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Gardening season has started, and this year, Manitobans have more options to deal with weeds.
In November, the provincial government lifted the ban on cosmetic pesticides, which had been in place since 2014. David Hinton, owner of Weed Man Manitoba, now has more tools in his toolbox.
“For the last seven years, we’ve only been able to use one product, called Fiesta,” says Hinton. “Now, it’s still available of course, and we’re still using it, but we have more traditional products available to us.”
He says those traditional products – such as Killex and Par III – are 10 to 15 times cheaper to use.
“The bio weed controls we’ve had to use for the last seven years are extremely expensive,” Hinton says. “So the product cost is high, you have to apply it much more often, and you have to put it down at a much higher rate.”
However, some residents working on their lawns in Wolseley avoid using pesticides entirely. Rebecca Hiebert calls the lifting of the pesticide ban “disappointing.”
“I think it’s a losing battle to have a perfect carpet of a lawn,” says Hiebert.
Hiebert doesn’t want to damage the soil of her lawn by killing the micro-organisms in it. She also doesn’t mind the weeds.
“Having dandelions is fine,” says Hiebert. “They’re one of the first blossoms to come up, so they’re really important to pollinators.”
Another resident, Natalie Copps, says the dandelions are useful, and can be used to make dandelion tea or honey. She also believes lawns don’t need to look perfect.
“I think it’s important to have it look nice and presentable, but that can mean a lot of different things to a lot of people,” says Copps.
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