04/08/2026
When deciding how to take care of your yard this summer, keep in mind that lawn chemicals can hurt your trees. Leaching and drift are both ways for herbicides and other poisons designed for grass and w**ds that can cause “wilt” or “burn” symptoms in your leaf and evergreen trees.
The attached pictures were taken a few days after the homeowner had tried to knock back unwanted w**ds around their small trees.
You can even see the wilt in the background brush in some pictures. Unfortunately the pines died and the damage to the oaks was permanent in some branches and trimming was required.
We see this all the time.
Many think more is more in order to make your grass green and w**d free. This might make for a pretty lawn, but your trees can take a damaging or deadly hit.
Stay outside of the drip line by a few feet, and do not spray on a windy day. This applies to liquid and granular. Even time release granules can be overdone.
There are also natural products to feed lawns and control w**ds available online.
Your trees are huge plants, w**d killers are designed to kill plants. They share the same soil as w**ds. They cannot choose what to eat when you are applying something poisonous to the ground above their roots, they take it all in.
Not to mention these chemicals can hurt pets, people, pollinators, and birds.
