Which surfactant?

[greendoctor]

Not worth having to find another line of work either. I do not have the deep pockets of Dole or Del Monte to pay restitution to people affected by drift damage.

A sprinkler nozzle still drifts if it is windy. Not worth taking chances.

[Think Green]

I am sorry for high jacking this thread but I can't agree more for drift mismanagement.
I would like to start protesting the use of Flyboy technology when it comes to crop issues. Being in a area 90% rice, soybean, corn and peanuts, these cads will and do not obey by the same laws we do. I have been to several townships where the drift is causing major issues with trees and shrubbery. You cant prove anything but you can sure tell burn from airplane spraying. I can tell that in the fall uses of defoliants on cotton causes problems. I know of several instances where planes dump out refuse cargo while flying to the dock in the evening hours. Who is going to confess to doing such a thing?? This whole thing of being too legit is getting to my brain. If we small potato lawn sprayers are to blame for all the worlds problems, then some members need to think again. There is more going on outside the box to be fair. Products aren't being taken away by our misuse.........it is from other sources more wealthier than we are.

[greendoctor]

Thankfully, the DOA in Hawaii gives big AG a hard time. They are the ones spraying during hazardous conditions and allowing drift onto non target areas. Runoff from their applications has smoked people's flower beds and fruit trees more than once. You do not apply Velpar next to an orange tree or allow RoundUp to drift from a field of RoundUp ready crops. The spills from centralized mixing and loading sites means that there is simazine, Hyvar, 2.4-D and atrazine in the ground water. You cannot tell me that all of that came from IVM applications done on a very restrained basis.

[Skipster]

Originally Posted by green_man

Skipster, please elaborate. This would be totally impractical unless I am misunderstanding you. Momentum FX2 label, for example, lists no such restrictions, and as we all know, the label is the law.

All phenoxy herbicides (2,4-D, MCPP, MCPA) had label changes in 2010 as part of the EPA's re-registration program. You may have some old label product, from which it would be OK to spray under the old label directions.

However, in the new label (effective March 2010), under the Spray Drift Management section, it reads:

Wind Speed
Do not apply at wind speeds greater than 15 mph. Only apply this product if the wind direction favors on-target deposition and there are not sensitive areas (including, but not limited to, residential areas, bodies of water, known habitat for nontarget species, nontarget crops) within 250 feet downwind.

Link here:

http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/chem_s...7-20100308.pdf

Sure, this makes the product hard to use, but that's what EPA wants! They don't care that farmers misuse this stuff more than we do! Farmers grow food -- we don't! They only see LCOs misapplying this stuff to an unnecessary amenity. They only care about the Sierra Club and the three Fs -- Food, Fuel, and Fiber.

By not understanding the laws and applying pesticides without regard to labels, the hillbillies in this industry are driving EPA to put in place rules that make things like Momentum FX2 VERY hard to use!

If you don't want EPA to look at you like a hillbilly, you need to show them you're not one! How many readers here are taking part on PLANET's Legislative Day on the Hill this year? How often do you talk to your state lawmakers? How often do you hold scientific and regulatory meetings with the turf scientists in your state and with your suppliers (not distributors)?

If you're not doing these things, you're part of the problem, not part of the solution

[greendoctor]

This is why I insist on fixed output nozzles attached to regulated hand pieces. The DOA knows I use this type of equipment. They also know that I am not the operator waving a spray wand when it is blowing 25 MPH. It has become my mission to educate other operators in the state about drift and appropriate equipment to reduce drift. I know lots of people are shocked at my utilization of 2,4-D ester and Banvel on lawns. But, under no circumstances does the application become a problem to surrounding vegetation or anything down wind. Most of you would cry if you had to spray the kinds of lawns I spray. There are hedges and flower beds right up to the lawns, as well as fruit trees planted in the middles of the lawns. Using equipment that shoots the product up in the air in a wide swath from a single nozzle or swinging a gun that flicks droplets left and right from waist height is just too risky for me. Up until 2006. there was a virtual ban on 2,4-D in my state. What cracked it was when DuPont, Monsanto and Syngenta moved their seed corn production and research to Hawaii. I would hate to see a ban on that. But 2,4-D is not the worst thing I can think of. I fear the sulfonylurea herbicides more. Milligram quantities are all it takes to damage non target vegetation. My rules when those products are applied to lawns is no clippings leave the site. If that rule were observed for Confront and Lontrel, they would still be usable on residential lawns.

[Shegardi]

Originally Posted by greendoctor

Not worth having to find another line of work either. I do not have the deep pockets of Dole or Del Monte to pay restitution to people affected by drift damage.

A sprinkler nozzle still drifts if it is windy. Not worth taking chances.

Or the deep pockets of Dupont and their mistakes with Imprelis

[Think Green]

Skipster,
You make a great point of view. We all need to become more aware of the issues, but most of us are so busy.............we don't have the time to speak to these individuals. I attend the same seminars that all Licensed LCO's in my State does. In fact, we all are being misled if not brain washed by some sort of entity.
I agree with your philosophy 100% but it isn't a reality for me to go this deep.

BTW--Thanks for the hillbilly pun...............it is quite humorous and a little harsh.
Sorry to go but I am reading the Harbinger!!!!