HORTICULTURE CONSULTING : Should the Ontario Government Be On The Hook For Chinch Damage?

More often than naught, property owners that had their lawn destroyed by chinch bug, expressed venomous anger in the current pesticide laws that ban all chemical-based products in Ontario.

And rubbing salt into the wound, or simply thumbing their nose at taxpayers, there still remains no legal product that can be used in Ontario to control chinch bug.

Hairy chinch bug has been in Ontario for quite sometime. So the most common question asked is, “why isn’t there an alternative….anything at all?!”

In this regard, sympathizing with the homeowner is second nature. Mostly, the Government of Ontario should be on the hook for at least compensating property owners who had excessive chinch damage with a substantial cost to repair. New seed or sod over a few thousand square feet can become quite costly, especially when small areas of damage were recognized by licensed technicians almost two monthes ago, and when treatment of infected areas would have resulted in purchasing a small bag of seed. For many, that cost has exploded exponentially.

With laws that do not take into consideration one of the most deleterious pests for homelawns, and expecting the homeowner to pay out of their own pocket to have a lawn repaired is ridiculuos.

The end result will be a weed-infested lawn, which for a few hardcore natural, organic loving types, may look appealing.

For the rest of us, the Ontario pesticide ban has been a fiasco.