year of full implementation of the Pesticide By-law, revealed marked differences again. This time, however, it was not differences in chinch bug damage that stood out*, but differences in levels of broadleaf plants ("weeds"). Shown below are several examples of adjacent residences or residences directly accross the street from each other, one with very high levels of broadleaf plants and the other with none. There were also some fine examples of clover lawns and varied landscapes such as those well illustrated in the EAC's Sustainable Properties Showcase.

* There was little evidence of chinch damage anywhere, perhaps because of the well distributed precipitation and overall wet summer this year, but there may be more involved - see Update: Use of Pyrethrins and Neem Oil to Control Chinch Bug.

Click on images for larger versions

Example 1 On opoosite sides of the road.

Example 2 On opposite sides of the road.

Example 3 The verge is the grass strip between the sidewalk and the street.

Example 4 Two sides of a property line.

Example 5 A beautifully textured clover lawn.

Site posted 5 Apr. 2004
This page posted 7 Apr. 2004
Page modified 16 May 2010.