How to Prevent Herbicide Drift & Injury to Grapes

Herbicides are an important tool for managing weeds and other unwanted plant growth in the yard and garden. Weeds in a lawn are unsightly, but when they sprout around plants such as grapes, they take away essential nutrition from the grape plant, possibly reducing the size and quality of the harvest. Mature grapevines have a woody stem that protects them from the effects of herbicides, but you must be careful when applying herbicides around the other parts of the plant.

Instructions

- 1
  Read the instructions and fully understand them before using the herbicide.
- 2
  Spray or distribute herbicides only on windless days when the temperature is appropriate for the particular herbicide. The slightest breeze can cause the chemical to drift onto the grape leaves.
- 3
  Use a small-diameter nozzle on the sprayer, and work in close to the weeds. The greater the distance between the sprayer nozzle and the weeds, the more opportunity there is for the herbicide to mist and spread out past where you want it to be.
- 4
  Remain outside the root area of the grapevines if you're using certain herbicides such as dicamba. Other herbicides such as glyphosate are effective and allowable within the root line.
- 5
  Spray only during the times of the year when the herbicide is effective, and only use the quantity recommended by the manufacturer. Over-spraying wastes resources and endangers other plants in the area.

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