Thanks for this info. I know that we have hard water, and I need to get a
water test. So when one finds out the pH of their water, then what does one
do?
I am planning to ask one of the local water softener people about the
hardness, ph, & TDS of our city water generally is (it varies as it comes
from
different sources and is mixed differently in summer than in winter). Then I
am going to contact the County weed and pest people and ask for their
recomendation and also the "County Agent".
Then I will do some more googling of these words: Water Quality and
Pesticide Performance and look at additional sites for more information.
I found these to be interesting. It looks like we need to pay careful
attention when using these chemicals. I came across one which said that
2,4,D in low concentrations can be deactivated by dissolved solids (TDS).
As an update, I called our local weed and pest guy and he said they tell
farmers and ranchers to use clean water that is relatively neutral or to add
ammonium sulfate or other chemicals to lower the ph. He also mentioned that
the use of a larger nozzle on the spray heads behind the wheels if dust is
being kicked up as dust is antagonistic to round-up. Mostly around here
round-up and 2,4,D are the main chemicals in use and both are effected by
Ph, TDS, Calcium, etc. etc. Regardless it isn't down to a science on all
products yet and there are still lots of questions to be answered. But if we
better understand our water chemistry and interactions with the product in
use we can use the lowest concentation possible and still get the desired
result.
[NAFEX] Ph of water used in spraying,
Rodney, 02/15/2006