Yes, it could have drifted and may even damage your vegetables. Millions of us have used it for decades and seen none of your other concerns materialize.

If you are going to sale "Organic Vegetables" then you have a BIG problem!

But if you are not selling, just do not plant where the person sprayed for 3 or 4 years.

I think if I had a customer who Used NO Chemicals. I would have told the other/new guy no Chemical on the property at all.

Thanks for the input, Albert and jolj. We don't sell anything but we do eat our own produce. Seems we are in the peak of fruit trees ripening right now, this breaks my heart... Peaches and apricots and nectarines, all big and ripening, blueberries still heavy on the bushes, strawberries everywhere, vegetables taking off. So this basically makes them the same as regular non-organic grocery store produce? Ouch.

As far as the animals, cat seems completely fine. Amount of noise, mess and chaos from the kids indicates they are probably okay too. ;-)

jolj: I would tend to agree. I haven't so much as seen a jug of RoundUp in our years, let alone one that's hooked up at a sprayer targeted at our yard...! Instead, I have an arsenal of weed-killing tools that don't quite get used as much as they should... LOL

You may be able to test the ripe fruit?

The World Health Organization, WHO, has declared glyphosate products as potential carcinogens and they are banned in many European countries, and exposure is not just limited to when the products are being sprayed. Research has found glyphosates in our drinking water, although not much has been found on edibles.

While there is little you can do now, except never allow the person that sprayed the stuff back, over time what is there will be washed away.

Search - ECHA - ECHA - RAC concluded that the available scientific evidence did not meet the criteria to classify glyphosate as a carcinogen ... ,

Wherein: "The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) is the driving force among
regulatory authorities in implementing the EU's groundbreaking chemicals
legislation for the benefit of human health and the environment as well
as for innovation and competitiveness. ECHA helps companies to comply
with the legislation, advances the safe use of chemicals, provides
information on chemicals and addresses chemicals of concern." and "Committee for Risk Assessment (RAC)"

There are so many rabbit holes you could follow with the word if on this one, you could never get out.

I have about a dozen and a half fruit trees, all of which are going bonkers this year and drowning us in fruit, but one peach tree -- which was doing great -- just started looking very sad. Everything elsewhere is just fine, including 4 other peaches, and this one was very happy this spring with fruit and healthy leaves. But suddenly it has started wilting in a way I've never seen before, and the leaves have lost their green color and started turning an odd yellowish/reddish. It also happens to be closest to the Roundup'd area. Is this what would happen if a tree was exposed? If so, is there anything I can do to save it -- flush it with water, feed it, anything?

Sounds like that peach definitely had some herbicide drift onto the leaves. Only thing you can do is wait and see what happens. I expect the tree to survive although it won't look good for a bit.

Rodney

My husband is licensed to sell all manner of herbicides and pesticides and I trust his knowledge: Roundup becomes inert when it comes in contact with soil. There is no danger in planting anything new in Roundup-sprayed soil. Also, yes, if you have a tree actively wilting and changing colors, it probably HAS BEEN damaged by Roundup.

Littlebug, you used the wrong word, it is not inert, it is inactive.

It will not kill new plants, but there are lawsuit on where it is inert/harmless or if it can still harm human & animals.

I am not going down that rabbit hole, but there is no proof that Round-UP is inert after application.

Even as a neighboring tree 25 feet away gave another bushel, the afflicted tree looks even sadder today than it did yesterday, when I gave it a good drenching watering and shower. I didn't know what else to do. I guess I should pull all the shriveling fruit off ASAP, and try to encourage growth any way I can. The smallest leaves on the tips of the branches are still green, though all are completely wilted, but 90% is off color now. It looks dessicated and... I don't know... sick? Poisoned? Is there really no antidote?

littlebug zone 5 Missouri...'' There is no danger in planting anything new in Roundup-sprayed soil.'' Irrespective of the jargon or the accusations and pending legislation I would tend to believe this narrow statement.

"this one was very happy this spring with fruit and healthy leaves. But suddenly it has started wilting in a way I've never seen before, and the leaves have lost their green color and started turning an odd yellowish/reddish. "

I'd think fungal disease before anything else, and at least get a diagnosis on it instead of blaming the bogeyman of glyphosate.

http://homeguides.sfgate.com/causes-cures-early-browning-leafdrop-peach-trees-31259.html

Thank you lazy gardens! Appreciate your help. I did do some research before connecting the dots, and I don't think it's fungal or bugs. I can't see any sort of spores, webs, bugs, or spots. It also came on incredibly fast. Happy healthy and fruiting, then within 2 days every single leaf and fruit is wilted and discolored. In my experience, diseases usually don't come through that fast, do they? I tried to find pictures online of how my tree looks, none of disease or pests fit but i couldn't find any of Roundup damage at all :-(

Are the peach leaves contorted at all? Leaf curl will produce that yellow-reddish coloration and also account for fruit drop. It IS a fungal disease and extremely common but you would not be able to detect any other signs other than the leaf and fruit symptoms. And it can overtake a tree very rapidly.

Roundup damage on woody ornamentals usually is characterized by yellowing, drying foliage and leaf drop. Also any new foliage will be distorted in appearance. Larger plants like trees typically withstand the damage pretty easily and will replace the lost or damaged foliage. However, you have probably lost any fruit for the season.

You might want to give your County Ag. Ext. agent a call. Sometimes they'll come out and take a look, or you can bring in a sample of a damaged branch.

Hmm, I have seen PLC in the spring on new leaves, and it is certainly not that. Gardengal, are you saying it can also show up later in the season? Yikes. Yes, the fruit is definitely a goner. I just went and picked it all off, this poor tree needs all the energy it can get and I wouldn't want to eat it anyway, it is all shriveled almost like prunes :-(

I noticed that even though all the leaves, the fruit, and even visibly the smaller branches it is all completely wilted, the discoloration is only on the older leaves. At the tip of each branch, there are just 1-3 of the smallest leaves that are still green. So maybe there is hope?!?

What's also weird is that the leaves got so wilted and discolored so fast, but they don't turn brown and drop. At least not yet, and they've been like this for almost a week. If it is some sort of disease, it's almost like it hit hard and now has frozen in its tracks. Bizarre, no?

I did a foliar spray with fish emulsion, gave it some water with fish emulsion, and am hoping it pulls through! Thank you for everyone's advice, this is definitely one huge network of knowledge :-)

Please post an image.

It sure sounds like Glyphosate damage to me.

I've watched the development of this thread, and I have one question to be answered first: how do you know it was round up that was sprayed? what's the timeframe involved? the first question was posed on Wednesday, how long before that was the event that caused such alarm?

IF you have new growth developing from a branch you suspect got dowsed with round up, and that growth is not distorted...you did not get round up.

The spraying was done on Sunday or Monday, I can't recall, the landscaper lets himself into our yard and doesn't knock or anything so I didn't know he was even there until I saw him walking toward his truck holding a jug of RoundUp and the sprayer on a hose. The tree started showing its dramatic changes fairly soon after, I try to check all my trees everyday but it doesn't always happen. Definitely by Wednesday enough for me to panic. I suppose, in theory, he could have just used the jug and had something else in there entirely...

The green is not new growth, it's growth that was already there but its color wasn't affected, even though it's wilted just like the other leaves that are all discolored. If I saw new growth, I'd be so happy right now... :-\

Here are a few pictures... the oldest, most heavily damaged leaves seem to finally be dropping off, leaving the newer and greener leaves. I'd say that at least 50% of the leaves are gone now. Does this help shed any light on what it could be? Before this hit, the tree was very healthy, full, beautiful leaves, developing fruit...

Still looks like a fungal blight to me. Glyphosate tends to turn leaves pale green, then yellow, not rust.

Thanks, lazy gardens. Is there anything I can do for it? Obviously fruit is out of the question, so no need to worry about that... Would copper help?

I was just scanning this thread again when my kibitzing wife observed that we have a peach tree with one large branch showing symptoms like these pictures and the other parts of the tree look just fine. Our tree as not been anywhere near any herbicides.

I hope your tree will put on new growth.

A friend of mine showed me a 18 inch wild black cherry, all the leaves where brown, but there was some NEW GROWTH among the brown leaves.

He told me the he soaked it with Round up as he sprayed weeds 2 weeks ago.

So maybe your tree will live.

Jolj, that gives me so much hope! I will keep babying it, maybe it will recover!

Sunny ...

FIRST: Get the problem accurately identified by someone who sees the leaves in person who is a qualified disease diagnostician in your area. Joe random nursery clerk is not it.

SECOND: Find a reputable site (an ag university, a county extension site) that discusses what to do with that problem.

THIRD: Follow their instructions closely, and the instructions on any product that you are using.

Randomly throwing remedies onto a distressed plant only increases the distress.