Orchard close to being planted, be careful of the weedkiller

Back in late spring, a field of kudzu in lower Chimborazo (set to be an apple orchard) was charmingly cleared by a herd of hired goats. If you’ve been through recently, though, you might have observed that field is a flat, brown emptiness.

A neighbor wrote in earlier this week with worries that the new field is being sprayed with harmful weedkiller:

Around 10:30 this morning the field was sprayed with a noxious smelling spray out of a tanker on the back of a non-municipal truck. As one of the people who was witness to this commented “kinda reminds me of agent orange that I was exposed to in ‘Nam.”

As of 15 minutes ago there was still no sign posted to warn people that they might want to avoid walking their pets through said field. Dog walkers have helped make Chimborazo safe for joggers, tree stewards and families. Let’s make sure Chimborazo is safe for pets and their families, too.

I reached out to John Sydnor of the Enrichmond Foundation for some clarification, but he didn’t know anything about the spraying. He said that he’d reach out to the city and get back to me.

As far as the orchard itself, Sydnor says that the project is slowly moving forward. Fence hardware has been purchased, trees are being picked, the planting schedule is being finalized, and that they are “close to putting shovel to dirt.”