Mick:
To answer your question about spraying trails here is our Delphi
Historic Trails solution --
I have done the spraying for 10 years now. I use a 4 gallon back pack
and can cover 10,000 lineal feet with a 30" spray pattern. This is
pretty efficient use of chemicals. I use "contact herbicide" to
keep
the intruding vegetation from narrowing the trails. I have resisted
using anything "residual" in spray materials and can defend most
worries
by any concerned citizens. Roundup is benign in the environment and
only enters the green leaves to kill the roots, 2,4-D much the same but
Banvil has some residual so very little is added to the mix.
In early spring I use 2,4-D and Banvil for the aggressive Hemlock weed
and other early broadleaf plants. Then I move to a mix of 2,4-D and
Roundup for most of the summer season and spray about every 3 weeks
depending on amounts of vegetation. Finally I will have beat the
broadleaf cover and only grass is present (sometimes in the walking path
itself) and I will use only Roundup (afterall low rates of Roundup are
more deadly to grasses than broadleaf cover). The local ag chem dealer
gives us the Roundup but we buy the 2,4-D and Banvil. It takes me about
5 gallons of Roundup and 2.5 gallons of 2,4-D and only a little Banvil
per season.
I like to walk -- so the spray program gets me outdoors and I carry
extra water in my truck so I can reload. We have a total of 10 miles of
trails now and about half that distance needs spraying so it keeps me
busy. Others have said "why don't you mechanize and just ride"
and I
say that would take more mobilization time and certainly more
Roundup/2,4D product. This is an efficient system but it can get away
from you on a new trail. The first couple years of a new trail will
take lots more attention. Then it gets easier as the trails age. Our
biggest pest is the Hemlock. If you have a tractor with sickle bar and
can drive the trails a once over sickle "reach"
beyond the sprayed zone will keep the Hemlock back.
I hope this helps. Good luck, DAN