Q: Was the poison used on the Auburn oak tree the same as the North Carolina power company sprayed on the 400-year-old scuppernong Mother Vine last summer? Is a pesticide license required to purchase that herbicide in Georgia? Has the Mother Vine survived?
—Mike Smith, Marietta
A: The product that damaged the Mother Vine was Garlon 3A, which has been on the market since about 1980 and is used to control broadleaf plants, Lloyd Hipkins, a Virginia Tech weed scientist, told Q&A on the News. "The injury to the vine was a case of misapplication, not a malicious act," he wrote. On inspection of the vine, Hipkins said he and Sara Spayd with North Carolina State University felt it had an excellent survival chance and recommended it be pruned past any symptoms of the herbicide. The vine now is doing quite well, he wrote. Garlon 3A has been off patent for many years and is marketed by many manufacturers and distributors, including Dow Chemical Co. The product used at Auburn was Spike 80 DF, also a Dow Chemical product, but it also has been off patent for many years and is marketed by many manufacturers and distributors, Hipkins wrote. There is no requirement for a license to purchase either product, which are safe when used properly, he wrote. But while Garlon 3A is a part of many lawn care products, Spike 80 DF is not readily available to the public. "It may be available to farmers in some areas for complete vegetation control in fence rows but not every feed store would carry it," he wrote. "I would guess that anyone who would use it in this manner must know enough about the product to actively seek it out."
Lori Johnston wrote this column. Do you have a question about the news? We’ll try to get the answer. Call 404-222-2002 or e-mail q&a@ajc.com (include name, phone and city).
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