When I was working on my dissertation research, one of the department professors with a nearby plot begged us not to use hormone-based herbicides, e.g., Round-Up, because he was afraid they'd kill the crops in his experimental plots a few dozen meters away. Fortunately we did not. I personally only keep the stuff around for dealing with poison ivy (which isn't widespread and was hopefully eradicated the one year I saw it), but with other weeds I use my hands.
Leafy trees and other foliage can act as barriers to agro-chemicals. That said, those chemicals will be washed off the trees and into the waterways whenever there is a serious rain. Please note that the application method will affect the relative risk you incur with agro-chemicals- aboveground spray methods used in commercial agriculture are more likely to make said chemicals airborne than the handheld spray applicators that are available for home garden use. Best regards, Guy On Fri, Apr 8, 2011 at 5:27 PM, Diann Dirks <[email protected]> wrote: > Yes, Ken, I had heard that Round-Up can go at least 400 yards from original > spot, but that was just a gardener spraying. When they spray the fields they > use huge machines that roll along and they do not care if the wind is > kicking up. I think it would take using a barrier of some kind to keep it > off from a prevailing wind - possibly stretched cloth like burlap about 6' > or higher. Anyone have any data on this? > Diann > > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ken Hargesheimer" <[email protected]> > To: "Ray Schutte" <[email protected]> > Cc: <[email protected]> > Sent: Friday, April 08, 2011 3:14 PM > Subject: [Community_garden] organic vs chemical > > >> Several years ago, I have a tomato plant dying. Never seen leaves do what >> they were doing. I took the stem/leaves to the ag experiment station to >> the >> plant experts. He studied it and studied it and he he did not know. >> >> The following year, same problem. I put the whole plant in my pickup and >> took it to him. He called in another guy. They studied and studied. >> Finally, they said that it was their belief that it is dying due to drift >> from cotton field spraying. I live 5 miles from the nearest field. They >> said that is our opinion. >> >> Some years ago, Maine was thinking about a law that if any chemicals were >> found on or in an organic vegetable, it could not be classified as >> organic. >> They were told that if they passed that rule, it would close down every >> organic farmer in Maine. Why? DRIFT >> -------------- next part -------------- >> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... >> URL: >> <http://list.communitygarden.org/pipermail/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org/attachments/20110408/6f2f802f/attachment.html> >> _______________________________________________ >> The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of >> ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to >> find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org >> >> To post an e-mail to the list: [email protected] >> >> To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription: >> http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org > > > _______________________________________________ > The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's > services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to find > out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org > > To post an e-mail to the list: [email protected] > > To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription: > http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org > _______________________________________________ The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org To post an e-mail to the list: [email protected] To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription: http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org
