Farmer spraying something thats killkng my trees

Lipbalmpam

I wonder can anybody help.

This year and last the farmer who owns the field wrapping around our house, sprayed his crop (either oats or barley) and the spray is killing our trees. The trees are planted 3 years, oak tree almost dead, 2 acers with no leaves, pear tree dead, cherry blossom no leaves, eating apple dead... the list goes on. The crop is growing about a metre away from our fence. Last year only one side of the trees were damaged. I nursed them back and in spring pruned back all the dead wood and we had loads of new growth and full leaves. Crop sown again this year and it's worse than ever.

My husband approached him while he was spraying 2 weeks ago and he grumbled something about it's nothing to do with what he's spraying and continued spraying, including my husband!!!

Is there anything we can do about this???

NovemberWren

will the Greens be able now to get the okay to carry through their party policy of [is it?] a hectare of trees must be sown on every farm? I sure do hope so. and will those trees be varied? and deciduous? i.e. not just monoculture area of firs.

btw there are Teagasc offices sometimes in small towns - they may know how to tackle that problem.

endacl

Did you ask him what he was spraying? If he let you know when he’d be spraying, are the young trees small enough to be covered in clear plastic for a few days? Is it just the trees dying? How are the other plants in the vicinity doing? And remember, correlation is not necessarily causation.

ganmo

A few things you could do to help get answers here.
1. Any pics of the trees as they were dying?
2. Pics of the crop
3. When did the spraying happen.

The farmer could have been spraying liquid fertiliser ot fungicide or similar that would have no impact on your trees.

cosatron

Hi palm, I find it hard to believe that the spray killed your trees, sure if the spray was that potent wouldn’t it kill his crop. I think the issue here maybe your soil type and wind exposure, I had an acer here as well and it died on me, just wasn’t suitable for my soil type. Is the area wet by any chance as some trees hate wet ground.

Wildly Boaring

cosatron wrote: »

Hi palm, I find it hard to believe that the spray killed your trees, sure if the spray was that potent wouldn’t it kill his crop.

Agree that correlation does not equal causation.
He "COULD" be spraying off??

he could have planted a roundup resistant crop in the field but then the ditches around the field should be dying too. it won't just affect your trees so too soon to make any accusations.

Lime Tree Farm

This company could identify the cause.

https://www.bartlett.com/plant-analysis-and-diagnostics.cfm

cosatron

Wildly Boaring wrote: »

Agree that correlation does not equal causation.
He "COULD" be spraying off??

she said he was spraying his crop, barley or oats.

blackbox

[Deleted User] wrote: »

he could have planted a roundup resistant crop in the field but then the ditches around the field should be dying too. it won't just affect your trees so too soon to make any accusations.

I don't believe that roundup resistant crops (GM) are used in Ireland.

If it was roundup, all the grass would be dead long before trees were affected.

The farmer should be forthcoming with what spray he is using and whatever it is it should not be crossing his boundaries.

blackbox

blackbox wrote: »

I don't believe that roundup resistant crops (GM) are used in Ireland.

If it was roundup, all the grass would be dead long before trees were affected.

The farmer should be forthcoming with what spray he is using and whatever it is it should not be crossing his boundaries.

I agree. It should be obvious if Roundup is being used.

Melodeon

There was a very harsh east wind episode back in mid-April if I remember correctly, which effectively destroyed my apple/plum crop here, and killed off an awful lot of the first flush of leaf growth on my young oaks. It looked like winter had returned with all the leaves dying and falling off.
All my trees were big and sturdy enough to survive this and produced a second flush of growth and are all looking fine now, but I've heard from others that some very young saplings in particularly exposed locations never recovered and have since died off.
Might something like this have happened in this instance perhaps?

K.G.

Lipbalmpam wrote: »

I wonder can anybody help.

This year and last the farmer who owns the field wrapping around our house, sprayed his crop (either oats or barley) and the spray is killing our trees. The trees are planted 3 years, oak tree almost dead, 2 acers with no leaves, pear tree dead, cherry blossom no leaves, eating apple dead... the list goes on. The crop is growing about a metre away from our fence. Last year only one side of the trees were damait couged. I nursed them back and in spring pruned back all the dead wood and we had loads of new growth and full leaves. Crop sown again this year and it's worse than ever.

My husband approached him while he was spraying 2 weeks ago and he grumbled something about it's nothing to do with what he's spraying and continued spraying, including my husband!!!

Is there anything we can do about this???

It could gave been fungicide he was spraying so wouldn't damage your your tree s or you husband either 😁.

Truthvader

What the F is the matter with so many farmers? Every time they have a choice between being civil and behaving like an ignorant mucksavage its always the latter. That having been said it seems to me to be unlikely that the spray killed your trees. If you can find a civil farmer in the area you shpuld be able to find out what the spray was. They all generally use the same stuff on the same crop at the same time of the year.

Maybe a nice helpful farmer could post here??

ganmo

K.G. wrote: »

It could gave been fungicide he was spraying so wouldn't damage your your tree s or you husband either ðŸ˜.

Unless he was a fun guy

ganmo

Truthvader wrote: »

What the F is the matter with so many farmers? Every time they have a choice between being civil and behaving like an ignorant mucksavage its always the latter. That having been said it seems to me to be unlikely that the spray killed your trees. If you can find a civil farmer in the area you shpuld be able to find out what the spray was. They all generally use the same stuff on the same crop at the same time of the year.

Maybe a nice helpful farmer could post here??

Man trespasses to stop a man doing his job that is weather dependant and forgets his please and thank yous...I wonder why

_Brian

ganmo wrote: »

Man trespasses to stop a man doing his job that is weather dependant and forgets his please and thank yous...I wonder why

Very likely a pair of them in it.

Truthvader

ganmo wrote: »

Man trespasses to stop a man doing his job that is weather dependant and forgets his please and thank yous...I wonder why

Well thanks for that little peek into the sullen hostile mindset of your average farmer where every approach by a concerned neighbour is a "trespass to stop a man doing his job". Would it have cost anything just to be helpful?

Again any nice farmers out there?

Waffletraktor

Truthvader wrote: »

Well thanks for that little peek into the sullen hostile mindset of your average farmer where every approach by a concerned neighbour is a "trespass to stop a man doing his job". Would it have cost anything just to be helpful?

Again any nice farmers out there?

No, we're allembittered from dealing with wanchors that make up a large% of Joe public.

_Brian

Truthvader wrote: »

Well thanks for that little peek into the sullen hostile mindset of your average farmer where every approach by a concerned neighbour is a "trespass to stop a man doing his job". Would it have cost anything just to be helpful?

Again any nice farmers out there?

Concerned like “how’s it going do you need a hand” or “if you ever need something give me a shout”

Or do you mean concerned as in just concerned for himself and presuming then big bad farmer is out there poisoning everything before him ?

Because the latter isn’t being concerned, it’s being an idiot.

One thing you’ll find on forums is people rarely start a story like this with “I stopped the farmer and accused him of poisoning my trees, when he said he wasn’t and not to worry I shouted lots at him and abused him until he got fed up and moved off, I got sprayed as a result”, because for all you know that’s what happened.

Waffletraktor

Lipbalmpam wrote: »

I wonder can anybody help.

This year and last the farmer who owns the field wrapping around our house, sprayed his crop (either oats or barley) and the spray is killing our trees. The trees are planted 3 years, oak tree almost dead, 2 acers with no leaves, pear tree dead, cherry blossom no leaves, eating apple dead... the list goes on. The crop is growing about a metre away from our fence. Last year only one side of the trees were damaged. I nursed them back and in spring pruned back all the dead wood and we had loads of new growth and full leaves. Crop sown again this year and it's worse than ever.

My husband approached him while he was spraying 2 weeks ago and he grumbled something about it's nothing to do with what he's spraying and continued spraying, including my husband!!!

Is there anything we can do about this???

https://www.sgs.ie/en-gb/chemical/finished-product-services/consumer-chemicals/vitamins-and-health-supplements/pesticide-residue-testing
Give someone a shout like these guys(or next random google result) as they should be able to detect the chemical actives if taken in by the tree. Mostly likely a herbicide for braodleaves which is done in the spring to have done the damage, if it was chemical that killed the trees as some products you poor on neat to the desired crop the vapour off it could kill a target crop the next field over if it's susceptable. The farmer legally has to have kept record of what they did use and standard of drift mitigation if the weather wasn't ideal, unless they were being bold. I'd be enclined to have your ducks in a row so there is no defence before slinging mud too much.

JJayoo

We're you watering your trees using the dry spell?

Truthvader

Waffletraktor wrote: »

No, we're allembittered from dealing with wanchors that make up a large% of Joe public.

Again thanks for that glimpse of your dour mind

Truthvader

_Brian wrote: »

Concerned like “how’s it going do you need a hand” or “if you ever need something give me a shout”

Or do you mean concerned as in just concerned for himself and presuming then big bad farmer is out there poisoning everything before him ?

Because the latter isn’t being concerned, it’s being an idiot.

One thing you’ll find on forums is people rarely start a story like this with “I stopped the farmer and accused him of poisoning my trees, when he said he wasn’t and not to worry I shouted lots at him and abused him until he got fed up and moved off, I got sprayed as a result”, because for all you know that’s what happened.

And again thanks; this time accompanied by a totally invented fantasy story bearing no relation at all to the OP.

Waffletraktor

Truthvader wrote: »

Again thanks for that glimpse of your dour mind

The only persons mind we've had insight into is yours i'm afraid, and there aint much too look at bar your desire to realise an almost child like fantasy realm.

endainoz

Truthvader wrote: »

What the F is the matter with so many farmers? Every time they have a choice between being civil and behaving like an ignorant mucksavage its always the latter. That having been said it seems to me to be unlikely that the spray killed your trees. If you can find a civil farmer in the area you shpuld be able to find out what the spray was. They all generally use the same stuff on the same crop at the same time of the year.

Maybe a nice helpful farmer could post here??

Going on a farming forum insulting farmers may not have been your best call chief. Your not helping the OP either.

forgottenhills

Lipbalmpam wrote: »

I wonder can anybody help.

This year and last the farmer who owns the field wrapping around our house, sprayed his crop (either oats or barley) and the spray is killing our trees. The trees are planted 3 years, oak tree almost dead, 2 acers with no leaves, pear tree dead, cherry blossom no leaves, eating apple dead... the list goes on. The crop is growing about a metre away from our fence. Last year only one side of the trees were damaged. I nursed them back and in spring pruned back all the dead wood and we had loads of new growth and full leaves. Crop sown again this year and it's worse than ever.

My husband approached him while he was spraying 2 weeks ago and he grumbled something about it's nothing to do with what he's spraying and continued spraying, including my husband!!!

Is there anything we can do about this???

Hi OP. You haven't been getting very many helpful replies on here but that is because there are probably not many tillage farmers on Boards and your query as stated is complex.

Unfortunately I have no background in tillage either and no one here can say exactly what has been sprayed on your neighbours cereal, whether fungicides or growth regulators and what exact compounds. There are a lot of different sprays out there. And it may be something else completely causing the damage to your young trees.

Have you ruled out weather factors such as late frosts or the Spring drought that we all had? I planted a few young oaks some years back that all were killed by a bad frost. Do these young trees face have much protection from the northern aspect or are you on high exposed ground and is your location suitable for the varieties of trees planted? Some of the stuff coming out of nurseries these days is "soft" and does not seem suited to many parts of Ireland.

Going back to the possibility of the spraying causing the issue a poster on here made the sensible suggestion of getting the trees tested for residue and posted a link to a company offering such services. That is the only way that you can firstly see if your trees have residues and then if the residues are from something that would be harmful to them (fungicides wouldn't be). If you have the proof then you could consider options but without proof I would be cautious of creating bad blood with neighbours. I certainly don't think that it would be acceptable for a farmer to carelessly allow a dangerous spray to drift onto a neighbours land or garden or house. One other thing to consider that if this is happening due to the spray then there should be collateral damage to be seen to young trees on different boundaries to the farmers land, not just in your garden.

wrangler

forgottenhills wrote: »

Hi OP. You haven't been getting very many helpful replies on here but that is because there are probably not many tillage farmers on Boards and your query as stated is complex.

Unfortunately I have no background in tillage either and no one here can say exactly what has been sprayed on your neighbours cereal, whether fungicides or growth regulators and what exact compounds. There are a lot of different sprays out there. And it may be something else completely causing the damage to your young trees.

Have you ruled out weather factors such as late frosts or the Spring drought that we all had? I planted a few young oaks some years back that all were killed by a bad frost. Do these young trees face have much protection from the northern aspect or are you on high exposed ground and is your location suitable for the varieties of trees planted? Some of the stuff coming out of nurseries these days is "soft" and does not seem suited to many parts of Ireland.

Going back to the possibility of the spraying causing the issue a poster on here made the sensible suggestion of getting the trees tested for residue and posted a link to a company offering such services. That is the only way that you can firstly see if your trees have residues and then if the residues are from something that would be harmful to them (fungicides wouldn't be). If you have the proof then you could consider options but without proof I would be cautious of creating bad blood with neighbours. I certainly don't think that it would be acceptable for a farmer to carelessly allow a dangerous spray to drift onto a neighbours land or garden or house. One other thing to consider that if this is happening due to the spray then there should be collateral damage to be seen to young trees on different boundaries to the farmers land, not just in your garden.

I did a lot of crop spraying for about twenty years at a time when chemicals weren't as well regulated and sprayers weren't as efficient and I've never killed a tree or hedge so it's unlikely the spraying that killed the trees

JeffKenna

Forgive my ignorance, how could the crop be growing away grand if the spray had killed the trees? Would it not have killed the crop as well?

Buford T. Justice XIX

Truthvader wrote: »

What the F is the matter with so many farmers? Every time they have a choice between being civil and behaving like an ignorant mucksavage its always the latter. That having been said it seems to me to be unlikely that the spray killed your trees. If you can find a civil farmer in the area you shpuld be able to find out what the spray was. They all generally use the same stuff on the same crop at the same time of the year.

Maybe a nice helpful farmer could post here??

Truthvader wrote: »

Well thanks for that little peek into the sullen hostile mindset of your average farmer where every approach by a concerned neighbour is a "trespass to stop a man doing his job". Would it have cost anything just to be helpful?

Again any nice farmers out there?

Truthvader wrote: »

Again thanks for that glimpse of your dour mind

Mod note: We have a very low tolerance for trolling here, don't post in this thread again.

Buford T. Justice

Donald Trump

Ironically, in a lot of these cases, the "ignorance" is on the part of the "blow-ins" rather than the "mucksavages".

Who is more likely to know what they are talking about in relation to spraying etc? The fella who has been at it all his life and whose livelihood depends on his ability to successfully grow crops or the new neighbours whose first ever attempt at growing anything doesn't pan out and they decide that the professional fella across the hedge is to blame.

The OP might be right. It's not impossible. I'd say it's unlikely though. OP might think your man was cranky but how would she feel if the farmer turned up to her office, without a bulls notion of what she does, and starts accusing her of causing some damage that she knows is physically impossible to have been caused by her. There are some thick f%$^#@s out there, but most people wouldn't knowingly do something which could damage a neighbours trees.

riffmongous

Any pics of the leaves from last year? Discoloured or spotted?

Donald Trump

NovemberWren wrote: »

will the Greens be able now to get the okay to carry through their party policy of [is it?] a hectare of trees must be sown on every farm? I sure do hope so. and will those trees be varied? and deciduous? i.e. not just monoculture area of firs.

There is nothing stopping non farmers from making the same sacrifice. You can band together with 9 of your buddies and put your money where your mouth is and buy 10 hectares and plant it.


It is actually easier for a non-farmer to do this because you are not constricted. For an active farmer to do it, they must choose an area of one of their fields and plant it. It will decrease their ability to produce food on their farm.


A non-farmer can equally buy a plot in Cork or Cavan, plant it and leave it there should they so wish. And it will not impact their day-to-day income.

riffmongous

JeffKenna wrote: »

Forgive my ignorance, how could the crop be growing away grand if the spray had killed the trees? Would it not have killed the crop as well?

Some kinds of herbicides are selective, they'll have much larger effects on other kinds of plants than grasses (e.g. wheat, barley)

Del2005

Lipbalmpam wrote: »

I wonder can anybody help.

This year and last the farmer who owns the field wrapping around our house, sprayed his crop (either oats or barley) and the spray is killing our trees. The trees are planted 3 years, oak tree almost dead, 2 acers with no leaves, pear tree dead, cherry blossom no leaves, eating apple dead... the list goes on. The crop is growing about a metre away from our fence. Last year only one side of the trees were damaged. I nursed them back and in spring pruned back all the dead wood and we had loads of new growth and full leaves. Crop sown again this year and it's worse than ever.

My husband approached him while he was spraying 2 weeks ago and he grumbled something about it's nothing to do with what he's spraying and continued spraying, including my husband!!!

Is there anything we can do about this???

How are the rest of the plants and grass in your garden? Because if the farmer was spraying something which is killing the trees it should also be killing the other plants nearby.

WTF would you walk into a field where a farmer is working and spraying a chemical you think is poisonous? Stay out of the field as it's dangerous. Flag him down at the entrance not when he's doing his job and you might get a better response.

5littleangels

It could maybe have been lime he was spreading?

Gemancy

Melodeon wrote: »

There was a very harsh east wind episode back in mid-April if I remember correctly, which effectively destroyed my apple/plum crop here, and killed off an awful lot of the first flush of leaf growth on my young oaks. It looked like winter had returned with all the leaves dying and falling off.
All my trees were big and sturdy enough to survive this and produced a second flush of growth and are all looking fine now, but I've heard from others that some very young saplings in particularly exposed locations never recovered and have since died off.
Might something like this have happened in this instance perhaps?

I was actually going to post the same thing! In April all my fruit trees looked like they were dead. It coincided with the neighbour farmer spraying, awful wind and my mother deciding to feed what were fairly neglected fruit trees. At first I thought it must be the spraying but having read up on it online I came to the conclusion that it was wind burn. They seem to have recovered somewhat. Similar happened a little later to a whitethorn hedge we planted late last year. Common dominator was a ferocious wind again and dr Google deemed it was wind burn. Hedge fine again.

Might be worth considering? As others have said surely other plants etc would have been affected.

Deagol

Truthvader wrote: »

Well thanks for that little peek into the sullen hostile mindset of your average farmer where every approach by a concerned neighbour is a "trespass to stop a man doing his job". Would it have cost anything just to be helpful?

Again any nice farmers out there?

Grew up in a rural area and back living in one again. Never have a problem approaching a farmer with a decent 'hows things' and a few questions about how their livelihood is fairing.

Once they realise I'm not some urban w@anker who's there to complain about the smell of slurry or the cocks crowing or whatever else stupid complaints they hear, they're 99% of the time fine with some queries. Of course there's the odd strange gobsheen who'd be that way whether they were a farmer or a banker...

The average farmer / rural person will do anything they can for you if they are approached with some decency. If you come though with kind of attitude you're displaying I can imagine they'd run you fairly fast and with good reason.

You'll catch more flies with honey..

Deagol

Gemancy wrote: »

I was actually going to post the same thing! In April all my fruit trees looked like they were dead. It coincided with the neighbour farmer spraying, awful wind and my mother deciding to feed what were fairly neglected fruit trees. At first I thought it must be the spraying but having read up on it online I came to the conclusion that it was wind burn. They seem to have recovered somewhat. Similar happened a little later to a whitethorn hedge we planted late last year. Common dominator was a ferocious wind again and dr Google deemed it was wind burn. Hedge fine again.

Might be worth considering? As others have said surely other plants etc would have been affected.

Agreed, I had a bunch of various types of plants get wind burn this year. All except one has mostly recovered now but was definitely a strange spring / early summer.

Rosahane

Truthvader wrote: »

Again thanks for that glimpse of your dour mind

Are you Maurice? 🤔

einn32

There is no robust evidence that the spray has killed the trees. Therefore you need a professional to determine what has happened the trees. Then work from there.

riffmongous

Gemancy wrote: »

I was actually going to post the same thing! In April all my fruit trees looked like they were dead. It coincided with the neighbour farmer spraying, awful wind and my mother deciding to feed what were fairly neglected fruit trees. At first I thought it must be the spraying but having read up on it online I came to the conclusion that it was wind burn. They seem to have recovered somewhat. Similar happened a little later to a whitethorn hedge we planted late last year. Common dominator was a ferocious wind again and dr Google deemed it was wind burn. Hedge fine again.

Might be worth considering? As others have said surely other plants etc would have been affected.

A tillage herbicide would be have to be selective though and with 'only a metre away from our fence' there mightn't be much else around except some grass to notice any other damage.

I don't know so much about growing crops in Ireland, but he must be spraying some sort of herbicide at some point right?

NcdJd

I'd say it was the dry weather along with the strong winds earlier in the year that caused the damage. Wouldn't be spraying herbicide each time he sprays.

ganmo

riffmongous wrote: »

A tillage herbicide would be have to be selective though and with 'only a metre away from our fence' there mightn't be much else around except some grass to notice any other damage.

I don't know so much about growing crops in Ireland, but he must be spraying some sort of herbicide at some point right?

Weed control would happen in spring, not '2weeks ago'

We have asked for more info from op but they haven't responded.

kerryjack

In all fairness the farmer could have taken 5 minutes out to explain to OP what his spraying and what chemical his using, farmers ****koked it up for themselves selling sites for a quick buck, these large one off housing in the country side are the bane of my life.

riffmongous

ganmo wrote: »

Weed control would happen in spring, not '2weeks ago'

We have asked for more info from op but they haven't responded.

Indeed and he probably did spread it before, '2 weeks' ago wouldn't be the first time he was out in the field, it's just when they saw him and went over when they saw him spraying something. From what we know about the damage to the plants it didn't start 2 weeks ago

Gemancy

riffmongous wrote: »

A tillage herbicide would be have to be selective though and with 'only a metre away from our fence' there mightn't be much else around except some grass to notice any other damage.

I don't know so much about growing crops in Ireland, but he must be spraying some sort of herbicide at some point right?

No idea to be honest with you! Just giving the OP an account of my own personal experience this year that had similarities with their issue, definitely not an expert on any farm related procedures or products!

wrangler

riffmongous wrote: »

Indeed and he probably did spread it before, '2 weeks' ago wouldn't be the first time he was out in the field, it's just when they saw him and went over when they saw him spraying something. From what we know about the damage to the plants it didn't start 2 weeks ago

Why are the trees not dying in all the farms boundary hedges

Deagol

Deagol wrote: »

Grew up in a rural area and back living in one again. Never have a problem approaching a farmer with a decent 'hows things' and a few questions about how their livelihood is fairing.

Once they realise I'm not some urban w@anker who's there to complain about the smell of slurry or the cocks crowing or whatever else stupid complaints they hear, they're 99% of the time fine with some queries. Of course there's the odd strange gobsheen who'd be that way whether they were a farmer or a banker...

The average farmer / rural person will do anything they can for you if they are approached with some decency. If you come though with kind of attitude you're displaying I can imagine they'd run you fairly fast and with good reason.

You'll catch more flies with honey..

As a Jackeen living in rural Ireland I agree. A bit of courtesy goes a long way. In 2 years I've found a "friend" in s local farmer who couldn't have been more help if he tried.

He even came up and closed my gate after the contract bailer had left my field.I'd still be wondering what to do with 5 acres of grass. Now I have a usable veg garden and orchard and a field making me some money.

K3v

Going on the time of year it may have been a pre-harvest glyphosate application.



OP has the farmer since cut the crop? Usually glyphosate goes on a week to 10 days before harvesting.

duffysfarm

Sounds like something from stalinist Russia!!

NovemberWren wrote: »

will the Greens be able now to get the okay to carry through their party policy of [is it?] a hectare of trees must be sown on every farm? I sure do hope so. and will those trees be varied? and deciduous? i.e. not just monoculture area of firs.