Many property management groups and tenants purchase interior plants to be placed in building common areas and tenant spaces. Typically, in a multi-tenant situation, a third party contractor will be hired to provide interior plant maintenance services. I recently had a conversation with two such interior plant maintenance companies and discovered that they sometimes use insecticides that do not appear on the SF list of "least toxic" pesticides. Where does this service fit into IPM?
You rely on LEEDuser. Can we rely on you?
LEEDuser is supported by our premium members, not by advertisers.
Go premium for
Shira Norman
YRG sustainability70 thumbs up
January 25, 2010 - 3:48 pm
All pesticides, including insecticides and herbicides, that are not classified as Tier 3 products on San Francisco's list can be used in and around a project building so long as you issue universal notification prior to applying the chemicals. However, it is always important to consider non-chemical pest management solutions prior to administering toxic pesticides.
Tristan Roberts
RepresentativeVermont House of Representatives
LEEDuser Expert
11475 thumbs up
January 27, 2010 - 9:45 am
Drew, just checking—is your question about whether the vendor's services are covered by the credit at all? (Since they are not directly under the control of building management.)
The answer to that question is YES, and hopefully you can get the companies to compete against each other to improve their practices!
Drew Johnson
LEED AP O+M29 thumbs up
January 27, 2010 - 11:18 am
Thanks for your comment Shira.
Tristan, yes I was seeking clarification as to whether or not this service was addressed by the credit at all, and hoping someone in the LEEDUser community would have dealt with this on a project. Leaning heavily on the intent of EQc3.6, my assumption was, "yes" these services and the chemicals used are indeed covered. In the reference guide, it is clear that use of pesticides in exterior landscape maintenance is to be included in Outdoor IPM (SSc3), but the requirements for EQc3.6 do not make specific mention of interior plant maintenance as a part of Indoor IPM.
Tristan Roberts
RepresentativeVermont House of Representatives
LEEDuser Expert
11475 thumbs up
January 27, 2010 - 11:51 am
Drew, I see what you're saying—although indoor plants are a common realm for application of pesticides, so for that reason I think it's pretty clear that they're covered.
John Forbes
President and CEOLeadership IPM Consultations LLC
12 thumbs up
January 3, 2012 - 3:29 pm
Indoor plants can be a major source of Fungi's Flies (Gnats) They feed on the bacteria that forms on the soil. If the plant is overwatered this is very common. The IPM approach is to make sure that the soil is not over watered or go to a different substrate that won't let the bacteria form. In addition you can use products like DE mixed in the soil. This is a benign dust the will dissacate the flies but not harm the soil. I hope this helps.