Chemical drift on my property (long...)

I used to farm 1500 acres in Il there are some very strickt laws but its also very spotty about how they are inforced .start with your local farm services office its proably in the book under United States department of Agriculture. try the Us and the state department of ag and in the end a great way to get his attention (but not likely any money) is to file a multi million dollar suit against him.
I feel he has the right to spray just as he has the right to have a dangerours Bull there too but in eitgher case a prudent person would take measures to make sure noone around might be harmed in the case of spraying it means that you dont spray right up to the line!
FYI most herbicides have label restrictions AGAINST being sprayed where they might enter the water stream...THAT MEANS DITCHES!!!

I really can't say who you would contact in your state, but I would start at this url site.

http://www.agr.state.il.us/Environme.../privappl.html

In our state the agriculture extension agent for the county administers the test so he should know as well.

Each state has a slightly different title perhaps. In Minnesota the MPCA would be the place to go. As others say, check with the Extension or FSA office & they will point you right to the right office.

Weeds are a tough deal. We kinda got the easy ones in check. Fighting the tough ones is like fighting back cancer - you rarely can eliminate it, you can only beat it back from time to time. It's not about killing, it's about growing. Those comments seem all twisted..... Just a different perspective.

As to the bees, they travel too much, too far - I still don't understand how it all can work out. As I say, insecticides are a fairly new thing around these parts.

--->Paul

Thank you all so much for your views on this. And thank you, dcross, for relating your story; I really didn’t know that attitude was so common among farmers. I’ve always been bewildered and horrified by green, living plants made brown, dead, and ugly by poison. I have Charles Walters’ (Editor of Acres USA) book, “Weeds, Control Without Poisons”, and he states on page 91, “Farmers who rely on herbicides to control weeds are chemical amateurs who have never made the connection between energy from the sun and the energy requirements of plants according to genus and species”. Also on thistles, “All thistles exhaust their root reserves exactly at the time they are the prettiest (meaning in flower). Mowing at that time is lethal……Poison sprays just kill the tops and never get to the roots…..”

I keep remembering the Bible verse, “I come that you may have LIFE, and have it more abundantly”. Green, living plants, to me, mean life, Mother Nature’s/God’s gift to us. I read once that chlorophyll, the substance that makes plants green, is made from two Greek (I think) words: cholors, meaning green, and phylos, meaning love. From then on, I thought of being surrounded by “green love”….very comforting. Hard to make the jump from spreading poison to getting food off that same land.

And I grant any farmer the right to do whatever he/she wants to do ON THEIR OWN LAND, but when it spreads elsewhere (and poisons all the water in the nation), it just can't be "right". Isn't there an old saying, "The right to swing your fist ends where it meets my face"?

Thistles are tougher than that: If you mow them they will come back, in bloom or not.

Good luck.

“All thistles exhaust their root reserves exactly at the time they are the prettiest (meaning in flower). Mowing at that time is lethal……Poison sprays just kill the tops and never get to the roots…..”


Mowing at that time is helpful, but far short of lethal, and there are several options for killing the roots and tops. But I keep bees, so I LOVE thistles

<<As to the bees, they travel too much, too far - I still don't understand how it all can work out. >>

My understanding is that it's illegal to apply insecticides in a manner that COULD harm foraging bees, or that you need to do what you can to reduce the risk to them as much as reasonably possible. Spray for mosquitos at night, ditto for blooming crops, notify beekeepers beforehand...

"Pesticides hazardous to honey bees have carried a label restriction since the early 1980s. It reads: "[This product] is HAZARDOUS TO BEES exposed to direct treatment or residues on blooming crops an/or blooming weeds. Do not apply [this product] or allow it to drift to blooming crops and/or blooming weeds if bees are foraging the areas to be treated."

http://www.beesource.com/news/article/calltoarms.htm

Mowing Canadian thistles at bloom is as effective at killing them as mowing your lawn is effective at killing the grass. This is the type of thing that really hurts the connection between farmers & couple-acre folks. There is such a total lack of understanding........

As does the improper use of herbicides, as it seems this farm neighbor has done. If he chronicly is spraying during wind-still temp inversions; or during windy conditions that harms your property he should be turned in. That is not the right thing to do, and should not be allowed.

The truth on this one appears to be in the middle somewhere. I'm not sure what is wrong with spraying fence lines; need to keep plants off the fence, it would be his property, fence needs to be maintained. I'm not saying who is right on that part; only that it is confusing to figure out what the issue is from this distance away - an unclear explination of the problem.

If your garden on your property was harmed, that is wrong. However, dicomba or other products can, on hot days & temp inversion, drift 2 miles & hurt sensitive garden plants. It is possible your neighbor did nothing to harm your garden, but the problem came from farther away - someone else. You will need to be clear on when & how the drift occured. As with any issues of property damage, you will need to prove your side of the issue. Most likely the pasture spraying was the problem - but you need to be able to show the wind direction, speed, temps & etc to get some proof behind you is all.

I will spray corn & soybeans within 20 inches of each other with sprays that kill the opposite crop; I have only had 2 times I've hurt the other crop - once was a single row of beans for a couple 100 feet when the corn spray caught a wind gust. The other time my sprayer malfuntioned & put out 3x the pressure it was supposed to, creating micro-fine droplets of spray that drifted across 3 acres of soybeans & cupping the leaves. In both cases it was my own crops that showed the effects, as I am careful to watch wind directions, etc.

As I mentioned, my sis has a small acrage, with bees & her roving garden right next to the crops I plant on her property. And this year she had a 3rd party put in a 1/4 acre of pumpkins for me to go around..... It is a challenge to keep up with wind directions, application timing, and so forth to deal with these little acreages. Garden plants can be so extremely sensitive to some sprays.

I hope you come to some middle ground with your neighbor. He does not sound like he is doing a good job; but then it sounds like you may have some unreasonable ideas from reading a book or 2 as well. Too bad you can't sit down over a few brews & understand where each side is coming from, and the realities (not silly book stories) both of you are facing. Bet you both would learn & understand much better. Walking a mile in the other's shoes and all.

--->Paul

This may be a long shot but usally an understanding between neigbors is the best method of handling problems. Now that the inital hurt to your feelings and garden is done what needs to be done is a heart-filled talk with your neighbor. It seems that you both want something good - a wonderful garden and a pretty fence row/ditch line. If he insist on spraying then ask him with your heart to come to YOUR side of the fence to spray back toward his side or let YOU do it. That way you can be sure that the job of spraying near your garden on his side of the fence is done correctly. Here in TN - I have to take a test in order to get my licence to spray and I have to record what I use, when, and where. You may wish to check if your state has this with the Ag dept. If so, then your neighbor is "required by law" to comply. If there is drift then it can be recorded (by photos or damage) and the law will take over - you will have proof that he over sprayed or sprayed during wind causing drift. Ranting with your neighbor will only cause him to spray with more vigor at your garden - explaining to him that an over abudance of veggies would love to be shared and that drift is causing a problem that between you both could be fixed. I have never had a neighbor that did not want to find a cure for problems - even the "ugliest" of neighbors. Look into organic ways to cure the fence row problem and treat it down your garden, he will not have a reason to spray if there is nothing there to spary....

Can you take your neighbor on a tour of your property to show him or her the damage that you attribute to his or her actions, and ask the neighbor then if he or she has any ideas about how to prevent it happening again or what might have gone wrong that caused it in the first place? Make it a mutual problem solving event rather than a fight? Maybe have a barbeque with it. I'm thinking off the cuff here--

Hey,neighbor, I've had some problems with my plants that I think might have been due to overspray from your farm. I do organics and don't have a lot of experience with chemical issues, so I hoped you could maybe come by with your family for a barbeque dinner saturday evening, we'll walk around my property, figure out if its overspray or something else caused the problem, maybe figure out how to fix the problem together if it is related to spray. I've also got some homebrew to show off that turned out really good... (or whatever)

I dunno. Is that weird? If you were the other guy, would you wanna come for dinner or not?