Editors, Vineyard Gazette:

I am writing to alert other Vineyard property owners who use landscaping companies about the possible use of herbicides and pesticides on their land of which they might be unaware, and to ask them to join us in desisting.

Arriving at our family place on the Vineyard late at night after an unusually long absence — last year was the first time since I was two years old that I hadn’t spent at least some time here, and my mother and I have labored over this land for 50 years — I noticed that the lawn looked unusually lush. We often have bare patches on the slopes at that time of year. In the dark, I couldn’t see what was growing.

I awoke the next morning to see a man in protective gear spraying the lawn. I rushed out (in flip-flops) and said, “We don’t do that here,” and other choice words. My main concern at the time was that our land borders a sensitive body of water on one side and he was spraying a few yards away. He said it was a selective herbicide, just kills the crab grass, he wouldn’t do anything dangerous, and that it leached into the groundwater. Of course, we have a well

and I assume it draws on the groundwater. He advised me to wear shoes for the next hour. In fact, my throat burned for the next four or five hours. He finished spraying.

When I went out an hour later, I noticed a bee in our flower garden, which did not have many flowers blooming. I also saw that the lawn was mostly blooming white clover, a favorite of bees, essential pollinators that are in serious decline. I was afraid the bee would direct its hive mates to this site and they would begin feasting on the ample but recently sprayed clover.

Looking up the herbicide deployed by the landscaping service, I learned that this product is a new one and there is not much information on it. A table listing toxicities to various species rates the risk to humans and mammals high with direct exposure; the risk to fish is “low” (above “very low” and “none”), but mostly from runoff. The effect on honey bees is labeled “unknown,” but a footnote states that the risk is “very high” if applied to blooming plants. Our clover was blooming. The risk is “high” unless the herbicide is applied in the late evening. In other words, application should be avoided when bees are foraging. This application on about an acre was conducted between 9 and 9:30 a.m., exactly the wrong time. Three states (New York, Connecticut and Hawaii) ban its use.

Like many off-Island property owners, we have to rent our place most of the summer season to cover taxes and maintenance. Gone are the days when our mother/grandmother spent months in the spring, summer and fall at our place, devoting most of that time to landscaping and gardening, working closely with a landscaping service and a gardener, who could take over during the six weeks she rented. Now that we are mostly absent, we have struggled to find a gardening service that did not suddenly stop coming during the summer or failed in other ways. This is the second service we have used that favors chemicals.

When I subsequently pointed out to men who came to mow some Asian bittersweet growing near the house, they said they would again use an herbicide. I assume they would use the standard one for bittersweet (and poison ivy): the highly controversial Roundup from Monsanto. A general problem is that, given labor costs and high demand for services, landscaping services use machines and chemicals instead of time-consuming physical labor. In the fall in suburbs, families used to rake leaves together; now the loud whine and scent of gas from leaf blowers pervade the air. I have been digging up and pulling bittersweet but I had no time on this quick visit and no help.

Ironically, by the end of the day, the clover was shriveled. By the time I left a few days later, the clover was dead and the lawn again looked impoverished. There is nothing wrong with a yard full of clover. It just needed mowing.

Perhaps the current service has been using herbicides on our land in previous years without our knowledge. They will no longer use it on our property, but that will not stop them from using it on the properties of other clients. Some may be fine with that, and thereby threaten the environment that we all share. Others, like us, may not know. Please find out, and please consider that clover makes a lovely lawn and helps bees. We do not need golf course quality turf at our Vineyard homes, especially up-Island.

Chris S. O’Sullivan

New York, N.Y.