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  • From: Lucky Pittman <lucky.pittman@murraystate.edu>
  • To: North American Fruit Explorers <nafex@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [NAFEX] Agent O & Liquidambar
  • Date: Mon, 01 Sep 2003 19:35:50 -0500

At 11:23 PM 8/31/2003 +0000, you wrote:
Lucky, this is a public forum ! It makes me nervious enough to see people posting statements that they are breaking a commonly ignored federal law (herbicides must be used according to label), but please avoid telling everyone the downright scary stuff like this !
Tanis,
This is an OLD pint can of Weed-B-Gon, the original formulation, which contained 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T - essentially Agent Orange. Found it in my mother-in-law's basement, when we moved her to assisted living, back in '99.
I know it's not on the market any longer, but I was unaware that it's illegal to possess. Have only used it on one or two stumps in the past 4 years - painted on the exposed cambium, very sparingly, then the brush disposed of.
I mostly use Pathway(Tordon0 as a stump treatment on trees I don't want re-sprouting, and 2,4-D for thistle control, but the bulk of my weeds are handled by mowing or smothering with carboard & leaves.

Sam,
Nope, it's Liquidambar styraciflua, the sweetgum native to much of the eastern US. One of my most disliked trees; yes, they have great fall color, but the dam*able balls and their propensity to throw up honkin' big surface roots to trip one and break the crankshaft on one's mower, in addition to their propensity to sucker like crazy if you ever cut them down make it a certainty that I'll never plant one. They don't even make decent firewood - difficult, if not impossible,to split large chunks(I've buried more than one wedge in 'em) , and when you do burn it, it pops & snaps, sending sparks flying everywhere.





Lucky Pittman
USDA Zone 6
Hopkinsville, KY




  • [NAFEX] Agent O & Liquidambar, Lucky Pittman, 09/01/2003

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