Could Neighbour’s Glyphosate Have Killed My Tree?

[Blackcats7]

Neighbour poured roundup stump killer into the soil to kill tiny growth of brambles. A whole bottle. Could this have poisoned the soil spreading under the fence to kill a eucalyptus tree (about 6 years old, 15ft high) approximately six feet away from neighbours brambles? The tree is now quite dead, died suddenly about 2-3 weeks after the weedkiller was used.

As I understand it glyphosate binds to soil, so can't then be taken up by plants. That's why it's applied by spraying the plant direct. It's possible however that other plants may have been damaged by spray drift. Are you sure it was Roundup? because pouring it on to the soil wouldn't achieve anything.

It wasn’t sprayed. The stump killer roundup is just a bottle, no spray. Neighbour poured it on to the bramble which subsequently died.And yes it was definitely roundup stump killer.

In that case I think it's unlikely unless your tree somehow got splashed.

Not possible. The only way could have been via soil.

Do the manufacturers have a website with a contact? Maybe you could email them and ask. I would think that stump killer works differently to the regular one that you spray, but I don't know, but it has to kill the roots of the stump to,prevent re growth?

Good suggestion, thank you.
I was wondering if anybody has actually had anything similar happen though. Or understands more about the way stump killer works.
If not I might try seeing if the manufacturer is contactable for advice on monday.
Agree this is clearly a stronger product that bog standard weed spray roundup.

We have to kill a couple of stumps some years ago. We had to drill holes in the stump and put the powder or liquid (I forget which) in the holes, cover the stump with polythene and let it do it's work.
there are some good gardening websites out there, if you Google your question you might find something. Shame about your tree.

Yes I have had to do that with bigger trees. This one wasn’t very wide trunk wise. More just tall.
To be honest I am not that upset. Just want to know if this is what happened so it could be avoided in the future. It seems a huge coincidence if not related.

According to the blurb on the back of the bottle of Round-up Stump Killer

1. it’s supposed to be sprayed when applied to plants, you add it to water in a sprayer. Or painted on to a stump with a paintbrush.

2. its active ingredient is glyphosate in two manifestations, so it shouldn’t have travelled through the soil. It’s degraded by micro-organisms in the soil.

3. Neighbour has hugely exceeded the maximum dose of glyphosate and is a menace.

BUT if your Eucalyptus roots have travelled far enough to get entangled with his bramble roots, they could take up glyphosate. Sounds like this may be a possibility.

Have been doing a bit of research and from what I have read in multiple places although roundup says it degrades in soil some scientists have found glyphosate can actually stay in the soil for up to six months. So I think it is possible it killed the tree.
Anyway, neighbour does not plan to do it again and I will probably never know the truth of the matter.
@MereDintofPandiculation yes it certainly was overkill. I think they thought that as brambles are so hard to get rid off they were best going in hard.

some scientists have found glyphosate can actually stay in the soil for up to six months I don't think you have to invoke that. One of the references I found (instructions for the use of glyphosate - I think it may have been the instructions for the use of the Round-up stump killer) warned that if you applied stump killer to a stump and the tree roots were well entangled with roots of other vegetation in the area, you could get transfer to the other roots and thus deaths in surrounding vegetation, from which I inferred that the reverse could happen and the entangled tree roots could pick up glyphosate from surrounding vegetation that had been treated.