Weed Killers: Lycoris and Lontrel
J.E. Shields (Mon, 16 Aug 2010 07:51:05 PDT)

We spray with herbicides to help control weeds outdoors in the beds. We
usually start in the spring with a tank mix of Lontrel (R) and Fusilade II
(R). We can safely use this to overspray Hemerocallis (daylily) beds with
no discernible damage to the daylilies. The mixture suppresses grasses and
broadleaf weeds like Canada Thistle and wild mustard.

We noted in the spring that Hosta are damaged by Lontrel, as people had
warned us. In the future we will try very hard to avoid getting this
herbicide spray on the Hosta foliage.

Now I observe that some of the Lycoris are showing damage to the scapes
which I suspect was caused by directly spraying the above mixture of
herbicide onto the foliage of the Lycoris in spring. The damage I'm seeing
is twisted scapes and distorted flowers. I will try to get some pictures
of the damaged Lycoris and eventually post them in my blog.

Has anyone else seen problems with Lontrel on Lycoris? Could something
else be causing the damage to the Lycoris? Only a few clumps of Lycoris
are showing this damage.

Lontrel (R) is made by Dow AgroSciences; see:
http://www.dowagro.com/turf/prod/lontrel.htm We still think it is very
good stuff! (Always follow label directions.)

Jim Shields
in mild, pleasant Westfield, Indiana
USA

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Jim Shields USDA Zone 5 Shields Gardens, Ltd.
P.O. Box 92 WWW: http://www.shieldsgardens.com/
Westfield, Indiana 46074, USA
Tel. ++1-317-867-3344 or toll-free 1-866-449-3344 in USA