Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!cbatt!cbosgd!ucbvax!decwrl!kolling
From: kolling@decwrl.DEC.COM (Karen Kolling)
Newsgroups: net.garden
Subject: Re: defoliant toxicity (really: tree stumps)
Message-ID: <4965@decwrl.DEC.COM>
Date: Sat, 23-Aug-86 12:46:47 EDT
Article-I.D.: decwrl.4965
Posted: Sat Aug 23 12:46:47 1986
Date-Received: Thu, 28-Aug-86 07:24:18 EDT
Organization: Digital Equipment Corp., Palo Alto, CA
Lines: 15


> I just purchased a defoliant to kill a tree stump that keeps resprouting.
> It is	isopropylamine salt of glyphosphate, 49% solution
> The label merely says to avoid contact and wash your hands after handling.
> Does anybody know exactly how toxic this stuff is?  Should I wear
> rubber gloves?  rubber suit?  take it back to the store and get something
> safer?

You can hire companies to "grind down" tree stumps.  They take the
stump down to about a foot below the ground.  They claim you can't plant
much above it after that, due to shallow rooting, but I have a lilac bush
doing fine above the remains of a palm tree stump.  As I recall, it cost
maybe $40 to grind the stump.  A lot better than fighting an eternal
battle with suckers and dealing with some cousin of Agent Orange, for all
one knows, I think.