On Sat, 11 Dec 2010 13:46:44 +0000, Jeff Layman
wrote:

On 10/12/2010 22:55, Bob Hobden wrote:
Now that is another problem, so many pests/diseases are now untreatable
for the amateur grower it is becoming a serious problem in itself. Yet
the Government say they are encouraging allotments and the growing of
food by citizens, the two things simply do not compute.
I have a book on pests and disease written in 1997 and most of the
remedies in it are now banned for our use despite not being considered
dangerous, just a case of too costly to test for amateur use, so no
DEFRA number, so can't be sold to the public.
If professionals can still use a chemical why not an amateur?

'elf&safety, no doubt...

I was once told that the "real" reason why certain chemicals could
only be used by a licenced professional was that the licenced
professional would have various insurances in place (apparently
checked during the licensing process) so that if there was a problem
the costs of dealing with it could be recovered. A private individual
would probably not have the resources to pay for the clean up. The
person who told me that also said that in his experience private
individuals usually took more care with chemicals than the
professionals and, in any given situation, would probably use less
chemicals than the professional anyway.

Reminds me of a house I nearly bought some years ago. My surveyor
turned me off it by saying the electrical wiring was potentially
lethal. Turned out that the house had been rewired about 6 months
previously by "professionals" from the local "Electricity Board".