Herbicide drift

No one ever thinks it will happen to them. Recently, we had a beautiful Plant Select garden in Washington County Fairgrounds. But one day, someone who worked for the county came along spraying a nearby area and turned the garden into a brown landscape. Come to find out 2,4-D was used for broadleaf weeds around the garden. The garden sits at the entrance of the fairgrounds, which has a gravel parking lot in front and a gravel entrance road. You can imagine that both the parking lot and gravel entrance road needed to be sprayed for weeds.

Fortunately, those that accidentally did it came forward and took responsibility. They cleaned out the garden and helped us replant it. This was a positive experience for everyone. Remember, the label is the law. Following the directions is abiding by the law. All broadleaf weeds are dicots and harmed by 2,4-D. All the flowering plants in the garden are dicots. Herbicides have labels and instructions to keep everyone safe. But if they are not followed, we all pay. The label is the law on all these herbicides and pesticides and chemicals.

Drift is the movement of pesticides from the target field onto nearby sensitive plants, according to Ohio State University. Drift is the spray droplets moving downward during an application unless a gust of wind comes along to move the herbicide particles to another location.

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