More on wide spread herbicide damage

[ATH]

Came across this article - 6 year study looking at impact of herbicides. 99% of monitored sites had damage every year. Some a mile away from any know applications. This is a summary article - has a link to a 20-some page report.

Hidden in Plain Sight: A Summary of 6 Years of Monitoring and Tissue Analysis - Prairie Rivers Network

Herbicide drift — the movement of toxic chemicals through the air to a non-target site — is damaging wild and cultivated plants and trees throughout Illinois, threatening human health, and impairing our ability to adapt to a changing climate. The sources of drift are primarily from Illinois’...

prairierivers.org

I'm seeing a LOT of leaf curl in oaks and redbud this year. Wondering how much of that is caused by herbicides in the rain??? (most likely dicamba maybe 2, 4-d): https://www.dtnpf.com/agriculture/w...020/12/07/four-things-missouri-scientists-2-4 and here: https://www.cambridge.org/core/jour...tive-soybean/F916AC7B7D548CF4D74C8BADD221CD81

Finally, found this article about quick test strips to find dicamba in water: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7771584/ I searched a bit for "lateral flow immunochromatographic strip for dicamba" but couldn't find a source. Anybody know where something like that might be available? I use collected rain water for spraying to treat insects - would like to test that water first.

 

[Frankkytree]

Interesting stuff. How did the study collect rain water? Was it from ground run off? I might’ve missed that in the article. And how do you collect rainwater? We pump water from a lake surrounded by a golf course to water young trees. Kind of curious what a test would show!?
At home I collect some from the roof/ down spout. Plan to add more tanks soon.

 

[ATH]

I reached out to the group who did the study to ask about rain water testing (and a couple of other things). Their main point of contacted responded to let me know the principal researcher would be in touch... so waiting.

I collect rainwater from metal barn roof.

 

[Frankkytree]

Keep us posted! Just curious do you use those mosquito discs to prevent them from laying eggs? I’ve heard in some FB groups the discs don’t affect plants. I use the discs but I’ve never looked into it more.

 

[ATH]

I don't...maybe I should. I've not noticed a lot of mosquitoes. Besides a small opening where the downspout goes into a tile, there's not a lot of opening. One of my helpers used to help a county program with mosquito control so I'll talk with him.

I think most of those discs are a strain of B.t. That would be safe for plants. I do know some are approved for.use in livestock watering troughs...

 

[Frankkytree]

Let me know what your friend says if you could? My rain barrel seems to be a magnet. But a half disc work really well. Feel like it might even help control the population. Ha.

 

[ATH]

Let me know what your friend says if you could? My rain barrel seems to be a magnet. But a half disc work really well. Feel like it might even help control the population. Ha.

His first thought was that its a good idea.

Thinking more about it he said:
*Since we aren't having mosquito problems at the shop, not necessary
*There are other places in the vicinity that would harbor mosquitos not on our property, so we aren't going to impact the local population
*This is late enough in the year to not worry about it

But we'll reconsider next year.

 

[evo]

The mosquito discs generally are BT.. or at least that is my recollection. They never hurt any of our fish or plants growing up.

 

[ATH]

Revisiting the dicamba damage conversation from last year (which apparently, was more of a mosquito discussion...I didn't do the discs in my rain barrels because I got a well, so didn't collect rainwater this year).

I haven't seen nearly as many, nor have I received many calls about curled oak leaves this year. I was thinking about that a few weeks ago, but didn't dwell on it too long. There have been some curled leaves. Some I know were caused by aphids. Others I didn't find aphids. But overall, fewer trees with leaf curl. I have a 20 year old white oak in my own yard that had curled leaves last year and looked really thin...I was, frankly, a little worried about it. Looks great this year.

Today the Dept of Ag inspector came to do a spot inspection of record keeping. After that was all done, we talked a little more...I was planning to confirm that he's also the guy who would inspect off target damage. Anyhow, he asked if I've seen oak tatters and what I thought of that. I told him I'm pretty sure herbicide damage was involved, at least in part. He kinda was thinking the same. Anyhow, he agreed that there is less oak leaf curl this year/has gotten fewer calls.

Obviously a lot of things vary from year to year, so I'm not going to make absolute statements...but I think it quite notable that one thing different from last year: there were dicamba herbicides approved for over-the-top use on soybeans in 2025.

 

[Bart_]

In the old days my grandparents put a drop of oil in the roof rain barrel - tiny rainbow slick, zero mosquitoes. I shied away from the oiled water. Bit of a lost cause as there was a dugout 100 yds away with booming skitter and dragonfly assortment. But at least there wasn't active breeding in the rain barrel.

edit - they didn't have it, used a dipper, but barrel bottom water extraction spigot - no oil!

sorry for the derail

 

[data farm 26]

Herbicide in the rain, that's the stuff of nightmares.