chemical advice

[treeslayer]

HO has a couple of 30' maples, (12"-14" dbh) in his front yard, one (a silver) died rapidly over about 3 weeks, the other, (a norway) is on the way out. Here's what the lawn people claim they did.

"On the Early Spring service, we applied CoolPower Weed Control and Prodiamine.43% Crabgrass Control.
On the Late Spring Service we applied Trimec 637 Weed Control and 32-0-10 Fertilizer. We also applied Merit .5 G for the Grub Control Application.
Last fall I did apply a deep Root feeding to the trees you are concerned with. We applied 18-3-6 w/coron."

any chance this contributed? no visible signs otherwise.

 

[treemandan]

####! It sounds like WE are lucky WE are still alive after all that! Earth, a nice place to visit but don't drink the water.

 

[Walt41]

My money is on the jack bag that mixed the weed control, too many ignorant people mix it stronger than it needs to be and then it leaches to the roots and kills everything, I agree with Dan, don't drink the water! A soil analysis will tell you what happened.

 

[treemandan]

My money is on the jack bag that mixed the weed control, too many ignorant people mix it stronger than it needs to be and then it leaches to the roots and kills everything, I agree with Dan, don't drink the water! A soil analysis will tell you what happened.

Better call the hazmat crew in fer that.

 

[treeslayer]

My money is on the jack bag that mixed the weed control, too many ignorant people mix it stronger than it needs to be and then it leaches to the roots and kills everything, I agree with Dan, don't drink the water! A soil analysis will tell you what happened.

soil anaylsis sounds neccessary, who does it?

 

[Tree Pig]

soil anaylsis sounds neccessary, who does it?

for us we have Uconn which has an agricultural section at the college and will test soil samples for a small fee. See if one of the local schools has a lab that does it?

 

[jefflovstrom]

soil anaylsis sounds neccessary, who does it?

Dave, I see this kinda stuff a lot. Cover all the bases. Do a basic test yourself on ph, acid, and alky. When you find a guy to do the soil test, (used to be the local county ag guy and he would send them to UCRiverside. Budget cuts stopped that), He will take the samples or tell you where to take the sample's from.
Ignore Dan the 'Heckler;.
Jeff, (call me tomorrow).:smile2:

 

[Walt41]

soil anaylsis sounds neccessary, who does it?

I have been down this road before, what you want to do is get two samples, one at surface and one at root depth. Have the samples tested at your local cooperative extension service or thru a local university.....do not call the DEC....do not call the DEC, I should mention to not call the DEC because they are in the business of making mountains out of dog piles, I would also use a different address if the tester wants to know where it came from, I always use my brother in laws as the address the sample came from just in case it is really bad and they want to quarantine the area...

 

[treeslayer]

i got it covered, and THE DAN only makes posting here worthwhile .

 

[jefflovstrom]

What ever.
Jeff

 

[2treeornot2tree]

I use cool power myself. It will smoke shrubs if its too hot when you apply it. I dont know what the name of the chemical was, but it was used for lawn treatments but it would smoke all pines.

 

[limbwalker54]

So these are the ones you were asking me about the other day, Dave. The mix you mentioned I guess you didn't find out until afterword. Certainly that could have affected the trees if mixed improperly.

Remember, fertilizer, while we are on the subject, is a growth regulator. Promoting vigor, it will increase tree health, but overall slow down its growth. If the mix was applied after a deep root feeding to the trees, the associated herbicides, which are growth regulators, might have "double whammied" the trees into a spiral of decline they cannot recover from.

Abiotic factors always play a big role in the diagnosis. I am glad you posted this. I would rule out the verticillium wilt we had discussed before. Text messages are not the best media for tree diagnosis.

 

[Kottonwood]

I have ran into a similar issue. We planted five trees for a customer last year. We have replaced them all once already and are about to do it again. I warranty all my trees so it is all on my dime too. I don't lose many trees.... in fact I have never lost one other than on that property.

I am suspecting someone using "weed killer". Either the lawn guys or the HOA spraying the sidewalk or something. I took some samples yesterday and planned on sending it to CSU our local coop lab. I have used CSU a few times for fert prescriptions.... however it turns out they will not test for pesticides or herbicides. I need to send this soil somewhere. Any suggestions on where?

 

[pdqdl]

Your average soil sample does not test for herbicides at all. Generally, they are useless to detect lawn application errors, except that they reliably catch over-fertilization.

You can order herbicide tests, but they are generally big bucks, and they may not detect at all the herbicide that is causing your problem.

I use Midwest Laboratories for basic soil tests; I have never ordered herbicide testing.

Here is the link to their gas chromatography page: https://www.midwestlabs.com/content/view/69/215/

They are pretty good about answering the phone. If you want to know what test might work for you, just call them.

 

[2treeornot2tree]

Here in the lancaster area, i use agri anlysis. Idk if they will test for herbisides though. There number is717 656 9326

 

[sgreanbeans]

I wonder about cross contamination. We have alot of company's that spray all kinds of chemicals, but only have one tank. I suspect that the kid with the list of 50 property's a day, doesn't spend much time properly cleaning the tank to switch from one to another. The other thing I notice, the guy with the actual applicators license is not out there, same kid with his cell phone glued to his head is, not paying attention to what he is doing. I would bet on some operator error. I remove several trees a year that have been "fertilized" or "treated" by either another tree service or a landscraper. Plus, ya gotta love "shoot from the hip" diagnosis, guys running around giving specific treatments with out doing a test themselves, to make sure that they are treating the right thing. I swear they call every disease out there Anthracnose.

 

[treeslayer]

thanks for all the good info guys......I'm headedc over there now to start pruning everything else.
the maples are going to be discussed, and this guy has enough money to sue everybody but me..........:msp_scared:

keep ya posted.