Thank you all for your input. I'm new to this forum, so if I post my reply incorrectly or in a confusing manner, I apologize! I was home when the company sprayed, but I did not hear them enter the backyard. I'm kicking myself about that. I was getting ready to leave for a baby appointment and dealing with the potty-training toddler and baby's diaper change, so I've forgiven myself for being distracted. I caught them spraying the front yard - and removing our natural lawn treatment sign - as I opened my garage door to leave. In fact, if I hadn't been leaving, we may not have ever known what company was responsible.
They did not ring my bell to let me know they were here. They had to go through our backyard gate to access the yard. We do not have a lock on it, but we will be adding one this weekend. I did call the police department about filing a report. The officer told me, because it sounded like unintentional trespassing, it wasn't a criminal issue, but a civil one. However, he also said I could file a police report with him at a later time, if we wished to do so.
I spoke with the two lawn technicians. Their paperwork clearly had a different address. Their GPS map, which they showed me on a phone, took them directly to my address. They said something about how they needed to talk to the office about the gps locations as they didn't always match the homeowners address.
I am not sure how far we want to take this. The business owner, when called by my husband, offered no solution other than to water it in.
Our regular lawn business owner didn't know of any way to neutralize the chemicals. He too suggested the watering. He was angry, and he also told me this has happened to his customers before. He also said that accidental treatments do happen from time to time, even by his company. He felt the business owner should have offered to help us, though.
I came to this forum hoping to learn other perspectives and ideas - and you are sharing those - thank you!
I'm concerned about the toxicity. We are exposed to enough in society that we go out of our way to reduce exposure in the one place we can - our home. My 5-month-old will be crawling soon, and he should be able to do so in our backyard. I appreciate you allowing a little discussion on the chemical end of this. I realize I may need to dig deeper on that angle. I know that these are standard lawn treatment chemicals, so hopefully one application can be resolved more readily. Even so, this is my yard, and our choices have been compromised.
The wood mulch idea is certainly something I never would have thought about trying. Could you direct me to more references to understand more about this approach? I had wondered about adding a thick layer of topsoil. Seems the mulch is thinking along a similar line.
I have no problem asking the responsible company to help us mitigate the effects and correct their overspray. I'm trying to learn what might improve the situation before making a request.
Yes, this is very unfortunate timing. Warmer spring days are here and a new play set calls to our kids. Thank you all, again.
