Spraying 2,4-D - Sanity Check

[jeffreyca84]

Personally, as a horse owner, I wouldn't use it on pastures, as 2,4D bioaccumulates. Without knowing what it is that you are trying to suppress it is hard to advise.

If you are having issues with some weeds, I would think about either changing the grazing patterns with electric fence subdivisions in the pastures, or think of having something like a few goats or cows to graze what the horses don't/won't graze. We use cows, and we have a little mustard and the occasional thistle, but nothing else.

I have friends who spread the manure every fall, till it in, and reseed for their horse pastures. Their pastures look awesome, but it is a lot of work and it doesn't work for sloped pastures.

YMMV...

All the best,

Peter

We’re small acreage- not many options

 

[ponytug]

We’re small acreage- not many options

I get it. Good luck.

All the best, Peter

 

[mx1alex]

It’s being used in a horse pasture. I’m boxed in by residential so all that is around me are lawns.

Yes, but what weeds are you trying to kill? That will play a big factor in what you should spray.

 

[daman1]

I usually use a quart and a half to 25 gallons pretty much smokes everything in my lawn

 

[Avenger]

I'm not a fan of spray. Glyphosates and products that contain 2,4-D are heavily over used. Mostly by people that have small plots or lawns. Think suburbia, with a bottle of 2,4-D hanging off the end of their garden hose, killing dandelions and clover in their front lawn. Then moving to the driveway and hosing it down with Roundup.

I'm not a hippy or environmentalist, but I do believe that there should be a mix of plant species. Broadleaf plants are welcome in a pasture. About the only thing that shouldn't be there is thistle.

There are other methods of getting rid of unwanted plant species, like plow it under and plant what you want. Increase ground fertility though the use of practical and sustainable practices. "Weeds" only typically appear in soil that has been damaged.

This is not to say that I never spray. But I use these things as 1) a last resort. 2) Sparingly. and 3) On areas that I plan to remediate anyway.

But you do you. You will, obviously get a ton of advise on here. If you gotta spray, spray. Don't let someone else tell you what you should do on your land.

 

[Ford850]

You don't want to spray when there is no breeze, especially early in the morning. That's more likely to allow the mist to accumulate, drift in a dense ground hugging 'cloud', and do more damage. I think the minimum recommended wind is 3mph.

 

[mx1alex]

You don't want to spray when there is no breeze, especially early in the morning. That's more likely to allow the mist to accumulate, drift in a dense ground hugging 'cloud', and do more damage. I think the minimum recommended wind is 3mph.

For volatile products like 2,4-d and dicamba you want to avoid spraying during a temp inversion which often times is indicated by a lack of wind.

 

[dieselscout80]

I want to build or purchase a rotary weed wiper like this to prevent any drift issues.

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[TheMan419]

Just spraying a horse pasture. I’m land locked by neighbors and their back lawns. There are no vegetable gardens or anything except for grass around me.

im trying to knock down a broadleaf infestation that’s gaining traction.

It will do good for that. Clover is listed on the things that 24D kills. My experience has been it just knocks it back some. We have 18 acres of horse pasture. So I will be spraying 24D this weekend if the weather cooperates.

3MPH may be fast over some horse pasture if it is rough. I would do a dry run and see how fast you are comfortable at. There are apps you can down load that will turn your phone into a speedometer. Then once you know the speed you feel good at back your way into the computations.

21 gal per acre sounds high. I usually see 10 gal per acre.

If you are going to do 21 gal think about doing it in two passes that way you insure good coverage.... although it takes more time to do so.

Also do a "dry" run with the sprayer with just water in it and make sure everything is working before you add the other chemicals.

 

[mx1alex]

It will do good for that. Clover is listed on the things that 24D kills. My experience has been it just knocks it back some. We have 18 acres of horse pasture. So I will be spraying 24D this weekend if the weather cooperates.

3MPH may be fast over some horse pasture if it is rough. I would do a dry run and see how fast you are comfortable at. There are apps you can down load that will turn your phone into a speedometer. Then once you know the speed you feel good at back your way into the computations.

21 gal per acre sounds high. I usually see 10 gal per acre.

If you are going to do 21 gal think about doing it in two passes that way you insure good coverage.... although it takes more time to do so.

Also do a "dry" run with the sprayer with just water in it and make sure everything is working before you add the other chemicals.

I wouldn't consider 21 GPA high but I would consider 10 GPA low. Benefit of higher GPA is more coverage and better results. Lower GPA means more acres covered per tank which if your a big farmer and time is critical then you try to run on the low side but still enough to get a good kill. Some herbicides are systemic (2,4-d is systemic). That means you don't need as good as coverage as you would with a contact herbicide like Liberty or Paraquat because the chemical translocate through the plant to kill it.