Northern Nevada gardens and backyards: More on herbicide awareness and safety
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By JoAnne Skelly — A reader shared a sad story about losing trees to misapplied herbicide. “About 4 years ago some renters next door applied an herbicide (without our knowledge) to rocks along their side yard that abuts ours, plus on the rocks between the sidewalk and street in front of their house.
The renters moved out and the house was sold. The next Spring our apricot tree mysteriously died and the plum tree next to it grew odd Dr. Seuss-like pompoms of leaves only at the very ends of the branches. I took one of the clusters of leaves into the nursery here in town and was told it was herbicide damage.
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All 7 or 8 of the mature oak trees in the rock area in front of the neighbor’s newly purchased home died and had to be removed. They had no idea what was going on. Our plum tree seems to have recovered and even produced some plums last year. But what a caution! I’m sure the renters had no idea that the poison would leach into our yard. Our two fruit trees were growing right next to the area they sprayed.”
I have long tried to educate people on how to use herbicides safely, because this isn’t the first time I have heard this depressing tale. I was called out years ago to assess trees at a large Reno hotel. Most of their trees were suffering or dying. When I looked at them, I knew immediately it was herbicide damage. Sure enough, a grounds person was told to spray weeds in a certain area. He used a soil sterilant, something used to banish weeds for years. Unfortunately, the area sprayed was above rows of trees. Every time it rained or snowed for years afterward the sterilant chemical washed through the soil into the area where the trees and their roots were, killing the trees. Soil sterilants do not differentiate between undesirable and desirable plants. It’s up to the applicator to read the label carefully and determine if the site is safe to apply the chemical. When a chemical is mobile in water (and it says this on the label), it is never safe to use it anywhere near wanted vegetation because soil water containing the chemical can move laterally, downhill or into drainages. This causes damage, and often death, to trees, shrubs, flowers and lawn growing in the area. The damage is usually irreversible.
I don’t recommend soil sterilant herbicides for home use. I do advise reading labels before you even purchase any herbicide or other pesticide, let alone use it.
— JoAnne Skelly is Associate Professor & Extension Educator, Emerita at University of Nevada Cooperative Extension skellyj@unr.edu.
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