2,4-d….tree damage….??

Zabo – posted 05 June 2001 07:41

I used 2,4-d on my lawn a couple of months ago. It worked well on the weeds, but also darn near killed some of my trees. The leaves are curling and all the new growth is doing the same. Am I just at the mercy of the chemical, or can I do anything to help these trees recover from this? Please advise.

Thanks,Zabo.

seed – posted 07 June 2001 09:17

Zabo, after 2 months, probably the vast majority of the 2,4-D has dissipated from the soil through leaching and degradation by microorganisms. Besides, most 2,4-D uptake is through the leaves, thus it is possible that any 2,4-D that your trees encountered reached their leaves through volatilization, that is, soon after treating the lawn the chemical vaporized off the treated grass and was carried in the air to the tree leaves.

However, typical formulations of 2,4-D contain other chemicals such as dicamba. If so, dicamba is more likely to be the culprit, because it dissolves readily and is easily taken up by plant roots. Dicamba can be persistent in plants, and can leak back into the environment from the roots of treated plants.

So please look at the herbicide container and let us know the percent of active ingredients. It is probably too late to do anything to clean up the soil, but there may be some things that would help comfort your trees while they recover. And what kind of trees are involved.

Thanks, Phil

Zabo – posted 07 June 2001 12:49

Well my container is at home, but I have the msd sheets and they list 63.7% 2-ethylehexyl ester of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid and 36.3% inert ingredients. Nothing listed regarding dicamba, but I will look closer at the label and get back tomorrow.

The trees are not dying, just not happy with their present situation. I wanted to try, like you said, make them more comfortable until they recover fully. The trees are a Momosa tree and a very young Japaneese Umbrella tree or Chinese Rain tree. I am not sure which is correct, or either for that matter. That is what my grandfather called them. I have a huge plant book at home, I will try to more specifically ID the tree.

I look forward to hearing from you. If you need any more info, I will do my best to provide it.

Thanks,Zabo.

Zabo – posted 08 June 2001 08:33

Phil,I tried to ID the tree but have had no luck. It is not an umbrella tree. Or, if it is, It does not look much like the ones I could find. It is some sort of ornamental tree. Big drooping multi pinate lobed leaves that give the tree a droopy umbrella look. I shall work on IDing the tree this weekend and let you know.Hey, I noticed that yesterday that they are beginning to look a little better, but still not over it. I am beginning to think that I will not get any good growth again until next season.

Oh well, live and learn. Boy did I.Zabo.

Zabo – posted 08 June 2001 12:27

Phil,The trees that are effected are a momosa, and a young Golden RainTree. I have also stunted the growth of my Blackberries, but they will recover by next season. I have learned a great lesson and will be much more careful with this potent chemical in the future. If you have any suggestions regarding helping these trees, I would greatly appreciate it.Thanks,Zabo.

quote:Originally posted by seed:Zabo, after 2 months, probably the vast majority of the 2,4-D has dissipated from the soil through leaching and degradation by microorganisms. Besides, most 2,4-D uptake is through the leaves, thus it is possible that any 2,4-D that your trees encountered reached their leaves through volatilization, that is, soon after treating the lawn the chemical vaporized off the treated grass and was carried in the air to the tree leaves.

However, typical formulations of 2,4-D contain other chemicals such as dicamba. If so, dicamba is more likely to be the culprit, because it dissolves readily and is easily taken up by plant roots. Dicamba can be persistent in plants, and can leak back into the environment from the roots of treated plants.

So please look at the herbicide container and let us know the percent of active ingredients. It is probably too late to do anything to clean up the soil, but there may be some things that would help comfort your trees while they recover. And what kind of trees are involved.

Thanks, Phil

mariox1965@aol – posted 29 June 2003 21:17

Can somone help. It is almost the end of June and I have no signs of leaves on my momosa tree. If you cut piece off it still feels moist but some parts snap. Is it to late to say. I am not experienced with sort of problem since I only owned my home 2 years. Any advice. I hate to have to have it taken down.

Thank you in Advanced

seed – posted 30 June 2003 07:32

Pardon the delay. As far as I know, there is nothing you can do. The herbicide analysis is, “63.7% 2-ethylhexyl ester of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid”

In short, you used an ester of 2,4-D.

The important word here is, “ester.” Ester formulations tend to be more volatile than amine formulations. Volatility is the ability to evaporate at normal temperatures, and volatile herbicides can move through the air to leaves of nontarget plants.

Although the ethylhexyl ester is considered “low volatile,” it is still capable of considerable evaporation, and I have seen injury to herbaceous ornamentals from ethylhexyl ester of 2,4-D. In contrast, under the same conditions, I have not seen injury from the dimethylamine of 2,4-D.

Although I have not seen significant injury to woody plants from such a formulation, I have seen weird injury to red maple from trichlopyr, another auxin-type herbicide which means it can have a growth regulating effect at low dosages. (I don’t recall if this was the ester formulation or not.)

These kinds of problems are worst at high temperatures, and can be difficult to predict. We are doing research to understand better the nontarget effects of lawn weed killers on ornamentals.

Phil