2,4-D

[Egon]

Bird, I had a similar experience with our lawn a few years ago. Maybe a different product but brown was the result!

Uhh, we now have a very nice lawn. Almost no unwanted plant growth, thick, heavy and nice and green.

Following the advice of a neighbour I added lots of lime, lots of fertilizer and over seeded. Then I hand weeded as required and mowed with the lawn mower set at the highest level.

We now get compliments on he lawn!

 

[Bird]

Egon, since I just spot sprayed, most of my lawn is growing just fine. I did apply a little fertilizer 4 days ago, watered just a little bit, then watered a little bit again yesterday morning. There was no rain in the forecast, but early this morning I got about .43" of rain. By 1 p.m., everything was dry enough that I mowed, edged, and trimmed. I'm having to mow every 4 to 5 days. From the street our yard looks good, but up close I don't like those brown areas that I sprayed. I'm sure I just applied to heavy a dose of the 2, 4-D.

 

[Egon]

Ahh - I made a complete brown patch of ground where the lawn used to exist.

Anyways all is well now as the lawn is better than it was before!

 

[RonMar]

Egon, since I just spot sprayed, most of my lawn is growing just fine. I did apply a little fertilizer 4 days ago, watered just a little bit, then watered a little bit again yesterday morning. There was no rain in the forecast, but early this morning I got about .43" of rain. By 1 p.m., everything was dry enough that I mowed, edged, and trimmed. I'm having to mow every 4 to 5 days. From the street our yard looks good, but up close I don't like those brown areas that I sprayed. I'm sure I just applied to heavy a dose of the 2, 4-D.

1.5OZ/gallon would be a better mix IMO. That is just about what I use(8OZ/5GAL), and like I said, a little bit goes a long way. On a good warm day, a light mist onto the broadleaf plants and they are curling by late afternoon or the next morning.

 

[Bird]

I obviously used too much; I wanted to be sure the stuff I wanted killed was good and wet; and it was.

 

[john_bud]

I obviously used too much; I wanted to be sure the stuff I wanted killed was good and wet; and it was.

You're mix wasn't too far off, I think your application quantity was way way way off. All you need is enough to just barely wet the leaf. That's it, move along. Many issues come about by good meaning people that mix a gallon and then use a gallon when they only have weeds for a pint of mix!

By the way, weed b gone used to be 2,4D didn't it?

jb

 

[Bird]

Heck, no, I didn't use a gallon, John. I used TWO gallons. And I don't remember what the active ingredient was in the Weed-B-Gon.

 

[Mike120]

Intresting thread....In my part of Texas, 2,4,D is a controlled chemical which means that you have to show your applicator's license to buy it and the purchase is recorded. I'm also supposed to get a spray permit to apply it because of the county I'm in. Having said that, I picked up a couple of 2 1/2 gal. jugs of PasturePro (2,4,D) at Tractor Supply a few weeks back and had to show my license. At the next counter, a guy was buying 10 quarts of the stuff, which you can do without a license because they were in quart containers...go figure!

Just a point about calibrating and spraying. Before you spray a field it's a good idea to run over it with a full tank to see how fast you can really go. You can always change nozzles to match that speed. With 2,4,D the most you want to put down is around 4 pints per acre. However, most broadleaf weeds will die from half that amount.

 

[Bird]

Mike, I didn't know it was regulated that way. Does it also come in different strengths? I know I used to buy gallon jugs of Diazinon at the farmers co-op that was not only cheaper, but also twice as concentrated as the quart bottles you could get at Walmart and other places. It was my understanding that you were supposed to have an applicator's license, but they never once asked me for one.

Of course, I just bought a quart of this 2,4-D at an Ace Hardware store and it shows to be 46.4% strength. The only reason I bought it was because I was there for something else and just happened to notice it as I walking by and had read so much about it here on TBN and a brother had told me about using it in Washington state every year.

 

[EastTexFrank]

Mike, I didn't know it was regulated that way. Does it also come in different strengths? I know I used to buy gallon jugs of Diazinon at the farmers co-op that was not only cheaper, but also twice as concentrated as the quart bottles you could get at Walmart and other places. It was my understanding that you were supposed to have an applicator's license, but they never once asked me for one.

Of course, I just bought a quart of this 2,4-D at an Ace Hardware store and it shows to be 46.4% strength. The only reason I bought it was because I was there for something else and just happened to notice it as I walking by and had read so much about it here on TBN and a brother had told me about using it in Washington state every year.

Bird, I don't have any Weed-Be-Gone on hand but I'm positive it's main ingredient is 2-4-D with dicamba and mecoprop (I think). The latter two just increase the spectrum of the weeds killed. In Texas, if you but 2-4-D in a container larger than 1 quart, you need an applicator's license. You can buy 10 x 1qt containers and that's OK but you can't buy a 2-1/2 gallon jug without a license. I don't know who came up with that one.

2oz of 2-4-D in a gallon should not be too powerful for spot spraying on lawns but sometimes St Augustine can be susceptible to "brown-off" and it can kill it if soaked. Some people recommend Atrazine for St Augustine lawns for that reason although I don't think it's nearly as good.

It's a long time since I did the research on 2-4-D but it is sold in two forms, a volatile ester and an amine. I think that there is a low volatile ester form sold also. You will need to check this but I think the ester form is more prone to drift, not just as a spray, but also as a released vapor which can possibly cause more damage to nearby desirable plants. Please check that and don't take my word for it. As I said, it's been a long time.

Calibrating your sprayer is a good idea, if for no other reason that it gives you a ballpark idea of what concentration to mix. Texas A&M Ag Extension webite gives a good method for doing it. TSC also has a leaflet produced by Gordon's which does the same thing. The most important thing in calibrating and spraying is keeping a constant groundspeed and that is not the easiest of things to do. I tend to mix herbicides in the middle of the recommended range and that gives me a little leeway as far as variations in groundspeed is concerned. I'm not particularly interested if the weeds drop dead on the spot or take a few days to die ... as long as they die.