# Timothy herbicide damage



## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

I sprayed my timothy about 3 weeks ago. I sprayed with weedmaster( 2,4d and dicamba mix) since that was what I was sprayed some established orchard/fescue hay with. I ran out of weedmaster about halfway through the timothy field and finished up with just straight 2,4d since the timothy field had mostly vetch and not a lot of curly dock which the other field had and that was my reason for using the weedmaster. A couple days after spraying I noticed the timothy looking curled and twisted the way 2,4d makes the weeds. I figured it was temporary and it would grow out of it. It has now been 3 weeks and it still looks the same way.....it is growing but is still twisted looking and has a bit of a different color than the field across the road that was not sprayed. The sections that were sprayed with weedmaster and just 2,4d look the same. Any idea what caused this and if it will affect the hay yield?


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

This is a picture of the timothy plants. The one on the left is from a non sprayed field while the two on the right are from the sprayed field. Notice how the leaves are curled and deformed on the plants on the right.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

What was your dosage? 2 pints/ac? Timothy is more sensitive to 2-4d than say Orchard grass, but will snap out of it....probably soon. I always use straight 2-4d ester at 2 pints/ac. for my Timothy.

Regards, Mike


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

Yep, 2 pints per acre of 2,4d amine and the part that got sprayed with weedmaster was 2 pints per acre. The rest of my timothy fields have now got weeds and I'm a bit hesitant to spray.....I was wanting to use weedmaster in hopes that it would do better on the dock and ragweed. Maybe I should stick with the 2,4d.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

The larger the Timothy the less effect of the spray....2-4d is not likely to kill established dock...but it will knock it back and keep it from going to seed for awhile. You should be fine to spray, it will just delay the Timothy in maturity a week or two....might be better haying at that time anyway...I would rather have clean fields and a slight delay as to have the weeds.

Regards, Mike


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## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

Another thought: What had you sprayed before? If you had been spraying something like Roundup and didn't clean your tank really thoroughly, you could have had some residual.

Don't skimp on tank cleaning. (Learned it the hard way, myself)

Ralph


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

I just had a thought, maybe I sprayed when the timothy was too small and that is what stunted it? The timothy was pretty much still a seedling with just a few leaves when I sprayed. The last thing I had sprayed was paraquat but I feel that I thoroughly rinsed the tanked but I won't swear to it.


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## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

Hayden- for what it is worth, my timothy planted last fall (early sept) looks good population wise but isn't exactly going gangbusters.

Had the Coop here this morning on the henbit/chickweed/spurge-will spray in Oct since spraying now won't solve anything and the weed population isn't too bad. Like you, I checked all fall and into the winter and no winter annuals, then all of a sudden-there they were.

One other thing I thought of, do you spray your timothy with sevin for mites. We are spraying this week sometime. Timothy here is now a waste of time unless you spray for mites-they suck it dry and it withers away-looks like herbicide damage for a while.


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

This timothy was planted in early December.....didn't germinate much until February....the weeds also were late germinating. I have a thin stand but the timothy is growing very well now. Even what is stunted by the 2,4d is growing....just funny looking. I'm going to have to spray the other fields for weeds now or I won't be able to sell the hay. I have had good luck spraying for weeds in the spring though.

This is only my second time raising pure timothy and I have never sprayed for mites and I haven't noticed any damage. There is no other timothy grown anywhere close so maybe we don't have mites in this area. I will keep an eye out for them though. How do you tell if you have mites?


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Hayden, you could have sprayed a touch early...supposed to wait on new grasses until tillering....typically 4 or more leaflets...if you sprayed with 2-3 that could be your wrinkling. I would not worry about it now as it is obvious that it is going to make it or it would have turned yellow by now. It will snap out of it all at once.

I have not been bothered by mites here....yet. It may get too hot for them to do well here.

Regards, Mike


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

Vol said:


> Hayden, you could have sprayed a touch early...supposed to wait on new grasses until tillering....typically 4 or more leaflets...if you sprayed with 2-3 that could be your wrinkling. I would not worry about it now as it is obvious that it is going to make it or it would have turned yellow by now. It will snap out of it all at once.
> 
> I have not been bothered by mites here....yet. It may get too hot for them to do well here.
> 
> Regards, Mike


 I bet that is what it is then......Most of it did have only 3 leaves and was definatly not tillering. I must have forgotten about that detail on the label since in the past the grass has always been well established by the time I needed to spray the thought never crossed my mind. I was just concerned about getting the weeds killed while small. Do you think it would be safe to spray that timothy again as there is now buttercups, seedling dock, and ragweed that has come up.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

It would probably be better to use a different herb....I think it may be a bit soon to use 2-4d again since it has been about 3 weeks. Typically takes 2-4d 30-45 days to run its course and extinguish. If you could wait until its been at least 30 days you probably would be good.

Regards, Mike


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## Rodney R (Jun 11, 2008)

Mite damage looks like the field is in real bad need of water, even if it rains everyday. The mites are white, and will show up between the veins on the younger leaves of the timothy plant - and they only like timothy, they will keep blowing around till they land on timothy - yes, they are that small - if you open your mouth on a windy day, you'll be swallowing some mites! They say that you need a 30x lens to see them, and unless you know what you're looking for you probably do.

Rodney


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## FarmerCline (Oct 12, 2011)

I noticed today it looks like the 2,4d stunted field of timothy is starting to come out of it and looking more normal. It has been almost a month now since I sprayed. I ended up not having to spray again except for a few corners where I think I missed....the weeds I was seeing are just not growing and starting to look really bad now....the first spray must have stopped there growth as the corners where I missed the weeds were 3 times the size and growing fast....the weedmaster I sprayed today took care of that. I also got the other fields of timothy I hadn't sprayed earlier took care of today.


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