Over time, more and more homeowners and gardeners have been calling for eco-friendly plant healthcare treatments. We hear you, and we’re on board with protecting the planet while protecting your trees! It’s important to us to minimize the impact of our work and contribute to healthy ecosystems.
Let’s talk a little more about how Vista Tree incorporates environmentally friendly practices in our tree, shrub and plant treatments.
Saving the Bees
If you’ve heard anything about eco-friendly gardening, you’ve probably heard how bees are important. Bees contribute to the environment by pollinating all sorts of plants, from flowers to agricultural crops. They also support the growth of other trees and plants, which provides homes for other insects and animals.
To protect bees, Vista Tree avoids spraying chemicals during the flowering season for plants. Spraying during flowering means bees can pick up chemicals from flowers, either killing the bees or spreading chemicals to other plants nearby. Not all chemicals are toxic to bees. At Vista, we always use the least toxic chemical needed for the job.
We limit our use of harsher chemicals to outside these times, focusing on spring and fall for many pest treatments. Your trees and plants aren’t as important as a food source for bees during these months.
Conscious Plant Spraying
Pesticides can easily become airbound, especially in certain weather conditions. Ontario regulates spraying during windy and rainy conditions. This weather can cause pesticides to drift through the air and onto other plants and wildlife habitats. Vista carefully monitors weather conditions when spraying to avoid pesticide drift. If the weather is wrong for spraying, we’ll reschedule your job.
Avoiding drift benefits other neighbouring plants (or your own neighbours’ yards) that may not need treatment. It also helps protect other vulnerable animal species around. This includes frogs, fish in ponds, and other aquatic animals. They can be especially vulnerable because of their porous skin.
Birds are also at risk, as they perch on many plants and travel over longer distances. When we avoid spraying in wind or rain, it helps limit the pesticide to the plant we’re treating.
Biological Pest Control: What Is It?
Pesticides aren’t the only tool we have to treat plant problems! There are lots of low-intervention methods we use, including treating or adjusting soil, pruning, and using safer products. Plants don’t always need harsh pesticides: some issues can be treated using products that are safe for household usage, like borax, sulphur and soap.
Biological pest control is an important part of what’s called integrated plant healthcare in the arboriculture industry. That’s a fancy way of saying we look at the whole ecosystem and make adjustments to treat plant problems. Biological pest control means managing pests with other beneficial insects.
Many pests we commonly treat, like boxwood moth and LDD moth (gypsy moth), are invasive species. Insects used for pest control are native species that fit into the local ecosystem. These include predator mites, used to treat cedar and spruce mites. Ladybugs are used for aphid management on trees and in flower and vegetable gardens. Lacewings can treat spider mites, aphids, psyllids (plant lice), caterpillars and other insects.
Using beneficial insects is an important part of Vista Tree’s plant healthcare program! It’s an eco friendly garden practice that keeps your garden healthy and can benefit other plants in your yard, not only the ones most affected by pests.
Why Choose Eco-Friendly Plant Healthcare
We all have growing awareness of what we can do to help the environment, from driving more efficient vehicles to banning plastics. With Canada’s bans on cosmetic pesticide application, the days of toxic lawn sprays and ‘do not walk here’ signs are past. Today, you need a license pesticide technician in Ontario to apply many pesticide treatments.
When you work with us, you can rest assured we have appropriate training for any chemicals we use and will be following best practices. That includes application and disposal, meaning we won’t be pouring extra chemicals into your yard or drains and containers will be disposed of safely.
We will work with you to find the lowest-intervention method to treat your plant issue and ensure your other plants and family members, pets, and resident wildlife are cared for in the process.
Contact Vista Tree today for a consultation and we’ll help you find a solution for your plant problem!
