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RE: Atrazine!

Don't treat this as "gospel"...I'm no expert on herbicides, and I have heard
bad things about atrazine for years...but....

In 1991, we planted an additional 6 acres at Meadowbrook Park (Urbana, Ill).
A few WEEKS (4-5 weeks?) before, a application of atrazine had been
accidently applied to a swath 50 feet wide, and 1000 feet long.  We decided
to plant anyway, rather that leave that part fallow.  That area actually
came in better and faster than any other part of the planting (well...there
were no weeds!).  Now it is possible that some types of native seed didn't
or wouldn't have done well...we didn't put in our best and most diverse seed
in that area.  However, the grasses, purple coneflowers, coreopsis and
others came in thickly...there's a fair stand of cream gentian there now.  I
don't recommend spraying with atrazine before planting prairie   :)  but, it
was suggested to me that prairie plants may be better adapted to surviving
some herbicides than the weeds are...

Bob Vaiden








-----Original Message-----
From: Theresa Mau-Crimmins [t*@wmich.edu]
Sent: Monday, July 19, 1999 10:06 AM
To: prairie@mallorn.com
Subject: Atrazine!


Hello fellow prairie enthusiasts,
I am a grad student at Western Michigan University.  Quite recently,
folks here have begun tossing around the idea of a prairie restoration
on our campus of about 50 acres--yippie!!!  We've been putting together
species lists, burning regimes, and coming up with all sorts of research
projects.  The administration is very anxious to get something planted
on this open area that for the past many years has been farmed.  The
original plan was to seed it this fall.  Trouble is, we just discovered
that it was treated with Atrazine last spring.  We've been doing some
research on this troublesome chemical, and it seems that it breaks down
in about 2 years or so on the surface, but leaches down and takes much
longer to break down at deeper levels of soil.  How have you who have
done restorations/plantings dealt with this?  Can we go ahead and plant
this coming spring, and then hope that the Atrazine will break down
quickly enough that by the time our forbs' roots reach down that far,
they will not be affected?  We'd greatly appreciate advice from folks
who've dealt with this specifically for prairie plants.

Thanks much,
Theresa Mau-Crimmins
x93mau@wmich.edu

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