It may seem ironic, but it is precisely organic fertilizers and organic plant nutrients that have been contaminated by chemicals that disrupt the plants' hormonal systems.
Pyralids are a group of pesticides used in agriculture to kill weeds in cereal and rapeseed farms.
They are long-lived and follow in animal feed, manure, soil and liquid organic plant nutrients.
It has caused great damage to many hobby growers.
Tomato plant exposed to suspected pesticide attack with pyralide.
Photo: Ulf Nilsson
Tomatoes and beans are extra sensitive
- We do not have an exact figure on how many have been affected, but we believe that it is about tens of thousands of hobby growers, says horticulturist Ulf Nilsson, secretary of the National Association of Leisure Cultivation, FOR.
Tomatoes, chilies, beans, potatoes and basket-flowered plants such as dahlia and lettuce are extra sensitive.
A sign of pyralide poisoning is that the leaves are deformed, curl and grow downwards.
The harvest is poor or completely absent.
Residues in 10 of 11 bottles of organic plant nutrients
When FOR analyzed liquid organic plant nutrients in 2020, 10 of 11 products contained residues of pyralids.
The substance was also found in leaf and fruit samples of tomato.
- It is not just about financial damage but it is also a break for the joy of cultivation.
Here, people have struggled with their plants for months and tried to grow organically and then they stop growing and you basically get no harvest.
It is completely unreasonable and inconceivable for many, says Ulf Nilsson.
Thousands of leisure growers have now joined forces with garden and nature conservation organizations, fertilizer and soil manufacturers and several garden centers to stop the use of pyralids in Sweden.
Thousands of leisure growers have joined forces to stop the use of pyramid schemes in Sweden.
- It is also a break for the joy of cultivation, says horticulturist Ulf Nilsson.
Photo: Ulf Nilsson
Want a ban
More than 25,000 people have signed the petition.
- We also want the government to act at European level within the EU so that they can no longer be used as plant protection products, says Ulf Nilsson at FOR.
But would it not affect agriculture?
- Yes, it is clear that there will be one less substance that can be used in agriculture.
But we think you absolutely have to look at this now that so many are affected.
SVT has applied for the Minister of Rural Affairs, the Minister of the Environment and the Minister of Trade and Industry.
All have declined to appear for an interview.