Neighbors Spraying Yard

[BrianSkilton]

Well the weather has finally got nice enough for me to plant some stuff, I was going to plant some stuff today, but I noticed my nieghbors were spraying their acre yard for dandy lions. They have a ton of dandy lions in their yard. Anyway, we have a fierce south wind today and all of that spray is blowing across onto my garden, should I be concerned? there is no fence up between our yards. They pretty much picked the windiest day we have had this spring. I am pretty sure that toxic stuff blew onto my strawberry bed, because it is very close to the edge of my lot. Should I be worried with that stuff on my soil, I haven't planted anything yet, but my strawberries. I just wish the nieghbors would have let me know they were spraying so I could have covered up my garden.

[The Helpful Gardener]

This is difficult, Brian...

First of all, one of the key things you learn in applicators classes is not to spray ANYTHING on windy days; drift IS an issue for downwinders, so I needn't ask if they were using things responsibly, they were just using it...

Hard to to bring up with neighbors, but there are ways; I let mine know I am going to be spraying fish or such tnings one, because they will notice the immediate effect (which is gone by the next day) and two, because it allows me to ask for reciprocal notice without seeming to be a stugats about it...it is simply proper stiquette and good neighboring to tell the next door neighbors or at least the downwind neighbor you will be applying ANYTHING that might be an issue...


Sorry to hear Brian; can't say whether contamination is or isn't an issue without some pretty expensive testing, but I'd try and find a way to start that conversation over the fence before the next fogging...

HG
HG

[BrianSkilton]

I was watching the guy spray the whole time while he stood riding his little spraying device. At first I saw the truck and I'm thinking there is no way they are spraying today in this wind (blowing from the south to the north). He came close to my strawberry bed once then he saw me so the next time he didn't come so close, he got extremely close to one of my raised beds however, luckly I haven't even filled it all the way with dirt/compost yet. Anyway I'm sure it would take a lot of the stuff to make an impact. I went out their to feel the grass to see if I could feel any wetness, I couldn't. I don't know overall it was just very inconsiderate especially knowing I don't even have a wooden fence in fact no fence.

[The Helpful Gardener]

Oh, this was a company applicating? Now you have recourse...

IF you have the name of the company, contact them and tell them you want to be on a 24 hour notice before use of any sprays. Connnecticut has a list at DEP of 24 hour notice that is part of our law; if you spray without consulting the list and making the call, the applicator is liable. You cannot stop the spraying, but you can at least prepare.

I would mention the drifting incident, and I would track the date and get the weather record for that date. If it is homeowner vs. homeowner it ventures into murky legal ground I cannot speak to here. But you have inate protections from commercial applicators, and you should utilize them. They have already showed bad judgement once...

I bet I could get the name right in two tries, huh?

HG

[rootsy]

If they were going for the dandilions it most likely contained 2-4-D with some dicamba... Won't hurt your "yard" grass but it;ll kill the broadleaf and some invasive grass plants in the yard...

Drift can be dangerous to surrounding plants.. This becomes an even greater concern when you begin dealing with RUPs...

I advise you to keep an eye on your plants that may have been subjected to application by drift. 24 - 48 hours should show clear signs of contamination... If they begin to show signs of "death" I'd be contacting the company that applied the chemical for they are responsible in most states.

[The Helpful Gardener]

Rootsy as this was a food crop there are other considerations as well... if there was dicamba, it is a PAN bad actor chemical for a lot of reasons...

Toxicity to humans, including carcinogenicity, reproductive and developmental toxicity, neurotoxicity, and acute toxicity.

http://www.pesticideinfo.org/Detail_Chemical.jsp?Rec_Id=PC32871

ilo.org

2,4,D is also still an issue as they have only really looked at the intact chemical and there is evidence that the breakdown compounds may be really dangerous, producing dioxins ( I quote, "amine and ester products may have measurable levels of some forms of dioxin")

http://pmep.cce.cornell.edu/profiles/extoxnet/24d-captan/24d-ext.html

and dioxin is nothing to mess with...

http://www.ejnet.org/dioxin/

I don't want to be alarmist but we should know what we are dealing with here; it ain't eau de cologne and it may well be a noxious and nasty chemical with long term harm to both personal and environmental health (this stuff is h*ll on wheels for aquatic organisms). Brian can try to find out what they were using that day; his attourney's general office might even want to help him find out, but it is either that or shrug and hope that it was nothing bad...

That's Brian's decision...

HG

[rootsy]

As a licensed applicator (so I can purchase RUP) I am pretty well versed in much of this. I was responding on a purely "plant death" possibility scale.

If concerned call the company and ask what they put down and in what concentrations...

[BrianSkilton]

The companies name was scotts lawncare, thats what it said on the truck. I will keep an eye on the strawberry plants, so far they look fine...but who knows. He also sprayed around their house with something not sure what that was. I will probably call the company and see what they where using.

[Gary350]

It is too bad we all have to put up with neighbors and the things they do. One day I notice the neighbor has a painting service spraying their fence with white paint. I ran out and told the guy not to spray in my direction I don't want that paint on my vegatables. He just acted like I was invisible and kept spraying. I hooked up 2 lawn sprinklers in the garden and made sure the water sprayed on the fence so it would wash off the water base white paint. When the painter yelled at me I acted like he was invisible too, then I went into the house. The guy packed up his stuff and left. The next day when I came home from work my garden was white. They had sprayed while I was at work. My wife called the neighbors on the phone and complained they acted like we were the problem, why on earth would anyone plant a garden when you can buy vegatables in the grocery store, real snooty attitude. I picked about a bushel basket of white tomatoes and a bushel basket of white green beans and a few other white items and threw them all over the fence into their swimming pool. I threw some of the tomatoes at the side of their house, back porch and patio. They never said one word about it, they acted like it never happened.

[BrianSkilton]

Wow Gary that would really get me going if that had happended. Talk about no consideration. People like that need to get a life! We all grow vegtables cause the produce at the grocery store is very bland.

[cynthia_h]

My wife called the neighbors on the phone and complained they acted like we were the problem, why on earth would anyone plant a garden when you can buy vegatables in the grocery store....

It would be interesting to know whether these benighted neighbors think the same way now that produce prices are up and jobs/salaries are down, and the food-safety recalls the past couple of years, some of which even involved fresh produce! (E.g., spinach, hot peppers, strawberries.) And, of course, the questions which many people have about genetic engineering, chemically grown produce with pesticide residues, you name it...

It's hard to imagine someone so out of it as to OBJECT to someone ELSE gardening, as these folks did.

Cynthia H.
Sunset Zone 17, USDA Zone 9

[farmers tan]

You should still be fine to plant the garden. The seeds won't germinate for a couple of days and that will be ample time for the chemical to become too diluted to have any effect. If you are worried about it still, you can water your plots and it will dillute the chemical (most likely 2-4-D and another broadleaf herbicicide) enough for it to become ineffective. The chemical they were spraying around the foundation of the house was most likely for bugs. If there are flowers or other broadleaf plants around the house, they will be killed by 2-4-D. The strawberries will be effected because most herbicides will kill broadleaf plants and strawberries are weak plants as it is. If you don't want the fight with the neighbor, you can start a sprinkler going around the areas where they will be spraying and that will wash the chemical off the plants and will dilute it enough you won't be effected. Good luck!

[The Helpful Gardener]

I agree with Farmerstan about the insect thing, but have worked with some ex-Scott's employees and know what they use and stand by my last post. FT is likely right, but are you a gambler or not, that's the question...

And frankly I would get Scott's to pay for the testing...

HG