Maybe later I will post some pics of areas treated with various levels of 24D and Glyphosate. The stuff is great
That was most likelyI like that. WE still have a 1 gallon whiskey jug of "brush killer" that our neighbor gave my dad 60 years ago at least. The neighbor was a tough salt of the earth man who worked his life for the railroad. He gave Dad or Grandpa that jug and said it was brush killer the railroad used on right of ways but was banned by the government. Now I am not sure what it is nor when it was banned but LeRoy retired from the railroad in the 1950's That says something
I have never disputed if it was or was not banned so not sure..................Bill G
Found some info that states that it was banned.
Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) Factsheet
Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) is an insecticide used in agriculture. The United States banned the use of DDT in 1972.
source; https://www.cdc.gov/biomonitoring/DDT_FactSheet.html
It is not hard to claim it though is it? As the oile expression goes "the proof is in the pudding"Kind of hard to follow/enforce the last three if there's undetected/unknown volatilization/drift coming for someone else's farm.
That was mixed with 2,4-D and delivered in orange barrels and widely used to kill vegetation in Vietnam making it more difficult for the North Vietnamese to hide in the jungle.That was most likely
2,4,5-Trichlorophenoxyacetic acid
(also known as 2,4,5-T), a synthetic auxin, is a chlorophenoxy acetic acid herbicide used to defoliate broad-leafed plants. It was developed in the late 1940s and was widely used in the agricultural industry until being phased out, starting in the late 1970s due to toxicity concerns.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2,4,5-Trichlorophenoxyacetic_acid
AGENT ORANGEThat was mixed with 2,4-D and delivered in orange barrels and widely used to kill vegetation in Vietnam making it more difficult for the North Vietnamese to hide in the jungle.
Many veterans are still paying a heavy price for that...
No question about that!.... The sad truth is it is in many times it is the families that are paying the price now. A good deal of those dedicated folks who started as boys and became MEN overnight are now departed. Many of which due to "Agent Orange" That is one of the MANY reasons I am so angered by those who disrespect the folks that allow us to live in the GREAT country we do.
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I will reply to a couple points you bring up. You say pull the weeds out by hand? Well yes that is an option but lets consider a few things. In your flowerbed that is GREAT but how about doing it in a 160 acre field? Now think about the person who is farming 5000 acres. Is this a real solution? Years ago when farming was still on a smaller scale we all cultivated the corn at least once sometimes twice and beans up to three times. A common question was "is your corn laid-by" That term referred to being done cultivating for the year because the corn was to tall. I can tell you the last time I cultivated corn was in May 1991 when my friend was murdered in what is now my pasture. I finished his as that is what he would have wanted..................You know how I kill weeds? I pull them out by hand by the roots. They never come back... but others do occasionally take their place. But, my ground cover of clover and violets are making great progress of choking the other stuff out.
WTH don't farmers use some kind of compatible ground cover? I know they use (used to?) clover as a cover crop, but for the nitrogen, right? Wouldn't the clover choke out other weeds, too?
I agree that most are killed off just before planting but so are all annuals at the end of their growing season. It is the method of killing them off that varies. Depending on what is planted, the winter, the spring, and commodity prices the method of "killing" is different.Yes...cover crops are coming back into more common use. However, they are typically used to "keep the soil alive" during the off season then killed just before planting. They are often winter only plants. If they used clover, for example, for cover crops to keeps weeds down, it also would suppress the crops.
Bill G
Found some info that states that it was banned.
Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) Factsheet
Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) is an insecticide used in agriculture. The United States banned the use of DDT in 1972.
source; https://www.cdc.gov/biomonitoring/DDT_FactSheet.html
Your example is perfectI've been planting oats and winter wheat the last several years for cover crops. If planted early enough the oats get thick the die with the first hard freeze. It leaves a nice mat to keep weeds from germinating till I plow in the spring. It puts organic matter back in the soil and also scavenges any left over fertilizer. I usually bush hog the wheat off and then plow but this year I left it grow because of good wheat prices and will combine it in the next couple weeks. I do cultivate sweet corn but only in dry years to help release moisture. Other crops are cultivated only as needed to control weeds. I do use some herbicides to help prevent weeds from overtaking any of the crops.
Excellent post!Actually, if you look it up, that isn't really correct. What was banned was the registration, which means that the product was no longer available for sale.
"An end to the continued domestic usage of the pesticide was decreed on June 14, 1972, when William D. Ruckelshaus, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, issued an order finally cancelling nearly all remaining Federal registrations of DDT products. Public health, quarantine, and a few minor crop uses were excepted, as well as export of the material."This is typically how the US government "bans" a product. They don't make it illegal to use, they just prohibit the manufacture and sale. If they straight up banned the use of a product, they would have to take possesion of all the sold products, they would have to pay for the legal disposal of banned products, and they would have to re-imburse the manufacturers and distributors for their un-sold products. And... They would have to confront the legal issue of prosecuting anyone that properly used the product according to the label.
So! If you bought it legally, you can still use it.
Nice dog.This is a couple pics of some triticale and peas planted as a cover crop in one my fields. The picture was taken in mid April. You can see the electric wire present for grazingView attachment 995204View attachment 995205
He is my true buddy. Sleeping at my feet as I type trying to tell me it is time to go to bed. He was a "rescue: that spent a portion of his life on the street then shipped from one no kill shelter to another. I had been searching long and far for a new companion after losing the last one along with my beloved wife leaving with the other. That doggie is also now in heaven.Nice dog.