Imprelis, a new herbicide, was touted as eco-safe. But trees in the Twin Cities and around the country are dying.
hide

Janet DaPrato holds the leaves of a Norway spruce that started withering a month after a worker applied the herbicide Imprelis in her yard, in Columbus, Ohio, July 14, 2011. The recently approved herbicide, widely used by landscapers because it was thought to be environmentally friendly, has emerged as the leading suspect in the deaths of thousands of trees on lawns and golf courses across the country.

Todd Schwarzrock had his lawn treated for weeds in May. Weeks later the grass around his Maple Grove home looked good. But some of his trees didn’t.

Needles on a 35-foot white spruce on the corner of his lot apparently died. The lower branches on a Colorado blue spruce turned brown. A couple of smaller evergreens showed damage, too.

Schwarzrock’s lawn had been sprayed with Imprelis, a new, supposedly environmentally friendly herbicide from Dupont. Lauded as a biggest-in-decades advancement, it showed effectiveness against weeds such as creeping charlie. Schwarzrock, chief financial officer of Rainbow Tree Care, had Imprelis applied by the firm’s lawn care unit.

Evergreens around the Twin Cities area are now showing twisting and distorted […]