This page will tell you about:

• Plants & landscapes that reduce water & pests
• Strategies for bees, invasive plants, plant diseases or weeds
• How to hire landscapers
• Sample safer pest control programs for landscapes

For info on the following, visit this page:

• Hazards of pesticides
• Safely manage any pest in your City property (per ordinance), or other building or landscape, or hire contractors
• Pesticide Complaints, Licensing, Permits, Pesticide-Related Illnesses, Insect trap services
• How to Submit County Pesticide Application Reports
• Get invited to events on safer pest control

Strategies For Landscapes

 Safe and effective pest management is more than a matter of choosing the right pesticide product. In fact, choosing a pesticide (insecticide, fungicide, rodenticide or herbicide) should be the last step in the process. Many products on the market have serious toxicity risks to humans, pets, and water quality. For this reason, the use of pesticides (insecticides, fungicides, rodenticides and herbicides) should be reserved only for the most challenging situations.   Key concepts to remember are:

1. Use Bay Friendly Landscaping Guidelines and Bay-Friendly Maintenance Specifications, which:

• Are suited to our local climate, soils and topography
• Reduce waste & help meet recycling goals
• Reduce water use on landscapes by 50% or more
• Prevent or reduce storm water pollution to our local creeks and bay
• Lower maintenance associated with mowing and shearing
• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions

1. Design landscapes to prevent pests: The proper use of mulches, cardboard weed barriers, mowing strips and borders can significantly reduce weed populations and herbicide use.  Summary of SFE Workshop at the Bay Friendly Conference (2008).
2. Choose the right plant for your location: It can save money, energy, and time and result in healthier plants, less weed competition, water use and maintenance (fertilizer, pest control).  Native plant species in the SFPUC Vegetatation Palette can also reduce fire hazard & support native wildlife.
3. Grow healthy plants & soils: Plants can tolerate more insect damage than many people realize.  Vigorous plants can compensate for the damage, making pesticides unnecessary.
4. Manage pests that are already there: Complete elimination of pests from an entire area is rarely if ever possible, even with pesticides.  Forget about control, and think about management. That means asking how much pest damage is acceptable.
5. Use pesticides only as a last resort. There are many non-chemical pest control methods available, including weed flamers, steam or hydraulic weeders, goats, mowing, hand removal of slugs and snails, water or soap sprays, release of beneficial insects or nematodes, and microbial pesticides.  Make sure you’ve exhausted all other options before resorting to chemical products – then, use least toxic controls possible.  One place to start is by choosing products with the lowest toxicity rating (Tier III) in San Francisco’s pesticide screenings.
6. Try the pocket-sized University of CA Landscape Pest ID cards with photos of pests & safer pest control tips.

How to Manage Bees, Invasive Plants, Plant Diseases, Weeds

Bees

One of three mouthfuls of food and beverage require pollinators (e.g., bees, butterflies) to produce seeds. Without pollinators, there would be no apples, pumpkins, blueberries or many other fruits and vegetables.  Help bees thrive:

• Instead of destroying bee nests, call SFBee.org at (415) 641-7457 to give bees a new home.
• Avoid pesticides.
• Plant native grasses and flowers (SFPUC Vegetatation Palette).
• Leave some dead trees standing and some bare, untilled ground, along with grassy margins for bees to nest in.

Invasive Plants

• Report invasive plants to the Bay Area Early Detection Network, so they can be dealt with before growing into costly environmental threats.

• Invasive Plants- Protecting Wildlands & Role of Herbicides, Doug Johnson, SF Urban IPM Conference Presentation (2009)

Plant diseases

• Plant Diseases & Role of Mineral Nutrition, Int’l IPM Symposium Presentation Summary (2009)

Weeds

• Costs of Weed Control Treatments & Volunteer Labor in Portland IPM Program, Int’l IPM Symposium Presentation Summary (2009)
• English Daisy Removal Field Trials at Presidio Golf Course, SF IPM TAC Meeting Presentation (2008)
• Sheet Mulch, Geoff Hall, Sentient Landscape, Inc., SF Urban IPM Conference Presentation (2009)
  • Creating Living Soils with a Non-chemical
  • Alternative to Pre-emergent Herbicides
  • How-to’s, Costs
  • Weed Reduction Using Ground Coverings, SF IPM Program

How to Hire Landscapers

For some pest problems, the most environmentally friendly and effective solution is to hire a qualified professional. The challenge is to find a professional who truly follows a preventive, least-toxic IPM approach. For landscaping, it is usually reasonable to expect NO use of pesticides ("pesticides" means insecticides, herbicides, rodenticides and any other chemicals used to control unwanted organisms). The most challenging situations for eliminating landscape pesticides are large-scale renovations, golf courses, and certain perennial invasive species infestations.

Below are some tips to help find the best-qualified landscape pest control contractor.

Sustainable Landscapers that practice IPM (certified)

• Bay-Friendly Qualified IPM Professionals for Landscapes (SF Bay Area)

Companies that practice IPM (self-reported, not certified)

• Beyond Pesticides Safety Source for Pest Management- Directory of IPM Professionals

Ask the Right Questions:

• Can the company guarantee that no pesticides will be used?
• Does the company seek to minimize weed problems at the landscape design stage, by choosing appropriate plants, mulches and barriers?
• If they want to apply a pesticide (insecticide, fungicide, or herbicide) can they explain their reasons in an understandable way?
• If they have to use pesticides, how do they select least toxic products?
• Do they use regular chemical treatments to prevent problems or treat only when weed, disease or insect threshold levels are exceeded?
• Do they assess underlying conditions that may cause the pest problems?
• Can they explain what will happen if the pesticide is not applied?

Sample Safer Pest Control Programs for Landscapes

• Thurston County, WA, IPM Program- Prior to using chemical controls for pest control, county departments must write a prescription.  Then, the Board of Health approves or rejects the prescription.