# Herbicide damage on trees: cupped leaves, weed-and-feed, drift from a neighbor's lawn, and recovery

> What herbicide damage looks like on tree leaves, why weed-and-feed and drift reach a tree, how to tell it from insects or frost, and whether the tree recovers.

Published 2026-10-10. Tags: Decay & damage, Protection & care. By Blue Whale Trees, a native tree nursery in the United States. Web version: https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/herbicide-damage-on-trees/

Herbicide damage on a tree shows in its leaves, and the kind of damage points to the kind of herbicide. Cupped, twisted or strap-shaped new leaves point to a growth-regulator weed killer such as 2,4-D or dicamba, from drift or from roots under a treated lawn. Yellowing and dieback months later suggest a soil sterilant. Tufts of small, narrow leaves the spring after a late spray are the mark of glyphosate. Most healthy trees outgrow one light dose, and the next season's leaves show whether this one has.

![Green shoot tips of a lantana shrub bent into hooks and loops above its broad, wrinkled leaves](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/articles/herbicide-damage-on-trees-1-1000.jpg?v=de9262b1 "Lantana shoots bent into hooks seven days after a 2,4-D spray, in Central Queensland, Australia, on February 12, 2012. Growth-regulator herbicides twist new stems within days.")
*Photo: Mark Marathon, [CC BY-SA 3.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) ([source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ALantana_2-4-D_effect_close_up.jpg))*

Each kind of herbicide leaves its own signs:

| Herbicide | First signs | When they show | Usual source | Outlook |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Growth regulators: 2,4-D, MCPP, dicamba, triclopyr | Cupped, twisted or strap-shaped new leaves | Two days to a few weeks | Lawn weed killers, by drift, vapor or roots | Usually outgrown, but a heavy dose can show for two or three seasons |
| Soil sterilants: bromacil, prometon, tebuthiuron | Yellowing, often between the veins, then browning and dieback | Months or years later | Bare-ground products on gravel, drives and fence lines | Regrowth often dies back, and the tree may die |
| Glyphosate | Yellow, stunted growth with small, narrow leaves | Days, or the next spring after a late dose | Spray on leaves, suckers or green bark | A late-season dose is the likeliest to kill |

## Lawn weed killers, weed-and-feed and drift

Growth-regulator herbicides mimic a plant's growth hormones and kill broadleaf plants but not grasses, which is why lawn weed killers carry them. A broadleaf tree is as open to them as a dandelion. Weed-and-feed spreads a lawn weed killer with fertilizer over the whole yard.

The damage starts in new growth, where these herbicides travel with the sugars. Within 48 hours, new stems and leaf stalks twist. The leaves cup, pucker or narrow into straps.

Spring is the risky season, when trees leaf out and lawns are sprayed for dandelions. Spray drifts on the wind, and many 2,4-D and dicamba products turn to vapor, sometimes days later. Heat above about 85 degrees makes more vapor, which can travel far.

Roots take these herbicides up from the soil, dicamba most readily. Roots run two to three times as far out as the longest branches, as [tree roots run shallow and wide](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/tree-roots-run-shallow-and-wide/index.html.md) explains, so a treated lawn often lies over them.

Trees especially sensitive to these herbicides include oaks, elms, maples, honeylocust, sycamore and [eastern redbud](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/eastern-redbud/index.html.md). Some lists add [Kentucky coffeetree](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/kentucky-coffeetree/index.html.md) and [flowering dogwood](https://bluewhaletrees.com/plants/flowering-dogwood/index.html.md). We do not grow honeylocust or sycamore.

## Soil sterilants along drives, fences and stumps

Bare-ground herbicides such as bromacil keep gravel strips, drives and fence lines free of weeds, and some last in the soil for years. A neighbor who treats a gravel strip may not know a tree's roots run under it, and the damage can come years later, when roots reach the strip.

The first sign is yellowing, often between the veins, much like [iron chlorosis](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/glossary/index.html.md). A new flush of leaves can make the tree look recovered, but the flush dies back too.

Picloram, a stump and brush killer, moves out of the roots of a treated stump into the soil, where a nearby tree's roots take it up. The [cut-stump treatment for invasive shrubs](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/invasive-vines-and-shrubs/index.html.md) needs care near a tree you want to keep.

A label says whether its herbicide moves through soil to nearby roots. Roots reach far past the branch tips, and a sterilant travels with soil water. A soil sterilant does not belong in a yard at all.

## What glyphosate does and does not do to a tree

Glyphosate binds tightly to soil and goes inactive, so roots rarely take it up, and it does not turn to vapor. Some Roundup products add other herbicides that roots can absorb, so read the label.

It enters a tree through leaves, young green bark, fresh wounds and root suckers. Keep the spray off suckers and the thin bark of young trunks. Late summer and fall are the riskiest seasons. The tree then stores glyphosate in its bark, wood and roots for the winter. In spring it moves into the new growth, which comes out yellow and stunted.

Trees are far more easily hurt after about mid-July, and a late dose is likelier to kill than an early one. The cycle can repeat inside the tree for several years.

## Herbicide, insects, frost or drought

Aphids and other sucking insects curl and cup leaves too, but the insects, their cast skins or their tiny dark droppings are usually there to see. A herbicide such as 2,4-D also twists the leaf stalk until the leaf turns upside down, which leaf-curling mites do not do.

![Curled clusters of American elm leaves coated in white wax and dark aphids, beside flat green leaves](https://bluewhaletrees.com/img/articles/herbicide-damage-on-trees-2-1000.jpg?v=ce693a75 "Curled American elm leaves full of woolly elm aphids, cut from a tree in Colorado, on June 7, 2021. Aphids curl leaves as a herbicide does, but the insects stay in plain view.")
*Photo: Account for test, [CC BY-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0) ([source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AAmerican_elm_leaves_with_woolly_elm_aphid_infestation_.jpg))*

Frost, drought and disease can look like herbicide injury too. Leaves that formed before the spray keep their normal shape. Distortion from a light dose fades from the later leaves, while a virus spreads into them and usually worsens.

Drift seldom injures one plant alone, so look for the same damage on two or more kinds of plants nearby. Yet staff at the Illinois Department of Agriculture have found two trees side by side with only one injured, so a pattern is a clue and not proof.

## What a lab test and a complaint need

Only a lab test settles the question:

> "Herbicide injury cannot be known with absolute certainty without tissue analysis confirming the herbicide or its metabolites is present." (Illinois Extension, *Unintended herbicide injury on trees: A growing concern*)

The lab must be told which herbicide to look for, and the test works only while the chemical is still in the leaves or soil. In 2008 a test cost $65 to $100 or more a sample.

For a neighbor's spray, the state agency that regulates pesticides investigates. Write down the date, the time and the wind. Photograph the damage with the date showing, and again over the following weeks. File soon, because residues fade. An investigator, an insurer or a court may ask for these records. We are not lawyers.

## Helping a damaged tree through the next season

If you see spray land on the leaves, hose them off at once, since even an hour's delay makes rinsing less useful. After drift, water deeply in dry spells, and give a tree in its first year the amounts the [watering calculator](https://bluewhaletrees.com/tools/watering/index.html.md) sets. Where a soil sterilant lies over the roots, hold the water, since water spreads it through the soil. Remove that soil if you can, or work activated charcoal into its surface.

Purdue's diagnostic guide suggests fertilizer with water, but Tennessee's extension service warns that forcing growth on a stressed tree could compound the injury. We side with waiting at least a season, then feeding only a tree that shows a need, as [organic or synthetic fertilizer](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/organic-or-synthetic-fertilizer/index.html.md) sets out.

Leave the pruning saw alone for a year, since branches that look dead can leaf out again from dormant buds. One light dose seldom kills a healthy tree, but the doses add up:

> "Trees often can recover from light and occasional damage, but repeated damage year after year will almost certainly shorten the lifespan of our most important trees." (Nebraska Forest Service, *Herbicide Damage to Trees*)

## Sending us a photograph

Blue Whale Trees answers questions about a tree you already have through its [support page](https://bluewhaletrees.com/support/index.html.md). A photo of the whole tree, a close-up of the damaged leaves and a note on when the damage started help us answer quickly. Photos follow by email once we reply. For a tree planted this year, the [care calendar](https://bluewhaletrees.com/articles/care-calendar-for-a-new-tree/index.html.md) sets its water.

## Common questions

### Can a tree recover from herbicide damage?

Yes, most healthy trees outgrow one light dose. Repeated doses, or a soil sterilant over the roots, can kill a tree.

### Is weed and feed harmful to trees?

It can be, since it spreads weed killer over the whole yard and the tree roots beneath it. Spot-treat the weeds instead.

### Is Roundup safe to use near tree roots?

Glyphosate binds to soil, so roots rarely take it up, but some Roundup products add herbicides that roots can absorb. From midsummer on, keep any spray off leaves, suckers and green bark.

### How long does herbicide damage take to show on a tree?

Growth regulators such as 2,4-D twist new growth within two days to a few weeks, and late-season glyphosate shows the next spring. A soil sterilant can take months or years.

## Sources

- [Herbicide Damage to Trees](https://nfs.unl.edu/herbicide-damage-trees/): Nebraska Forest Service, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, with its page Protecting Your Trees From Herbicide Damage: cupped, puckered and strapped leaves, spring leaf-out as the sensitive time, 2,4-D and dicamba sprayed on lawns for dandelions, oaks, redbud, honeylocust, Kentucky coffeetree, elms and maples as sensitive trees, drift and vapor above 85 degrees, picloram moving out of treated stumps, care with stumps near trees, Roundup products with other ingredients, spray kept off suckers and thin bark, spot-spraying, and the quotation on light damage against repeated damage.
- [Diagnosing Herbicide Injury on Garden and Landscape Plants](https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/id/id_184_w.pdf): Purdue Extension, ID-184-W (Gail Ruhl, Fred Whitford, Steve Weller and Mike Dana, revised 2008), with Options for Dealing with a Pesticide Drift Incident (PPP-110) and the Purdue Landscape Report's Diagnosing herbicide injury on ornamentals: growth-regulator signs and their timing, damage first in new growth, the species sensitive to growth regulators, dicamba taken up by roots under a lawn, roots two to three times the length of the longest branches, labels on movement in soil, yellowing, dieback and late injury from soil sterilants, which stay out of landscapes and move with soil water, recovery from a light dose and symptoms for two or three seasons after a heavy one, glyphosate bound to soil, drift on two or more species, residue tests and their 2008 cost, fertilizer and water for recovery, and the records to keep after drift and the state agency that investigates.
- [Synthetic Auxins](https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/synthetic-auxins): NC State Extension, Herbicide Injury Factsheets, with the Glyphosate factsheet: growth regulators acting on broadleaf plants and not grasses, twisted stems and leaf stalks within 48 hours, cupped, curled and strap-shaped leaves, aphids told apart by their presence, and glyphosate rarely taken up by roots and not volatile.
- [Herbicide Damage to Trees and Shrubs](https://extension.umd.edu/resource/herbicide-damage-trees-and-shrubs): University of Maryland Extension, with Phytotoxicity: Chemical Damage to Garden Plants (Miri Talabac, 2024) and Herbicide Options for Managing Common Lawn Weeds in Maryland: glyphosate symptoms the spring after a fall dose, hosing leaves at once, deep watering, frost, insects and disease as look-alikes, normal growth made before exposure, distortion fading against a spreading virus, the broadleaf ingredients of lawn weed killers, weed-and-feed over the whole yard, and dicamba taken up by roots in a lawn.
- [Unintended herbicide injury on trees: A growing concern](https://extension.illinois.edu/blogs/pesticide-news/2023-08-28-unintended-herbicide-injury-trees-growing-concern): Illinois Extension (Michelle Wiesbrook, 2023): the growth regulators that mimic plant hormones, redbud's sensitivity and the flowering dogwood and sycamores among the species in decline, healthy trees outgrowing a single light drift and declining under chronic exposure, two trees side by side with one injured, and the quotation on tissue analysis.
- [Herbicide Injury: Trees, Situation Update](https://taes.utk.edu/upload/WTREC/AuxinDriftSituationUpdate-Trees.pdf): UT Extension, University of Tennessee (July 2, 2018): trees that typically survive drift, conifers whose drought injury looks the same, a growing season before judging recovery, water in dry periods, no fertilizer on a stressed tree for at least a season, a year before pruning, dated photographs, and the state agency that investigates.
- [Herbicide Injuries to Trees-Symptoms and Solutions](https://auf.isa-arbor.com/content/14/9/215): International Society of Arboriculture, Journal of Arboriculture 14 (James R. Feucht, 1988): soil sterilants on gravel strips, drives and fence lines, neighbors unaware of the roots, injury years later, yellowing between the veins like a nutrient shortage and browning from bromacil and tebuthiuron, regrowth that dies back, dicamba taken up by roots more readily than 2,4-D, leaf stalks twisted by 2,4-D against mites and insects, rinsing at once, no water and soil removal or activated charcoal where sterilants lie, and recovery from dormant buds.
- [Glyphosate Injury on Apple](https://fruitscout.mgcafe.uky.edu/glyphosate-injury-apple): University of Kentucky, Scouting Guide for Problems of Fruit: trees far more easily injured after about July 15, glyphosate moved down for winter and up into spring growth, late doses more lethal than early ones, symptoms the spring after a late-summer dose, and the cycle repeating for several years.
- [Be Cautious When Using Glyphosate Around Perennial Fruits](https://sites.udel.edu/weeklycropupdate/?p=5463): University of Delaware Cooperative Extension, Weekly Crop Update (Gordon Johnson, 2013): glyphosate entering through leaves, young green bark, fresh wounds and root suckers, the risk of late summer and fall, storage in bark, wood and roots, and yellow, stunted growth the next spring.