Keeping my plants alive when neighbors spray herbicides/pesticides on their lawn

When you live in a rural area, neighbors are likely to spray herbicides and pesticides to preserve their manicured lawns. But this can damage and kill garden vegetables, plants and flowers (not to mention what it does to your body and the environment) so I'm trying to come with a solution to stop or reduce pesticide drift onto my plants.

[georgiacinq-mars]

One of the sweetest and saddest things I have ever seen is how sad my husband was after a neighbor sprayed for carpenter bees and we had several species of bees dying in our garden. He looked so helpless, not knowing how to help the dying bees.

[RubberTrampsReviews]

It may be a choice for them to spray but it is my choice to have my property free from pesticides. If they cannot control the drift and keep it ALL on their property than they no longer have that right.

[lucainthedale]

I applaud your perseverance Esther! I'm glad your neighbors are sympathic too. If the plastic doesn't fare well, clear shower curtain liners from the dollar store might work and be a bit thicker possibly.

[SuperBrowndog]

It's too bad you have to go through all of that trouble. My renter neighbors gardner has sprayed my palm tree 2 times already, almost killing it. They over spray onto my property. I have brought it to the attention of the gardener, but now I think they've hired a new gardener. I live in an association and they don't allow a barrier like the one you've put up. I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to report someone, even though I don't want to do it.

[ChristopherPisz]

I offered to hand weed my neighbor's entire property if they wouldn't spray. They told me that they were going to spray whenever they wanted. So, they sprayed in 20mph win at shoulder level and completely covered my entire property with it. I tried to put a tarp up and inhaled so much it made me nauseous. For the last 5 days people in the neighbor hood are spraying every afternoon. I can't even work in my own property. It's so horrible. They all wonder why their cats and dogs keep dying from cancer, after they spray their lawns with toxic chemicals. The worst part is, they kill all the life in the soil, and then wonder why they have weeds next year. Meanwhile, I fed my soil instead of killing it and get next to no weeds. I've never sprayed my lawn since the house was built.

People have sued for drift. I've thought about it. Then I'll just be public enemy number 1, though.

Instead, I am thinking about going door to door and just offering to weed all different people's property in the neighborhood for free with the "I can use the plant material to feed my tomatoes" and leave it at that. Maybe make friends that way. If they feel like asking what in the world I do with weeds, I'll explain to them how I rot them in buckets, and weeds are full of minerals that I can use as fertilizer, and how weeds come to fix the soil, etc. then maybe word of mouth will spread with some education. I dunno though. They'll all probably all think I am more crazy than they already do. It's as ingrained in our society as the "Fats are bad for you" vs "sugar" myth, all thanks to industry.

So, far I got 50% of my neighbors to accept. The others are still completely unreasonable, saying I should spray my veggies cause they are gonna bring weeds and bugs...

[tinymompj]

THANKS TONS for posting this! DISMAYED to find that we moved to a house where elderly neighbors SPRAY SPRAY SPRAY their lawn and the drift makes it so I can't go outside for most of the day after the spray. We put up a greenhouse but cannot prevent drift. So wondering HOW to grow in my yard without killing my plants or self with unwanted chemicals.

[clubdesalud]

Look into planting a hedge. A hedge allows for the wind to move through and the leaves do the filtering. Bamboo is good and grows fast

[shirleylindsey]

My neighbor sprays weed killer over 6 ft wood fence and has killed my daylillies and zinnias 2 years in a row.

[glg]

Good Luck, sorry you have to deal with that. Peace and Good Fortune and Good Health to you and your family.

[TheSubjectofPlants]

That sounds frustrating. We had major herbicide drift damage last year from the farm fields. Hope it doesn't happen again. Hope you plants stay safe!

[SH-jylc]

Omgosh! The herbicide spray drift across the street even?? I became a homeowner 1 year ago and i found out that people use such toxic chemical just to get rid of dandalions. I have garden beds 1 m away from the fence. The fence is junky with holes and openings. He told me he sprays 1 m away from the fence. I am still worried and im thinking about planting Caragana Peas shrub to both protect my garden and my soil from the exposure. I also wanted to use peas from that pea shrub as a chicken feed and their flowers as tea. Do you think it will be unsafe since he sprays so close to the fence? Thanks

[adriennesmith.artist]

Oh pesticides wouldn’t hurt your plants. Herbicide drift would likely hurt your plants. But it’s good to protect your plants from pesticides too! Because that will be helpful for the bees and other pollinators! :)

[sherimetschan]

Pretty isn't what counts! Protecting your plants is so do what you need to do. My offender is my HUSBAND who thinks chemicals are harmless and causes NO drift and completely ok once dry. He just sprayed Spectracide for clover in the backyard. I'm furious and heartbroken. Thinking of ways to protect my plants better in the future. I just covered with sheets as best as I could. Consolation? At least I'm growing my own produce and know exactly what is on my food? I buy as much organic as I can but even that I've read is still subject to pesticide drift. Yikes!!!

[Letslearn-iq]

Look up privacy fence screen on amazon. You could put that over the plastic to hide it. I’m not sure how well the privacy fence screen on its own would be to keep pesticides out.

[Eli-]

Pesticides won’t burn your leaves. What the lawn companies spray 9/10 times is urea fertilizer. Pretty much harmless to humans but will burn certain plants when applied when sunny or high temperatures

[clubdesalud]

Smh your neighbors are not only disrespectful but they are violating both natural law, common law and probably some statutes too

[rebeccazody]

Great preventative idea. your poor plants. And bees. Cicadas are dying anyway but I understand your kind heart.

[tbarc]

Precisely what i just told a neighbor...i count this action as disrespectful! He must be deaf because he has listened to me rant because another neighbor sprayed herbacide and my tomatoes caught the drift...i looked up and the guy was spraying in the alley...im like NO...and he acted as if i was disrespecting him! What is wrong with

[adriennesmith.artist]

An additional idea would be putting up shade cloth too! Overtop the plants.

[zulmamatos]

If your growing a garden and your neighbors are spraying pesticides on their lawn you might want to have a talk with them. Those pesticides will travel thru the root system underneath the soil and kill all your plants. You can sue them you know.
Without knowing where you live and the local laws…it is GENERALLY permissible to cut anything growing over your property line. Now, spraying the vegetation with something that will kill it on their side would not be. In fact, you could be criminally or civilly liable for the damages.