curly leaves and slowed growth please help!

[tam91]

Some of mine look like this now - and I found some dying weeds near them. Dang. I hope they make it, as "naturally" I just gave away my extras yesterday.

If someone must kill weeds nearby, is glyphosphate safer?

[ChrisK]

Originally Posted by tam91

If someone must kill weeds nearby, is glyphosphate safer?

3.....2.......1......

[Redbaron]

Originally Posted by Vespertino

b45red: sorry to hear that about your plants hopefully the plants will outgrow the damage.

I wonder if some tomato plants might be more sensitive to it than others.

I am growing both sungolds and brandywine red (PL) on my patio, and the herbicide damage only occurs on the sungolds. The brandywine looks unaffected. Sadly there's nothing I can do, and recently I noticed new damage on the sungolds once they were starting to outgrow the old damage. But I found the culprit: the apartment management hires a landscaping company to spray the parking lot concrete to keep it weed-free. I saw one of their workers with a big tank strapped to his back with a hose and a hand sprayer roaming the parking lot for offending patches of green. I'm 100% sure that's the source since my patio overlooks the parking lot. All it takes is one bad waft...

I'd be out there on my hands and knees making sure not one blade of grass is ever showing! (2-4-D doesn't kill grass anyway but the maintenance guys might be using a mixture with a grass killer too ) Give no excuse to those guys! Even if I had to seal the cracks with exterior caulk!!

[tlintx]

Apartment management doesn't care. When I lived in an apartment, they sent a bug guy by once who sprayed nasty liquid all over my windows, sliding glass doors, and AC vent, which ruined my framed photos on the wall. I kicked him out when he tried to spray my living room furniture.

Turns out they contract that crap out to the lowest bidder.

They will care less than zero if it's a communal area.


Tl

[tam91]

Serious question re. the glyphosphate - this garden isn't on my property. I cannot dictate whether weedkiller is used. I can, however, ask that they try not to use 2-4-D near the garden, if there is less risk of damage to the plants from glyphosphate (which I suspect is true).

Anyone know?

[ChrisK]

Yes, I do know the answer. Glyphosate does not have the potential off target effects as auxenic herbicides, assuming there is no spray drift.

It does not volatilize and is essentially inert on contact with soil. It is absorbed by aerial portions of the plant upon direct contact. It breaks down in the environment generally very quickly by microbial action.

It is also a completely non-selective herbicide so obviously cannot be used on a lawn like the auxenics.

[tam91]

Thanks ChrisK, I figured you'd know . I thought that was the case, but thank you for such a thorough explanation. These weeds are probably at least 15 feet from the tomato plants, so I wouldn't expect spray drift (they are smart enough to pick a day that isn't windy).

I understand it's non-selective, but these weeds are not in the lawn so glyphosphate could be used there. If they must spray, I'll try to talk them into glyphosphate.

At the moment, for the closest weeds, I am busily yanking them out before anyone gets around to spraying them. Weeding, my favorite thing (not).

[ChrisK]

Originally Posted by tam91

At the moment, for the closest weeds, I am busily yanking them out before anyone gets around to spraying them. Weeding, my favorite thing (not).

Always the safest!! ;-)

[tam91]

Well I can't weed everywhere there (too large an area), but I sure can weed right next to the garden!

Just curious, how far away do you think 2-4-D can be sprayed and still affect tomato plants? They aren't doing the lawn right around them any more this season, but there are nearby fields...

The herbicide contamination can also be in bags of composted manure- I had it badly 2 years ago, and this year a neighbor put about 8 bags of steer manure in his community garden, and his tomatoes are fatally damaged.

[ChrisK]

I spray our 86 yr old next door neighbor's front lawn with the typical homeowners lawn mix once a year. I have not seen any noticeable damage to our gardens in the backyard. I wont spray it in the backyard because of the potential damage though nor do I spray anything that I want to keep the clippings of (which I have used for years as a mulch). Tomatoes are just incredibly sensitive to auxin and other herbicides.

The lawn mixes may contain herbicides of varying stability. You have to use chemicals (regardless of source) appropriately for the situation.

Originally Posted by tam91

Well I can't weed everywhere there (too large an area), but I sure can weed right next to the garden!

Just curious, how far away do you think 2-4-D can be sprayed and still affect tomato plants? They aren't doing the lawn right around them any more this season, but there are nearby fields...

[b54red]

Most of the plants affected by the herbicide drift are slowly starting to recover; but several still look bad. I hope everyone's plants recover soon.

Bill

[coastal bend]

2-4d can do strange things under certain weather conditions. On calm humid morning where there is a light fog or inversion , if some one is spraying 2-4d the fine mist of the spray will hang in the air and drift with the lite wind. It might land on you garden or skip you and hit your neighbor . There is a Ester 2-4d that as the day warms up it will gas up and drift with the wind. Some times it is hard to tell where it started from. In the farm land have seen it miles down wind from where it was sprayed.

[tam91]

Oh well, nothing I can really do then. Fingers crossed.

Some of my plants have a problem, others don't. They all look nice and green - on the affected ones though, the new growth just looks mutant.

[SIP Gro-Tubs]

Originally Posted by tam91

I understand it's non-selective, but these weeds are not in the lawn so glyphosphate could be used there. If they must spray, I'll try to talk them into glyphosphate.

If you do reccommend it to them, your doing it the wrong way.

Reccomend that they use a Swipe Bar applicator, or a Roller Ball applicator, that way the weed killer is only transferred to the leaves of the plants, and there is no overspray or drift.

Terry Layman

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyphosate
Glyphosate (N-(phosphonomethyl)glycine) is a broad-spectrum systemic herbicide used to kill weeds, especially annual broadleaf weeds and grasses known to compete with commercial crops grown around the globe. It was discovered to be a herbicide by Monsanto chemist John E. Franz in 1970.[3] Monsanto brought it to market in the 1970s under the trade name Roundup, and Monsanto's last commercially relevant United States patent expired in 2000.