Can we have an honest discussion about this without it devolving into petty name calling?

Am I the only one that shudders when I see the recommendation to use diesel as a means of killing brush, etc? It seems to happen A LOT on this board. As a group that is generally very conscious of the environment, conservation, etc., this suggestion continues to astound me.

Thoughts?

I would never spray straight diesel, but diesel plus Remedy is pretty awesome for killing any living plant that it touches.

Cody
Fightin Texas Aggie c/o 04

You coat the stem. You don't just flood the ground with it.

http://texnat.tamu.edu/about/brush-busters/mesquite/stem-spray-method/

I've used diesel to hunt hogs. Find a dead oak, pump spray the trunk with diesel. Hogs rub on it to coat their skin to help keep bugs off. They will rub a tree down to nothing. Killing plants with diesel I've done (mesquites) but cautiously.

We use 16 oz. remedy and straight diesel in a 3 gal. sprayer. You don't need as much in a basal spray, and what you spray before lunch looks like its been sprayed after lunch(ie. the canopy of the bush is sagging and less turgid). My grandfather and great grandfather were big proponents of just keep shredding it. The pastures we were reclaiming had above well average mesquite density to say they least.

We also used bulk canola oil that a friend who worked for southwest research gave us to use to try and cut the costs of diesel(16oz. Remedy,2gal. Oil, 1gal. Diesel). It worked well, but after the experiment finding 55 gallon drums of free canola oil became more of a project than we wanted to deal with so we switched back to straight diesel.

http://www.tarpits.org/

Again, the recommendations are to use diesel as a carrier for the spray. We're talking about a few ounces per tree, not hundreds of gallons sprayed over acres and acres.

And frankly, that little bit of diesel will degrade in the environment.

For year and year, my Dad would use diesel around fence lines, buildings, water tanks, the windmill, etc. I kept telling him that would come back to bite him one day. Now it is cheaper to use a herbicide with the cost of diesel. I appreciate the info here. I was going out to our farm and attack some mesquites with a brush cutter and chainsaw. I may try this instead.

Diesel is organic, and will break down in an exposed environment - especially in small quantities like should be used in spraying applications for vegetation killing.

I don't think anybody here has ever advocated dumping large quantities near water sources or in areas that would have long term negative affects as a result.

Don't over think things.

OP, this is something that sounds bad but isn't. Even without getting into specifics, oil and petroleum products aren't some sort of destructive force in the world as many people have been lead to believe. They are just another organic chemical that breaks down in the environment when subjected to heat, UV, Ozone, water, bacteria, etc. Quantity is everything.

The diesel is absorbed into the bark/trunk of the tree. It is used to break down the waxy coating of the trunk and deliver the herbicide directly to the targeted plant. Water won't do it (and pesticides themselves are usually "oils" as well, so you have to mix them with surfactants in water anyway). Diesel overspray might burn the grass that is growing up alongside the trunk but really this is much more targeted than broadcast spraying pesticide everywhere (which depending on how and why you do it isn't that bad either).

OP if it was harmful to the environment do you think A&M would recommend it as a carry for individual plant treatment?

Wrong emotioncon

Appropriate application of herbicide + diesel is far better for the environment than applying an excessive amount of herbicide to get the same result as herbicide+diesel.

Just my .02 though.

someone needs to explain that to the environmental Nazis. I worked for a municipality that had a diesel tank and pump on some land that a developer let us use. When he was ready to develop it, his level one found some diesel spillage and they wanted $35,000 to haul it to a hazmat landfill in Louisiana. We dug it out, turned it a few times, used a Fire Department "sniffer" and Waste Management took it to their landfill.

Lot's of good discussion and contributions here, guys. I appreciate it.

No. I had NO idea that A&M actually suggested it's use. I was aware that you guys weren't just going around dumping diesel willy nilly but at the same time I've seen/read about far too many cases of careless applications of pesticides, etc. (someone above alluded to that) so the thought of using diesel always raised my hackles.

With the COST of all chemicals and diesel these days I will promise you that no one with even a cell of a brain or any desire to make a profit is very careful about the use of product.
55 years ago when I was a kid we used 100% diesel or "coal oil" with a long spouted can and poured it on the bark around the undesirable trees. Kill rate was around 20% and had to keep after it year after year. Today with a diesel & Remedy mix we cut off the tree spray the fresh cut stump and get a 90+% kill rate with less diesel and Remedy. if you are careful you do not even kill the grass around the tree with this method.

How can you say that diesel is organic?!?!? Fossil fuels are bad for the environment and everyone knows that anything organic is good for the environment. No leave me alone while I smoke a cig and drink water out of an organic container made of plastic.

/libs

I have used many different methods that involved a petroleum mixture to ensure the herbicide is not easily washed away. Most often used in hack and squirt applications but also as basal sprays. These methods are actually actively taught in forestry classes as effective brush removal tactics.

I spent 6'months basal spraying mesquite with remedy and diesel 10 years ago on a 400 acre piece of property with heavy mesquite in Coleman County. Pastures are just now starting to thicken up again. Definitely use the diesel.

Diesel as an adjuvant/carrier is on the label for Remedy:

http://www.cdms.net/LDat/ld7NR005.pdf

At bottom of document:

quote:

---

EPA accepted 4/17/06

---

Lib-tard approved


[This message has been edited by AgResearch (edited 6/28/2013 8:46p).]