The next time any of you drive around outside of your
city limits look at what is growing under those huge
power distribution lines. No trees anywhere just
grasses. Ever wonder how they do it?
Almost all of that property along with any easements
over a underground pipeline, are sprayed with
extremely nasty broadleaf herbicides like picloram.
Some of the nastiest chemicals ever made by man are
herbicides, picloram being just one of many. These are
far scarier that almost any insecticide still on the
market.
The utilities want grass like plants on their
easements to hold the soil yet they don't want trees
or large shrubs. Driving through 8 foot tall weeds is
not a problem for them. Cutting down trees & shrubs
cost big bucks & take time. They need to get their
trucks to where ever the problem is now, not in six
weeks.
What happens to all that contaminated vegetation? If
not grazed by livestock, it is baled & sold as hay.
ALLMOST ALL OF IT! (yummy)
Add to this a whole bunch of farmers and ranchers that
sell Bermuda grass hay, who love the fact that they
only have to spray their fields with picloram or
similar products once every three or four years to
keep broadleaf weeds out of their fields. The use of
picloram brings them more money for their hay.
John Bridges
While I said power distribution lines, I meant power
transmission lines. Those huge metal towers used to
transmit electricity across large areas from power
generating plants to sub stations inside
neighborhoods. The ones with a hundred foot right a
way under them.
Don't tell any body, but after being a electrician for
over 25 years I do know better. It is that long lonely
journey from my tiny brain to my huge mouth that gets
me into problems.
John Bridges
--- Roni
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GardeningOrganically/join
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Here at my house they have been using machinery to keep weeds and trees at bay near electric/phone lines. They come by with a brush mower a few times a year. They came and cut down several of our pine trees in the front of the property that I guess they felt were too close to the power lines.
I haven't seen them spray yet, thank God!
I would rather they do it mechanically.
We fed the cut down pine trees to our goats who loved them.
Roni
You can request that they do so to protect your goats and property. Most of
the time now they will try to work with you on that type of project.
Wayi
herbicide
John,
Remember what someone said about using peanuts for a test crop? Would peanut hay be free from the harmful chemicals we were talking about?
Roni
