[VoodooChile]

Do purple foliage plants translocate herbicide as efficiently as green foliage plants?

We are in the process of applying Roundup to Garlic Mustard in a 25 acre woodland. The Garlic Mustard (mostly 2nd year) has greened up in the past week, but unfortunately some woodland ephemerals have also begun to emerge, things like Jacobs Ladder, Baneberry, and Mountain Mint. Most of these desirable plants still have purple foliage and we are trying our hardest to work around them.

Still, if we get careless, or experience drift, I am wondering how likely it is that the Roundup will be translocated and kill the plants outright? Or will we see burn-down, with new growth emerging again later?

Thanks for any insights or advice.
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As a side note, Pesticide application questions seem to garner little response on GTX. Maybe there aren't many applicators on here, or maybe people who post are worried about liability exposure. Maybe there should be a separate Pesticides forum with a waiver of liability implicit in posting...

[dan deutekom]

Good question that I do not know the answer for. I would contact Monsanto and ask their advice.

[4seasons]

I dont know the answer either, but what if you used one of those drift cups on the end to reduce drifting? If you see you hit the plant douse it with some water to quickly wash it off, or cut the exposed part off.

[VoodooChile]

I appreciate the answers guys.

25 acres translates into 34 miles (6' wide spray swath) of hiking with a 30# sprayer (at the start at least) on your back. It isn't practical to do much more than spray if we are going to knock out the Garlic Mustard during the coming week, the end of our window.

In most areas we are dealing solid stands of Garlic Mustard and no desirable plants up yet. In a few areas, the woodland ephemerals are emerging. Drift hasn't been an issue due to cool conditions and predictable winds. Our wands are rarely more than 6" off the ground.

I would like to think that the purple foliage of emerging desirable plants makes the spray less effective...but that could be wishful thinking.

For the record we are using 1 oz. Level 7/ 1 oz. Preference/ 2.5 oz. Roundup Power Max per gallon of mix.

Thanks again for replying to a Pesticide thread.

[TroubleSHOOTER]

It is a good question. I wouldn't trust the purple foliage not to absorb the herbicide. I would suggest creating a grid and working an area each year. Some loss is better than total loss. You might get some reseeding regrowth of your desirsble plants. Its another way to think about it.