When are you coming spray?
The answer is below
This is one of the questions I get almost daily. The answer isn’t always so simple, there are a lot of different factors that go into the answer so I figured I’d dive into it today since today is a day we simply cannot spray.
The main factor we combat in Eastern Idaho is the weather. It is a factor when it comes to temperature, humidity, precipitation, and wind.
When the temperature is too hot chemicals can do a couple things, it can volatilize which is where it turns into a vapor and drifts off target causing unintended damage, this usually happens around 85°+. It being too hot also affects the uptake of herbicide because the plants do not uptake as well when they are heat stressed and in drought conditions. It can also cause the herbicide to dry too fast and crystallize, once most chemicals crystallize the become ineffective and its a waste of product and treatment.
Now on the other hand when the temperature is too cold there are a couple things that can happen. When there is frost on the grass if we walk or drive on it with our fertilizer spreaders it will break the grass blades and cause them to brown out and leave tracks for a couple weeks. When it’s cold the same thing happens to plants when they are too hot and they go into survival mode and their uptake is sub par. The spray solutions can also damage the plants if we apply it and then it freezes.
Humidity and precipitation go hand in hand. When plants are too wet it will cause our spray solutions to dilute after we apply them and make the them less potent. If we make an application and it rains within 4+/- hours it can also make our treatment ineffective.
Now onto our favorite subject in SE Idaho… The wind… We are all too aware of how much the wind can blow, especially in the spring. The way the law is written that us as professional applicators is that if the wind is blowing 10mph+ or has off target drift then it is illegal to be applying any herbicides or pesticides. Now not only is it illegal, we tend to see poor application when we try to apply when it is too windy, so in all honesty after the wind is sustained at about 7mph we will shut down because we cannot get the correct coverage. This makes taking care of all of your landscapes tricky but far from impossible.
We here at Evergreen Lawn and Tree believe in making the best and thorough applications possible so you are getting what you pay for as a customer, we do not cut corners or bend the rules just so we can fit more work in. We greatly appreciate your understand and cooperation in dealing with the weather we have every year here in Southeastern Idaho.
I can promise you will be seeing us soon to keep those yards looking beautiful, just hang in there and don’t get blown away.
Thank you,
Hollis Lloyd
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