Published Jun 9, 2016

Or should we say milkflower?

By Mark Peterson

The crew (pictured below) and I were out spraying weeds this morning. This was the first time the older two commandeered their spot in the Ranger, when we came in from spraying, my wife Melanie looked at us and asked: “Is being around that spray safe for the dogs?” Hmm, I see where I stand.

We have been out crop inspecting and spot spraying weeds at the same time. I got to thinking about one small change I made in my spot spraying last year that hopefully helps out one creature that needs the help. I’m sure most of you are ahead of me, but if you haven’t considered doing this you might. I took the weed out of milkweed last year. As I am spraying, I no longer consider milkweed a plant that needs to be terminated; instead I am leaving them for the monarch butterflies. Who doesn’t like seeing monarchs around? Whether you spray or hoe, please give consideration to leaving the milkweed plants alone. Maybe it has been a good year for them, but I am comfortable that we have more milkweed (or should we say milkflower?) on Bentgate Farm after leaving them alone last year.

KIMG0875