contaminated soil, trying to neutralize the affects of the poison, they coated the leaves with an anti-transperence to slow down the water the trees send to the leaves because doing that it could make them take up less new water contaminated by the poison. joining us now, gary keever, professor of horticulture at auburn. professor keever, thank you so much for your time. glad to be here. going to ask you to explain the point of the anti-transperence on the leaves better than i just did. sure.
it was too late? well, from the very beginning we knew that this herbicide had a proven track record of killing trees. it s been around since the 70s, it s extremely toxic. it has a half life, meaning it breaks down slowly over a 12 to 15-month period. the activity is only reduced by 50%. it will persist in the soil for five to seven years, we have seen the tree s decline over the summer in the heat and humidity of the south alabama site. and while the trees have declined, they re also putting out a new flush of growth. we re not ready to give up on them yet, but the prognosis is not very good. professor of horticulture at auburn university. men working night and day to keep these trees alive. thanks for your time in helping us understand this. good luck. appreciate it.
the auburn trees. the weekend after the iron bowl, i went to auburn, alabama, because i live 30 miles away, and i poisoned the two toomer s trees. did they die? did they what? they are not dead yet, but they definitely will die. the reason that man allegedly targeted these 130-year-old live oak trees is they are where auburn football fans celebrate when their team wins. they call it rolling the trees, but now that the trees have been poisoned, the university is collecting rolls of toilet paper instead with get well notes for the trees. this is what the trees looked like before, this is what they look like now, tonight, about six months after the attack was discovered. experts in everything from horticulture to chemistry to try to fight the poison and keep the
he had done the unthinkable by the auburn trees. the weekend after the iron bowl, i went to auburn, alabama, because i live 30 miles away, and i poisoned the two toomer s trees. did they die? did they what? they are not dead yet, but they definitely will die. the reason that man allegedly targeted these 130-year-old live oak trees is they are where auburn football fans celebrate when their team wins. they call it rolling the trees, but now that the trees have been poisoned, the university is collecting rolls of toilet paper instead with get well notes for the trees. this is what the trees looked like before, this is what they look like now, tonight, about six months after the attack was discovered. experts in everything from horticulture to chemistry to try to fight the poison and keep the trees alive. they have removed and replaced
effort to try and save these trees, even entering a lottery to buy seedlings to keep their genetics alive somehow. in january, a man called into a alabama radio station to claim he had done the unthinkable by the auburn trees. the weekend after the iron bowl, i went to auburn, alabama, because i live 30 miles away, and i poisoned the two toomer s trees. did they die? did they what? they are not dead yet, but they definitely will die. the reason that man allegedly targeted these 130-year-old live oak trees is they are where auburn football fans celebrate when their team wins. they call it rolling the trees, but now that the trees have been poisoned, the university is collecting rolls of toilet paper instead with get well notes for the trees. this is what the trees looked like before, this is what they look like now, tonight, about six months after the attack was