The Dirty Dozen

There are many reasons to grow your own food: flavor and freshness usually top the list. Pesticides are another reason.

Apple in bone hand (ulleo) Pixabay

Pros and cons of pesticides

Pesticides can make quick work of pests that damage our plants or carry plant diseases. They can also spread to unintended locations, contaminate groundwater, and interfere with the delicate balance of countless, often beneficial, life forms. How much is too much? How can we know these chemicals were used responsibly by growers halfway around the world? It’s tricky.

Healthy produce

Fresh produce is supposed to be good for us. We are urged to eat at least five servings of fresh fruit and vegetables every day. But can all the pesticides and other chemicals used in commercial agriculture be washed off? The answer is no. In many cases, pesticides are systemic, which means they are absorbed by plants. How many otherwise healthy fruits and veggies contain high levels of pesticides? The list may surprise you.

Garden harvest (congerdesign) Pixabay

Environmental Working Group

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) publishes a list of the twelve U.S. crops most contaminated with pesticides. The ‘Dirty Dozen’ are often sprayed with chemicals banned in the European Union. Did you know that peppers are sprayed with 115 different pesticides? Or that spinach often contains twice as much pesticide residue, by weight, than any other crop tested by the EWG? According to the EWG’s 2023 Dirty Dozen, these crops are the worst when it comes to pesticides:

1. Strawberries
2. Spinach
3. Kale, collard, and mustard greens
4. Peaches
5. Pears
6. Nectarines
7. Apples
8. Grapes
9. Bell and hot peppers
10. Cherries
11. Blueberries
12. Green beans

I use this information to help me decide what I will grow at home. Store-bought strawberries rarely taste as good as they look anyway, so homegrown or certified organic are the way I go.

Spinach, kale, collards, and mustard greens are easy to grow and can be allowed to go seed, providing years of edible good health.

While fruit trees take time to get started, they are a good investment in your landscape, and many of them can be grown in large containers. Tomatoes and peppers are regulars on my list of plants to grow, though celery has given me some trouble.

I’m not completely opposed to pesticide use. It certainly has its place. There are billions of mouths to feed, and pests feel no remorse about wiping out crops. Instead of applying broad-spectrum pesticides, we can use hand-picking, sticky barriers, and other cultural practices to manage many pests.

Black aphids on bolting spinach (Kate Russell)

The good news

​On the flip side, the EWG also publishes a list of produce available in stores that score lowest on residual pesticides. This annual list is called the Clean Fifteen, and here is the 2023 list:

1. Avocados
2. Sweet corn
3. Pineapple
4. Onions
5. Papaya
6. Sweet peas (frozen)
7. Asparagus
8. Honeydew melon
9. Kiwifruit
10. Cabbage
11. Mushrooms
12. Mangoes
13. Sweet Potatoes
14. Watermelon
15. Carrots​

Wax beans (Kate Russell)

The three plants I have found to be naturally pest-free have been almonds, apples, and bush beans. My three worst pest-prone plants have been Swiss chard, tomatoes, and pole beans, always with aphids.

Growing food at home, you have more control over what goes into your body.