Read The Label

Fayette Co. Agriculture

A farmer, whose property adjoined mine near Seguin, came over one day and said, “You don’t have as many grasshoppers as I do. What are you doing?” I told him that I used Nolo bait. His reply was “Oh that stuff doesn’t work.”

This same farmer pointed out a dark green corn field we drove by, as being one of the most productive corn fields in the area. When I asked why it was so dark green, he told me that a single biosolid fertilizer application was made to that field several years prior. When I asked him why he didn’t do the same thing to get higher yields, his reply was, “Oh that stuff doesn’t work.”

It really amazes me that some people can openly state that something doesn’t work when they can clearly see that it does.

I suspect that he is one of those farmers that never reads the labels. The Nolo bait label states that the bait should be applied on a dry day when the grasshoppers are small. If he put out the bait on a day when dew was still on the grass or when the majority of grasshoppers were well grown, he had just wasted some of his money.

Homeowners often apply ant bait the same way. They put out the bait when the grass is wet. Well you won’t likely eat a wet potato chip and ants won’t eat wet ant bait. They will pick up fresh bait that is dry, but ignore bait that is wet or stale.

Advertisers show ant baits being applied to the top of the mound. The instructions on the package advise otherwise. Doing it the way advertisers demonstrate will sell more bait, but rarely kills the ants.

I once won $100 on a bet that I could save the owner of a landscape company money on his applications of the herbicide, Roundup. I put down my $100 on the table and as soon as he put his money on the table, I grabbed it and said “Read the label.” He yelled at me that he had read the label, so I showed him the passage that stated by adding ammonia sulfate to the mix he could cut the amount of the product by 25%. I had just saved him hundreds of dollars each month, because he failed to read the label. Today there are products that can save even more money when added, but they are not on the label. Contact me for more information.

Where this really becomes important is when people forget to read the label on products that have a danger sign. When you see skull and crossbones on a product, it will always have a danger label. Yet people will often overlook the label. Most assume they already know how to use the product, whether it is paint thinner or kitchen cleaner.

Ignoring the label signs of caution, warning and danger has cost many people their lives. That is why everyone needs to keep the phone number of the Poison Control Hotline somewhere where it can be found immediately. It is suppose to be posted in schools and should be posted in eating establishments and almost anywhere chemicals are found near foods and liquids.

The phone number is (800) 222-1222. Or the easy way to remember it is 800-222-1-222. When I had kids it was posted near the landline phone. Too many people do not think to call the help line when there is an emergency. They call 911. But if you have to wait for the emergency services to arrive, you might have wasted several precious minutes.

It doesn’t take long to read the label. Most pesticide labels can be read in a few minutes. They usually contain information about how much to apply per gallon of water. They often tell the applicator what safety equipment to wear. This item is often ignored. Americans frequently poison themselves by not wearing a safety mask or gloves. If you can smell a poison, you are breathing it. But then we don’t have people dropping over dead that often. Mostly it is a slow poisoning that is accumulative.

I believe that if people read the labels of the food they eat, we would have fewer people that are overweight and fewer people taking medications. I am also a natural medicine practitioner and have had over 200 clients. None have ever read the black box warnings on the medications they were prescribed. This is not only dangerous; it could have killed many of them.

The bottom line of this article is READ THE LABEL, READ THE LABEL, and READ THE LABEL. You could learn something.

David E. Will is a farmer, rancher, nurseryman, landscaper, and consultant. He can be reached at (830) 629-9876 or by email at dwill207@satx. rr.com.