I am licensed to kill but am I right to do so?

Gardeners face many challenges.

High and low temperatures, soil and compost borne diseases . Drought, rain, wind, frost, birds, slugs, snails, burrowing mammals and of course insects.

There's nothing more soul destroying than seeing carefully nurtured plants or vegetables destroyed or set back because of something we cannot easily control.

I read with interest this morning how Monty Don is going against his BBC bosses by refusing to promote non-organic gardening.

After criticism from pesticide companies about how Monty advised his Gardeners' World viewers to deal with insects, the BBC has pledged that he will be more even-handed when giving advice on how to deal with insects.

Apparently Monty Don is not in a compromising mood.

The Telegraph quotes Monty: '"Those are not my views and I want to set the record straight." He added: "The BBC can issue any statement they like but I can assure you I will not be promoting or advocating any non-organic products."'

I guess either the BBC or Monty will have to back down or part company. Personally I don't think Monty Don should compromise his beliefs just for television.

There is nothing to stop the BBC overlaying alternative methods as text or adding further advice at the end of the programme without it having to come from Monty's lips.

Putting the BBC versus Monty spat to one side, I'm wondering where morals and beliefs should start and stop?

As a bird lover, for example, I'd be pretty annoyed if I saw someone needlessly kill a blue tit or blackbird.

Both of these aforementioned birds, as it is the case with most other bird species, are protected by law. A wood pigeon is a beautiful and graceful bird yet it's classified as vermin and may be shot all year round.

To a gardener or food producer a pigeon may become a pest or a source of irritation yet it is still an animal, just like a blue tit.

The same applies to garden insects. Many insects are beneficial and welcomed by gardeners. Ladybirds are attractive and considered a gardener's friend because they eat aphids such as greenfly.

It has always been a conundrum to me when I hear an organic gardener protesting at non-organic methods being used or how the planet is being abused because they disagree with others' product consumption, yet there appears to be no moral barrier for them when it comes to killing an insect (or other vermin?) in the name of gardening.

In the eyes of the law it is perfectly understandable to kill an insect that is notifiable but surely it doesn't make it right?

As a professional gardener I am licensed to apply pesticides and insecticides using a knapsack sprayer but even today I don't feel comfortable killing any insect regardless of the crimes they've committed against humanity.

Does the organic argument for protecting the environment fall down if advocates the killing of a living creature in the name of gardening?

Do you have a view?

Comments

[Pip Howard]

Very thought provoking. For me the hub is your statement "killing any insect regardless of the crimes they've committed against humanity." and is killing a wasp because it bothers you as acceptable as having to kill for example Asian Long Horned Beetle because it is not native and kills trees - of course it isn't. But leaving it up to self regulation clearly doesn't work - is this because of the widely recognised void the majority of humans have with nature?

As a soils person the use of any fungicide, pesticide or herbicide has consequences often beyond our knowledge and as such the handling of such products in the complacent manner we see nowadays is the biggest problem we have.

[plumbing]

Pesticides have the main role to keep our plants and vegetables from harmful insects. Some people don't want to use this because they want organic.

[John Walker]

"...the widely recognised void the majority of humans have with nature" sums the situation up nicely - and it's one the pesticide division of agribusiness exploits effectively, aided virtually unchallenged by the gardening media.

Going back to the storm in a media teacup around Monty Don standing his ground, when the BBC are prepared to lay out in detail the potential knock-on effects of using synthetic pesticides (whether it's the implications of the energy and resources required for their manufacture right through to their after-use effects on living ecosystems) then only then do we get close to being able to say that the viewer can make an 'informed choice'.

The problem with squishing lily beetles is it doesn't have any knock-on effects for the natural world, and involves no financial outlay on over-hyped pesticides sold in pretty containers and marketed using love hearts (i.e. it doesn't make money for anyone).

Gardeners are key players in rolling back the pesticide tide that's currently engulfing our gardening media - by simply finding ways toward better balanced gardening and leaving those pretty containers to fade on the garden centre shelf.

Finding out about gardening that's in balance with nature is a powerful first step toward filling the 'void'.

[Philip Voice]

Thanks for the comments.

Pip

"is killing a wasp because it bothers you as acceptable as having to kill for example Asian Long Horned Beetle because it is not native and kills trees - of course it isn't. But leaving it up to self regulation clearly doesn't work - is this because of the widely recognised void the majority of humans have with nature?"

It is a tough call. There's something inside me that says it's wrong for me to decide the fate of another species just because that species is killing my food or wood supplies.

But you are right, self-regulation doesn't work (not even humans can manage it properly).

John

you've kind of skipped answering the question.

I asked the question purely from the moral perspective. Surely every living creature is sacred and therefore killing one just because it is damaging my vegetable crop cannot be justified?

You've flipped my question into a political point.