Before buying "Nature's Nutrients" at Home Depot or similar plants sold at other big box stores, make sure you read the labels thoroughly. Read on for more information:
TO: 2015-2017 Board of Directors
FROM: Sandy Robinson, President
DATE: April 27, 2017
SUBJECT: Milkweed
It has been brought to my attention that some “Big Stores” have been selling Milkweed plants that have been treated with systemic Neonicotinoids. This will kill caterpillars! Please, be aware and be on the lookout for these tags placed in plants. Please pass this information along to your garden club members!
See the below letter and picture I received from Mary Ellen Miller explaining the situation:
Dear Sandy, I know you are busy ending your term. We, in New Orleans, just hosted the Deep South and LGCF Conventions, but this needs immediate attention.
I purchased a Milkweed plant from Home Depot near my home and it wasn't until I got home that I noticed the little information stick hidden behind the identification information that the plant had been treated with systemic Neonicotinoids. The container boasted how desirable the plant is for birds and butterflies. Yesterday I went to a different Home Depot and they had just put out an entire rolling cart of these plants, maybe about 100, all poisoned. I contacted the store manager and told him that it is the same as giving poison candy to kids on Halloween. This is THE host plant for the Monarch. My club, Shady Oaks and our junior club, Little Shadows have worked so hard to establish a Monarch Waystation and to educate people on the decline of the Monarch. I hate to think of the millions of poison Milkweed being distributed nationwide by Home Depot.
The container says distributed by Home Depot, 2455 Paces Ferry Rd N. W., Atlanta , Georgia.
I contacted the LSU Ag Agent for New Orleans, Dr Joe Willis. He said the Neonicotinoids will dilute as the plants grow but that only a very small amount will kill the larva of the Monarch. He is contacting the Master Gardeners of the area. I contacted the newsletters of the Jefferson Parish Council of Garden Clubs and the Federated Council of New Orleans Garden Clubs to ask that they send a notice to our local members. I contacted a local GOA club and the president said she would inform her members. I contacted our LGCF President and our Environmental School Chairman with the information.
We need a notice to Home Depot from a national source. I contacted the Monarch Watch organization ,www.MonarchWatch.org/ws at the University of Kansas (1200 Sunnyside Avenue, Lawrence, KS 66045) . The Little Shadows Junior Garden Club registered our Monarch Waystation with them.
Sandy we need a response from NGC to this issue. It needs to be sent soon as these plants are being sold now to well meaning people who are wanting to help the Monarch not kill them. I know you are very busy but I hate to think of the billions of plants being sold nationwide and how that will cancel the efforts of so many to stop the demise of the Monarch.
Could you please help?
Mary Ellen Miller
Shady Oaks Garden Club , LGCF District II
Moderator Little Shadows Junior Garden Club
Immediate Past President Federated Council of New Orleans Garden Clubs Inc.
