Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey everyone. I was just wondering if it was okay for my father to use and insecticide/fertilizer in the yard where my turtle pen is. It is called turf builder and the active ingredient is Bifenthrin. If it is not okay to use the fertilizer, he just has a bag with the insecticide. Thanks.
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2 Taricha granulosa
1 male Terrapane carolina carolina
10 gal. tropical fish tank.

I would be far more concerned about the lingering effects of the insecticide, not so much the fertilizer.

On a side note, as a Certified Horticulturalist (by the Virginia Nursery & Landscape Association) I can tell you that this is NOT the time of year to be fertilizing your lawn, and any insecticides applied now would be of limited use at best, if not a complete waste.

Contact the county extension agent for more information more specific to your situation.

Haha, yeah, not the time to fertilize. Unless of course, you have gone to the dark side like myself...bermuda grass (gasp!). Yes, that's right. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

Haha! If it doesn't need life-support in the summer here, it can stay. We have loads of clover in our back yard this year. And a very happy bunny.

Actually the Scott's program recommends you DO put the turf builder with insecticide on in July. Does your lawn have a serious grub problem? probably not, but Scotts likes to sell "fertilizer". You can substitute at any step in the plan with plain old turf builder without insecticide in any of the 5 Scott steps, so if your dad must put down ferilizer ask him to substitute plain turf builder without insecticide. As any certified horticulturalist or county extention master gardener will recomend, really fall is the single best time to fertilze lawn, with an optional additional spring light fertilizing with pre-emergant to boost thru summer and reduce annual weeds, if you really like to mow a lot. Box turtles love to eat bugs, so if you poison the bugs you might poison the box turtles, or if nothing else reduce or eliminate their "snacks"
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Jeff Benfer
gartersnakemorph.com

Scott's is in the *business of selling* fertilizer and other like products. Of course they will recommend that you buy and use as much of their product as possible.

In this part of the country (mid-Atlantic) the best time to apply fertilizer is in the autumn, September, October, November (or even December). Hence the S.O.N. or S.O.D. programs for turf grass care.

Insecticides are another story: application timing depends on what insect is to be eradicated. Different problem insects are active at different times of year.

Contacting your county extension agent for advice will get you less biased information and your turf grass will be healthier for it. And the Chesapeake Bay will benefit from the reduction in pollution when these products are used appropriately when they are necessary.

We don't use anything here except organic fertilizers, and those only in the autumn.

The fertilizer isn't really that important, we can go w/o it. What we are really worried about is a huge ant infestation that we had in our shed. There were tens of thousands of eggs, but we got them out of the shed. Now we are worried about them getting into the house. Will the insecticide harm my boxie at all?
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2 Taricha granulosa
1 male Terrapane carolina carolina
10 gal. tropical fish tank.

Probably yes. Try using bait traps or Diatomaceous Earth in the immediate vicinity of any ant mounds or trails.

Broadcast applications of insecticide tend to do more harm to a wider range of beneficial or harmless creatures instead of eradicating the pest insects you want to target.

What county in MD are you living in, BTW?

One last piece of information for you:
Link