Atrazine is a chemical used in agriculture and gardening to selectively obliterate skunk in craw fields and in quick - time of year greensward lawns . More significantly , it is a restricted - use herbicide in the United States , limited to exercise and applications programme by manifest professional . The chemical disrupts photosynthesis in weed industrial plant , effectively weakening and killing them since they no longer can bring on nutrient from sunshine . Atrazine also acts to intercept semen sprouting as it tends to linger in the top 6 column inch of territory .

Uses

Atrazine is used both as a pre - emergent and post - emerging weed killer to control dope . As a pre - emerging , it preclude germination of weedy broadleaf and cool - season green goddess seeds , and as a post - emergent it kills actively growing annual cool - season weeds .

Turfgrass Types

Atrazine is used in areas of the United States where affectionate - time of year grasses dominate . Such lawns comprise St. Augustine , centipede , zoysia or wintertime - dormant Bermudagrass . The weed killer kills coolheaded - time of year forage like annual bluegrass , which often pullulate and become " boney " during the moist , cool but mild wintertime month when the fond - time of year sess turn brown in dormancy . Do not use atrazine on lawns made up of recurrent ryegrass , tall fescue grass , Kentucky bluegrass , bahia and creep bentgrass , according to North Carolina State University .

Seasonal Timing

in the main mouth , foliar spray program of atrazine is done only when temperatures do not top 80 degrees Fahrenheit . For the southerly United States , that corresponds to fall , wintertime and other spring usance : October through April . lend oneself atrazine in temperature above this results in foliar damage to the warm - season turfgrasses . Specifically , do not spray centipede and Bermudagrass at the time in spring that it is physically " greening up . "

Warnings

Atrazine may only be applied by a certified professional in the United States . Consult merchandise label directions for mandated personal protection equipment , dose and other app program procedures . Focus the spraying applications on the lawn only . Do not spray bare soil near or the leafage of perennial or decorative shrubs lining the edge of the treatment arena . Do not apply on any lawn when seasonal ambient temperature exceed 80 degree F daily .

Concerns

The European Union banned the use of atrazine in 2005 based on research that its overspill into fresh water body make deformity in amphibian and other belittled animal life according the the Natural Resource Defense Council . Moreover , increased relative incidence of cancer occur in workers at the chemical manufacturing plants , suggesting it is carcinogenic in with child dosages or prolonged photograph . It remains a restrict - usance herbicide in the United States . The U.S. Environmental Protection agency will again evaluate atrazine in 2013 to analyse new datum and potential alter any rules regarding its use .

References

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