A La Plata County task force decided Wednesday to continue efforts to educate applicators and users to the dangers of herbicides that kill desirable garden vegetables as well as noxious weeds.
The Herbicide Carryover Working Group formed in April after it was determined that double-edged herbicides such as the popular Milestone wipe out tomatoes, potatoes, peppers and eggplant as well as members of the invasive knapweed family because all are broadleaf plants.
The long-lived chemicals in the herbicides reach commercial growers and home gardeners through grass forage consumed by livestock and subsequently their manure used in compost or as fertilizer. Soil also becomes contaminated.
A Dow Agrisciences representative attended a task force meeting in June to assure attendees that a Dow task force will help solve problems.
La Plata County weed manager Rod Cook said Wednesday that Dow is considering a regulation that would require applicators of Milestone-type herbicides to alert users of the consequences of spraying with the chemical. Sellers of manure or compost that could contain residual chemicals also would be bound by a “chain of custody” letter, Cook said.
If the custody alert is on a Dow container label, it’s enforceable, Cook said. Labels are under government law, he said.
Task force members said because herbicide applicators and hay farmers are in the busy season, a lot of the push for herbicide education will have to wait for winter.
None of them has attended a task force meeting, it was noted.
Task force members also talked about establishing a network for weed-free – read that chemical-free – hay.
The possibility of upgrading the task force to county-board status was postponed for future discussion.
Darrin Parmenter, the Colorado State University Cooperative Extension horticulturist in Durango and a task force member, told 65 attendees at the first Green Business Roundtable lunch of the season Wednesday about Milestone-type herbicides.
There are 148 brand names that contain troublesome carryover chemicals, he said. The chemicals are powerful, requiring only 3 to 5 ounces per acre, he said.
daler@durangoherald.com
