Plane spreading unknown substance

Fire ant poison?

Canecutter please let us know what you find out. I live in N.E. Texas and would like to know what they are dropping from aircraft over your property.
Andrew

I strongly suspect you're incorrect
You don't ususally find any weeds in planted pines that age, and even if they were there, they wouldn't hurt anything at all

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Around here the planes spread a powder like substance for gypsy moth.
We live in a 40 acre woods so we get it every year.

It's suppose to be safe for humans, but I try to keep the younger grandchildren inside for a few days after the fly overs.

A couple suggestions. First avoid needless panic. You have no idea what they were spreading so why worry? Small white pellets sure sounds like urea, or 46-0-0 nitrogen fertilizer.

A few questions though.

How big is your place? How far from the target were the pellets landing?

Planes are equipped with gps, and auto shut off now a days, there is little excuse to not being more accurate than that, unless you own like an acre in a 2000 acre forest, then it can be tough. lol

I would find out somehow who was doing the spreading, and find out what it was before you panic. If it is just urea, you will have a lush lawn if you get rains soon. If it is some kind of insecticide and you have bees or something, then get mad all you want.

Someone was worried on here once because they saw one of those sprayer thingys out in the field as they drove to town, and worried they would be getting sick soon. No regard for what the product could be, just immediate panic.

There could be recourse, if they were missing the target badly in this day and age, and it is something less benign than n Fertilizer. If it is urea, and you get a bit of rain, your lawn and any pasture should get a bonus bit of growth. Then you could cut them a check as a thank you. lol

Regard, and hope you find out who did it, and what it was. We are all curious... Never knew they would drop urea on forests...

Sorry, another question. How dense is the pellet distribution, in terms of pellets per square foot? 10? 100? 1000? That would help pinpoint what was being spread to an extent as well, as fertilizers would have vastly different, (higher) densities than other products...

Here in the south stuff like Pendulum 2G water soluble pellets are spread by planes on large pine plantations especially after control burns to reduce emergent weeds. Pine needles generally due a good job but after a burn weeds can take over. Also recently pine needles have been harvested as a commodity more and more so sadly weed control is being used more often.

Not to say that's what it is. It may be a herbicide to get rid of a beetle predator that is overpopulated. I am curious now, and if I lived there would want to know for sure.

~Joe~

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http://www.bugwood.org/fertilization/csoillab.html

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I do believe that is what it is also. And to get all worked up over it just raises a person blood pressure, when it is not really necessary to do that much worrying about.

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Mind control drugs.....it has started!

Nah...it's that dreaded 24d...you know, the stuff they spread/spray on GMO corn that contains DDT!

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Maybe it's 24d so that I may get some briar free Pinestraw for my customers!

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LOL
Around here the deer keep the Greenbriar cut back pretty much

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They have air broadcast to control pine tree beetles in this area before.

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they both seed and fertilize here by air. also hardwood control by air but the hardwood control is a spray. i vote for fertilizer.

I am interested in what your findings are.
Nancy

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I could guess at what it is but if you want to know for sure ask the person or company that owns the forest. or go to the nearist airpoirt or landing strip and ask the pilot. The person or company will be able to tell you who the pilot is and how to find him. It is illegal to apply any type of agent to anybody else property with out consent.

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God must have loved stupid people because he made so many of them.

Broadleaf weed control would have been my first guess, too. We walk down forest trails in our area and often see signs posted around the perimeter of newly-planted clear cut timber tracts. The signs are usually posted by the DNR or USFS stating that the area was recently sprayed with a herbicide for weed control and do not tresspass for the 30 days after the spray date.

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Most broadleaf herbicides are sprays...granular products are not very effective (and its also not very efficient for a plane to fly heavy granular products which contain mostly inert carriers) and some (if granular) have to be applied when the leaf of the target plant is wet. Broadleaf herbicides are not generally applied around trees per the label because dicamba (an ingredient in 3 way products and the one that is systemic) is not safe around trees...especially conifers.

Call the dept of AG. Whoever is applying will have a record of what they are applying and at what rate. It won't take long for the AG inspector to find out for you.

Depending one what the property is...a sign may or may not be posted notifying of what was applied. These signs are not required in rights of ways and some other areas...depends on states.

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without actually knowing where you live... it's almost certainly fertilizer. they don't typically use airplanes for anything but fertilizer and pest control, and they have pretty much stopped doing that here since the state lost its lawsuit for the unnecessary citrus spraying and removal. The state is going to pay $30 million to homeowners for the forced spraying or removal of dooryard citrus. the malthion (spelling?) damaged cars and windows...it was a disaster.
i would contact the property owner if i was worried about it. then remind him or her how unethical it is to overspray on your ORGANIC farm. hehe.
like a previous poster stated, it wasn't mosquito control or ant control, those are always liquid sprays from trucks or backpack sprayers.

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The sky is falling....NOT.
First, call the state agency that handles pesticides (sometimes called Dept. of Environmental Conservation, Dept of Environmental Protection, Department of Natural Resources, etc. They will handle it and will investigate it for you, not EPA.

I was a pesticide inspector in another state in a previous life. Complaints were followed up before any other duties. I once went on a call where some people who were trespassing saw a bunch of bags that had a symbol on them that looked like a "7" so they thought it was bags of Sevin. It was really a lazy "7" and was the logo for a type of lime. Things are not always what they appear to be.
If, in fact, you were sprayed upon they have trespassed whether it was an inert substance or a chemical pesticide (term pesticide includes insecticides, fungicides, herbicides, molluscasides (sp?), etc.). But, find out first or your greatest personal risk will be from a heart attack or stroke because you are getting upset, not necessarily from the substance.