Boy did I scew up

moellermd

moellermd

Super Moderator
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So here is a photo of some bare root Red Twig Dogwoods I planted last year.
The two plants on the left are about 3-4 foot tall and two feet across. Unfortunately they are the only survivors of about 40 plants. This spring I mixed 2oz of Plateau in and hand sprayer and sprayed around the base of the Dogwoods. The dogwood on the right is what I ended up with. Nothing but a stick.

The question is what do I do now. I have given up on them recovering and what to replant. How long do I have to wait for the effects of the Plateau in the soil to reside? The lable says some crops need up to 48 months prior to planting in ground sprayed with Plateau. :eek:
 
Mike, you've found one of my weak points. I work on a wildlife area (18 years now here) that is grassed well and I've planted very little grass since Plateau came out and have never used it personally. You will want to read the label to find out the replant threshold. I would guess it wasn't labeled for the use you tried. Roundup would have worked as long as you didn't get any on the plant. As expensive as Plateau is, it would have paid to install some weed barrier. I used to use a chemical on my tree plantings before weed barrier came out that was mostly for grasses. Danged if I can get the name to pop up in my rusty old brain. If it occurs to me, I'll come back and spit it out for you. Sorry! When I was at Norton, I had 2 counties that I did private land work in above and beyond my managing 3 wildlife areas. I was planting 26,000 trees and 200-300 acres of grass per year then. Put in a lot of 95-115 hour weeks in the spring then. That was before we knew what we know about cedars on the prairie. Wish I could undo a lot of those plantings!
 
Plateau is labeled for up to 12oz an acre for spraying around dogwoods. For spot spraying they recommend up to 1.9 oz per gallon. I clearly sprayed too heavy of a concentration. :mad: I have used Roundup in the past around trees and should have stuck with that. I was hoping for more of a residual effect. The half life is 120 days in the soil. I am thinking I might try to replant in the spring and hope for the best. Lesson learned I guess.
 
That'll probably get you by. Still trying to remember that chemical. I know it's still in my head. Trying too hard I guess. Can't get past Simazine and I know that's not it. What weeds were you having problems with?
 
Prairie Drifter said:
That'll probably get you by. Still trying to remember that chemical. I know it's still in my head. Trying too hard I guess. Can't get past Simazine and I know that's not it. What weeds were you having problems with?
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Is it Princep? That's what our CD recommends and uses to control weeds in the holes around trees in fabric. They like to spray in fall when leaves have dropped and they can go right over the whole thing.

Was thinking of using it on my latest planting as the weeds in the fabric hole seem to really wrestle with the trees. But thats how my neighbor raises trees is he just lets then come up with weeds in them like a nurse crop.
 
HA!!! Brain spit it out!!! Look at a Treflan label and see if it will fit your weed prescription. I used it the last 2 years that I planted trees. The next year they came out with the weed barrier material and it was much more effective. I was in NW Kansas then and moisture issues were critical to growing newly planted tree sites. The weed barrier really helped.
 
Atrazine is kind of a dirty word with some people. It has been a ground water contaminant in a lot of places and can be a problem where mobile and close to ground water. However, like most chemicals it has it's place. I inherited Norton wildlife area and the whole thing had been planted to brome in the 1960's when the BOR bought it for building a flood control reservoir. Brome doesn't do well in western Kansas and isn't a good wildlife cover either. To expedite habitat development, I sprayed 675 acres of brome with Atrazine and "released" the native warm season grasses that were invading it. Within 2 years I was killing roosters where I could count the meadowlarks from the road before. I then used high intensity grazing to give the native a competitive edge on most of the rest of the area. Worked like a charm and I had people paying me to improve my own habitat. Yes, there is a perfect practice for you to use next time. You have several to evaluate here. Does dogwood not run rampant up there? It's another thing I'd like to be rid of here. We have the rough leafed variety here.
 
Well maybe I am not so brain dead. I talked with the BASF Plateau rep today. He indicated that he has had several calls about dogwoods dying in ornamental and CRP plantings this year. They are currently "evaluating" the situation.
 
PD, I was not aware that I could used atrazine over tops of trees in their dormant cycle.

Here is the issue: I plant trees typically in 5 rows and with fabric but as the trees establish where the holes are cut in fabric some grasses and weeds come up and put a choke hold on some trees. I am thinking of going over the top of tree with one spray nozzle and atrazine to keep the holes clean and release the trees. This would be done in dormany season of late fall or early spring.

What do you think?

My other thought is these weeds can also act as a nurse crop and buffer against winter kill and trap snow for spring moisture????
 
UGUIDE said:
I assumed it was the same and atrazine could be used in its place if there was no environmental issues, etc.
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My understanding is that atrazine is much more potent. In MI at least atrazine is a RUP, while simazine isn't.
 
I had problems with dogwoods yers ago. Mostly the rabbits and deer were hard on them, but it was wet and they just did not seem to get going in east central SD. I JUST WONDER IF THEY ARE MADE FOR THIS COUNTRY AS A CONSERVATION/TREEBELT PLANTING.
 
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