Raspberry Bush and Round-Up.

I have a wild raspberry bush that grows behind my shed and up along a fence line where 3 properties come together.

The bush was growing over the fence, and one of the neighbors sprayed round-up, or some other weed killer, on the stuff that was on his side. I doubt it will kill the bush, but now I'm worried that I can't give my pet bird any of the berries, even the stuff that is on my side, even though it's 8 feet from where the round-up was sprayed.
Any thoughts on when the berries will be bird safe, again?

It might depend on when the neighbor sprayed the roundup. Personally I would wait a while until I ate any berries from a round up sprayed plant. Maybe a few months or even a season. That being said if you eat anything from a grocery store you are most likely consuming food that has been sprayed with comparable chemicals organic or not.

I guess the difference is you're feeding something to your pet bird versus something you are eating for yourself. I know people who think their pets are their kids and feed them only organic food from their own table. While that might be over the top I try to make it a point of not feeding things in my care poison so I would probably wait a few months before using the berries.

Maybe ask your neighbor about not spraying it anymore if you keep it pruned and under control. Or ask if they want to get rid of it see if you can transplant into you yard that way you have full control of what happens to the plant.

I have almost exactly the same problem at the moment and my raspberries do look like they are suffering a bit because of it. Perhaps my neighbour should live next to yours and save us both some grief.

Dave Hunt wrote:It might depend on when the neighbor sprayed the roundup. Personally I would wait a while until I ate any berries from a round up sprayed plant. Maybe a few months or even a season.

Cornell university reckons 1 to 174 days for half of it to break down. So that is potentially around a year, I think I will offer to do the weeding on his side to get round the problem.

"Glyphosate is highly adsorbed on most soils especially those with high organic content. The compound is so strongly attracted to the soil that little is expected to leach from the applied area. Microbes are primarily responsible for the breakdown of the product. The time it takes for half of the product to break down ranges from 1 to 174 days. Because glyphosate is so tightly bound to the soil, little is transferred by rain or irrigation water. One estimate showed less than two percent of the applied chemical lost to runoff (4). The herbicide could move when attached to soil particles in erosion run-off. Photodecomposition plays only a minor role in environmental breakdown. "

http://pmep.cce.cornell.edu/profiles/extoxnet/dienochlor-glyphosate/glyphosate-ext.html

That being said its an old study and it suggests it's not carcinogenic.