Q&A – Why do my tomatoes keep getting phenoxy herbicide damage?

The damage is most likely coming from you or your neighbor applying herbicide to the lawn to kill weeds. Phenoxy herbicides (2,4-D, dicamba, etc.) are very volatile and can become airborne easily. Tomatoes are very sensitive to herbicides and will be affected by the vaporized herbicides even if the plants are not directly sprayed. Retired UT Extension Agent Mike Dennison gives some guidance on when to spray and not spray phenoxy herbicides. Also, he suggests not using a sprayer for herbicides and fungicides. Even after rinsing the tank a small amount of herbicide may remain which will damage the tomatoes.

Here are some other videos about growing tomatoes:

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[giverny]

I do not spray anything but the county came and sprayed all the roadsides in the early spring after the snow melt. The electric company came and sprayed last fall, but I caught them before they did a bunch and because I have bee hives on my land, asked to be on a no spray list. They routinely ignore this. The workers move quickly and say they don't know English.
I've lost every single hive. My neighbor across the road lost all her bed too. Not one bee. Even my Mason bees are all gone. I don't even have the regular ground wasps or paper wasps that usually are quite a nuance by this time of year (June).
Now the tomatoes (and potatoes) starts that were healthy to begin with, as well as neighboring direct seeded tomato plants, are all distorting. Some always looked strange, others were great then turned. They look melted is all I can describe. thought it was a disease because it looks like it's creeping thrive the garden. One Row has it really bad while the next shows nothing.
I was going to pull the effected plants and put in an unrelated crop to use the space but not cross-contaminate, if it was disease (pole beans). But now I'm thinking, they will all die too.
I just put in my sweet potatoes on the other side of this garden plot, over 100 slips, so this, if true, will BE DEVISTATING.
I also have about 10 feet of flower gardens growing all along the perimeter of this plot. Zinnias, Lupine, Borage, cosmos, echinachia, and the usual nasturtium and marigolds; some sections are planted out in sunflowers. None are dieing. The tomatoes are interplaneted with basil, Calendula, and Cabbages, they are all doing very well. Beets also share this plot, it's the best crop I've ever had.
All my plots are treated the same from year to year. It is no till. Amended and broadforked in the late fall with manure-old bedding mixes from my own animals (goats, semi-composted chicken, rabbit, horse). I did add Gypsum this year. I sheet mulch with cardboard in walkways. Then do a heavy layer of chipped leaves (collected locally) & hay, some spent, some just waste hay no longer attractive to even the cows and week past horse or goat quality. I used all round bales this year, all from the same hay supplier. Then I put a load of chickens on it until spring. They pick thigh everything and eat any extra seeds. Broadfork before planting in spring, once the ground isn't frozen. No sprays are ever used and I rotate my crops regularly. Last year this plot was for okra, watermelons, squash, and BOSS. The stink bugs were like out of a movie they were so bad. I've never seen so many bugs! Not one stink bug this year anywhere.
Why are only some plants effected? How long before I can plant veggies there?

[williamramsey]

My wife & I added chicken compost to our garden and within a few months, all our broadleaf veggies including our grapes were deformed & either died out or never got going.... And no one around us uses any kids a sprays.

[Alobster]

I had my whole garden damaged by 2, 4-d sprayed in mass by by neighbors. It is hot and windy where I live. I was stumped, all my tomatoes were severely deformed. I couldn't find any virus damage that looked like my tomatoes. I looked up 24d damage and it matched what mine looked like exactly.

[Tara-sfuu]

What about Grazon? Ive lost my entire garden last year after using contaminated composted manure.