Spraying roadside brush. Questions

I bought a one gallon jug of brush killer which looks mostly to have 2,4D type components in it. Wanting to have someone drive the tractor and sprayer along the road while I soak misc. brushy species and small trees. Jug label talks about percentage of solution in the jug to water in the tank. Looks like one jug might make 100 gals up to 200 gallons. This is just the farm store type brush killer - can't remember if it was Gordons brand??? Cost about $44 per gallon. Anyone have experience spraying brush in road ditches? Just planning on wetting down the entire plant.

More like 1 gal 24d to 40 gals water.You can buy good herbicide from dealer in bulk for less than 30 per gal.

Follow the directions on the label. If you don't have the label, enter the name of herbicide+label, on google search...

Yup, us farmers need to understand and follow the law, my county at least does spot checks and I don't mind, we need to be careful with this stuff. These herbicides are valuable tools, need to be used responsibly. We need to record some info on what we are spraying and keep records for 2 years on some of the products.....

Without knowing what you bought, really can't help you much. I'd be in trouble of I didnt know what product I had, and what rates to use. It is on the label, but many times there is a whole lot of info in a small space and it overlaps different uses and ways of spraying, so can be confusing. They especially have a hard time specifying what to do with a hand sprayer, as no one ever really knows the amount of spray coming out, one sprayer and one person to the next......

I'm not trying to be a smartalec, just saying those of us on the farm are required to be much more careful with this stuff than the average homeowner. On the farm we cannot have such a casual attitude about it.

If you can give the label name, and the EPA # of the product we can pull up a label for you and walk you through it. These generic products can come in different strengths, so would not be wise of us to just guess at what you have......

Paul

Don't know where you live but neighbors can be a problem with road side spraying if they are big time environmentalists - even if you are doing it legally and following all the rules.

There's a lot to learn when spraying, but a lot of it is common sense.

When spraying, the mix rate will depend on your application rate and what you're trying to kill.

For instance, if you're going to soak the plant, your mix rate can be weaker because you're application rate is high.

If you're using a a boom & tank sprayer on your tractor or pulled behind your tractor, the amount you get on the plant will be much less, so your mix will need to be stronger.

Be careful with the chemical. Be sure to wear rubber gloves when handling the chemical. Since it sounds like you're going to be walking, wear rubber boots and tuck your pant legs inside the boots. Wear eye protection. Take some soap and a gallon of clean water with you just in case you get some on you and need to wash it off. Be aware of wind direction and try to spay so you don't get any drift on you or breathe it.

Always read the label. All of it. As our ag agent told us, the manufacturer spent millions of dollars determining the appropriate mix rates, so use them. The label will also tell you any long term issues that might result.

Triple rinse any empty chemical containers and puncture so they can't be re-used (required in Tx). Disposal method for empty containers can also be regulated.

Another reason to read the label is some chemicals can stay in the ground for long periods and can be prohibited for use in areas where they might contaminate ground water through run off after a rain.

These chemicals are a good tool, but we need to use them wisely.

Be sure you keep a record of what you sprayed, where you sprayed it, the application rate, mix rate, start time and when you stopped. Also, go to any weather site on the internet (weather.com) and print out a weather report that shows the weather conditions - temp, wind speed and wind direction.

Here in Tx. we are required to have that info on hand in case we are audited. Don't know if its required where you are, but doesn't hurt to have it.

Hope this helps.

Why not use the herbicide in a responsible manner? ie- use a boom, calibrate, mix according to label directions, and drive thru the ditch. Instead of selectively "soaking" the plant. Going beyond label rates doesn"t kill it twice.

I have sprayed road side ditches for decades. I do it myself. Drive tractor hold spray gun in other hand.
I spray at 400 Psi with Spraying Systems model 43 gunjet.
Current brew is Crossbow at 1 gallon with 100 gallon of water and 1 gallon of crop oil. Have had varing results using 24d formulations.
I spray on a dead still evening or a very slight breeze in my favor.
This works in my situation with no tall trees or brush.
Be careful and think ahead.

My company sprays roadside turf and roadside brush for municipalities throughout the Southeast. The best, wide spectrum mix we have found for brush and "side-trimming" is 3 quarts of Tryclopyr 3 and 2 Quarts of Tryclopyr 4 per 100 gallons of water. We use a drift control agent and Methylated seed oil as a surfactant. Our spray system is a mix of about a dozen nozzles, that control the width of spray from 2" to 30" We treat at about 12mph from the pavement or gravel edge up 12" on the vertical wall of brush. This ends up being approximately 60 G.P.A. We get a good kill on broadleaf weeds and most species of brush. If the mixture covers an entire small tree, it kills it, otherwise it just kills the limbs encroaching the roadway. It yellows the grass a little but it recovers quickly. hope this helps.