2-4D Drift, farmer doesn't care, ag officials protect him

No offense but that doesn’t sound like the same situation. It’s a leasing farmer not an adjacent land owner (neighbor)

Although I agree perhaps some ground could be made with a person to person discussion.

Our property is kitty cornered to the corner of the sprayed fields, 300 yds at the nearest point. By the time it gets to our house and curls the leaves under the eaves, it’s gone 600 yds. I’ve been working on turning a small plot behind the house into a small garden, but we can’t get any further away than that, our property drops off from there. The 2-4D rises up and curls oak leaves 60-70 ft up, then cools and settles at night and rolls downhill across our property on it’s way to the creek.

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None taken. :slight_smile: And you’re right, it is slightly different, but my point is that so often people contact “the authorities” before trying a person to person approach and I (personally) don’t think it’s neighborly.

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So my neighbor kills 13 trees and permanently damages 6 others, and you are suggesting that the people who did it are the victims because I reported them for breaking the law and destroying many 4-7 year old trees I had ordered, planted, cared for, and which were just starting to produce?

If you read the thread on my situation, you would see that when I contacted the state I wasn’t even sure my problem was drift spray, so asked the state to figure that out. I also have 3 farmers that farm and spray within 200 yards of where the damage occurred (I have 3 farmers on 3 sides of me. The state interviewed them all, tested their tanks, got their application dates,. examined their equipment and determined who did it.

Before you feel too sorry for the farmers who sprayed on a windy day and had droplet size too small (as determined by state) you should know that even when proven guilty they refused to pay or turn it into their insurance company. They had to be leaned on hard by the state before agreeing to pay, and guess what? I was pretty neighborly when I told them they could just reimburse me for the price I paid for the trees 5 years ago. Not even shipping. So I let them pay $25 to $50 for 5-7 year old trees that I had sprayed, pruned, fertilized, and cared for all those years. I didn’t even charge them for shipping. The state had a chart that gave values for fruit trees and it showed a 6 year old peach tree at $750. I accepted $25. Same with the other trees. So you suggesting I was too hard on them seems uninformed and unfair. They had insurance that would have paid full value for all the trees - even the ones that lived but were permanently damaged (I still have 3 and they are still deformed, extremely small, and have low production of unusually small fruit). But they worried their insurance would go up, and they also didn’t want to pay full value out of pocket, so I let it go for a fraction of what anyone else would have collected. So clearly I wasn’t after money. Based on the way they fought and denied payment and so on, I’m not sure why you think me going to them by myself would have resulted in them doing something they wouldn’t even do when they state proved they were at fault.

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That’s awful and I’m sorry it happened.

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Sorry you’re going through this. It’s mind boggling to me the same entities so worried about everyone’s health 4 years ago would let this happen to anybody. Reading all this really is upsetting. I’m very empathetic for you all having to deal with degenerates poisoning your lands.

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The only thing I was suggesting, without reading your other thread, was that folks contact their offending neighbors (assuming that they know who the offender is) before they contact the authorities. Nothing more, nothing less. :slight_smile:

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This has been enlightening. My organic neighbor has been spraying and harming many of my plantings for years. I assumed he was using ammoniated salts of fatty acids or similar and although I have requested he be more vigilant about drift he apparently doesnt give a flying fig. Did not know the curly growth my roses and persimmons were experiencing was not some odd fungal anomoly but possibly 24D. We are going to have a coming to Jesus meeting.

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The “organic” farmer with the 2-4D? My first thought would be to have his organic certification yanked, but you don’t want that to happen. You want him to have to live up to his organic certification.

BUT, to help you not make a fool of yourself, make sure that your roses don’t have Rose Rosette. I never see 2-4D damage on my roses, even when persimmons, redbuds, oaks, maples, dogwoods look terrible. Rosette is common, esp on Knockouts. Compare pictures online with your warped growth. If that’s their problem, I’d prune out the worst of it and give them as much boron as I could safely get away with. It’s officially a virus, but calcium deficiency allows viruses to grow, and you need boron to mobilize calcium. Around here, cattle farmers use dolomite lime to prevent grass tetany, so our Ca:Mg ratio is too low in many places that were in pasture. Anyway, all I know is that I have had rosette in the past, and have treated it as a boron deficiency, and it’s all gone. I’ve never been able to get rose experts interested in my theory that rosette implies boron deficiency. I try to put down a fairy dust type sprinkling of borax every year, because we have DEFINITELY seen symptoms of boron deficiency in the past.
" Boron was found to reduce the severity of many diseases because of the function that B has on cell wall structure, plant membranes and plant metabolism. " Excerpt from “Role of nutrients in controlling plant diseases in sustainable agriculture” Role of nutrients in controlling plant diseases in sustainable agriculture. A review | Agronomy for Sustainable Development

A guy I got a number of antique roses from sometimes had weird growth on some of his roses, and I’d exclaim, “Rosette!”, but he’d say, “Roundup damage”. He knew where he’d been using it, and it never did progress like real rosette would have.

Also, grafted persimmons can suffer Manganese toxicity and have the shepherd’s crook growth if pH is really low, but I doubt that’s your problem.

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Some good info in there thank you. I would not go so far as to attempt to yank his organic standing. At least not without indisputable scientific proof. He did not spray for the first 20 odd years he owned the property and the first time he admitted it was round up, severe drift, everything was dead, he promised not to use round up again. He still sprays. Only the roses and asian persimmons on this fenceline have issues. Rosette does not cause shirley temple quality curls on roses and/or asian persimmons and it would not be only along this fenceline. I have researched disease and deficiencies for years and have not seen anything similar to what my plants are experiencing until i read the descriptions of 24 D damage and looked it up. DH built a solid, stupid expensive, fence along most of the property and surprise, no more issues where the spray cannot waft. I have repeatedly requested notice so i could cobble together some protection on ‘spray day’. He has not offered the courtesy of a notice. Meanwhile im overhere trying to figure out how to minimize the damage to my green babies.

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If you are able to see the areas on his property that was sprayed, It might give you some clues as to what he was using. 2-4-d targets broadleaf and grass would be unaffected. If he was not able to control round up drift, 2-4-d would be way worse.

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It sounds like you should get the authorities involved simply for testing purposes. I wouldn’t be as kind to a neighbor who wasn’t trying to help you with a courtesy notice, especially if they are claiming organic status.

Exactly why I trust the study. It was long ago vetted as accurate by the members here. Lots of threads about these amazing life long studies in just about every profession. It has led to a lot of changes in many fields like medicine and manufacturing.

so you accept cash $25 for each of the matures trees replacement? did you worked with their insurance about the chances of getting the full reimbursement? im just wondering i dont hear too much 2-4D drift in WA state. and i dont know how is small claims are needed or reporting to their insurance.