The Gloves Are Off!
ASI, a family owned company, founded forty years ago, has worked hard to establish a reputation for ethical comportment within the business world. Perhaps too late, we have realized that silence is not always golden. Sometimes silence is criminal. Though we have tried to quietly educate our clients and small groups when we guest lecture, it is time that we stood up for ALL consumers. Most consumers within our industry are home owners, small business owners, and small companies. They are the backbone of America, and deserve more than they have been getting from the Green Industry!
Consumers are being ripped off by the Green Industry. Those who care for your trees, shrubs, and turf are heavily dominated by those afflicted with terminal ignorance, or those who don't consider improving their knowledge as worth their time, along with those who are knowingly defrauding you. Sprinkle into this recipe for disaster illegal aliens, convicted criminals, and known conmen who can easily represent themselves as a reputable company. Why? We are unregulated. We do not advocate government regulation, but we do hold our professional associations and organizations collective feet to the fire. Most have no provisions for ejecting members who commit crimes or those who are blatantly scamming the public. All these associations expect from their members are annual dues. And the annual dues provide legitimacy via window stickers and authorization to use the association logo in advertising.
Even the portions of the Green Industry that are regulated by state and federal authorities, such as those with pest control licenses and herbicide application licenses, run rampant with gross violations of labeled proscriptions of the materials they utilize. Filing a complaint for a violation is tedious, intimidating, and quite often unproductive.
Finally, I must address the transgressions of the consumer. Just because something is sold in your local nursery or glitzy lumberyard, that does NOT mean that the material is safe for you, your children, your pets, or your trees and shrubs. The worst offender in this regard is Weed&Feed fertilizers. The WEED portion of that name should be an alert that this contains a dangerous toxin. The label, which few people read, warns: NOT FOR USE WITHIN THE ROOT ZONE AREA OF DESIRABLE TREES AND SHRUBS. Of course that is found on the bottom backside of the bag, in mouse print font. We believe it should be on the front of the bag, at the top in fluorescent orange. There should also be similar warnings posted in the big display sign advertising it as On Sale! But consumers often tell us: It wouldn't be sold if it was dangerous! Right? An F250 Crew Cab is pretty darn dangerous, if not used within the labeled instructions!
ASI is not a company operated by mindless tree huggers seeking publicity. We do not believe that being totally organic is somehow the solution to all the world’s woes. Where possible, when scientifically proven, we use organic methods. But if a client’s mistreated tree requires an inorganic solution to get it past a primary stress factor, we will use it. But we won’t spray down the neighbor’s toddler wading pool to effect the cure. Instead, we will inject the tree with the systemic toxin with a few, quite effective, ounces instead of spraying it monthly for months, or years. Nor will we drench the entire root system of a plant affected by pests. We don’t want to be drinking those toxins a few weeks later after they wash into our reservoirs or leach down into our aquifers! We have children, and grandchildren. We love them, and would no more expose them to such violent toxins than we would shove them into North Central traffic on roller skates at rush hour on Spring Break Friday!
It is not merely those in the Green Industry, nor misguided, all too trusting, consumers at fault here. We have municipal, county, and state agencies/departments using very dangerous herbicides, pesticides, and other chemicals in a manner that could get a company dissolved or an individual jailed! In many cases they are EXCLUDED from the proscriptions applied to others. Yep, that is correct. They don’t have to follow the rational rules they impose upon individuals and companies.
ASI is dedicated to the well being of our clients. We will not mislead, make extravagant promises, or operate in an unethical manner. If we don’t know the answer, we will admit that. But we will work hard to do the research to find the answer for you. Thankfully, we have compiled a large database of answers over the last forty years. Our professional analyses are tempered by commonsense, ethics, and a deep commitment to the health, financial equity, and comfort of our clients. Profits are secondary. As we were taught when very young, be honest, be forthright, and do the best job you can; then the money will follow. Our forbearers were 100% right.
Therefore, keep on reading if you want to learn many hidden truths, which will save you incredible amounts of money, and a lot of stress and heartache!
