"Martin" wrote ...

"Bob Hobden" wrote:

"Peter James" wrote ...

Once again I've embarked on the gardening "obstacle course" of
attempting to grow carrots.

Why is it that the professionals are allowed to use a chemical that
obviously deters carrot fly when the amateur is not?

Growing carrots has become a nightmare of obstacles, fleeces, fine
meshed nets and raised beds.

Here in Cornwall it is impossible to grow them without heavy protection
and it's got to the point where it's costing a small fortune in
materials just to grow a couple of rows, when chemical protection is
available but forbidden to us.

I used to use a dry powder that smelt of mothballs and was sprinkled in
the row, and that worked quite well. So well that the E.E.C. banned it.
Now that figures!


I don't think the EU banned it I think it is so expensive to test these
products these days that testing for amateur use is not cost effective so
if
it's not tested it cannot be sold. That is why us amateurs have lost so
many
chemicals and seem, on occasion, to be fighting a losing battle.

but products used in agriculture are tested too.

I know but the professionals normally use a different concentration and
method of spraying to that we would be able to buy and use and amateurs are
just that. To be allowed to go on sale they have to be tested fully for
every use.

Many years ago a friend started to import a product from the US that was
pure chilli powder for mixing with bird seed to stop squirrels eating the
seed (birds cant taste it animals can). The powers that be contacted him
rather officiously and said it had to either be tested fully at £50,000 plus
(then) or he had to stop selling it, as he didn't expect to sell more then a
few hundred pounds worth a year he had to take it off the market. Chilli
powder just like we use in the kitchen!
--
Regards. Bob Hobden.
Posted to this Newsgroup from the W of London, UK