On Mon, 11 Apr 2005 12:52:34 +0000, escape wrote:

On Sun, 10 Apr 2005 22:10:34 -0700, Timothy
opined:


(...)

Like I've said before, I pretty much fully agree with you on the subject
but at the end of the day I -NeeD- to make a living. I would love to run
a fully organic service but it's just not possible at this point in time
in my area. The market demand is just not there but it's begining to
change. My business is 80% organic and I always offer an organic option
to the client. The clients' want (generaly) instant results which
organics just don't do (*generaly).

That's interesting, where do you live? We are very fortunate in Austin
because many of the arborist, landscape, and design businesses are organic
and they advertise and it can take a month for them to fit you in. I know
Austin is aka the granola of Texas, but organics work and Texas A&M
finally did some research into fertilizers and figured out the certified
organic fertilizer out performed all others...you have to convince people.

I live in Bellingham, wa. Lots of hippies running 'round here for sure.
Like I stated before, 80% of the work I do is organic. The real issue with
selling organic service is organics = labor costs. I have clients that are
willing to pay labor costs to have their beds weeded... then I have
clients arn't. I have a much easier time selling organic lawn services.
Many clients have no clue that I'm doing "organic" service on the lawn. I
just hand them a bill for the fertilizer... they pay it. They never seem
to take notice to what type of fertilizer was applied.


Personaly I feel that I've done quite a bit of research on herbicides and
I'm not the type to swallow what is feed to me readly. As soon as the
orgainc herbicides catch up to the chemical ones I'll make the change
completely. At this moment organic herbicides are only contact killers
and not very efficive. I do what I can to encourage clients to change
their planting habits and their mind set of what a sustainable landscape
design is.... but in the end the clients will what they will. Have a good
one...
Timothy


You may want to look into Finale. It's not a glyphosate, nor is it
organic, but it is AS systemic as glyphosate and it has not been proven to
cause cancer as glyphosate has. Glyphosate is also responsible for
killing frogs and other amphibians, some of which are almost extinct.


That is was what I recommended to the original poster. I've used Finale
for the last 5 years. I use 15 to 20 gallons a year of finale, mostly for
driveways and other utillity areas. I also use horticultural vinegar, but
it only works in temperatures above 72. Imho temperatures 75 and above are
needed and the sprayed area needs to be in the full sun. I took me a while
to get my supplier (whatcom county farmers co-op) to carry it. At 17.50 a
gallon (my cost), most people are a bit reserved about purchasing it as a
service from me as the cost can be a bit more than they wish to/can spend.
Combined with the fact that re-application is most always needed. I tend
to recommend clients purchase it on their own and apply it on their own if
they wish to stay organic and can't afford my service. As you can tell...
I'm not a great business man..lol.

--
Yard Works Gardening Co.
http://www.ywgc.com