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Home My WebLink About1985-10-21 Council MinutesCost of Application Roadside Weed Control Program 1986 Norman Soder October 21, 1985 The cost of custom application of herbicide on roadsides varies from $45 00 to $60 00 per runninq mile, both sides The area covered would be approximately 6 acres The cost of application of herbicide on roadsides with our own roadside sprayer would vary according to the factors that we used These factors would be number of miles of roadside sprayed, recovery of investment over what period of time and maintenance The fixed costs would be operation costs and these could vary depending on the number of road miles sprayed The cost of application varies also when you blanket spray as compared to patch spraying Our present truck and sprayer cost the M D $12,000 00 in 1974 Roadside spraying costs to the M D have only been maintenance and operational costs I would expect that $2 00 per mile sprayed, both sides, would cover this For Grant purposes we have been claiming $32 95 an hour This cost includes travel time from the shop spraying, travel between spray areas and travel time back to the shop Spraying at 12 M P H we would be costing this out at $32 95 divide by 6 miles equals $5 50 per mile both sides This would not include travel time Should you want to recover the cost of an $80,000 00 spray unit over a period of 10 years, you would have to claim $8,000 00 per year This would vary at cost per mile, depending on the number of miles sprayed per year Should you spray 1,000miles per year your cost for recovery would be $8 00 per mile Five hundred miles per year would increase your cost to $16 00 for recovery of investment Choice of Herbicide (Based on 6 acres per mile both sides) Tordon 22K $87 00 per acre $522 00 per mile Tordon 10K $81 30 per acre $487 00 per mile Desermone $ 6 00 per acre $ 36 00 per mile 2 4 - D $ 6 00 per acre $ 36 00 per mile Desermone and 2 4 - D would only give top growth control For Toad Flax or Canada Thistle yearly spraying would be required Tordon lOK Pellets could be applied with a half ton truck and spreader There could be some complications with this The cost would be minimal Patch Spraying The cost of Tordon 22K per mile would vary as to the number of patches per mile Our total cost has been anywhere from $30 000 00 to $35,000 00 over the past few years This is why we have claimed grants on a per hour basis Recommendation Any amount of blanket spraying with Tordon would almost be out of the question as it would be too costly There are approximately 50 miles per Township at $522 00 for Tordon plus application would amount to $26,400 00 per Township Prior to the development of Tordon the recommendation for the control of Toad Flax, was to seed the area to grass and keep the Toad Flax growth burnt back with 2 4 - D It was assumed that this would eventually deplete the Toad Flax l;i Con't con It Roadside bleed Control Program 1986 Estaprop 600 g/1 gave very good top growth control of Toad Flax at 1 1/acre in our plots at Hoppins Desermone is exactly the same product with a heavier concentration of 2 4 - D and Dichlorprop 700 g/1 I would recommend that we blanket spray, with Desermone, a 12 mile border on the north side and the west side of the M D This would cover approximately one half of the M D Approximately 1,000 miles or 6,000 acres Desermone cost would be approximately $36 000 00 The cost of application would be over and above this cost, approximately $9,000 00 for a total of $45,000 00 The balance of the year could be spent patch spraying the south and east portion of the M D with Tordon 22K for the control of perennial weeds, mainly Canada Thistle The application costs would be greater than the herbicide costs at this time as there are very few patches of perennial weeds in this area I would also recommend that any farmer who was willing to make a concentrated effort to control Toad Flax on his private land, that upon request, we blanket spray the ditches bordering his property with Tordon lOK Pellets Our roadside spraying program for the control of weeds on new construction has been in effect for a number of years It appears to be quite satisfactory Each year we blanket spray all new construction for three consecutive years with 2 4 - D and Torch Each year we drop of the construction that was completed four years prior to the year of spraying and add on the previous years construction This gives the grass three years to become established It appears that three years is a sufficent length of time for weed control This control is mainly for annual weeds Another herbicide that could be used for blanket spraying would br Tordon 101 Tordon 101 $24 00 per acre $144 00 per mile This application at 2 81 per acre would amount to 24 oz of 2 4 - D and 6 oz of Picloran per acre List of miles in M D of Kneehill Secondary Unopen 4 00 miles Local Unopen 218 22 miles Local Dirt 425 19 miles Secondary Gravel 51 22 miles Local Gravel 1,056 83 miles Oiled Secondary 55 95 miles Oiled Local 50 75 miles Paved Secondary 81 10 miles Paved Access 8 50 miles TOTAL 1,951 76 miles ----------------- ----------------- This does not include Highway #21, twenty -eight miles or Highway #27, fifteen miles Highways take responsibilty for weed control on these roads 1,951 76 miles X 6 acres sprayable per mile = 11,710 56 acres Keep in mind the number of acres that the average farmer controls weeds on each year and what his average cost might be Also, we know what Tordon 22K will do we are unsure of Tordon 101 or Desermone Desermone worked good on a dry year