Kakupei
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Raid near herbs

My mother sprayed an area directly above my potted herbs with Raid Wasp Killer =( She aimed at the wall a foot away from my herbs and maybe half a foot above them.

Do I....toss everything? I don't know if any stray droplets got on the herbs. This occurred last night.

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applestar
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I have no doubt that aerosolated droplets covered your herbs if the wasp killer was used as directed.

For starters, cut off and discard any flowers if any of your herbs are blooming so as not to endanger visiting honeybees and other beneficial insects and hummingbirds that may visit for the pollen and nectar.

Here is the product information I found — is this the same one?

RAID® WASP & HORNET KILLER 33
https://www.raid.com/en-us/products/rai ... -killer-33

Product label —
https://pestcontrol-uc1.azureedge.net/- ... ller33.pdf


The wording not to get the spray directly on vegetation may mean your plants might be affected by the spray. If you are planning to save the herbs, it may be necessary to wash them off and then provide a shade cloth to protect them from direct sunlight. If your location is experiencing a heatwave as so many areas are this weekend, excessive heat in the 90’s+ may be enough to cause problems and there may not be anything you can do even with shade.

I would have to study and look up the ingredients to know anything more for certain.

I have to tell you I am NOT tolerant of chemicals and practice chemical free and organic gardening methods as much as I can. So to me, this whole situation sounds horrendous.

Personally I wouldn’t know how to effectively clean the spray from the surface of sprayed herbs for them to be edible….

But let’s for the moment say there IS some hope — that the product is no worse than some conventionally used pesticides and herbicides — REMEMBER, I HAVENT LOOKED THEM UP YET SO I don't KNOW — then I expect that IF the chemicals are NOT herbicidal and NOT act as systemic, long lasting pesticide, I might possibly be able to say that it might be possible to severely cut back the herbs with intention of harvesting unsprayed, new growth leaves that grow later.

imafan26
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The main ingredient in raid is chlorpyrifos, which is a restricted use pesticide on some edible crops, but herbs are not listed.

To be safe it would be better to toss them all and avoid planting anything edible in that soil for a while since it may remain in the soil for some time.
All pesticides must be listed by the EPA and companies do have hotlines to answer questions. However, the information they have will probably also be on the label. They will have information on poison control measures and they might have information on the half life of the product.

I did find information on the half life of dursban in soil which is a trade name of chlorpyrifos. It is 3-4 weeks in water and 30-60 days in aerobic soil. To be safe you probably should double the time to 120 days and if you are still concerned, you can test the soil for residues. You could also weed block the soil and plant in containers on a rack to avoid soil contact.

https://chemoventory.tcc.fl.edu/chemove ... an_533.pdf
https://ulmysds.com/Admin/ViewDocument. ... ReportId=0
https://www3.epa.gov/pesticides/chem_se ... 070531.pdf
https://www3.epa.gov/pesticides/chem_se ... 930805.pdf

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applestar
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A thought — your Mom probably wanted to get rid of the wasp nest so you would not get stung.


…ah I see @imafan joined in with details on the chemicals. Does not sound good. I’m so sorry.

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applestar
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What a coincidence that we were just discussing chlorpyrifos — EPA announced today that using it on food crops is to be banned due to serious health hazards.

I’m glad @imafan named the pesticide. Now we know RAID definitely should not be used around the food garden. I know this has come up in discussions before.

imafan26
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Location: Hawaii, zone 12a 587 ft elev.

I am surprised chlorpyrifos was still an ingredient in an over the counter product. Dursban was banned years ago because of its' toxicity.

I am glad it is no longer going to be used on edible crops. When I was researching it, I was surprised that at the time it was still allowed to be used by commercial applicators.

Unfortunately, the stuff that works, often has other problems that make it a bad choice to start with.

If people used fewer products, they would not be building a better bug, and we all would be better off.



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